标签：#banking

If you've been building on GoCardless Bank Account Data (formerly Nordigen's free tier), you may have noticed something concerning: new signups are disabled. The official page at bankaccountdata.gocardless.com/new-signups-disabled now blocks all new integrations. Existing users can continue, but if you're starting a new project or evaluating options, you need alternatives — today. What happened GoCardless acquired Nordigen in 2023 and integrated its free bank-data API as "Bank Account Data." The free tier was hugely popular with indie developers, hobbyist projects, and small fintech tools — it offered EU PSD2 coverage without the upfront cost of enterprise providers. Now that door is closing for new users. This mirrors a broader pattern: free open banking tiers are disappearing across the industry. Plaid tightened its free tier, Tink went enterprise-only under Visa, and now Nordigen's free legacy is being sunset for new signups. The question isn't just "what's the alternative" — it's "what alternative doesn't lock me into the same cycle?" The alternatives compared Provider eIDAS cert required? Pricing model EU coverage Best for open-banking.io ❌ No Free tier + paid plans EU (PSD2) Devs who want no certificate hassle Tink (Visa) ✅ Yes Enterprise pricing EU + global Large-scale production Plaid ✅ Yes (EU) Pay-per-call Global US-first teams needing EU too Yapily ✅ Yes Custom pricing EU Enterprise integrations Enable Banking ✅ Yes Custom pricing EU Budget-conscious teams The key differentiator isn't coverage or pricing — it's the certificate requirement . Most providers require you to hold an eIDAS QWAC/QSeal certificate to call their APIs directly. Why certificate-free matters more than you think An eIDAS qualified certificate costs €2,000–10,000 per year , depending on the issuer and type. You need to renew every 1–2 years, maintain audit trails, and handle the operational overhead of certificate rotation. For an indie developer or small SMB tool, the certificate cost

A platform is a collaboration system: platform teams depend on application teams, and both need shared standards. Engineers trust a platform through its predictable behavior, not its features. Being an engineer is about problem-solving and being passionate about it. And being an engineer means sharing your passion for problem-solving. By Ben Linders