APIs · head to head
Skyflow vs Thredd
Skyflow
APIs
Data privacy vault that holds sensitive records outside your own systems
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Thredd
APIs
Issuer processing platform for fintechs and digital banks, formerly Global Processing Services
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Skyflow reported contracts near 195,000 US dollars a year with a platform fee before usage put this out of reach of early stage companies, which are precisely the ones whose architecture is still cheap to change.; Thredd pricing is entirely unpublished, so cost comparison against competing processors requires a sales process.
- They diverge on capability: Skyflow covers Tokenised storage, Thredd covers Issuer processing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Skyflow and Thredd 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 Skyflow
- Tokenised storage
- Polymorphic encryption
- Field level access policies
- Data residency
- Secure functions
- PCI scope reduction
- Detokenisation gateway
- Audit trail
Only in Thredd
- Issuer processing
- Multi-country reach
- Scheme certification
- Programme support across verticals
- High platform availability
- Global office footprint
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Skyflow
- A fintech that wants card and bank account data out of its own infrastructure so its application servers leave PCI DSS assessment scopenot Thredd
- A company entering India or the EU with data localisation obligations that would otherwise require standing up regional databases and operationsnot Thredd
- A health technology business that needs protected health information isolated from the analytics stack while still supporting aggregate reportingnot Thredd
- An engineering team that wants support agents to see masked identifiers and payment services to see real ones, enforced centrally rather than in every servicenot Thredd
Thredd
- A digital bank or fintech needing issuer processing across many countries under one contractnot Skyflow
- A BNPL, lending or crypto product needing certified card processing behind its own brandnot Skyflow
- A company that finds outdated Global Processing Services (GPS) material and needs to confirm it is now Threddnot Skyflow
- An embedded finance platform wanting a processor already integrated with core banking systems such as Mambunot Skyflow
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Skyflow
- Reported contracts near 195,000 US dollars a year with a platform fee before usage put this out of reach of early stage companies, which are precisely the ones whose architecture is still cheap to change.
- Every read of a protected field becomes a network call to a third party, so latency and an external availability dependency enter paths that were previously local database reads, and outage planning has to account for a vendor you do not control.
- Analytics and joins on vaulted data are constrained; work that was a simple SQL join now happens through secure functions or on tokens, and data teams routinely discover this after the engineering team has committed.
- Unwinding the vault later is a rewrite rather than a migration because tokens are threaded through every service, so the switching cost climbs steadily and the negotiating position at renewal weakens with each release.
- Scope reduction is an architectural claim your own assessor must accept, so the audit saving is real only if the implementation genuinely keeps sensitive values off your systems, and partial implementations that leave a cache or a log line in place deliver the cost without the benefit.
Thredd
- Pricing is entirely unpublished, so cost comparison against competing processors requires a sales process.
- The 2023 rebrand from GPS to Thredd means research under either name alone can miss relevant material, and partner or press references before 2023 will still say GPS.
- Issuer processing does not include the banking licence itself, so a fintech still needs a separate BIN sponsor or bank partner, adding a second relationship to manage.
- As shared infrastructure behind many fintech brands, an outage or processing delay at Thredd becomes a simultaneous incident for every programme running on it, with limited visibility for any single customer into root cause.
- Its verticals span crypto, BNPL and remittance broadly, so depth of specialist support in any one vertical may be thinner than a processor focused narrowly on that niche.
Pricing, plan by plan
Skyflow
On request- Skyflow Data Privacy Vault$undefined/year
- Platform fee plus usage by data subject count
- Priced additionally per data residency region
- PCI Level 1, SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA coverage
Thredd
On request- Thredd$undefined/year
- Volume and programme-based pricing, not published
- Custom quote required via sales
Which should you pick?
Choose Skyflow if
- You need tokenised storage.
- You work on API, Web, Self-hosted.
- You also want polymorphic encryption.
Choose Thredd if
- You need issuer processing.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want multi-country reach.
Questions people ask
- Is Skyflow or Thredd better?
- Neither clearly leads. Skyflow starts at On request and Thredd at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Skyflow or Thredd?
- Skyflow starts at On request and Thredd at On request.
- Does Skyflow or Thredd run on more platforms?
- Skyflow runs on API, Web, Self-hosted. Thredd runs on Web, API.
- What is Skyflow best used for?
- Skyflow is most often used for a fintech that wants card and bank account data out of its own infrastructure so its application servers leave pci dss assessment scope, a company entering india or the eu with data localisation obligations that would otherwise require standing up regional databases and operations, a health technology business that needs protected health information isolated from the analytics stack while still supporting aggregate reporting, an engineering team that wants support agents to see masked identifiers and payment services to see real ones, enforced centrally rather than in every service. Of those, a fintech that wants card and bank account data out of its own infrastructure so its application servers leave pci dss assessment scope and a company entering india or the eu with data localisation obligations that would otherwise require standing up regional databases and operations are not what Thredd is typically brought in for.
- What can Skyflow do that Thredd cannot?
- Skyflow covers Tokenised storage, Polymorphic encryption, Field level access policies, Data residency. Thredd covers Issuer processing, Multi-country reach, Scheme certification, Programme support across verticals.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Skyflow: Does Skyflow really take my systems out of PCI scope?
It can, if card data never touches your infrastructure and the detokenisation happens at the boundary. Your QSA has to agree the design, so validate the architecture with your assessor before signing.
Thredd: Is Thredd the same company as Global Processing Services?
Yes, GPS rebranded as Thredd in 2023; it is the same company and platform.
Skyflow: What does it cost?
Nothing is published. Reported annual contracts sit around 195,000 US dollars, built from a platform fee plus usage by data subject count and additional charges per data residency region.
Thredd: Does it hold the banking licence for programmes it processes?
No, Thredd is the issuer processor; a separate bank or BIN sponsor holds the actual issuing licence.
Skyflow: How does it help with data localisation?
Records can be pinned to a specified region, so an Indian or EU residency requirement is met by the vault rather than by you running regional databases and operations teams.
Thredd: Is pricing published?
No, it requires a sales conversation.
Skyflow: Can I still run analytics on vaulted data?
Partly. Aggregates and comparisons are supported through polymorphic encryption and secure functions, but arbitrary joins against other datasets are harder than they were, and this is the most common late surprise.
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