Yapily vs Plaid: Which AIS Provider Fits Your Business in 2025?

If you’re a UK business evaluating Account Information Services (AIS) providers, chances are you’re down to a shortlist: Yapily and Plaid. Both are FCA-authorised, both connect to UK banks, and both make bold claims about coverage and reliability.

But when you’re close to making a buying decision, you don’t need another generic overview of “open banking.” You need answers to very specific questions:

• Which provider actually covers UK business accounts (not just consumer accounts)?
• Who gives you cleaner, enriched AIS data to cut onboarding and compliance costs?
• What kind of pricing and contracts should you expect in the UK?
• And most importantly: who will help you deploy AIS faster, without compliance headaches?

This article compares Yapily vs Plaid for AIS in the UK across coverage, data enrichment, and commercial fit. We’ll also show why Finexer is emerging as a stronger UK-focused AIS alternative.

Why AIS Matters for UK Businesses

At the bottom of the funnel, you’re not looking for a definition of open banking. You’re making a critical product or compliance decision. AIS underpins:

• Accounting platforms — pulling verified client statements in seconds
• Lenders — running affordability and income checks without PDFs
• Compliance teams — validating source of funds to meet AML rules

The right provider helps you cut costs, reduce onboarding times, and avoid regulatory risk. The wrong one leads to data gaps, client frustration, and expensive workarounds.

Yapily

Founded in London in 2017, Yapily has positioned itself as a UK and Europe-first AIS infrastructure provider. It is FCA-authorised as an AISP, which means UK businesses can operate under Yapily’s licence without having to apply for their own.

Strengths Yapily Brings to the UK Businesses

• Deep UK Coverage
  Yapily connects to nearly all major UK banks including HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest, Santander, and Nationwide. Unlike many providers, Yapily also highlights its corporate and wealth account coverage, which is crucial for accounting platforms and B2B fintechs.
• Business Account Access
  Where some providers lean consumer-first, Yapily’s AIS proposition explicitly includes SMEs and corporate accounts. That’s a big advantage for UK lenders and compliance teams who need more than just retail banking data.
• Data Enrichment
  Yapily offers transaction categorisation and validation (Yapily Validate), which supports use cases like income verification, AML checks, and affordability assessments. Instead of dumping raw transaction feeds, Yapily’s enrichment helps teams move faster.
• Enterprise-Ready API
  Yapily’s platform is designed for high-volume AIS pulls, making it suitable for organisations that process thousands of data requests daily. Its infrastructure-first approach appeals to larger firms that want stability and scale.
• White-Label Control
  Clients can choose between white-labelled user journeys (keeping their branding front and centre) or hosted UX for faster rollout.

Commercial Reality

Yapily doesn’t publish its pricing. Instead, it operates on custom contracts, which can work well for larger enterprises but may feel heavy for SMEs. It’s often best suited for mid- to enterprise-level UK businesses that want enterprise-scale AIS.

Plaid

Plaid built its reputation in the United States as the go-to platform for consumer account aggregation. In the UK, it operates as a regulated AISP under the FCA, allowing businesses to use its licence for connecting to bank data.

Where Plaid Fits

• Consumer Aggregation Strength
  Plaid is widely adopted by personal finance apps, challenger banks, and lending platforms. Its developer-friendly tools, such as Plaid Link, make it easy to integrate account data into customer-facing products.
• Data Enrichment
  The platform includes categorisation and enrichment layers that are tuned for consumer use cases, think budgeting, affordability checks, and digital lending. For apps with a heavy focus on end-user experience, this is a plus.
• Global Consistency
  Businesses operating in multiple geographies often choose Plaid for its single API design across the US, UK, and EU. This reduces engineering overhead for firms scaling internationally.

Limitations for UK Business Use

• Business Account Coverage
  In the UK, Plaid’s core strength is retail banking. Corporate and SME accounts are less visible in its offering, which can be limiting for accountants and enterprise lenders.
• User Journeys
  Plaid Link speeds up integrations but is often branded, which can be an issue for B2B platforms that prefer fully white-label experiences.
• Contract Model
  Like Yapily, Plaid’s UK contracts are typically custom agreements with minimum commitments, making it less flexible for firms looking for usage-based options.

Bottom Line

Plaid delivers real value for consumer-centric fintech apps in the UK. But for teams that need deep business account access, white-label control, or flexible pricing, it may not tick every box.

Comparison: Yapily vs Plaid for AIS in the UK

Category	Yapily	Plaid
Regulatory Status	FCA-authorised AISP in the UK and EU	FCA-authorised AISP in the UK and EU
UK Bank Coverage	Strong footprint across major retail banks, with support for corporate and wealth accounts	Broad retail coverage, but primarily consumer-focused
Business Account Access	Explicit support for SMEs and corporates	Limited visibility into business account connectivity
Data Enrichment	Categorisation, account validation, and compliance-ready tools	Categorisation designed around consumer finance use cases
Integration Options	White-label or hosted user flows	Plaid Link (fast but usually branded)
Scale & Performance	Built for enterprise-grade data requests with high volume capacity	Strong developer ecosystem, consistent API across regions
Commercial Model	Custom contracts, often enterprise-first	Custom contracts, minimum commitments in UK/EU

The UK-Focused Alternative: Finexer

When you compare Yapily and Plaid, both have strengths but both also leave gaps for UK businesses that need AIS at scale.

That’s where Finexer comes in. Unlike global providers spreading coverage across multiple regions,It is built specifically for the UK market.

Why Finexer Stands Out

• 99% UK Bank Coverage
  Access nearly every UK retail and business bank including high street, challenger, and SME-focused institutions.
• Consumer + Business Accounts
  Where other providers lean consumer-first, Finexer includes corporate, SME, and wealth accounts as standard.
• Enriched, Clean Data
  Categorisation and metadata layers help lenders, accountants, and compliance teams turn raw bank feeds into actionable insights.
• Usage-Based Pricing
  No opaque minimum commitments. You only pay for what you use, making it accessible to both startups and larger enterprises.
• Fast Deployment
  UK businesses typically go live with Finexer 2–3x faster than the market average, with 3–5 weeks of hands-on onboarding support.
• Compliance Handled
  Fully FCA-regulated, so you operate under Finexer’s licence without worrying about your own AISP approval.

When to Choose Finexer Over Yapily or Plaid

• You need corporate and SME account data as much as consumer coverage.
• You want transparent, usage-based pricing instead of opaque enterprise contracts with zero setup cost.
• You’re looking for fast deployment with UK-specific compliance support.
• You prefer a provider that acts as a partner, not a competitor, with no consumer-facing products.