Is Lithic or Unit better?

Neither clearly leads. Lithic starts at On request and Unit at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Lithic or Unit?

Lithic starts at On request and Unit at On request.

Does Lithic or Unit run on more platforms?

Lithic runs on Web, API. Unit runs on Web, iOS, Android.

What is Lithic best used for?

Lithic is most often used for a fintech wanting direct visa or mastercard network access rather than routing through a third-party processor, a company that already holds its own issuing licence and wants api access without full programme management, a neobank or expense platform wanting lithic to manage bank and network relationships end to end, a product team prototyping a card programme in sandbox before committing to a launch. Of those, a fintech wanting direct visa or mastercard network access rather than routing through a third-party processor and a company that already holds its own issuing licence and wants api access without full programme management are not what Unit is typically brought in for.

What can Lithic do that Unit cannot?

Lithic covers Direct network connections, Processor Client mode, Lithic Program Management, Card lifecycle APIs. Unit covers Deposit accounts, Card issuing, Payments, White label components.

APIs · head to head

Lithic vs Unit

Lithic

APIs

API-first card issuing platform with direct Visa, Mastercard and Amex network connections

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Unit

APIs

Banking as a service platform for embedding deposit accounts, cards and payments, with a sponsor bank behind it

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Lithic pricing is entirely undisclosed, so a company cannot compare total cost against Marqeta, Galileo or Highnote without a sales conversation.; Unit your product depends on a sponsor bank you do not contract with directly, and 2024 showed what that means: Thread Bank received an FDIC enforcement action naming its banking as a service programmes and Blue Ridge Bank went under an OCC consent order and offboarded fintech partners.
They diverge on capability: Lithic covers Direct network connections, Unit covers Deposit accounts.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lithic and Unit actually diverge.

Attributes where Lithic and Unit differ
Attribute	Lithic	Unit
Platforms	Web, API	Web, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), 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 Lithic

Direct network connections
Processor Client mode
Lithic Program Management
Card lifecycle APIs
Sandbox environment
Real-time authorization controls

Only in Unit

Deposit accounts
Card issuing
Payments
White label components
Compliance operations
Lending
Programme reporting
Sandbox

What people use each for

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

Lithic

A fintech wanting direct Visa or Mastercard network access rather than routing through a third-party processornot Unit
A company that already holds its own issuing licence and wants API access without full programme managementnot Unit
A neobank or expense platform wanting Lithic to manage bank and network relationships end to endnot Unit
A product team prototyping a card programme in sandbox before committing to a launchnot Unit

Unit

A vertical SaaS platform for contractors that wants to hold customer funds and issue expense cards without pursuing a charternot Lithic
A payroll or benefits platform embedding accounts so employees can be paid ahead of schedulenot Lithic
A marketplace that wants seller balances to sit in real accounts under its own brand rather than as ledger entries at a processornot Lithic
A company that needs interchange revenue from a card programme to make the unit economics of its core product worknot Lithic

Where each one falls short

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

Lithic

Pricing is entirely undisclosed, so a company cannot compare total cost against Marqeta, Galileo or Highnote without a sales conversation.
Choosing Processor Client mode still leaves the company responsible for holding its own issuing licence and managing the regulatory relationship, which is a substantial undertaking many teams underestimate.
As with any card infrastructure provider, an outage or network issue at Lithic becomes a direct outage for every card programme built on it, and a customer has limited visibility into root cause during an incident.
Building a card programme on API infrastructure requires real engineering investment; it is not a plug-and-play product for a non-technical team.
Switching card infrastructure providers after launch is a major undertaking involving card reissuance and programme migration, so the initial choice carries lasting lock-in.

Unit

Your product depends on a sponsor bank you do not contract with directly, and 2024 showed what that means: Thread Bank received an FDIC enforcement action naming its banking as a service programmes and Blue Ridge Bank went under an OCC consent order and offboarded fintech partners.
Programme approval by the bank is a separate gate from signing with Unit, and it can add months and impose product restrictions that were not visible during the commercial conversation.
Compliance obligations are shared but the operational load lands on you, and platforms consistently underestimate the staffing needed for disputes, escalations and the bank ongoing oversight requests.
Pricing is unpublished and blends platform fees, per-account and per-transaction charges and interchange sharing, which makes it hard to model unit economics before you have volume and easy to be surprised by the minimum.
Migrating a live deposit programme to a different provider or bank is extremely disruptive because it involves moving customer accounts and card credentials, so switching costs are far higher than for ordinary software.

Pricing, plan by plan

Lithic

On request

Lithic$undefined/year
- Volume and interchange-based pricing, not published
- Separate Processor Client and Program Management pricing tracks
- Custom quote required via sales

Unit

On request

Unit Banking as a Service$undefined/year
- Platform fee plus per-account and per-transaction charges, quoted
- Interchange sharing arrangements negotiated per programme
- Minimum commitment typical

Which should you pick?

Choose Lithic if

You need direct network connections.
You work on Web, API.
You also want processor client mode.

Lithic review

Choose Unit if

You need deposit accounts.
You work on Web, iOS, Android.
You also want card issuing.

Unit review

Questions people ask

Is Lithic or Unit better?: Neither clearly leads. Lithic starts at On request and Unit at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lithic or Unit?: Lithic starts at On request and Unit at On request.
Does Lithic or Unit run on more platforms?: Lithic runs on Web, API. Unit runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Lithic best used for?: Lithic is most often used for a fintech wanting direct visa or mastercard network access rather than routing through a third-party processor, a company that already holds its own issuing licence and wants api access without full programme management, a neobank or expense platform wanting lithic to manage bank and network relationships end to end, a product team prototyping a card programme in sandbox before committing to a launch. Of those, a fintech wanting direct visa or mastercard network access rather than routing through a third-party processor and a company that already holds its own issuing licence and wants api access without full programme management are not what Unit is typically brought in for.
What can Lithic do that Unit cannot?: Lithic covers Direct network connections, Processor Client mode, Lithic Program Management, Card lifecycle APIs. Unit covers Deposit accounts, Card issuing, Payments, White label components.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Lithic: Does Lithic publish pricing?

No, pricing is volume-based and requires a sales conversation.

Unit: Who actually holds the money?

A chartered partner bank, not Unit. Deposits sit at the sponsor bank and FDIC insurance flows from that bank, so its condition is your condition.

Lithic: What is the difference between Processor Client and Program Management?

Processor Client suits companies with their own issuing licence and bank relationships; Program Management is for companies wanting Lithic to coordinate those relationships on their behalf.

Unit: What happened with Unit sponsor banks in 2024?

Thread Bank received an FDIC enforcement action that explicitly named its banking as a service and lending as a service programmes, and Blue Ridge Bank was under an OCC consent order from January 2024 and offboarded fintech partners. Blue Ridge exited the order in late 2025.

Lithic: Which networks does it connect to?

Visa, Mastercard and American Express directly.

Unit: What does Unit cost?

Not published. Expect a platform fee, per-account and per-transaction charges, an interchange share and a minimum commitment.

Unit: Do we need our own compliance team?

Yes. Unit supplies tooling and the bank sets the rules, but disputes, escalations and evidence for bank oversight require named people on your side.

Lithic vs Unit

Lithic

Unit

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Lithic

Only in Unit

What people use each for

Lithic

Unit

Where each one falls short

Lithic

Unit

Pricing, plan by plan

Lithic

Unit

Which should you pick?

Choose Lithic if

Choose Unit if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Lithic

More on Unit

Keep looking

Other head to heads