# Basiq vs Flinks

> Basiq scores 60.4 (C) to Flinks's 52.7 (D) for bank account data. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-flinks
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-flinks.md (~2,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-flinks.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-flinks.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Basiq scores 60.4 (C) on agent readiness against Flinks's 52.7 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Flinks leads on payments & pricing. Both do bank account data.

- Basiq: grade C, 60.4/100, rank #515 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/basiq.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/basiq.json
- Flinks: grade D, 52.7/100, rank #727 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/flinks.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/flinks.json
- Best open banking and bank data APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/banking-data/index.md
- All 105 bank data comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/banking-data/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Basiq (C)

Good for: Consented bank data for Australia and New Zealand, with income and affordability reports for lenders.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 70 against 53
- Agent ergonomics, 62 against 54
- Security & auth, 55 against 50
- Maintenance & community, 48 against 31
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 60

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: Live data needs a plan with a 12-month minimum and a platform access fee whose amount is not published

### Flinks (D)

Good for: A lender or fintech with steady volume that needs Canadian bank data, income and lending attributes, PDF statements or Canadian bank payments.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 25 against 20

Watch for: Live access needs a contract with a monthly minimum and a one-year term. The pricing page says there is no pay-as-you-go plan or self-serve trial


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Basiq | Flinks | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 53 | Basiq +17 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 83 | Basiq +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 54 | Basiq +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 50 | Basiq +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 25 | Flinks +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 48 | 31 | Basiq +17 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 60 | Basiq +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **60.4 · C** | **52.7 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Basiq | Flinks |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Basiq Pty Ltd (Cuscal Limited) | Flinks Technology Inc. (National Bank of Canada) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://au-api.basiq.io` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Basiq Terms of Service. The public docs repository carries no licence file, and the OpenAPI files state the licence as Commercial | Proprietary service under Flinks' Master Terms and Conditions. No open-source SDK or repository was found |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-01 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2023-08-03 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2022-09-22 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |

## Verdicts

**Basiq.** Ten public OpenAPI files, an llms.txt index with Markdown twins and a free self-serve sandbox let an agent start on test data. Live access needs a 12-month plan with an unpublished platform access fee, no SLA or security.txt was found, and the privacy policy says collected content may be kept indefinitely.

**Flinks.** Ten public OpenAPI files, an llms.txt index with Markdown twins and published sandbox keys let an agent start without a signup. Live access needs a one-year contract from $500 a month, keys never expire, no rate-limit numbers are published, and the status page logged 77 incidents in 90 days.

## Before you call either

### Basiq

1. Send the API key verbatim after `Basic` in the `Authorization` header of `POST /token`. Base64-encoding it returns a 400.
2. Send `basiq-version: 3.0` on the token request, cache the bearer token for its 60 minutes, and stay under 1,500 token requests per 5 minutes.
3. Send the account holder through the hosted Consent UI in a browser with a `CLIENT_ACCESS` token bound to their `userId`. The API alone cannot create a first connection on version 3.0.
4. Poll `GET /jobs/{jobId}` until `verify-credentials`, `retrieve-accounts` and `retrieve-transactions` all read `success` before reading accounts or transactions.
5. Follow `links.next` on `GET /users/{userId}/transactions`. A page holds at most 500 items, and pending transactions get new ids on each refresh.

### Flinks

1. Call `/GenerateAuthorizeToken` with the secret key in `flinks-auth-key`, then pass the returned token to the Connect iframe or to `/Authorize`. The token is single-use and expires after 15 minutes.
2. Send the account holder through Flinks Connect in a browser. The API alone cannot complete a first bank login, and sandbox iframes need `demo=true`.
3. Store the `loginId`. Call `/Authorize` with it and `MostRecentCached: true` for a new `requestId` each session, because `/GetAccountsDetail` consumes the `requestId`.
4. On a 202 from `/GetAccountsDetail`, poll `/GetAccountsDetailAsync` every 10 seconds for at most 30 minutes, or ask support to enable webhooks.
5. Route each end user to the instance for their country. A `loginId` from the Canadian instance is not valid on the US one.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Basiq or Flinks?

Basiq scores 60.4 (C) on agent readiness against Flinks's 52.7 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Flinks leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Basiq and Flinks need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Basiq and Flinks without installing anything?

Basiq has a hosted endpoint at https://au-api.basiq.io. No hosted endpoint is listed for Flinks.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-flinks.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-flinks.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "basiq", "b": "flinks"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare basiq flinks`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/basiq.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/flinks.json

## Other comparisons with Basiq or Flinks

- [Akoya vs Basiq](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/akoya-vs-basiq.md)
- [Akoya vs Flinks](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/akoya-vs-flinks.md)
- [Basiq vs Belvo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-belvo.md)
- [Basiq vs Enable Banking](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-enable-banking.md)
- [Basiq vs GoCardless Bank Account Data](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-gocardless-bank-account-data.md)
- [Basiq vs MX Platform API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-mx.md)
- [Basiq vs Plaid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-plaid.md)
- [Basiq vs Powens](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-powens.md)
- [Basiq vs Salt Edge Account Information](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-salt-edge.md)
- [Basiq vs Teller](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-teller.md)
- [Basiq vs Tink](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-tink.md)
- [Basiq vs TrueLayer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-truelayer.md)
- [Basiq vs Yapily](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-yapily.md)
- [Basiq vs Yodlee Core API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-yodlee-financial-data.md)
- [Belvo vs Flinks](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/belvo-vs-flinks.md)
- [Enable Banking vs Flinks](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/enable-banking-vs-flinks.md)
- [Flinks vs GoCardless Bank Account Data](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/flinks-vs-gocardless-bank-account-data.md)
- [Flinks vs MX Platform API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/flinks-vs-mx.md)
- [Flinks vs Plaid](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/flinks-vs-plaid.md)
- [Flinks vs Powens](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/flinks-vs-powens.md)
- [Flinks vs Salt Edge Account Information](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/flinks-vs-salt-edge.md)
- [Flinks vs Teller](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/flinks-vs-teller.md)
- [Flinks vs Tink](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/flinks-vs-tink.md)
- [Flinks vs TrueLayer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/flinks-vs-truelayer.md)
- [Flinks vs Yapily](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/flinks-vs-yapily.md)
- [Flinks vs Yodlee Core API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/flinks-vs-yodlee-financial-data.md)