Marqeta vs Lithic for vertical software: card issuing, program control, and when to pick which

Who this is for

The founder, COO, or head of product at a software platform or fintech that wants branded debit, prepaid, charge, or credit cards inside the product for users to spend. You are buying card issuing on a partner bank’s BIN sponsor, not becoming the licensed issuer on day one.

Wall-off. This page is not card acquiring or PayFac-as-a-service (see payments and How to pick payments). It is not working capital (lending). It is not deposit accounts or BaaS balances as the primary job (banking and How to pick banking). Issuing creates cards your users spend. Acquiring takes cards from their customers. Do not mix those jobs.

Pair with The stack for where cards sit after payments, and the cards hub for the live table. Full listings: Marqeta, Lithic. There is no pick-cards guide on this directory yet. Order on any related list is editorial fit, not a score you can buy.

Side-by-side

Facts below track greened listings and live marketing posture as of this page’s updated date. Cells say not published when marketing does not show a usable platform rate card. This directory does not invent volume gates, month SLAs, or interchange math beyond what vendors and listings already state.

Dimension	Marqeta	Lithic
What it is	Modern card issuing platform for branded payment cards and card transaction processing. Homepage: debit, credit, prepaid, and flexible credentials. Same Core API under two engagement models. Adjacent Marqeta products (accounts and money movement, Tokenization as a Service for non-Marqeta cards) are out of scope for this comparison.	Issuer processing and card-program APIs for virtual and physical cards. Homepage: programmable card issuing and money movement. Same API under Processing and Program Managed. Adjacent Lithic products (Accounts / Payment Hub, Privacy.com consumer brand, fleet / disbursement / stablecoin solution pages) are out of scope.
Bank / BIN posture	Marqeta is not a bank or a lender. Cards are issued by partner issuing banks (BIN sponsors). Managed By Marqeta (MxM): Marqeta is Program Manager; supplies bank partners, network relationships, fulfillment, and program-management duties including KYC, AML, and disputes. Powered By Marqeta (PxM): you bring (or obtain) the issuing bank, licenses, and network relationships; you hold regulatory and compliance responsibility; Marqeta supplies the issuing and processing API. US product pages do not name a single default issuing bank for all programs. UK and EEA: TransactPay (Marqeta subsidiary) is a licensed EMI and BIN sponsor per Marqeta’s August 2025 newsroom and TransactPay terms.	Lithic is not a bank. Partner banks hold the BIN and issue the cards. Program Managed: Lithic and a partner bank handle sponsorship, compliance, KYC/KYB, ledgering, card manufacturing, and network connectivity; you control spend logic, branding, and cardholder UX. Processing: you own the program and bring your own sponsor bank and BIN; Lithic processes and issues through the API. Named on Lithic surfaces: Patriot Bank, N.A. (incentive Mastercard prepaid cardholder agreement); Stearns Bank (Jan 2026 newsroom: BIN sponsor for program-managed services across major networks, US); Veritex Community Bank (commercial credit products); Byline Bank partnership on press index. Program Management FAQ: specific partnerships shared during engagement. Graduation Path: move toward a direct bank relationship while staying on Lithic processing.
Go-live	Public sandbox after signup. Production is not self-serve: Talk to sales / Contact sales, use-case screen, Business Development, solutions engineering, Statement of Work, Master Service Agreement, due diligence, then bank and network approval. Private sandbox and production keys follow sales. Program-management guide: using a card program manager is typically around 4 to 6 months (vendor claim, various dependencies). Homepage marketing also says days not months via existing bank/network/fulfillment relationships. Those are Marqeta’s claims, not a Vert SLA.	Dashboard signup starts in sandbox (sandbox keys, simulated transactions). Production is not self-serve: contact Sales to move to production. Physical-card setup needs implementation or customer-success for BIN, manufacturer, and `product_id`. FAQ: many clients go live in a matter of weeks; Program Management FAQ: timelines vary by product type and partner bank. Those are Lithic’s claims, not a Vert SLA.
Pricing posture (live marketing)	Not published. marqeta.com/pricing returns 404 per listing. Pricing lives in the SOW. Program-management guide mentions typical revenue-sharing or per-card fees for using a card program manager; that is not a Marqeta rate card.	Not published. lithic.com/pricing redirects to the homepage per listing. Fees sit in the agreement / Enterprise Terms. Revenue share described at contract level, not as a public buy rate.
What you embed	Physical and virtual cards (branded); inventory and fulfillment; network tokens and wallet provisioning (Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Samsung Pay named on Marqeta pages). Just-in-Time Funding (Managed JIT or Gateway JIT with Commando Mode fallback); standard GPA preload; authorization and velocity controls. Debit, credit, and prepaid program shapes. Credit platform as system of record for origination, servicing, statements, and rewards (adjacent depth, still cards).	Card types in docs: `VIRTUAL`, `PHYSICAL`, `SINGLE_USE`. Debit, prepaid, charge, and credit programs on product/FAQ copy. Networks named: Visa, Mastercard, American Express (direct connections per Lithic; Amex path via May 2025 newsroom). Authorization Stream Access (ASA) to your endpoint, or Authorization Rules on Lithic infrastructure. Instant virtual issuance; wallet provisioning (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay). Physical: templated or custom; domestic and international fulfillment claimed.
Ops / KYC	MxM: Marqeta manages KYC. PxM: you do. RiskControl covers KYC, 3DS, real-time decisioning, disputes. Docs: US KYC generally required for reloadable cards, cash access, international spend, balances over $1,000, or funding from outside the program source. Individual KYC and business KYB fields documented. Optional KYC Services through a contracted provider (US identity/age; not FCRA uses) in payment-services terms. Live program needs reserve funding source and program funding account at the issuing bank.	Program Managed: Lithic manages KYC/KYB, AML/BSA, OFAC, and ongoing risk monitoring. Processing: you handle KYC/KYB, fraud, and oversight. API: `KYC_BASIC`, `KYC_BYO` (pre-approved programs), `KYC_EXEMPT` (program-by-program); businesses `KYB_BASIC` or `KYB_DELEGATED`. Docs: KYC/KYB endpoints are for compliance, not a full fraud product.
Best for	Software platforms that want branded physical and virtual cards with real-time funding and spend controls, and will choose MxM (Marqeta as program manager and BIN introduction) or PxM (you bring the bank and licenses).	Software platforms that want API-issued virtual and physical cards, and will choose Program Managed (Lithic + partner bank) or Processing (you bring the BIN sponsor), including a documented Graduation Path toward a direct bank relationship.
Not for	Self-serve live keys with no sales or bank approval; a published buy rate on marketing; treating Marqeta as the bank or the BIN holder.	Production issuing with no sales conversation; expecting Lithic to hold the card-issuing license; a published platform rate card on marketing.

Decision notes

Facts vs verdict. The table is facts from greened listings and public marketing posture. The notes below are editorial judgment. They are not a rank and not a #1 crown.

Name the BIN sponsor before you name the processor. Both rows are issuer processors (and optional program managers). Neither holds the card-issuing license. Someone’s bank holds the BIN sponsor range. On managed paths, Marqeta or Lithic introduces or supplies that bank. On powered / processing paths, you bring it. If you cannot say who the Issuer is on the cardholder agreement in one sentence, you do not have a pick yet. Read card issuing.

Managed vs powered is the real fork. Marqeta MxM and Lithic Program Managed: the vendor runs more of sponsorship, KYC, and program ops so you can ship spend UX faster. Marqeta PxM and Lithic Processing: you own bank relationship, compliance posture, and program control; the vendor is the processing and issuing API. Lithic names a Graduation Path between those shapes. Ask which contract you are signing on day one and whether you can change later without ripping out the API.

No invented volume or month gate. Marqeta’s program-management guide cites a typical 4 to 6 months for using a program manager. Lithic FAQs cite weeks for many clients and variable PM timelines. Homepage uptime and volume figures on both sites are vendor claims. None of that is a Vert threshold that moves you from managed to bring-your-own bank. Ask in the sales room. Do not paste a blog statistic into a board deck as if Vert certified it.

Published pricing is absent on both. Kill a deal that will not state who the Issuer is, who is program manager, how cards are funded, dispute ownership, and your economics (per-card, revenue share, or other). “Contact sales” without a written commercial stack is still not published.

Issuing is not acquiring. If the job is taking a rate on merchant card volume, leave this page and read payments. If the job is putting spend in your user’s hand (expenses, payouts, contractor cards, stored value), stay here.

When to pick Marqeta. You want partner-bank debit, credit, or prepaid cards with JIT funding and spend controls, you will complete sales and diligence, and you want either Marqeta as Program Manager (MxM) or Marqeta as processing API while you bring the bank (PxM). UK/EEA EMI and BIN sponsorship via TransactPay is a Marqeta-specific posture to confirm if that geography matters.

When to pick Lithic. You want API-first virtual and physical issuing, you will complete a sales conversation for production, and you want either Lithic Program Managed (partner bank supplied) or Processing on a bank you bring, with ASA or hosted Authorization Rules for spend decisions. Confirm which named bank (Patriot, Stearns, Veritex, or other) applies to your program type in diligence.

Neither of these two if. You need self-serve production keys with no bank approval. You need a public rate card before a sales call. You only need checkout acquiring. You need deposit accounts as the product (banking layer). You intend to hold the BIN and the charter yourself on day one without a processor (different diligence path).

Cards: Live issuing table. Editorial order only.
The stack: Where cards sit after payments; no pick-cards guide yet.
Card issuing: Creating spend cards; usually not the licensed issuer.
BIN sponsor: Who holds the card-network range.
Marqeta: MxM or PxM partner-bank issuing; sales-led; pricing not published.
Lithic: Program Managed or Processing; sales-led; pricing not published.
Stripe Issuing: Adjacent cards listing if the rest of the stack is already Stripe.

FAQ

Are Marqeta and Lithic banks?

No. Both are technology / program-management platforms. Partner issuing banks hold the BIN and issue the cards. Marqeta and Lithic process and (on managed paths) manage the program. Confirm the named Issuer on the cardholder agreement.

What is the difference between Managed and Powered (or Program Managed and Processing)?

Managed paths: the vendor supplies or introduces the BIN sponsor and runs more KYC, compliance, and program ops. Powered / Processing paths: you bring the sponsor bank and licenses; the vendor runs issuing and processing APIs. Same product family, different who-owns-what. Lithic also describes a Graduation Path from managed toward a direct bank relationship on the same processing stack.

Which one has public pricing?

Neither publishes a usable platform rate card on marketing for this job. Both are not published. Ask for the commercial stack in writing (per-card fees, revenue share, network costs, and who pays for plastics and KYC).

Is card issuing the same as taking cards at checkout?

No. Issuing creates cards your users spend. Acquiring takes cards from their customers. Different license, different BIN, different hub (cards vs payments).

Can I start managed and later bring my own bank?

Often that is the pitch (Lithic Graduation Path; Marqeta PxM as the bring-your-own-bank shape). Accounts and BINs do not automatically port because you change program manager. Ask who the Issuer is today, whether the PAN/BIN can move, and what a migration actually remaps before you assume portability. This directory does not invent a migration path.