An alternative to AbstractAPI for IBANs
AbstractAPI’s IBAN Validation API answers whether an IBAN is valid. If you are weighing it against IBANforge, here is what each one returns, with the plans of both.
We sell IBANforge, so read this page with that in mind. Every fact about AbstractAPI comes from its public pages, read on 24 September 2026 and linked at the bottom. If something is wrong or a price has changed, write to support@ibanforge.com and we will correct it.
What AbstractAPI does well
- A short answer that is easy to wire in: the documented response carries the IBAN and is_valid.
- High request rates: 25 requests per second on Standard, 100 on the higher tiers.
- An Enterprise plan, on quote, whose card lists a 99.99% uptime SLA.
- A free plan of 100 requests, at 1 request per second.
What IBANforge does differently
- The bank code is checked in the national register where we read it in full: Germany (Deutsche Bundesbank, edition of September 2026), Switzerland and Liechtenstein (SIX BankMaster, valid from 1 September 2026), Austria, Belgium, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. There, a code the register does not hold comes back not_allocated, with authoritative: true.
- Every answer names its sources: the register behind the bank-code verdict, the source of the BIC and the edition it was read from (bank_code_check.register, bic.source, as_of).
- National check digits inside the account number, where a country has them: France and Monaco (RIB key), Belgium, Italy and San Marino (CIN), Spain (DC) and the United Kingdom (modulus check).
- Built for AI agents: an MCP server, hosted or as the ibanforge-mcp package, and x402, which lets an agent pay each call in USDC on Base with no account.
- A keyless trial of 25 validations a week on POST /v1/iban/validate, to try it before taking a key.
AbstractAPI prices · IBANforge prices
AbstractAPI prices
As its pages showed them on 24 September 2026.
- Standard, billed annually (the view shown by default): $63 a month for 60,000 requests a year.
- Standard, billed monthly: $69 a month for 5,000 requests a month.
- Higher tiers: $182 a month billed annually for 240,000 requests a year, or $199 a month for 20,000 a month.
- Then $457 a month billed annually for 600,000 requests a year, or $499 a month for 50,000 a month.
- Free: 100 requests, at 1 request per second.
IBANforge prices
Current prices, the same as on the pricing page.
- Keyless trial: 25 validations a week on POST /v1/iban/validate.
- Free key: 200 requests a month once claimed with an e-mail address, on every endpoint, no card.
- Pro: $29 a month for 10,000 requests, cancel anytime.
- Credit packs that never expire: 1,000 credits for $4, 5,000 for $20, 25,000 for $80.
- x402: $0.005 per validation and $0.002 per IBAN in a batch, in USDC on Base, no account.
Calculation. The two answers do not cover the same ground: AbstractAPI documents no BIC or bank name in its response, while IBANforge names the bank and its BIC. For volume alone, from the published prices: 5,000 validations cost $69 for a month at AbstractAPI (Standard, billed monthly) and $20 at IBANforge (one pack of 5,000 credits, no expiry).
When AbstractAPI is the better choice
- You only need to know whether an IBAN is well formed, at a high rate of single calls: Standard lists 25 requests per second. IBANforge accepts 100 requests a minute per IP address, with up to 100 IBANs in one batch call.
- You want an Enterprise plan whose card lists a 99.99% uptime SLA.
What IBANforge does not do
- Check the account holder’s name. That is Verification of Payee, run by the payee’s bank.
- Check the German account-number methods, or the national keys of the countries not named above: not yet.
- Say whether the account exists or is open. No register publishes that.
Go further
Sources, read on 24 September 2026: abstractapi.com/api/iban-validation · docs.abstractapi.com/api/iban-validation