Trustly
Stockholm open-banking network moving money bank-to-bank across 12,000+ banks, no card involved
Quick Overview
| Company | Trustly Group AB |
|---|---|
| Category | Payment Processing |
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Founded | 2008 |
| EU Presence | EU (Sweden) |
| Data Location | EU |
| Open Source | No |
| Compliance | ISO 27001; authorised Swedish payment institution (Finansinspektionen) |
| Pricing | Per-transaction pricing negotiated per merchant; no published rate card |
| Free Option | Sales process, no self-serve trial |
| Replaces | PayPal, Klarna Pay Now, card payments for bank-transfer checkout |
Detailed Review
Trustly is an account-to-account payments network: instead of a card number, a shopper is redirected to their own bank to authorise a payment directly from their account, so no card details are captured, stored or shared with the merchant at all.
Founded in Stockholm in 2008, Trustly now connects to more than 12,000 banks and serves around 9,000 merchants across 33 markets, covering one-off e-commerce checkout, recurring "pay by bank" billing, instant payouts and account-verification data products from a single connection.
Trustly Group AB is registered in Sweden (corporate identity number 556754-8655) and authorised as a payment institution supervised by Finansinspektionen, the Swedish financial regulator, with a separate Trustly UK Limited authorised by the FCA for UK volume.
The company is ISO 27001 certified and hosts on ISO 27001-certified infrastructure.
Trustly is majority owned by the Swedish private equity firm Nordic Capital, which took control from Bridgepoint in 2018 alongside minority investors including BlackRock Private Equity Partners — European ownership, but not founder-led the way GoCardless or Mollie still are. In 2023 Trustly acquired the French recurring-payments specialist SlimPay, which now operates inside the same group under its own ACPR authorisation rather than as a separate product.
Trustly sits closer to GoCardless than to Adyen or Mollie in what it replaces: both remove the card entirely rather than processing one, and both undercut card rates once a bank supports the flow.
The difference is mechanism and use case — GoCardless pulls a recurring Direct Debit mandate that does not need the shopper present, while Trustly redirects the shopper to authorise each payment, or a variable recurring payment, through their own banking app, which suits one-off e-commerce, gaming deposits and insurance premiums as much as subscriptions. Pricing is not published; merchants are quoted per contract.
What Trustly does well
- Direct account-to-account payments, no card details stored or shared
- ISO 27001 certified, authorised Swedish payment institution
- Reaches more than 12,000 banks across dozens of markets
- SlimPay's French Direct Debit business is now part of the same group
- No card number to steal, reuse or charge back in the card-network sense
Where Trustly falls short
- No published transaction pricing; every merchant is quoted
- Conversion depends on the shopper's bank supporting an instant redirect flow
- Majority owned by a private equity firm (Nordic Capital), not founder-led
- Weaker fit for a merchant that only needs plain card acceptance
Standout feature. Payment without a card: Trustly moves money bank-to-bank in real time, so there is no card number to steal, store or expire.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Direct account-to-account payments, no card details stored or shared
- ISO 27001 certified, authorised Swedish payment institution
- Reaches more than 12,000 banks across dozens of markets
- SlimPay's French Direct Debit business is now part of the same group
- No card number to steal, reuse or charge back in the card-network sense
Cons
- No published transaction pricing; every merchant is quoted
- Conversion depends on the shopper's bank supporting an instant redirect flow
- Majority owned by a private equity firm (Nordic Capital), not founder-led
- Weaker fit for a merchant that only needs plain card acceptance
Alternatives to Trustly
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Trustly?
Trustly is an account-to-account payments network: instead of a card number, a shopper is redirected to their own bank to authorise a payment directly from their account, so no card details are captured, stored or shared with the merchant at all.
Founded in Stockholm in 2008, Trustly now connects to more than 12,000 banks and serves around 9,000 merchants across 33 markets, covering one-off e-commerce checkout, recurring "pay by bank" billing, instant payouts and account-verification data products from a single connection.
Where is Trustly based?
Trustly operates from Stockholm, Sweden, which places it under EU (Sweden). Compliance: ISO 27001; authorised Swedish payment institution (Finansinspektionen).
What does Trustly cost?
Per-transaction pricing negotiated per merchant; no published rate card. Sales process, no self-serve trial.
Who is Trustly best for?
Merchants wanting bank-transfer checkout instead of cards. Payment without a card: Trustly moves money bank-to-bank in real time, so there is no card number to steal, store or expire.
What are the drawbacks of Trustly?
No published transaction pricing; every merchant is quoted. Conversion depends on the shopper's bank supporting an instant redirect flow. Majority owned by a private equity firm (Nordic Capital), not founder-led. Weaker fit for a merchant that only needs plain card acceptance.
Is Trustly a good alternative to PayPal?
Trustly is built as a European alternative to PayPal: Stockholm open-banking network moving money bank-to-bank across 12,000+ banks, no card involved. It will not be a like-for-like feature match in every respect, so check the review above for where the two genuinely differ before switching.
How does Trustly compare to other Payment Processing tools?
Trustly is one of several European Payment Processing tools we cover. It is most often compared with PayPal, Klarna Pay Now, card payments for bank-transfer checkout.