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APIs · head to head

TrueLayer vs Very Good Security

TrueLayer logo

TrueLayer

APIs

Open banking payments and data across the UK and Europe, with the largest share of UK variable recurring payments

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: TrueLayer variable recurring payments, the strongest reason to choose TrueLayer, is a UK construct, and European businesses expecting the same capability in their market will not get it on the same timetable.; Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • They diverge on capability: TrueLayer covers Pay by bank, Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which TrueLayer and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where TrueLayer and Very Good Security differ
AttributeTrueLayerVery Good Security
Starting priceOn request$1000/month
Pricing modelquotePer month
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, API
CategoryAPIsCybersecurity

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 TrueLayer

  • Pay by bank
  • Variable recurring payments
  • Payouts and refunds
  • Account information
  • Account name verification
  • Signup and KYC support
  • Multi-country coverage
  • Hosted payment page

Only in Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

What people use each for

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

TrueLayer

  • A UK subscription or top-up business that wants card-like recurring collection over bank rails using variable recurring paymentsnot Very Good Security
  • A trading or crypto platform funding accounts instantly by bank transfer where card deposits carry chargeback risknot Very Good Security
  • A marketplace paying sellers out to verified bank accounts with name checking to reduce misdirected paymentsnot Very Good Security
  • A lender verifying income and affordability from bank transaction data rather than uploaded statementsnot Very Good Security

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot TrueLayer
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot TrueLayer
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot TrueLayer
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot TrueLayer

Where each one falls short

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

TrueLayer

  • Variable recurring payments, the strongest reason to choose TrueLayer, is a UK construct, and European businesses expecting the same capability in their market will not get it on the same timetable.
  • Payment conversion varies substantially by bank, and a bank with a slow or broken authentication journey drags results down regardless of vendor, so aggregate coverage numbers say little about your actual mix.
  • Pay by bank has no chargeback mechanism, which merchants like until a customer disputes a purchase and finds no scheme protection, making it a poor fit for categories where buyers expect card style recourse.
  • Pricing is unpublished and varies by market and product, so multi-country merchants cannot model cost without a full sales engagement and often find rates differ significantly between countries.
  • Open banking authentication requires the customer to leave the checkout and authorise in their banking app, and that redirect remains the largest source of drop-off compared with a stored card.

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

Pricing, plan by plan

TrueLayer

On request
  • TrueLayer Payments and Data$undefined/year
    • Per-payment fees quoted by volume, market and product
    • Separate commercial terms for payment initiation, VRP and account information
    • Platform and minimum commitment terms negotiated per contract

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose TrueLayer if

  • You need pay by bank.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want variable recurring payments.
TrueLayer review

Choose Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.
Very Good Security review

Questions people ask

Is TrueLayer or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. TrueLayer starts at On request and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, TrueLayer or Very Good Security?
TrueLayer starts at On request and Very Good Security at $1000/month.
Does TrueLayer or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
TrueLayer runs on Web, iOS, Android. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
What is TrueLayer best used for?
TrueLayer is most often used for a uk subscription or top-up business that wants card-like recurring collection over bank rails using variable recurring payments, a trading or crypto platform funding accounts instantly by bank transfer where card deposits carry chargeback risk, a marketplace paying sellers out to verified bank accounts with name checking to reduce misdirected payments, a lender verifying income and affordability from bank transaction data rather than uploaded statements. Of those, a uk subscription or top-up business that wants card-like recurring collection over bank rails using variable recurring payments and a trading or crypto platform funding accounts instantly by bank transfer where card deposits carry chargeback risk are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can TrueLayer do that Very Good Security cannot?
TrueLayer covers Pay by bank, Variable recurring payments, Payouts and refunds, Account information. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

TrueLayer: Is VRP available outside the UK?

No. Variable recurring payments are a UK capability. EU adoption is on a slower path, with UK commercial VRP expanding into ecommerce during 2026.

Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

TrueLayer: What does TrueLayer cost?

Not published. Per-payment fees are quoted by volume, market and product, usually with a platform component and a minimum commitment.

Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

TrueLayer: Are there chargebacks on pay by bank?

No. Bank transfers have no card scheme chargeback mechanism, which removes that cost but also removes buyer recourse, so it suits some categories and not others.

Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

TrueLayer: Which countries are covered?

The UK plus a substantial set of European markets under PSD2, though bank-level coverage and conversion vary by country and should be checked for your specific mix.

Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

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