What is Plaid?

Plaid makes it easy to securely connect your bank to the apps you want to use

Connecting your bank to your apps

We power thousands of the apps that people rely on to manage their financial lives.

  • Venmo (peer-to-peer payments)
  • Betterment (automated investing)
  • Chime (online banking)
  • Dave (earned wage access)
  • And thousands more...
Meet companies powered by Plaid

How it works

We connect to 11,000 financial institutions across the United States, Canada, and Europe. With Plaid, connecting your bank account is easy:

  • Step 1
    When you sign up with a Plaid-powered app, you’ll be able to select your financial institution from a list. Then, enter your login and password.
  • Step 2
    In a matter of seconds, we encrypt the data you’ve chosen to share (for instance, your account balance) and securely share it with the app you want to use. We never share your login and password with the app.
  • Step 3
    We work behind the scenes to build a secure, ongoing connection between the app and your bank.
Learn more about our company

Your data, your choice

With Plaid, you’re in control. You choose whom your data is shared with, for what purpose, and how long. Some of the most common information we help people share includes:

  • Account and routing number
  • Account balance
  • Transaction history
  • Personal loans and credit cards
  • Investment holdings
  • Identity information (to prevent fraud)
Learn about our data practices and policies

Protecting your data


Whenever you use a Plaid-powered app, we’re working behind the scenes to protect your financial information. Our security practices are designed to meet or exceed the industry standards that banks and leading technology companies use. They include:
Learn about our security policy

End-to-end data encryption

The combination of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) help keep your personal information safe end-to-end.

Strong authentication

Plaid protects your data on our systems and requires multi-factor authentication for added security.

Cloud infrastructure

Plaid uses secure cloud infrastructure technologies to enable you to connect quickly and safely.

Robust monitoring

The Plaid API and all related components are continuously monitored by our information security team.

Third-party security reviews

Security researchers and financial institutions regularly audit Plaid’s API and security controls.

You’re in control

Your data belongs to you. That means:

  • We don’t sell your data to any outside companies.
  • We don’t share your data with anyone without your permission.
  • You’re in control of whom you share your data with and for how long.
Learn about our data practices and policies

How Plaid makes money

When you connect your financial data to an app or service, they pay Plaid. For example, when you add a bank account to Square Cash, they pay us a fee.

Plaid is free for everyone who uses a Plaid-powered app, allowing you to securely connect your bank account to the apps you want in just a few seconds.

Meet companies powered by Plaid

Build your financial life


Your financial data is powerful. It can help you pay down debts, save for retirement, and make progress toward your goals. With Plaid-powered apps, you can: