# Basis Theory
> Basis Theory is a modern data privacy platform that provides a programmable API for tokenizing and securing sensitive information. It allows developers to collect, store, and share sensitive data like PII and credit card numbers without the data ever touching their own servers, simplifying compliance and reducing risk.
- URL: https://optimly.ai/brand/basis-theory
- Slug: basis-theory
- BAI Score: 72/100
- Archetype: Challenger
- Category: Cybersecurity
- Last Analyzed: April 10, 2026
## Competitors
- Skyflow (https://optimly.ai/brand/skyflow)
- Spreedly (https://optimly.ai/brand/spreedly)
- Vgs Very Good Security (https://optimly.ai/brand/vgs-very-good-security)
## AI-Suggested Alternatives
- Processor Native Vaulting (https://optimly.ai/brand/processor-native-vaulting)
## Buyer Intent Signals
Problems: securely store credit card numbers without database | In-house Encryption/Tokenization: Using internal engineering resources to build custom encryption and tokenization logic on top of cloud providers like AWS or Azure. | Status Quo/Insecure Storage: Managing sensitive data in plain text or using basic database-level encryption while accepting higher compliance risk and audit costs.
Solutions: PCI compliance tokenization API | best data vault for PII | programmable data privacy platform | Processor-native Vaulting: Relying on payment processors like Stripe or Adyen to store vaulted data, which leads to vendor lock-in.
Comparisons: alternatives to VGS security