Belvo

Belvo is open finance infrastructure for companies that need to connect accounts, interpret financial data or move money in Latin America. It suits financial institutions and businesses building regional finance or commerce products; its strongest case is breadth across data and payments, while the $1,000 monthly entry price makes production a serious commitment.

Overview

Founded in 2019, Belvo serves companies operating in Latin American financial services. Connections are available through a hosted widget, API, regulated Open Finance consent flow or institution credentials. Scheduled refreshes are a fit for products that can work with updates on a timetable, rather than requiring a different refresh pattern.

The platform connects retail and business bank accounts as well as official employment and fiscal records. Its API, developer hub, quickstart guide and API reference give integration teams a route to build against the service. Belvo says it hosts on AWS with high availability; data at rest is encrypted with AES 256 and RSA 2048, and data in transit uses TLS 1.2, with TLS 1.3 supported. It also states that it is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified and a PCI DSS Level 1 compliant service provider.

Key features

Bank data and analysis

Belvo supports accounts, balances, transactions, owners, bills, investments, investment transactions, incomes, recurring expenses and risk insights. Account data is categorized in real time, and transaction history can reach up to 24 months with standardized categorization. That gives teams useful context for analysis and financial products, though products needing records older than two years will run into a firm ceiling.

Transaction categorization, income verification, recurring-expense detection and risk insights can support assessment and monitoring workflows. The combination is useful to lenders, insurers, banks and digital wallets that need more than basic account connectivity, but the data refresh is scheduled rather than described as on-demand.

Payment flows

Belvo offers recurring direct debit collections in Mexico and one-tap Pix payments in Brazil. These region-specific options can help businesses build collection or payment flows in those markets; they are not a broad, uniform payment offering across Latin America.

Pricing

Belvo uses a freemium model, but its free access is a testing environment, not a route to production.

• Sandbox: free. It provides free sandbox access for testing and evaluation with unlimited testing. It is appropriate for developers validating an integration, but real-customer production access requires a paid plan.
• Launch: $1,000 a month, billed 1,000 USD/month. It includes sandbox and production environments, a customizable Connect Widget, a no-code solution, unlimited testing, standard support by email and premium support through Slack and video conference. It suits teams ready to launch who can justify that recurring cost; it is a high starting point for smaller projects or uncertain demand.
• Growth: custom pricing. It includes the Launch features plus a dedicated account manager. This is the step up for organizations that value an assigned account contact, with price determined by custom terms.

Unlimited testing applies to the listed plans, but does not remove the production paywall on Sandbox. The stated plan details do not give seat counts or production quotas, so teams should confirm those fit before committing.

Platforms

Belvo is available as an API and web product. The API is central to building integrations; web access complements it. The developer hub, quickstart guide and API reference support implementation, rather than making Belvo a standalone consumer banking app.

Who it's for

Belvo is aimed at banks, financial services companies, lenders, insurers, e-commerce and retail businesses, and digital wallets. It is a strong fit for teams serving Latin America that need account data and analytics alongside specific payment flows in Mexico or Brazil. It is less suitable for organizations outside that regional focus, teams requiring unscheduled refreshes, or projects that cannot support a $1,000 monthly production entry price.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Account connectivity, categorized data, insights and payment options sit in one platform, reducing the need to assemble those capabilities separately.
• Pro: Unlimited sandbox testing and developer resources support integration evaluation before production spend.
• Pro: Stated encryption, certification and PCI DSS compliance provide concrete security and compliance credentials for business buyers to assess.
• Con: Sandbox cannot serve real customers, and production begins at 1,000 USD/month, a substantial threshold for early-stage or low-volume use.
• Con: Transaction history is capped at 24 months, and scheduled refresh may not meet workflows needing a different cadence.
• Con: The specified payment offerings cover recurring direct debit in Mexico and one-tap Pix in Brazil, limiting their relevance elsewhere.

Alternatives

For a wider bank-connectivity shortlist, browse Bank Connectivity Software.

• MX is worth comparing for teams wanting a free account tier capped at 100 users or Android and iOS platforms alongside API and web. Its MX Platform plan uses custom pricing.
• TrueLayer Data API may suit teams comfortable with mock-data-only sandbox testing and production priced by volume and use case; its listed platforms include Android and iOS as well as API and web.
• CAMSfinserv Account Aggregator is a consumer-oriented option with free app download, registration and use, while financial institution access is paid.
• Envestnet | Yodlee offers a sandbox with five preconfigured users and sample data only, making it an alternative for developers whose evaluation needs fit those limits.
• Open Bank Project provides a free public API sandbox with test or synthetic data and a commercial license for paid use.
• viaBanking Banking API offers a free sandbox with sample-data AIS and PIS calls, with production available on a usage-based plan.
• Brankas is another paid option, with Basic, Enterprise and Open Finance Suite plans.
• Lean Technologies is another paid option with Android, iOS, API and web platforms.

Verdict

Choose Belvo if your company serves Latin America and needs a single infrastructure provider for account connections, categorized financial data and selected regional payment flows. Its combination of data tools and payments is the main reason to choose it; the high production starting price, scheduled refresh and limited geography of its stated payment methods are reasons to look elsewhere.