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APIs · head to head

Solaris vs Zeplo

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
Zeplo logo

Zeplo

APIs

Message queue as a URL prefix, adding retries and delays to any HTTP request

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Zeplo 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.; Zeplo zeplo sits directly in the execution path of your background work, so an outage at a very small vendor means your jobs do not run at all, and there is no published SLA below Enterprise.
  • They diverge on capability: Solaris covers German banking licence, Zeplo covers URL prefix interface.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Solaris and Zeplo actually diverge.

Attributes where Solaris and Zeplo differ
AttributeSolarisZeplo
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer month by request count
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, Cloud

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 Zeplo

  • URL prefix interface
  • Retries with backoff
  • Delayed delivery
  • Cron scheduling
  • Concurrency limits
  • Deduplication keys
  • Request logs
  • Team workspaces

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 Zeplo
  • A fintech that needs deposit taking and lending, which an e-money licence cannot providenot Zeplo
  • A European business needing German IBANs because customers reject foreign IBANs for salary and direct debitnot Zeplo
  • A company requiring German statutory deposit protection on customer balances as a product claimnot Zeplo

Zeplo

  • A Vercel or Cloudflare Workers application that needs retried background jobs without deploying a separate always-on workernot Solaris
  • A team that wants a webhook receiver protected by a concurrency limit so a burst does not overwhelm a downstream APInot Solaris
  • A small product needing cron jobs against HTTP endpoints without adding a scheduler to its infrastructurenot Solaris
  • A developer adding idempotent retries to an unreliable third-party API call with a one-line URL changenot 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.

Zeplo

  • Zeplo sits directly in the execution path of your background work, so an outage at a very small vendor means your jobs do not run at all, and there is no published SLA below Enterprise.
  • The free Developer tier includes only 500 requests a month and one team member, so it is a demonstration allowance rather than a usable free plan for anything real.
  • Overage on the Developer tier is 20 US dollars per 100,000 requests, two hundred times the marginal rate on the Company tier, so exceeding the free allowance without upgrading is expensive.
  • Team members cost 15 US dollars each beyond the plan allowance, which is an odd charge on an infrastructure product billed by request volume.
  • Log retention is 30 days on both published tiers, so anything requiring longer audit trails on job execution has to be logged separately.

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

Zeplo

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • 500 requests a month included
    • $20 per additional 100,000 requests
    • 1 team member
  • Company$39/month
    • 1,000,000 requests a month included
    • $10 per additional million requests
    • Up to 3 team members
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Volume discounts
    • Custom team size
    • Support with SLA

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 Zeplo if

  • You need url prefix interface.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Cloud.
  • You also want retries with backoff.
Zeplo review

Questions people ask

Is Solaris or Zeplo better?
Neither clearly leads. Solaris starts at On request and Zeplo at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Solaris or Zeplo?
Zeplo has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Solaris and Free for Zeplo.
Does Solaris or Zeplo run on more platforms?
Solaris runs on Web, API. Zeplo runs on Web, Cloud.
Can I use Zeplo for free?
Yes. Zeplo 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 Zeplo is typically brought in for.
What can Solaris do that Zeplo cannot?
Solaris covers German banking licence, IBAN accounts, Card issuing, Lending as a service. Zeplo covers URL prefix interface, Retries with backoff, Delayed delivery, Cron scheduling.

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.

Zeplo: How does Zeplo work?

You prefix your endpoint URL with zeplo.to and add query parameters for retries, delay, cron or concurrency. No SDK or broker is needed.

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.

Zeplo: What does it cost?

Free for 500 requests a month; 39 US dollars a month for a million requests, then 10 dollars per additional million.

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.

Zeplo: Is it suitable for critical jobs?

It is a small vendor in your execution path with no published SLA below Enterprise, so weigh that against the convenience.

Zeplo: Does it work with serverless platforms?

Yes, that is its main use, covering Vercel, Cloudflare Workers, Netlify and similar environments that lack long-running workers.

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