Compare Systems

Side-by-side comparison of Digital Public Infrastructure systems across all analysis dimensions.

Property Aadhaar ONDC DigiLocker AA UPI FASTag
Governance partial Governed by UIDAI under Ministry of Electronics and IT; development by UIDAI with private vendors yes Section 8 company backed by government and industry; multi-stakeholder governance partial NeGD under MeitY operates; government departments as issuers partial RBI-regulated framework; private sector Account Aggregators licensed by RBI yes NPCI (non-profit) governs; regulated by RBI; member banks participate in development partial NPCI operates; NHAI mandates usage; banks issue FASTags
Economic Model partial Free for government services; nominal fees for private sector authentication yes Low transaction fees; aims to reduce platform commissions for sellers yes Free for citizens; departments pay for integration partial Fee-based model; AAs charge for data fetch transactions yes Zero MDR for most transactions; cross-subsidized by other payment products partial Tag issuance fees; transaction charges to toll operators; bank revenue from float
Openness no Closed-source core; APIs documented but proprietary; limited public audit yes Open protocol specifications; Beckn protocol is open-source partial APIs for document issuers and requesters; core platform closed-source yes Open API specifications; ReBIT maintains technical standards partial API specifications available to licensed entities; closed-source core no Proprietary RFID technology; closed specifications
Security partial Biometric encryption; multiple reported vulnerabilities; no public bug bounty partial Decentralized architecture; security responsibilities distributed across network participants partial Aadhaar-based authentication; documents fetched from source; encrypted storage yes End-to-end encryption; data never stored by AAs; security audits required yes Device binding, UPI PIN, transaction limits; fraud monitoring systems partial RFID encryption; vehicle-tag binding; fraud detection for cloned tags
Data Practices no Centralized biometric and demographic data; extensive linking across services yes No central data repository; data stays with respective network participants partial Document metadata stored; actual documents fetched from issuing authorities yes User-controlled data sharing; data flows directly between FIPs and FIUs partial Transaction data with NPCI and banks; used for credit scoring and analytics no Vehicle movement data collected at toll plazas; potential for tracking
Consent no De facto mandatory for many services despite Supreme Court restrictions yes User choice of apps and providers; no platform lock-in yes Voluntary service; sharing requires explicit consent per document yes Explicit consent required for each data request; granular control over sharing partial Voluntary adoption; becoming de facto required due to merchant preferences no Mandatory for all four-wheelers on national highways since 2021
Accountability no UIDAI publishes usage statistics; limited independent oversight partial Network participant grievance redressal; evolving oversight mechanisms partial NeGD oversight; usage statistics published; IT Act provisions apply partial RBI oversight; Sahamati ecosystem governance; public usage dashboards yes RBI oversight; NPCI publishes transaction statistics; dispute resolution mechanisms partial NHAI publishes adoption statistics; grievance mechanisms through banks and NHAI

Legend

Scores indicate how well the system performs on each dimension from a public interest perspective: