# Basiq vs TrueLayer

> TrueLayer scores 62.1 (B) to Basiq's 60.4 (C) for bank account data. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-truelayer
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-truelayer.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-truelayer.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/basiq-vs-truelayer.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

TrueLayer scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Basiq's 60.4 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Basiq leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. 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
- TrueLayer: grade B, 62.1/100, rank #443 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/truelayer.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/truelayer.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:
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 48 against 38
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 62

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

### TrueLayer (B)

Good for: UK data and payments from one licensed vendor, with EEA coverage through the Irish entity on Data v1.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 84
- Agent ergonomics, 73 against 62
- Security & auth, 66 against 55

Watch for: No public pricing anywhere on the site or in the docs


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Basiq | TrueLayer | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 71 | TrueLayer +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 89 | TrueLayer +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 73 | TrueLayer +11 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 66 | TrueLayer +11 |
| 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 | 38 | Basiq +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 62 | Basiq +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **60.4 · C** | **62.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Basiq | TrueLayer |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Basiq Pty Ltd (Cuscal Limited) | TrueLayer |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://au-api.basiq.io` | `https://api.truelayer.com` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth |
| 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 | Apache-2.0 or MIT (signing libraries) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-06-25 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-05-12 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-05-12 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| 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 |
| Popularity | none | 23 stars, 17k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |

## 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.

**TrueLayer.** FCA and Central Bank of Ireland authorised, holding the AISP and PISP licences itself. No public pricing anywhere on the site or in the docs.

## 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.

### TrueLayer

1. Use auth.truelayer-sandbox.com and api.truelayer-sandbox.com with a separate sandbox client; live credentials don't work there
2. Send the user's IP when they're present, or a bank allows 4 calls a day per account
3. Check the retry column of the Data API error table before retrying; codes marked No need the user or a config fix
4. Set data_access_type to one_time for a single read and skip the 90-day reauthorisation
5. Append .md to any docs URL to get the page as Markdown

## Questions

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

TrueLayer scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Basiq's 60.4 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Basiq leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

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

Basiq needs an API key. TrueLayer uses an OAuth sign-in.

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

Yes. Basiq has a hosted endpoint at https://au-api.basiq.io and TrueLayer at https://api.truelayer.com.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Basiq or TrueLayer

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