Softwr

Personal Finance · head to head

Strands vs Trustly

Strands logo

Strands

Personal Finance

Personal and business financial management modules for banks, owned by CRIF

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Trustly logo

Trustly

APIs

Pay-by-bank payments network, majority-owned by private equity firm Nordic Capital

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Strands transaction categorisation accuracy depends on local merchant data, and banks in smaller markets face months of tuning before customers trust the categories shown.; Trustly it is majority-owned by Nordic Capital, a private equity firm, so its long-term roadmap is ultimately oriented toward an eventual sale or IPO rather than indefinite independent operation.
  • They diverge on capability: Strands covers Transaction categorisation, Trustly covers Pay by bank checkout.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Strands and Trustly actually diverge.

Attributes where Strands and Trustly differ
AttributeStrandsTrustly
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, REST APIWeb, API
CategoryPersonal FinanceAPIs

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 Strands

  • Transaction categorisation
  • Personal financial management
  • Business financial management
  • Lighthouse
  • Automated savings
  • Account aggregation

Only in Trustly

  • Pay by bank checkout
  • Instant refunds
  • Verified payouts
  • Multi-market bank connectivity
  • Merchant dashboard and reconciliation
  • Fraud and risk tooling

What people use each for

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

Strands

  • A retail bank adding budgeting and spending insight without building a categorisation enginenot Trustly
  • A bank wanting personalised product offers driven by observed spending and credit datanot Trustly
  • A credit union offering small business customers cash flow forecasting inside online bankingnot Trustly
  • A Nordic institution combining Strands insight with open banking account aggregationnot Trustly

Trustly

  • An e-commerce merchant wanting a lower-cost alternative or complement to card payment acceptancenot Strands
  • A gaming or gambling operator needing verified, instant payouts to players' bank accountsnot Strands
  • A merchant wanting instant refunds processed directly to a customer's bank account rather than card reversal delaysnot Strands
  • A business in a market with strong open banking adoption wanting pay-by-bank as a checkout optionnot Strands

Where each one falls short

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

Strands

  • Transaction categorisation accuracy depends on local merchant data, and banks in smaller markets face months of tuning before customers trust the categories shown.
  • It is now a product line inside CRIF, a credit bureau, so roadmap priorities follow group data strategy rather than standalone software competition.
  • Commercial terms are often bundled with other CRIF services, which makes a standalone comparison against a pure PFM vendor harder to run.
  • Money management features have weak measurable impact on bank revenue, so the business case relies on engagement metrics that are difficult to tie to profit.
  • It is a white-label component, so the bank still owns design, support and customer communication, and a poor in-app implementation reflects on the bank rather than the vendor.

Trustly

  • It is majority-owned by Nordic Capital, a private equity firm, so its long-term roadmap is ultimately oriented toward an eventual sale or IPO rather than indefinite independent operation.
  • Consumer familiarity with paying by bank transfer still lags card payments in most markets, so merchants typically see it used as a secondary option rather than a full card replacement.
  • The 1.15 to 3.15% merchant fee range is not a single published rate, so a merchant cannot know its actual cost without a sales negotiation.
  • As with all open banking-dependent payment methods, reliability depends on the consistency of the underlying banks' own APIs, which Trustly does not control.
  • Its verified payout functionality is heavily used in gaming and gambling, a sector with additional regulatory scrutiny, which is worth factoring in when evaluating vendor risk exposure by association.

Pricing, plan by plan

Strands

On request
  • Strands AI Finance Suite$undefined/year
    • Licence scaled by end customers or active users
    • Modules licensed separately for personal, business and Lighthouse
    • Implementation and categorisation tuning charged as a project

Trustly

On request
  • Trustly$undefined/month
    • Typical merchant cost of 1.15% to 3.15% depending on volume and market
    • Exact rate negotiated per merchant, not published as a flat card

Which should you pick?

Choose Strands if

  • You need transaction categorisation.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, REST API.
  • You also want personal financial management.
Strands review

Choose Trustly if

  • You need pay by bank checkout.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want instant refunds.
Trustly review

Questions people ask

Is Strands or Trustly better?
Neither clearly leads. Strands starts at On request and Trustly at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Strands or Trustly?
Strands starts at On request and Trustly at On request.
Does Strands or Trustly run on more platforms?
Strands runs on Web, iOS, Android, REST API. Trustly runs on Web, API.
What is Strands best used for?
Strands is most often used for a retail bank adding budgeting and spending insight without building a categorisation engine, a bank wanting personalised product offers driven by observed spending and credit data, a credit union offering small business customers cash flow forecasting inside online banking, a nordic institution combining strands insight with open banking account aggregation. Of those, a retail bank adding budgeting and spending insight without building a categorisation engine and a bank wanting personalised product offers driven by observed spending and credit data are not what Trustly is typically brought in for.
What can Strands do that Trustly cannot?
Strands covers Transaction categorisation, Personal financial management, Business financial management, Lighthouse. Trustly covers Pay by bank checkout, Instant refunds, Verified payouts, Multi-market bank connectivity.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Strands: Who owns Strands?

CRIF, the Italian credit bureau and information services group, which acquired it to combine money management software with credit data.

Trustly: Who owns Trustly?

Nordic Capital, a private equity firm, holds a 51.1% majority stake; Alfven & Didrikson and BlackRock hold smaller stakes.

Strands: Is it sold to consumers?

No. It is licensed to banks and credit unions who embed it in their own applications under their own brand.

Trustly: Is Trustly going public?

It has discussed an IPO but as of its most recent comments said one remained at least a year away.

Strands: Does it include account aggregation?

It supports aggregated external accounts, with CRIF and partners such as Enable Banking supplying the open banking connectivity.

Trustly: What does it typically cost a merchant?

Roughly 1.15% to 3.15% of transaction value depending on volume and market, negotiated per merchant.

Share

Related pages

More on Strands

More on Trustly

Keep looking

Other head to heads