For decades, CreditSafe, Coface and Altares have been central players in business credit reporting and risk analysis. They built their reputations on massive data repositories, trade payment histories, and expertise in credit insurance.
But in 2025, the market has changed. Fintechs, insurtechs, banks, brokers and large corporates need more than a static score derived from financial statements filed months ago. They require:
real-time scoring,
explainability (XAI),
API-first integration,
and the ability to include thin-file SMEs and startups often invisible to legacy systems.
👉 This article explores why so many organisations are actively seeking an alternative to historical providers and how modern platforms like RocketFin address today’s needs.
CreditSafe, Coface and Altares still rely heavily on:
annual financial statements,
consolidated company registries,
historic payment incidents.
👉 The issue: this data is outdated when making decisions in fast-moving markets, or when evaluating startups and SMEs with limited filing history.
These tools were designed for PDF reports or web portals, not for embedded decision flows.
Complex, heavy integration.
No sub-500ms API scoring.
Limited capacity for dynamic alerts (webhooks).
Reports provide a score but rarely explain in detail:
why a company is flagged as risky,
what factors could improve its profile.
👉 Risk teams and underwriters are often left in the dark.
Multi-year contracts, difficult to renegotiate.
Opaque pricing models.
High TCO compared to modern API-first services.
SMEs, startups and atypical sectors are poorly covered, due to insufficient historical data.
👉 Yet these are exactly the segments fintechs and insurers need to capture.
Need for real-time data: a 2023 balance sheet is irrelevant to a September 2025 decision.
AI Act compliance: explainability and auditability are now mandatory.
Customer experience: end-users expect instant, transparent decisions.
Inclusivity: ignoring thin-file SMEs and startups cuts out growth opportunities.
Flexibility and cost: modern APIs offer scalable, transparent, usage-based models.
Developer-friendly SDKs and documentation.
Sub-500ms responses.
Sandbox for immediate testing.
Banking data via Open Banking APIs.
Accounting data from ERP and bookkeeping systems.
Public/legal data from registries and filings.
Alternative signals: payments, supplier disputes, behavioural patterns.
Factor-level explanations.
Human-readable reason codes.
Actionable recommendations (“strengthen short-term liquidity”).
Reliable scoring for thin-file SMEs.
Bias monitoring across sectors.
Adapted outputs for non-financial audiences.
Decision logs and model versioning.
Governance framework aligned with the EU AI Act + GDPR + PSD3.
Tools for external audit readiness.
RocketFin was built to address the limits of legacy providers.
API-first: real-time scoring, developer-friendly integration.
Multi-source: banking, accounting, public, legal datasets.
Explainability: factor breakdowns and reason codes with every score.
Inclusivity: coverage for SMEs, startups, and atypical sectors.
Dynamic monitoring: webhooks and continuous scoring.
Compliance-ready: AI Act explainability, governance and logs embedded.
👉 While CreditSafe, Coface and Altares provide a static snapshot, RocketFin delivers a living, explainable risk signal.
Fintech: reduced client onboarding from 3 days to 30 seconds via real-time API scoring.
Insurtech: lowered loss ratio by 20% with explainable AI and early risk detection.
Bank: achieved AI Act compliance through decision logging and model governance.
Broker: increased placement rate by pre-scoring applications instantly.
Large enterprise (ETI): safeguarded supply chains with proactive supplier risk alerts.
Looking for an alternative to CreditSafe, Coface or Altares is not just a matter of preference. It is a strategic necessity in 2025.
👉 Legacy providers remain useful for static reporting, but their limits—lack of real-time data, poor explainability, weak inclusivity—are blocking innovation.
RocketFin emerges as the modern alternative:
real-time,
explainable,
inclusive,
compliant,
and API-first.
Next step? Test RocketFin Demo and experience the new generation of B2B credit scoring.