Full disclosure: we're Ryz Labs, and we're on this list. So yes, we're biased. Here's what we'd actually tell a friend, including when you should hire someone else.
The question that decides it: do you need a vendor to build a defined product for you, or senior engineers who build and run your platform alongside your team, release after release? Fintech software is never finished: card networks change rules, regulators ask new questions and fraud patterns shift. Pick for the long run, not the launch.
In fintech, the hard parts sit around the features. Ledgers must balance to the cent across retries and partial failures. Payment flows need idempotency keys, reconciliation jobs and clear handling of chargebacks. KYC and AML checks have to leave an evidence trail an examiner can follow. PCI DSS scope decides which services can even see a card number. A vendor that has built a nice consumer app but never a double-entry ledger will learn these lessons on your budget.
Ask every vendor for specifics: which payment processors and core systems they've integrated, how they've handled PCI DSS scope, and how they test money movement. ScienceSoft and Itexus list compliance frameworks on their sites (PCI DSS, GDPR and more), which is a useful starting point for that conversation.
Then think about who owns the platform in year two. Most fintechs ship a product, then spend years extending it. Partners that work on your team keep that knowledge in-house. Our fintech and payments pages show the work our teams take on.
We serve enterprises across industries, including financial services. Our senior Latin American engineers work on your team, on US business hours including New York hours, so code review and incident response happen the same day. Only the top 1% of the tens of thousands of engineers we've interviewed make it, and we're trusted by Fortune 500 engineering teams. When the job is building AI systems, our AI pod teams build in your cloud and repos and ship to production.
Two examples from our case studies: an AI pod built fraud detection for a global fleet company that scored 244K+ invoices in under 30 seconds each and surfaced $5.94M in confirmed fraud, validated by the client's fraud team. Another built marketing compliance review for a global capital management firm, covering 8,000+ documents and cutting review from days to hours. You can hire fintech developers or start with an AI pod team.
Where we're not the right fit: if you want a fixed-price build with a vendor-owned scope, ScienceSoft or Itexus publish budget ranges for that. If you need engineers in Europe or Asia time zones, Endava or Intellias fit better. And if you want a proprietary platform or a strategy engagement, that isn't us.
Endava, listed on the NYSE, reports 11,225 people as of March 2026. It claims "20+ years" in payments and says "90%" of the largest payment companies and "70%" of the largest acquirers use its services. Its payments work covers platform modernization, orchestration, KYC/AML, card management and credit offerings.
Why it fits: very deep payments experience. The catch: it operates in more than 25 countries, so confirm where your team will sit and how its hours overlap with yours.
Thoughtworks says it rebuilt India's NPCI payments platform, now running "8B+ transactions a month," and helped a global card provider create "$800M" in new revenue in 24 months. It builds "ISO 20022-ready payment capabilities." See Ryz Labs vs Thoughtworks.
EPAM reports about 62,850 people and lists wealth management, retail and commercial banking, and open banking and payments among its financial services focus areas. It fits big multi-workstream programs. See Ryz Labs vs EPAM.
Globant runs a Digital Lending Studio (underwriting, AI monitoring, digital collections) and strengthened its Payments Studio in North America by buying Miami-based Blankfactor in 2024. Its Financial Services AI Studio works with financial institutions on agentic AI. See Ryz Labs vs Globant.
Intellias, founded in 2002, claims "3,000+" engineers, 96% senior or mid-level. Its financial services work spans core banking, real-time payments, open banking, capital markets and insurance, including a trading platform with "CHF 2B+ in daily trading volume." The catch: most of its listed offices are in Europe, so confirm overlap with US afternoons.
ScienceSoft, founded in 1989 and in financial IT since 2005, claims "over 750 IT experts" and "over 150 financial IT projects." It builds banking, payment and lending apps, payment orchestration, and fraud detection, and lists PCI DSS, AML/CFT, NYDFS and SOC 2 expertise.
Itexus, established in 2013, claims "150+" engineers and "300+ fintech projects delivered for 250+ clients," across digital banking, wallets, trading, lending, BNPL and RegTech. Its published discovery price makes it easy to start small.
If you're a US fintech or financial institution building and running your own platform, we'd pick Ryz Labs: senior engineers on US hours, AI pod teams for fraud, compliance and agent work, and a published price range.
If you're a payments company or acquirer, Endava. If you're modernizing payments or core systems at national scale, Thoughtworks.
If you want a scoped build with a budget up front, ScienceSoft for larger projects, Itexus for MVPs. More options in our staff augmentation for fintech and fraud detection engineering teams guides.
It builds software that moves, stores or analyzes money: payment flows, lending and trading platforms, wallets, ledgers, KYC and fraud systems, usually under PCI DSS and other financial rules.
ScienceSoft publishes $100,000 to $2,000,000+ per project and Itexus $150,000 to $1,000,000+. Our teams are $7,000 to $15,000 per engineer per month; four senior engineers at $12,500 for six months comes to $300,000.
Yes. PCI DSS, AML and data-privacy rules change how you design services and logs. Ask for engineers who have worked within those standards before.
Outsource a clearly scoped product or MVP. Add engineers to your team for the core platform you'll extend for years. Our staff augmentation vs outsourcing guide goes deeper.
We checked pricing and services for every provider here in October 2026. This changes often, so double-check before you sign anything.
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