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Finch vs. Unified.to: which Unified API handles employment data and real-time workflows better?


May 28, 2025

Finch helps developers pull structured HR and payroll data from employment systems. Unified.to helps teams sync real-time data across dozens of categories—including HR—to power live products, AI features, and analytics pipelines.

If you're only working with payroll or HRIS systems, Finch can be a solid choice. But if your product needs broader coverage, fresher data, or better developer control, Unified.to gives you more to work with.

At a glance: Unified.to vs Finch

Finch specializes in employment systems. Unified.to is built for live products that need to move fast across categories like HR, CRM, ATS, and more.

Unified.to gives you:

  • Real-time updates (via native + virtual webhooks)
  • 270+ integrations across 19+ categories
  • Normalized schemas with passthrough and custom field support
  • Database sync with structured records across systems
  • Zero-data architecture: no caching, no customer data stored
  • Transparent usage-based pricing

Real-time by default—not once-a-day syncs

Finch fetches data daily (or weekly for some systems). You can trigger a manual refresh or wait for the next scheduled sync. Real-time webhooks are only available on premium plans and still rely on batch jobs in the background.

Unified.to fetches data live from the source—no background jobs or stale cache. Webhooks are built-in. If the system supports native events, Unified.to streams them directly. If not, Unified.to emulates webhooks with high-frequency polling and normalized event delivery.

You don't manage CRON jobs. You just receive consistent, structured webhooks when data changes.

Broad integration coverage, not just HR

Finch only supports employment data: HRIS, payroll, benefits, and employment verification.

Unified.to supports 270+ integrations across 19+ categories:

  • HRIS and payroll (e.g., BambooHR, ADP, Workday)
  • CRM (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot)
  • ATS (e.g., Greenhouse, Lever)
  • File storage, calendars, marketing tools, and more

This means one integration provider can handle multiple needs—no context switching, no duplicate tooling.

Customer Spotlight: Humi

Humi, a leading Canadian HR software company, needed to streamline employee onboarding by integrating with 25+ HRIS systems. Their internal estimate was 3–6 months per integration—up to 7+ years of engineering time.

Instead, Humi shipped all 25 HRIS integrations in just one month using Unified.to. No polling. No custom ETL. Just normalized employee data, provisioned in real time.

"Unified is impressively fast at responding to our integration requests and adding them within days. Offering direct integrations through Unified.to brings tremendous value to our customers."

— Kevin Kliman, CEO, Humi

Unified schemas—with escape hatches

Finch provides a consistent data model for employees, pay runs, and benefits. It's solid if you're only dealing with employment data.

Unified.to normalizes data across every category it supports. Each domain (HR, CRM, etc.) has its own schema with standardized fields, relationships, and enums.

You also get:

  • Custom fields
  • Original/raw fields
  • Passthrough API to fetch anything outside the unified model

No waiting for schema updates. No lost data. No tradeoffs.

Database-ready delivery

Finch requires you to build your own ingestion layer. You fetch data via API or webhook and write to your own store.

Unified.to offers built-in Database Sync:

  • Connect Postgres, MongoDB, MySQL, and more
  • Unified.to keeps your tables updated in real-time
  • No polling, no transformation, no ETL jobs

You get structured records, normalized by category, always current.

Zero customer data stored

Finch stores customer data and tokens. That simplifies caching, but it increases your compliance footprint.

Unified.to doesn't store customer data or credentials. Everything is proxied live. You can even use your own AWS Secrets Manager.

You stay in control of your architecture, security posture, and vendor exposure.

Developer-first without tradeoffs

Finch offers clean documentation and a good sandbox for HR use cases. It supports a handful of SDKs and a drop-in auth modal.

Unified.to goes further:

  • SDKs in 7+ languages
  • React/Vue/Angular auth component with source code
  • Full CRUD support across integrations
  • OpenAPI and Proto schemas
  • Fast turnaround on new integration requests

And Unified.to doesn't just support you during onboarding. Product teams cite ongoing responsiveness as a key reason they launch quickly.

TL;DR — Unified.to vs Finch

FeatureUnified.toFinch
Data modelFully normalized schemas across 270+ integrationsStandardized HRIS and payroll schema only
Real-time supportNative + virtual webhooks; no polling requiredDaily or weekly polling; webhooks gated by plan
AI readinessDatabase Sync; real-time context for agents, dashboards, and analyticsHR-specific MCP server; manual refresh or webhook from stale data
Database deliveryBuilt-in sync to Postgres, MongoDB, MySQL, and moreNo native DB sync; manual ingestion required
Data storageZero-data architecture; nothing stored or cachedStores customer data and tokens
Developer experienceSDKs in 7+ languages, open components, fast supportLimited SDKs, good docs, sandbox for HR integrations
ScalabilityUsage-based pricing with unlimited connections on higher tiersCost scales linearly per connected employer
PositioningGeneral-purpose unified API built for real-time SaaSEmployment data API for HR tech
PricingTransparent plans starting at $350/month$50 per connection; Pro/Premier requires sales
Best forTeams building across categories and domains with live data needsHR/payroll-focused products needing structured employee data

Finch is strong if you only need HR/payroll integrations and want structured employee and pay data.

But if your product needs real-time data across multiple domains—and you want developer control without compliance headaches—Unified.to is the better fit.

Try it free for 30 days, or talk to our team.

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