8 Best Virtual Card Issuing APIs in 2026

If you’ve ever shared one company card across a team and spent month-end matching receipts, you already know why virtual cards caught on. A virtual card issuing API lets your product create a working Visa or Mastercard number in seconds, control where it spends and switch it off when the job is done, which is how expense tools, travel platforms and gig payout apps now pay people.

Picking a provider is the hard part, since the comparison lists on page one are written by vendors ranking themselves first. We compared eight on what actually decides your launch: who sponsors the BIN, how fast you have to approve each transaction and which countries the cards can be issued in.

What Is a Virtual Card Issuing API?

It’s an API that creates payment cards, mostly card numbers with no plastic, and controls how they’re used. A typical flow looks like this:

Your app creates a cardholder, a person or a business, and passes whatever identity checks the program needs.
You issue a card with rules attached: a spending limit, allowed merchants, an expiry date or a single use.
When the card is used, the network sends an authorization request. Your rules, or your own server in real time, approve or decline it.
Funds move either from a balance you’ve loaded in advance or just in time, at the moment of approval.
Transactions settle a day or two later, and webhooks keep your ledger in step.

Virtual Card Issuing APIs Compared

Figures are as each provider states them on its own site.

API	Card types	Networks	Where it issues	Bank and BIN	Real-time control
1. Phaze	Prepaid card value sent as payouts, plus gift cards and top-ups	Visa and Mastercard prepaid offerings	Payouts in 150+ countries	Handled by Phaze; no card program needed	Not applicable
2. Marqeta	Virtual, physical, tokenized; prepaid, debit, credit	Visa named on its pages	Certified in 40+ countries	Marqeta handles bank and BIN sponsorship	JIT Funding, real-time decisioning
3. Stripe Issuing	Virtual and physical; commercial and consumer	Visa, Mastercard	US, plus local issuing in 22 countries across the EEA, UK and Canada	Stripe as program manager or processor	Real-time authorization
4. Lithic	Single- and multi-use virtual, physical; credit, debit, prepaid	Visa, Mastercard, American Express	US-focused	Lithic program management, or your own bank	Auth Stream Access, declines after 6 seconds
5. Adyen Issuing	Virtual and physical	Visa, Mastercard	EEA, UK, US	Adyen’s own banking licenses	Relayed authorization to your servers
6. Airwallex	Virtual and physical commercial cards, multi-currency	Visa	60+ countries	Airwallex’s own BIN	Remote authorization
7. Nium	Virtual, physical, tokenized; prepaid, debit	Visa, Mastercard	APAC, Europe, Middle East, North America	Nium issues locally; country list shared at onboarding	Hosted, extended or delegated authorization; JIT funding in the US
8. Highnote	Credit, charge, debit, prepaid, fleet	Mastercard, plus Visa for fleet	US	Highnote manages sponsor banks	Real-time authorization rules

The 8 Best Virtual Card Issuing APIs in 2026

1. Phaze: Best for Payouts Without a Card Program

Phaze isn’t a card issuing processor, so you won’t launch your own branded card program on it. What it does is let you send prepaid Visa and Mastercard value as a payout, alongside 2,500+ gift card brands and mobile top-ups across 150+ countries, through one API and under your brand.

What you can send: prepaid Visa and Mastercard value, 2,500+ gift card brands and mobile top-ups from 500+ carriers in 150+ countries
No card program needed: Phaze handles the bank and BIN side, so there’s nothing to sponsor or certify
Catalog controls: filter by country, category and denomination so recipients only see rewards they can use
Developer tools: webhooks for every status change, plus a sandbox and Postman collection covering 50+ endpoints, with credentials from support@phaze.io
Branding and cost: white-label delivery under your brand, free integration, and partners earn up to 3 to 5% on transactions

2. Marqeta: Best for Just-in-Time Funded Spend Programs

Marqeta runs some of fintech’s biggest card programs, with Ramp, DoorDash, Affirm and Klarna among its named customers, and it reports more than $400 billion processed over the four quarters to June 30, 2026. It handles bank relationships and BIN sponsorship for you and is certified to operate in 40+ countries.

Funding: JIT Funding keeps each card at a $0 balance until you approve the release of funds
Card types: virtual, physical and tokenized; prepaid, debit and credit
Pricing: not published, and onboarding is sales-led, so it suits companies planning serious volume

3. Stripe Issuing: Best for Teams Already on Stripe

Stripe Issuing makes the most sense if you already take payments or run payouts on Stripe. It offers virtual and physical commercial and consumer cards on Visa and Mastercard, and Stripe reports more than 400 million cards created, with customers including Ramp, Navan and Instacart.

Coverage: the marketing page says 75+ markets, while the docs list local issuing in 22 countries across the EEA, UK and Canada, with multinational programs reaching 40+
Bank setup: Stripe acts as program manager or processor
Authorization: real-time, from your own systems

4. Lithic: Best for Developers Starting in a Sandbox

Lithic is built for developers who want to start in a sandbox today. It issues single-use and multi-use virtual cards and physical cards across credit, debit and prepaid, and you can use Lithic’s own program management or move to your own bank later. Named customers include Mercury, Novo and Tremendous.

Real-time control: Auth Stream Access sends each transaction to your server and declines it after 6 seconds, and Lithic recommends replying within 3
Networks: Visa, Mastercard and American Express
Bank setup: Lithic’s own program management, or your own bank later
Coverage: no published international footprint, so treat it as a US-first option

5. Adyen Issuing: Best for Platforms Already on Adyen

Adyen Issuing suits platforms already processing payments with Adyen. Adyen holds EU, UK and US banking licenses with integrated BIN sponsorship, so there’s no separate bank to bring, and it issues virtual and physical Visa and Mastercard cards in the EEA, UK and US.

Authorization: relayed authorization sends each request to your own servers for a decision
Revenue: issuers earn a share of the interchange fee
Named customers: Spendesk and BILL
Coverage: EEA, UK and US only for now

6. Airwallex: Best for Paying People and Suppliers Globally

Airwallex issues multi-currency Visa cards in 60+ countries on its own BIN, so you don’t need a bank partner, and the cards can spend in 170+ currencies. Remote authorization and real-time controls let you approve each transaction from your own systems.

Funding: cards draw from the same global wallet you use for other payouts
Network: Visa only
Limits: built for commercial cards rather than consumer programs

7. Nium: Best for Travel and B2B Payments

Nium issues cards locally across Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and North America, having added US issuance in August 2026, and says it issued more than 41 million card credentials across APAC, the Middle East and Europe in the past 12 months. Cards run on Visa and Mastercard.

Authorization: hosted, extended or delegated, depending on how much control you want
Funding: just-in-time funding is now available in the US
Coverage detail: the exact country list is shared during onboarding rather than published

8. Highnote: Best for US Platforms Wanting One Stack

Highnote puts issuing, a ledger, acquiring and payouts behind one GraphQL API, with a sandbox that mirrors production. It supports credit, charge, debit, prepaid and fleet cards, manages sponsor banks for its customers, and lists Lowe’s, BNY and Samsung among the companies on its platform.

Networks: Mastercard, plus Visa for fleet cards
Coverage: US only for now
Pricing: no published scale figures or pricing

Also Worth a Look

Paymentology, an issuer processor in 65+ countries that’s strongest in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia, with customers such as Mox, GoTyme and M-Pesa.
SoFi Tech Solutions, the new name for Galileo since SoFi’s 2026 rebrand. SoFi’s Q2 2026 results show enabled accounts down 16% year over year after a large client moved off the platform, which is worth asking about.
Synctera, for US fintechs launching accounts and debit cards with a sponsor bank. Its card processing runs on Marqeta.
Episode Six, a cloud issuer processor and ledger in 45+ markets, built for banks and large enterprises rather than quick self-serve launches.

Program Manager, BIN Sponsor or Your Own Bank

Every card sits on a BIN, the first digits of the card number, which belongs to a licensed bank. How a provider handles that bank relationship decides how fast you can launch and how much compliance work lands on you.

Full program managers handle the bank, the network approvals and the compliance program for you. Marqeta says it handles “bank relationships, network approvals, and BIN sponsorship”, and Highnote manages sponsor banks for its customers.
Licensed providers issue on their own BIN. Adyen holds EU, UK and US banking licenses, and Airwallex issues on its own Visa BIN as a principal member.
Processors let you bring your own bank. Lithic offers both its own program management and a processor option for companies that want to own the bank relationship, and Synctera matches fintechs with a partner bank that acts as issuer.

If you’re launching your first card program, a program manager is usually the fastest route. If you already have a bank partner, or expect volume big enough to negotiate your own economics, a processor gives you more control.

How to Choose a Virtual Card Issuing API

Start with where your cardholders are. Lithic and Highnote keep things simple in the US, Adyen and Stripe cover Europe, and Nium, Airwallex or Paymentology fit Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
Decide who owns the bank relationship. A program manager gets you live fastest, while bringing your own bank gives you more control over economics later.
Check your authorization window. If your app approves each transaction, your server has seconds to answer, and Lithic declines anything slower than 6.
Pick a funding model. Prefunded balances are simpler to run, while just-in-time funding, offered by Marqeta and by Nium in the US, keeps money in your account until each purchase.
Ask about pricing in the first call, because none of these eight publishes card issuing prices.

When You Don’t Need to Issue Cards at All

If the card is only how someone gets paid, you can skip the card program entirely. Phaze sends prepaid card value, gift cards from 2,500+ brands and mobile top-ups to recipients in 150+ countries through one API, under your brand, and partners earn a margin on every payout instead of paying fees. Book a discovery call with our team.

Virtual Card Issuing API FAQ

What is a virtual card issuing API?

It’s an API that creates Visa or Mastercard card numbers on demand and controls how they’re spent, through limits, merchant rules and real-time approval of each transaction.

What’s the difference between virtual and physical cards?

A virtual card has a number, expiry date and security code but no plastic, so it works online or in a mobile wallet instantly. Physical cards add shipping, PINs and activation.

What is JIT funding?

Just-in-time funding keeps a card at a zero balance and moves money only when you approve a transaction. Marqeta offers it, and Nium now does in the US.

Do I need a bank to issue cards?

Not directly. Program managers and licensed providers such as Marqeta, Adyen and Airwallex supply the bank or BIN, while processor setups expect you to bring your own partner bank.

How much does card issuing cost?

None of the eight providers here publishes prices. Expect per-card or per-transaction fees, partly offset by a share of interchange, and ask for a quote early.