Accounting & Finance · head to head
Plaid vs BlackLine
Plaid
Accounting & Finance
The safer way to connect financial accounts
- From
- $29/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Plaid no dollar amount is published for any product, and the pricing page states no per request rate or minimum commitment; BlackLine listed on UK G-Cloud 13 at £1,150 to £2,160 per user per year for the public sector, with no free trial offered, per BlackLine's Finance Operations Management Solution pricing document
- They diverge on capability: Plaid covers Bank account linking, BlackLine covers Account reconciliation.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Plaid and BlackLine actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price ($29/month), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Plaid
- Bank account linking
- Transaction data
- Identity verification
- Income verification
- Asset reports
- Venmo
- Robinhood
- Coinbase
Only in BlackLine
- Account reconciliation
- Journal entries
- Task management
- Variance analysis
- Financial close
- SAP
- Oracle
- NetSuite
Both cover
- ISO 27001
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Plaid
- Connecting bank accounts to an application for balances and transactionsnot BlackLine
- Verifying account ownership and income for payments or lendingnot BlackLine
BlackLine
- Financial closenot Plaid
- Reconciliationnot Plaid
- Continuous accountingnot Plaid
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Plaid
- No dollar amount is published for any product, and the pricing page states no per request rate or minimum commitment
- Three different billing models apply depending on the product, being one time per connected account, monthly per connected account, and per successful API call
- That mix means total cost depends on which products are combined rather than on a single unit
- Discounted rates require the Growth plan, which is a 12 month commitment
BlackLine
- Listed on UK G-Cloud 13 at £1,150 to £2,160 per user per year for the public sector, with no free trial offered, per BlackLine's Finance Operations Management Solution pricing document
Pricing, plan by plan
Plaid
$29/month- Pay-as-you-goFree
- Bank connections
- Transaction data
- Account verification
BlackLine
$29/month- EnterpriseFree
- Custom pricing
- Account reconciliation
- Task management
Which should you pick?
Choose Plaid if
- You need bank account linking.
- You work on Api, Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want transaction data.
Questions people ask
- Is Plaid or BlackLine better?
- Neither clearly leads. Plaid starts at $29/month and BlackLine at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Plaid or BlackLine?
- Plaid starts at $29/month and BlackLine at $29/month.
- Does Plaid or BlackLine run on more platforms?
- Plaid runs on Api, Web, Ios, Android. BlackLine runs on Web.
- What is Plaid best used for?
- Plaid is most often used for connecting bank accounts to an application for balances and transactions, verifying account ownership and income for payments or lending. Of those, connecting bank accounts to an application for balances and transactions and verifying account ownership and income for payments or lending are not what BlackLine is typically brought in for.
- What can Plaid do that BlackLine cannot?
- Plaid covers Bank account linking, Transaction data, Identity verification, Income verification. BlackLine covers Account reconciliation, Journal entries, Task management, Variance analysis. Both handle ISO 27001, Web support.