# Basiq vs Powens

> Basiq scores 60.4 (C) to Powens's 42.6 (E) for bank account data. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-powens
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-powens.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-powens.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-powens.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 Powens's 42.6 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Powens leads on security & auth. 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
- Powens: grade E, 42.6/100, rank #892 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/powens.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/powens.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 27
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 48
- Agent ergonomics, 62 against 57
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 48 against 33
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 63

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

### Powens (E)

Good for: A European product, strongest in France, that needs account and transaction data plus wealth, loan and document data under Powens' own licence.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 60 against 55

Watch for: No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract was found. The reference is hand-written tables


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Basiq | Powens | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 27 | Basiq +43 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 48 | Basiq +36 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 57 | Basiq +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 60 | Powens +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 10 | Basiq +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 48 | 33 | Basiq +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 63 | Basiq +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **60.4 · C** | **42.6 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Basiq | Powens |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Basiq Pty Ltd (Cuscal Limited) | Powens SAS |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://au-api.basiq.io` | `https://{domain}.biapi.pro/2.0` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or 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 Powens' General Terms and Conditions of Sale. The Powens Connect iOS SDK on GitHub is LGPL-3.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | none |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no date given |
| 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 | not found in the text |
| 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.

**Powens.** Powens documents a REST API with Markdown docs, cursor pagination, date filters and a hard-delete call for connections, under a French payment institution licence. No OpenAPI file, public price, status page, idempotency key or server SDK was found, and live access needs a signed purchase order.

## 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.

### Powens

1. Ask the owner for the domain name, client ID and client secret from the console. Every call goes to `https://{domain}.biapi.pro/2.0`
2. Send `limit` on every transactions list. It is required, at most 1,000, and the next page comes from `_links.next.href` used as given
3. Enable an account with `POST` and `{"disabled": false}` only after the account holder consents. Accounts arrive disabled with no transactions
4. Store the permanent user token as a secret. It does not expire, and the default webhook sends it in the `Authorization` header
5. Stay under 30 calls a minute in the sandbox and use webhooks in place of polling, as the fair usage policy asks

## Questions

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

Basiq scores 60.4 (C) on agent readiness against Powens's 42.6 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Powens leads on security & auth.

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

Basiq needs an API key. Powens takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

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

Yes. Basiq has a hosted endpoint at https://au-api.basiq.io and Powens at https://{domain}.biapi.pro/2.0.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Basiq or Powens

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