For data providers on the Plaid network
Plaid Exchange vs Core Exchange
How fintechs, card issuers and BaaS platforms get listed on the Plaid network through Core Exchange, in 2026.
What is Plaid Exchange?
Plaid Exchange is Plaid’s older integration for data providers: an API, on Plaid’s own schema, that let an institution share accounts and transactions with apps on the Plaid network. Plaid now publishes it for reference only and has closed it to new data partners. Plaid Core Exchange is its replacement: an API specification aligned with the FDX standard. A platform that implements Core Exchange and passes Plaid’s validation appears in Plaid Link under its own name and logo, so its customers connect through an API instead of handing over their password.
Plaid Exchange vs Core Exchange at a glance
| Plaid Exchange | Core Exchange | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Legacy. Reference only, closed to new data partners | Current. Plaid’s supported provider integration |
| Specification | Plaid’s own schema (OAuth, users, transactions) | Aligned with the FDX standard |
| New integrations | Not accepted | Accepted, Plaid validates the API before listing |
| Existing integrations | Expected to migrate to Core Exchange | The migration target |
| Reuse beyond Plaid | Plaid only | FDX endpoints also fit other FDX readers, such as Intuit |
| How you appear | In Plaid Link after validation | In Plaid Link under your own name and logo |
Sources: Plaid’s Plaid Exchange documentation and Core Exchange product page.
From credential sharing to API connections
Account connections across the industry began with customers sharing their login details, because most institutions had no API to offer. Plaid has led much of the move to API connections, with large banks such as Citi and Navy Federal Credit Union, and with core providers such as Fiserv, Jack Henry, Q2, Alkami and FIS bringing smaller banks along.
Core Exchange takes that to the institutions that remain: mostly fintechs, such as neobanks, card programs and BaaS brands that hold accounts but have no API connection of their own. For them, the difference looks like this.
Without an API connection
- Customers re-enter their password for your platform to link each app
- Connections depend on a login page that can change
- Access is hard to scope per account or revoke per app
- The connection screen is not branded as yours
Core Exchange (API) listing
- Customers sign in on your own domain and consent per account
- Stable, versioned endpoints instead of a login page being parsed
- Access is scoped and revocable, and you can see who holds it
- You are listed in Plaid Link under your own name and logo
Apideck does not screen scrape. It is API-only.
Every Apideck connection runs on APIs, never on stored or shared passwords. On the Plaid route, your customers sign in on your own login through OAuth, and FDX Connect, Apideck’s FDX data provider, serves their accounts and transactions to Plaid over the FDX API. Your customers never share their password with Apideck or anyone else.
How many fintechs have an API connection?
Not many publish one. Of the 100 US challenger banks and fintechs tracked by Open Banking Tracker (October 2026), 54 are reachable through Plaid, 14 run a public developer portal, and only 1 has a documented FDX API. Across all institutions, the tracker lists 20 banks, brokerages and credit unions with FDX APIs, almost all of them large banks.
Most fintechs have no FDX provider of their own, which is the gap Core Exchange closes.
Who should build to Core Exchange
Any platform whose customers hold accounts or cards and want to connect them to other apps. Banks and credit unions usually get there through their core banking vendor; fintechs usually have to build it.
Neobanks and challenger banks
Customers link their accounts to budgeting, lending and accounting apps every day. An API listing replaces credential sharing for all of them at once.
Card issuers and spend management
Corporate card and expense platforms hold the transactions finance teams want in their books and in their apps.
BaaS and embedded banking platforms
One provider integration can cover every brand or program on the platform, instead of each program being connected separately.
Treasury, payouts and marketplaces
Platforms that hold balances on behalf of businesses, where account holders want the same data in Plaid-powered tools.
What implementing Core Exchange involves
Plaid says a Core Exchange integration can take as little as six weeks. The work is the provider itself:
- Run an OAuth 2.0 authorization server with your own login and a second factor
- Implement the FDX read endpoints: accounts, balances, transactions and account details
- Handle consent: which accounts each app can see, and revocation
- Pass Plaid’s validation before your listing goes live, then keep the endpoints healthy
Apideck Plaid Bank Feeds (in early access) runs that provider for you. You post accounts and statements to one Bank Feeds API, and Apideck operates the Core Exchange provider behind your listing, so your platform appears on the Plaid network under your own name. The same feed reaches QuickBooks Online through Intuit Bank Feeds and accounting platforms with native feeds. Apideck carries data only, never money.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Plaid Exchange?
- Plaid Exchange is Plaid’s older integration for data providers: an API specification, based on Plaid’s own schema, that let a financial institution share account, identity and transaction data with apps on the Plaid network over OAuth. Plaid now publishes it for reference only. New data partners are directed to Core Exchange, and existing Plaid Exchange integrations to a migration guide.
- What is Plaid Core Exchange?
- Core Exchange is Plaid’s current specification for data providers, aligned with the Financial Data Exchange (FDX) standard. A bank, credit union or fintech that implements it, and passes Plaid’s validation, appears in Plaid Link under its own name and logo, so its customers can connect accounts to apps on the Plaid network through an API instead of sharing credentials. Plaid describes integration as taking as little as six weeks and network access as being at no cost.
- Is Plaid Exchange the same as Core Exchange?
- No. Plaid Exchange is the legacy, Plaid-specific integration and is closed to new data partners. Core Exchange is the current one and follows the FDX standard. If you are starting today, build to Core Exchange; if you are on Plaid Exchange, Plaid expects you to migrate.
- Why move from credential sharing to an API connection?
- Across the industry, account connections started with customers sharing their login details, because most institutions had no API. API connections replace that: the customer signs in on the institution’s own site, consents per account, and can revoke access per app. Plaid has led much of this migration with large banks and core banking providers, and Core Exchange extends it to fintechs, card programs and BaaS platforms that hold accounts but have no API connection of their own.
- How do I get my fintech listed on Plaid?
- Implement Core Exchange, or use a provider that runs it for you, and pass Plaid’s validation. Banks and credit unions often get there through their core or digital banking vendor. Fintechs, card issuers and BaaS platforms usually build or buy the provider themselves. Apideck Plaid Bank Feeds runs the Core Exchange provider for you: you post accounts and statements to one API and Apideck handles the OAuth server, FDX endpoints, consent and validation. It is API-only: Apideck does not screen scrape or handle your customers’ passwords.
- Is Core Exchange based on FDX?
- Yes. Plaid describes Core Exchange as financial data APIs built to FDX standards. FDX is the US and Canadian open banking API standard, recognized by the CFPB as a standard-setting body for Section 1033, so an FDX-aligned provider can also serve other FDX readers, not only Plaid.
Get your platform on Plaid’s network
One integration for Plaid through Core Exchange, QuickBooks Online through Intuit Bank Feeds, and native accounting feeds.