Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Plaid vs Tink

Plaid logo

Plaid

Accounting

The safer way to connect financial accounts

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Tink logo

Tink

APIs

European open banking platform for account data and payment initiation

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Plaid no dollar amount is published for any product, and the pricing page states no per request rate or minimum commitment; Tink visa owns Tink, and pay-by-bank exists to move payments off card rails, so the roadmap and pricing of the product you are using to reduce interchange are set by the company that earns the interchange.
  • They diverge on capability: Plaid covers Bank account linking, Tink covers Account data access.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Plaid and Tink actually diverge.

Attributes where Plaid and Tink differ
AttributePlaidTink
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelusage-basedquote
PlatformsApi, Web, Ios, AndroidAPI, Web
CategoryAccountingAPIs
Founded2013Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Plaid

  • Bank account linking
  • Transaction data
  • Identity verification
  • Income verification
  • Asset reports
  • Venmo
  • Robinhood
  • Coinbase

Only in Tink

  • Account data access
  • Payment initiation
  • EEA passporting
  • Categorisation
  • Account verification
  • Risk and affordability signals
  • Variable recurring payments support
  • Consent management

What people use each for

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

Plaid

  • Connecting bank accounts to an application for balances and transactionsnot Tink
  • Verifying account ownership and income for payments or lendingnot Tink

Tink

  • A European lender that needs verified income and expense data from a borrower bank account across several EEA markets under one licencenot Plaid
  • A merchant offering pay-by-bank at checkout to avoid card acceptance costs on high value basketsnot Plaid
  • A fintech that does not hold its own PSD2 licence and needs to operate under an authorised provider passported across the EEAnot Plaid
  • A bank building an account aggregation view of a customer external accounts without negotiating with each institution individuallynot Plaid

Where each one falls short

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

Plaid

  • No dollar amount is published for any product, and the pricing page states no per request rate or minimum commitment
  • Three different billing models apply depending on the product, being one time per connected account, monthly per connected account, and per successful API call
  • That mix means total cost depends on which products are combined rather than on a single unit
  • Discounted rates require the Growth plan, which is a 12 month commitment

Tink

  • Visa owns Tink, and pay-by-bank exists to move payments off card rails, so the roadmap and pricing of the product you are using to reduce interchange are set by the company that earns the interchange.
  • Coverage is Europe only, so a product serving both European and United States users runs a second aggregator with a different data model and a separate contract.
  • PSD2 connection quality varies sharply by bank, and headline connection counts hide wide differences in success rate, consent lifetime and re-authentication frequency that determine what users actually experience.
  • Consent under PSD2 expires and requires periodic re-authentication, so any product depending on continuous data access has a recurring user friction it cannot design away, and drop-off at re-consent is a real product problem.
  • Pricing is quoted with data access and payment initiation priced separately, and there is no published rate card, so small merchants cannot compare pay-by-bank economics against card acceptance without a sales process.

Pricing, plan by plan

Plaid

$29/month
  • Pay-as-you-goFree
    • Bank connections
    • Transaction data
    • Account verification

Tink

On request
  • Tink Platform$undefined/year
    • Priced by product, market and volume
    • Data access and payment initiation priced separately
    • Annual commitments typical for enterprise agreements

Which should you pick?

Choose Plaid if

  • You need bank account linking.
  • You work on Api, Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want transaction data.
Plaid review

Choose Tink if

  • You need account data access.
  • You work on API, Web.
  • You also want payment initiation.
Tink review

Questions people ask

Is Plaid or Tink better?
Neither clearly leads. Plaid starts at $29/month and Tink at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Plaid or Tink?
Plaid starts at $29/month and Tink at On request.
Does Plaid or Tink run on more platforms?
Plaid runs on Api, Web, Ios, Android. Tink runs on API, Web.
What is Plaid best used for?
Plaid is most often used for connecting bank accounts to an application for balances and transactions, verifying account ownership and income for payments or lending. Of those, connecting bank accounts to an application for balances and transactions and verifying account ownership and income for payments or lending are not what Tink is typically brought in for.
What can Plaid do that Tink cannot?
Plaid covers Bank account linking, Transaction data, Identity verification, Income verification. Tink covers Account data access, Payment initiation, EEA passporting, Categorisation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Plaid: How much does Plaid cost?

Plaid does not publish per request rates. It offers Pay as You Go with no upfront commitment, a Growth plan on a 12 month commitment with discounts, and a Custom plan priced on volume. Figures come from its sales team.

Source
Tink: Who owns Tink?

Visa, since 2022. That is directly relevant if you are adopting pay-by-bank specifically to reduce card costs.

Plaid: How does Plaid bill for its products?

Plaid uses three billing shapes: one time fee products charged once per connected account, subscription products charged monthly per connected account, and per request products charged a flat fee for every successful API call.

Source
Tink: Do I need my own PSD2 licence?

No. Tink holds AIS and PIS licences from the Swedish FSA passported across the EEA, and customers can operate as its agent rather than obtaining their own authorisation.

Plaid: Can I test Plaid for free?

Yes. Plaid's Limited Production service allows up to 200 API calls with each available product using live data, before any commitment. Plaid is also free for the consumers whose accounts are connected.

Source
Tink: Does Tink cover the United States?

No. It is a European platform. US coverage requires a separate provider.

Tink: How reliable are the bank connections?

It varies by institution far more than the headline count of roughly 6,000 connections suggests. Ask for per market and per bank success rates and consent lifetimes for the banks your users actually hold accounts with.

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