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APIs · head to head

Solaris vs Svix

Solaris logo

Solaris

APIs

German banking as a service with a full banking licence and a live regulatory problem

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Svix logo

Svix

APIs

Outbound webhook sending as a service, with retries, signing and a customer-facing portal

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Svix has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Solaris baFin appointed a special representative in 2022 and extended the mandate in July 2024, so a partner is joining a bank under active supervisory monitoring, with slower approvals and heavier compliance demands as a direct consequence.; Svix the Professional tier at 490 US dollars a month includes the same 50,000 messages as the free tier, so the upgrade buys SLA, throughput and retention rather than volume, which is a jarring step for a growing product.
  • They diverge on capability: Solaris covers German banking licence, Svix covers Automatic retries.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Solaris and Svix actually diverge.

Attributes where Solaris and Svix differ
AttributeSolarisSvix
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer month by message count
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, Cloud, Docker

Identical on both: 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 Solaris

  • German banking licence
  • IBAN accounts
  • Card issuing
  • Lending as a service
  • Digital assets and custody
  • SEPA payments
  • KYC and onboarding
  • Deposit protection

Only in Svix

  • Automatic retries
  • Payload signing
  • Consumer portal
  • Event types and filtering
  • Delivery logs and replay
  • Rate limiting
  • Static source IPs
  • Language SDKs

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Solaris

  • A retailer or platform launching a German current account or card product without applying for its own licencenot Svix
  • A fintech that needs deposit taking and lending, which an e-money licence cannot providenot Svix
  • A European business needing German IBANs because customers reject foreign IBANs for salary and direct debitnot Svix
  • A company requiring German statutory deposit protection on customer balances as a product claimnot Svix

Svix

  • A SaaS company adding webhooks to its API that does not want to build retry, signing and a customer debugging UI from scratchnot Solaris
  • A payments or fintech product whose customers need signature verification libraries in several languages they did not writenot Solaris
  • An engineering team drowning in support tickets from customers whose endpoints silently failed and who need self-service delivery logsnot Solaris
  • A platform with a small number of very slow customer endpoints that must not delay deliveries to everyone elsenot Solaris

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Solaris

  • BaFin appointed a special representative in 2022 and extended the mandate in July 2024, so a partner is joining a bank under active supervisory monitoring, with slower approvals and heavier compliance demands as a direct consequence.
  • BaFin fined Solaris EUR 6.5 million in March 2024 for systematically late suspicious activity reports and EUR 500,000 for breaching large exposure limits between January 2022 and March 2024, which is a track record a partner inherits reputationally.
  • Solaris has previously needed BaFin approval before onboarding new corporate clients, which can turn a commercial decision to launch into a regulatory timetable outside your control.
  • The 2024 restructuring involved job cuts and the closure of parts of a business unit, so product lines a partner depends on may not have the engineering behind them that the sales process implies.
  • SBI Holdings acquired majority control in 2025, so strategic direction now sits with a Japanese financial group whose priorities for the European business may differ from the roadmap you were sold.

Svix

  • The Professional tier at 490 US dollars a month includes the same 50,000 messages as the free tier, so the upgrade buys SLA, throughput and retention rather than volume, which is a jarring step for a growing product.
  • Only attempted messages count toward usage, but a customer with many subscribed endpoints multiplies a single event into many billable messages, and forecasting that fan-out before launch is difficult.
  • The open source server is MIT licensed but trails the hosted product in features, so self-hosting is a fallback position rather than a genuinely equivalent option.
  • Routing outbound customer traffic through a third party puts a vendor in the delivery path for events your customers may treat as contractual, which some security reviews will not accept.
  • Payload retention is 30 days on the free tier and 90 on Professional, so anyone needing longer delivery history for audit must pay for Enterprise or log independently.

Pricing, plan by plan

Solaris

On request
  • Solaris banking as a service$undefined/year
    • Quoted per partner, typically setup fee plus monthly platform fee
    • Per account, per card and per transaction charges on top
    • Interchange sharing arrangements negotiated per programme

Svix

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 50,000 messages a month included
    • Overage at $0.0001 per message
    • 99.9% uptime SLA
  • Professional$490/month
    • 50,000 messages included, same as free
    • 99.99% uptime SLA
    • 800 messages per second
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom volume and rate limits
    • 99.999% uptime SLA
    • Custom retention

Which should you pick?

Choose Solaris if

  • You need german banking licence.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want iban accounts.
Solaris review

Choose Svix if

  • You need automatic retries.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, Docker.
  • You also want payload signing.
Svix review

Questions people ask

Is Solaris or Svix better?
Neither clearly leads. Solaris starts at On request and Svix at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Solaris or Svix?
Svix has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Solaris and Free for Svix.
Does Solaris or Svix run on more platforms?
Solaris runs on Web, API. Svix runs on Web, Cloud, Docker.
Can I use Svix for free?
Yes. Svix has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Solaris starts at On request.
What is Solaris best used for?
Solaris is most often used for a retailer or platform launching a german current account or card product without applying for its own licence, a fintech that needs deposit taking and lending, which an e-money licence cannot provide, a european business needing german ibans because customers reject foreign ibans for salary and direct debit, a company requiring german statutory deposit protection on customer balances as a product claim. Of those, a retailer or platform launching a german current account or card product without applying for its own licence and a fintech that needs deposit taking and lending, which an e-money licence cannot provide are not what Svix is typically brought in for.
What can Solaris do that Svix cannot?
Solaris covers German banking licence, IBAN accounts, Card issuing, Lending as a service. Svix covers Automatic retries, Payload signing, Consumer portal, Event types and filtering.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Solaris: Does Solaris have a real banking licence?

Yes. Solaris SE is a German credit institution, which is why it can offer deposits and lending, unlike e-money based competitors.

Svix: How much does Svix cost?

Free up to 50,000 messages a month; Professional starts at 490 US dollars a month with the same included volume but better SLA and throughput.

Solaris: Is the BaFin action still live?

The special representative appointed in 2022 had the mandate extended in July 2024, and fines were issued in March 2024. Treat supervisory oversight as an active condition in your diligence.

Svix: Can I self-host it?

Yes, there is an MIT licensed server, but it lags the hosted service in features and has no SLA.

Solaris: Who owns Solaris now?

SBI Holdings of Japan agreed in December 2024 and January 2025 to take a majority stake of over seventy per cent for around EUR 100 million.

Svix: What counts as a message?

Attempted or transformed deliveries. Retries and messages filtered out because no endpoint subscribed are not charged.

Svix: Does it handle inbound webhooks?

Its focus is outbound sending on behalf of API providers, not receiving webhooks from third parties.

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