Plaid Interactive Demo
Explore a demo of Plaid, the financial data network that lets users securely connect their bank accounts to thousands of apps — powering everything from ACH payments to income verification.
What is Plaid?
Plaid is a financial data network founded in 2013 by Zach Perret and William Hockey, headquartered in San Francisco. It sits between banks and the apps that want to read financial data or initiate payments — handling the authentication, data normalization, and ongoing connection so developers don't have to build that infrastructure themselves. Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase, Cash App, and thousands of other fintech products use Plaid under the hood to let users link their checking or savings accounts.
The core product is Plaid Link, a drop-in UI component that handles bank authentication. A user selects their bank, logs in, and Plaid returns a token the app can exchange for access to account data. Plaid connects to over 12,000 financial institutions in the US, Canada, and Europe. From there, developers use Plaid's APIs to pull transaction history, verify account ownership, check balances, confirm income, or initiate ACH transfers — depending on which products their use case requires.
Plaid's pricing is usage-based, charged per API call or per connected item depending on the product. Enterprise agreements are available for larger volume. The company attempted to go public and was the subject of a $5.3B Visa acquisition that was called off in 2021 after regulatory scrutiny. It remains private and is one of the most widely integrated pieces of infrastructure in the US fintech ecosystem.
How to get started with Plaid
- 1
Create a Plaid developer account
Sign up at plaid.com/docs and get your sandbox API keys. The sandbox environment includes test credentials for every supported institution, letting you build and test the full Link flow without touching real bank accounts.
- 2
Integrate Plaid Link on the frontend
Install the Plaid Link SDK for your platform (React, iOS, Android, or vanilla JS). Your server creates a link_token via the Plaid API and passes it to the client. Link opens as a modal or redirect, handles authentication, and returns a public_token on success.
- 3
Exchange the public token server-side
Send the public_token from Link to your backend and exchange it for an access_token using Plaid's /item/public_token/exchange endpoint. Store this access_token securely — it's what you'll use to make all subsequent API calls for that user's connected account.
- 4
Call the Plaid product APIs you need
Use your access_token to call whichever Plaid products fit your use case: /auth/get for account and routing numbers, /transactions/get for transaction history, /identity/get for account holder details, or /assets/report/create for an asset report. Each product requires the appropriate permissions to be enabled in your Plaid dashboard.
- 5
Handle webhooks and token expiry
Set up Plaid webhooks to receive notifications when new transactions are available, when a user's credentials expire, or when an item enters an error state. Handle ITEM_LOGIN_REQUIRED events by prompting users to re-authenticate through Link — this is the most common ongoing maintenance task for a Plaid integration.
Who is Plaid most useful for?
Fintech founders and product teams building apps that need users to connect a bank account. Whether you're building a budgeting tool, a payroll product, or an investment platform, Plaid's Link component handles the bank authentication step in a way that users recognize and trust — which meaningfully improves conversion compared to asking users to enter account and routing numbers manually.
Lending and credit teams that need to verify income or assets before making underwriting decisions. Plaid Income pulls verified income data directly from payroll providers, and Plaid Assets produces a bank statement-equivalent that lenders can use in place of uploaded PDFs. Both reduce fraud and speed up decisioning.
Payments and treasury teams at software companies that want to initiate ACH transfers programmatically. Plaid Auth verifies that a bank account belongs to a user and returns the routing and account numbers needed to originate a transfer — without asking the user to manually find that information. For teams building ACH-based payment flows, this is the standard approach.
Alternatives to Plaid
Plaid dominates US bank connectivity, but depending on your geography and use case, a few alternatives are worth evaluating.
Strong alternative to Plaid with a focus on data enrichment, categorization, and financial wellness features. Popular with banks and credit unions building their own customer-facing products. Less common in pure fintech app integrations where Plaid has stronger developer adoption.
Acquired by Mastercard in 2020, Finicity is commonly used for mortgage and lending workflows where Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-accepted asset verification matters. A natural fit if your use case is underwriting and you need GSE-accepted data.
The go-to alternative if your product operates primarily in the UK or EU. TrueLayer has deep coverage of European banks and builds on PSD2 open banking regulations. Plaid's European coverage is more limited, making TrueLayer the stronger default for European-first products.
One of the oldest players in financial data aggregation, now owned by Envestnet. Broad institution coverage and enterprise relationships with wealth management and banking clients. Developer experience and API design are generally considered less modern than Plaid.
FAQs on Plaid
Commonly asked questions about Plaid. Have more? Reach out and our team will be happy to help.
How does Plaid Link work?
Plaid Link is an embeddable UI component that handles the entire bank connection flow. Your app initializes Link with a token from Plaid's API, the user selects their institution and authenticates, and Plaid returns a public token you exchange server-side for a permanent access token. That access token is then used to call whichever Plaid products your integration requires.
Is Plaid secure?
Plaid uses 256-bit AES encryption for stored credentials and TLS for data in transit. It is SOC 2 Type II certified and complies with GDPR and CCPA. Plaid does not store user bank credentials — it exchanges them for tokens during the auth flow. Users can revoke Plaid's access to their accounts at any time through Plaid's consumer portal.
What financial institutions does Plaid support?
Plaid connects to over 12,000 financial institutions in the US, Canada, and the UK, including all major banks (Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi) and most credit unions and regional banks. Coverage varies by country, with the US having the broadest institution support.
What's the difference between Plaid Auth and Plaid Transactions?
Plaid Auth verifies bank account ownership and returns routing and account numbers — primarily used for ACH payment initiation. Plaid Transactions returns categorized transaction history going back up to 24 months, used for budgeting apps, underwriting, and spend analysis. They're separate products and can be used independently or together.
How much does Plaid cost?
Plaid pricing is usage-based and varies by product. The company publishes a self-serve pricing page for startups; enterprise pricing is negotiated directly. Costs are typically structured per connected item or per API call depending on the product. Teams with high volume generally negotiate flat-rate or tiered agreements.
Does Plaid work outside the US?
Plaid operates in the US, Canada, and the UK, with select European markets supported through its European infrastructure. Coverage outside North America is more limited than competitors like Tink (which Visa acquired) or TrueLayer, which have deeper European bank networks.