How the production Plaid connection works
Plaid is the active production connection path. Expense Atlas does not ask you to type bank credentials into an Expense Atlas form, but institution sign-in and data availability still depend on Plaid and the institution.
- 1
Check paid-plan capacity
Starter includes 5 bank sync accounts and Family / Power User includes 10. Self-service add-ons can raise Starter to 9 total or Family to 19 total. Contact support for 20 or more.
- 2
Open Plaid Link
Plaid Link handles institution selection and sign-in. Available institutions, connection methods, and account types can vary by provider eligibility.
- 3
Choose supported accounts
Expense Atlas supports eligible checking, savings, and credit card accounts. Wallet-like payment app accounts, including unsupported PayPal or non-custodial wallet subtypes, are filtered out.
- 4
Import available history
After connection, transaction activity syncs in the background. The amount of history, pending status, refresh timing, and field quality depend on Plaid and the institution.
- 5
Review and maintain
Review categories and duplicates, pause an account, start a supported refresh, or disconnect it. Older statement uploads can fill gaps when connected history is shorter than needed.
Synthetic demo data
Choosing accounts within a Starter plan
This example shows how account slots apply to selected accounts, not just institutions.
Community Bank checking
Selected through Plaid Link.
1 slot
Community Bank savings
A second account at the same institution uses another slot.
1 slot
Card issuer credit card
An eligible credit account can be selected separately.
1 slot
Starter capacity remaining
Based on 5 included bank sync accounts.
2 included slots
If one connection returns more selected accounts than the available plan slots, the connection cannot be completed until fewer accounts are selected or capacity is increased.
CSS illustration with synthetic demo data. This is not a product interface or screenshot.
Connection coverage and timing are provider dependent
- Bank sync is not included on the free plan. It requires an eligible paid plan and available account capacity.
- Plaid and each institution determine coverage, authentication flow, history, pending data, refresh timing, and outages.
- Imported transactions and categories can be incomplete, delayed, duplicated, or incorrect and should be reviewed.
- Expense Atlas receives connection tokens, selected account details, transactions, and provider metadata needed to run the connection. Do not interpret Plaid controls as a guarantee about the entire Expense Atlas system.
- Statements, CSV imports, and supported receipt uploads remain alternatives when a connection is unavailable or historical coverage is short.