APIs · head to head
Sila vs Unit
Sila
APIs
US money movement API for ACH, RTP and FedNow with KYC and ledgering built in
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Unit
APIs
Banking as a service platform for embedding deposit accounts, cards and payments, with a sponsor bank behind it
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Sila no pricing is published, so you cannot compare Sila against Moov or Dwolla without entering two sales processes, and small programmes frequently find the monthly minimum dominates their cost at low volume.; Unit your product depends on a sponsor bank you do not contract with directly, and 2024 showed what that means: Thread Bank received an FDIC enforcement action naming its banking as a service programmes and Blue Ridge Bank went under an OCC consent order and offboarded fintech partners.
- They diverge on capability: Sila covers ACH origination, Unit covers Deposit accounts.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Sila and Unit actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).
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 Sila
- ACH origination
- Instant rails
- KYC and KYB
- Virtual accounts
- Ledger
- Wallets and holds
- Webhooks
- Bank-side deployment
Only in Unit
- Deposit accounts
- Card issuing
- Payments
- White label components
- Compliance operations
- Lending
- Programme reporting
- Sandbox
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Sila
- A small fintech that needs ACH, identity verification and a ledger from one vendor because it has no compliance team to assemble threenot Unit
- A marketplace paying out to sellers that wants same-day ACH and instant push options without becoming a money transmitter itselfnot Unit
- A community bank replacing batch file ACH processing with an API so it can offer real-time payments to business customersnot Unit
- A lending platform that must verify business identity, disburse funds and collect repayments on a schedule from a single integrationnot Unit
Unit
- A vertical SaaS platform for contractors that wants to hold customer funds and issue expense cards without pursuing a charternot Sila
- A payroll or benefits platform embedding accounts so employees can be paid ahead of schedulenot Sila
- A marketplace that wants seller balances to sit in real accounts under its own brand rather than as ledger entries at a processornot Sila
- A company that needs interchange revenue from a card programme to make the unit economics of its core product worknot Sila
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Sila
- No pricing is published, so you cannot compare Sila against Moov or Dwolla without entering two sales processes, and small programmes frequently find the monthly minimum dominates their cost at low volume.
- Sila is materially smaller and less well capitalised than the banking-as-a-service names it competes with, which matters because your customer funds and your payment rails depend on the vendor still trading in three years.
- The sponsor bank behind your programme determines what you can offer and how fast you can change it, and bank partnerships in this sector have been reshuffled repeatedly since 2023, so a bank change during your contract is a realistic risk rather than a theoretical one.
- Coverage is United States only, so any product with cross-border ambitions needs a second payments vendor and a second reconciliation process from the outset.
- Onboarding involves compliance diligence on your own programme, and teams routinely underestimate this, with weeks lost between signing and first live transaction while policies, flow of funds diagrams and BSA arrangements are reviewed.
Unit
- Your product depends on a sponsor bank you do not contract with directly, and 2024 showed what that means: Thread Bank received an FDIC enforcement action naming its banking as a service programmes and Blue Ridge Bank went under an OCC consent order and offboarded fintech partners.
- Programme approval by the bank is a separate gate from signing with Unit, and it can add months and impose product restrictions that were not visible during the commercial conversation.
- Compliance obligations are shared but the operational load lands on you, and platforms consistently underestimate the staffing needed for disputes, escalations and the bank ongoing oversight requests.
- Pricing is unpublished and blends platform fees, per-account and per-transaction charges and interchange sharing, which makes it hard to model unit economics before you have volume and easy to be surprised by the minimum.
- Migrating a live deposit programme to a different provider or bank is extremely disruptive because it involves moving customer accounts and card credentials, so switching costs are far higher than for ordinary software.
Pricing, plan by plan
Sila
On request- Sila Payments Platform$undefined/month
- ACH, RTP and FedNow
- KYC and KYB verification
- Virtual accounts and ledger
Unit
On request- Unit Banking as a Service$undefined/year
- Platform fee plus per-account and per-transaction charges, quoted
- Interchange sharing arrangements negotiated per programme
- Minimum commitment typical
Which should you pick?
Choose Unit if
- You need deposit accounts.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want card issuing.
Questions people ask
- Is Sila or Unit better?
- Neither clearly leads. Sila starts at On request and Unit at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Sila or Unit?
- Sila starts at On request and Unit at On request.
- Does Sila or Unit run on more platforms?
- Sila runs on Web, API. Unit runs on Web, iOS, Android.
- What is Sila best used for?
- Sila is most often used for a small fintech that needs ach, identity verification and a ledger from one vendor because it has no compliance team to assemble three, a marketplace paying out to sellers that wants same-day ach and instant push options without becoming a money transmitter itself, a community bank replacing batch file ach processing with an api so it can offer real-time payments to business customers, a lending platform that must verify business identity, disburse funds and collect repayments on a schedule from a single integration. Of those, a small fintech that needs ach, identity verification and a ledger from one vendor because it has no compliance team to assemble three and a marketplace paying out to sellers that wants same-day ach and instant push options without becoming a money transmitter itself are not what Unit is typically brought in for.
- What can Sila do that Unit cannot?
- Sila covers ACH origination, Instant rails, KYC and KYB, Virtual accounts. Unit covers Deposit accounts, Card issuing, Payments, White label components.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Sila: Does Sila require a sponsor bank?
Yes. Funds sit at a partner bank, and which bank that is affects your product features and your regulatory exposure, so ask before signing.
Unit: Who actually holds the money?
A chartered partner bank, not Unit. Deposits sit at the sponsor bank and FDIC insurance flows from that bank, so its condition is your condition.
Sila: Is Sila still operating?
Yes. It continues to trade and announced an API integration with GBank in 2025 covering ACH, RTP and FedNow.
Unit: What happened with Unit sponsor banks in 2024?
Thread Bank received an FDIC enforcement action that explicitly named its banking as a service and lending as a service programmes, and Blue Ridge Bank was under an OCC consent order from January 2024 and offboarded fintech partners. Blue Ridge exited the order in late 2025.
Sila: What does it cost?
Sila does not publish rates. Expect per-transaction pricing plus a monthly minimum, quoted after a compliance conversation.
Unit: What does Unit cost?
Not published. Expect a platform fee, per-account and per-transaction charges, an interchange share and a minimum commitment.
Sila: Can I use it outside the United States?
No. Sila covers US rails only.
Unit: Do we need our own compliance team?
Yes. Unit supplies tooling and the bank sets the rules, but disputes, escalations and evidence for bank oversight require named people on your side.
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