"Plaid banking" refers to connecting your bank account to an app through Plaid, a financial technology company that links applications to your bank via secure APIs. Plaid is not itself a bank—it is the connection layer that lets apps such as Venmo, Cash App, Robinhood, and Coinbase verify your account, read balances and transactions, and initiate transfers once you give consent. Your bank login is never shared with the app you are using.

When you link a bank through Plaid, you authenticate in Plaid Link (Plaid's secure interface), Plaid verifies your identity with the bank, and the app receives a token—not your credentials. Plaid supports over 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe, and is SOC 2 Type II certified. You can review and revoke connected apps at my.plaid.com.

The Open Banking Tracker maps the banks that work with Plaid, apps that use Plaid, and how Plaid compares to alternatives like Tink, TrueLayer, MX, and Finicity. See our Plaid profile and Plaid alternatives for details.