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This section is for individual Pleo customers connecting their own company’s systems to Pleo, for example internal tooling, exports to a data warehouse, one-off migrations, or reporting. If you’re building an integration that will serve multiple customers, use the Pleo Partners Quickstart instead. Follow the recommended reading order below to confirm Standalone API Keys is the right integration path for you, and to see the migration pathways available if you’re currently on the Legacy APIs.

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Decide if an API Integration Is the Right Approach for You

1. Platform Overview

Confirm Standalone API Keys are the right fit before you request access.

2. API Overview

The REST API conventions and the main API surfaces available to your integration.

3. Pleo MCP

You may not need a coded integration at all if the Pleo MCP already covers your use case.

4. Pre-Built Integrations

Check whether a ready-made connector already covers your Accounting System or HRIS before building anything custom.

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Ready to Proceed with an API Integration?

5. Standalone API Keys Overview

Understand Standalone API Keys and how they work with your organisation.

6. How to Get Access to Environments

Confirm or request access to Staging or Production before generating a key.

7. Standalone API Key Workflow Guide

Generate your key in the Pleo Web App and make your first authenticated API call.

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Migrate from the Legacy APIs to the New APIs

Pleo is migrating away from the Legacy APIs, so if your organisation currently uses them, start planning your move to the new External API platform. See the Deprecation & Migration Guides for available migration paths. New customers are only given access to the new API Keys.

What is the difference between legacy APIs and new APIs?

Legacy APIs (OpenAPI)
  • Base URL: https://openapi.pleo.io
  • Authentication: API tokens (legacy tokens)
  • Availability: Intended for existing/legacy use cases. Access can depend on your account setup and entitlements.
  • Lifecycle: Deprecated. See the deprecation timeline and migration plan.
New APIs (External API)
  • Base URL: https://external.pleo.io
  • Authentication: API keys (and other authentication methods supported by the platform, including OAuth 2.0, depending on the use case)
  • Availability: Available without restriction, but may need to be enabled for your organisation.
  • What to expect: Newer platform surface and improved structure, but not guaranteed feature parity with legacy APIs yet.
Important:
  • Legacy API tokens will not work on external.pleo.io
  • New API keys will not work on openapi.pleo.io

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Environments

Pleo provides two environments, Staging and Production. Unlike Pleo Partners, who must complete a staging-first review through the Early Access Programme before reaching Production, you can generate a Standalone API Key for either environment directly:
  • Staging: a sandbox with test data, useful for exploring the API before touching real data.
  • Production: your live company data.

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What Comes Next?

Once you’ve generated your Standalone API Key and made a successful test call, explore the Platform Capabilities & Concepts Catalogue to understand the different workflows, such as exports, imports, and multi-entity setups, that you can build with the API.