Payment gateways
High-Risk Payment Gateways
A payment gateway connects a checkout or merchant system to payment processing. It can collect payment details, tokenize credentials, route authorization requests, and return transaction status. A gateway is not a merchant account, and technical access does not mean that an acquirer has approved the merchant’s business.
Last reviewed
40 company profiles
Reviewed payment gateway providers
These profiles include a gateway product. A gateway listing does not mean the same company supplies the merchant account, underwriting, processing or settlement.
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ACI Worldwide
ACI Worldwide supplies payment software. The merchant-facing ACI Payments Orchestration Platform provides an acquirer-independent gateway, routing, alternative-payment-method connections, omni-tokenisation, fraud decisioning and consolidated payment data. ACI Acquiring is separate software that banks and merchant acquirers use to run their own acquiring operations. In both products ACI provides technology; the merchant or PSP contracts with its chosen acquirers and payment providers, and those parties provide any merchant account or MID, underwrite payment acceptance, hold funds and settle transactions.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Payment orchestration
Adyen
Adyen combines a payment gateway, risk tooling, processing, acquiring and merchant settlement for online and in-person payments. Adyen for Platforms adds user onboarding, split payments, balances and payouts, while Adyen Issuing supports physical and virtual card programs. Product access depends on the customer model, country, regulated activity, underwriting and contract.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Airwallex
Airwallex provides online payment acceptance and acquiring, a multi-currency Wallet and Global Accounts with foreign exchange, cross-border payouts, Visa card issuing, and connected-account infrastructure for platforms. Each product requires its own approval and may use a different Airwallex contracting entity, regulated permission, partner rail, funds flow and pricing schedule.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Authorize.Net
Authorize.Net provides a payment gateway for online, in-person and phone payments. Gateway Only connects to a merchant's existing merchant account and processor. All-in-One adds an application for a separate merchant account. With eCheck.Net, Authorize.net LLC provides the eCheck service as Third-Party Sender, the merchant is the ACH Originator, and First National Bank of Omaha is the ODFI that processes the ACH entries.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Bango
Bango supplies two distinct products for digital commerce. Bango Payments is an API layer that connects a merchant to direct carrier billing and wallet payment providers; the merchant remains the seller and ordinarily negotiates and receives its payment-provider settlement directly. The Digital Vending Machine bundles subscriptions for resellers and content providers, coordinating catalogue, entitlement, offer and billing events without making Bango the universal seller to the subscriber, card acquirer or merchant-account provider.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways
BlueSnap
BlueSnap, Powered by Payroc, provides payment-facilitator processing through partner acquirers, a bank-agnostic gateway and Payment API, embedded payments for software platforms, and a transaction-specific merchant-of-record route under its current merchant agreement. BlueSnap is not a universal direct acquirer; the contracting BlueSnap entity, acquirer or sponsor bank, merchant account, underwriting, reserve, funds flow and settlement route depend on the merchant location, product and agreement.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Boku
Boku provides a mobile-first local-payment network covering wallets, account-to-account schemes, buy-now-pay-later and direct carrier billing through one API and consolidated settlement. The relevant Boku operating entity processes or collects under the merchant agreement, while mobile carriers, wallets, banks, payment schemes and other acquirers remain separate participants. Named Boku entities provide regulated acquiring in specified markets, but the wider network does not give every merchant a card merchant account, MID or direct-acquiring relationship.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
BR-DGE
BR-DGE is payment-orchestration software operated by Comcarde Limited. Its modular products provide hosted and API integration, connections to payment providers, rules-based routing, central tokenisation, consolidated reporting and white-label orchestration. BR-DGE states that it is not a payment service provider and does not hold funds; the merchant or white-label client retains its contracts with connected PSPs and acquirers, which provide the merchant account, any MID, payment underwriting, financial processing, funds custody and settlement.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Payment orchestration
Braintree
Braintree is a PayPal payment service for web and mobile checkout. Braintree Direct combines the Braintree gateway with a merchant account and payment processing. Gateway-only connects the Braintree gateway to a merchant account supplied by another provider. PayPal payments require Braintree Direct, use the Braintree integration and Vault, and follow the merchant's separate PayPal account terms and PayPal funding.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
CCBill
CCBill offers payment-facilitator and dedicated merchant-account products with hosted checkout, recurring billing, fraud management and affiliate services for ecommerce, subscription and approved high-risk businesses. The contracting, underwriting, processing and merchant settlement entities depend on the selected product and agreement.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
CellPoint Digital
CellPoint Digital provides payment-orchestration software and gateway integration for travel and hospitality businesses. One Source Orchestration connects a merchant's contracted PSPs and acquirers, applies routing and failover rules, and consolidates payment operations and reporting. Velocity supports API, hosted-page and iframe integrations. CellPoint Digital does not provide the merchant account, MID or direct acquiring for these products, hold merchant funds, or settle funds to the merchant; the connected PSP or acquirer controls underwriting, processing and settlement.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Payment orchestration
Checkout.com
Checkout.com provides merchant acquiring and online payment processing, a separate payment-gateway route for merchants that keep another acquirer, platform payments for marketplaces and payment facilitators, card and bank payouts, and card issuing. The contracting entity, sponsor bank, merchant approval, settlement route and permitted business activity depend on the country, product and agreement.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
CoinPayments
CoinPayments provides hosted and API-based cryptocurrency checkout, merchant wallets, webhooks and configurable transfers to merchant-controlled addresses. The contracting and custody entity depends on the business jurisdiction. Fiat conversion, where available, uses partners and varies by jurisdiction.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Crypto payments
Corefy
Corefy is a payment-orchestration platform and payment hub that connects a merchant's own payment-provider and acquirer accounts through one integration. It provides gateway, checkout, routing, payout orchestration, reporting and reconciliation software; it does not provide financial services, hold client funds or supply the merchant account.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Payment orchestration
Cybersource
Cybersource, a Visa company, provides a global payment gateway and orchestration platform, Unified Checkout, REST payment APIs, Token Management Service, Decision Manager, payer authentication, payment reporting and card-network payout connectivity. Its standard gateway path connects the merchant to external processors and acquirers; those parties provide any merchant account or MID, perform merchant underwriting, hold funds and settle transactions. The production Cybersource or Visa counterparty is determined by the signed agreement and territory rather than the non-production Developer Center terms. A current United States card-services package uses a separate agreement with Global Payments Direct, Inc., while the Cybersource Payment Services Agreement remains separate.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Payment orchestration
Digital Virgo
Digital Virgo connects merchants, digital-content publishers and telecom operators through the DV PASS carrier-billing platform. DV PASS manages merchant connections, subscriptions, transaction status, fraud controls and customer-care workflows, while the mobile operator controls subscriber eligibility, posts the charge to the prepaid balance or monthly bill and collects from the subscriber. UAB DV Payment, Digital Virgo's active Lithuanian electronic-money institution, separately contracts for regulated acquiring, holds transaction funds in segregated accounts and settles approved merchants. Its licence and funds role do not apply automatically to every DV PASS deployment or Digital Virgo group company.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
EBANX
EBANX provides Pay-in processing, local payment methods, recurring payments, fraud and checkout tools, cross-border or local settlement, and Payouts across emerging markets in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The EBANX brand covers multiple group companies and local partners; the contracting entity, payment methods, settlement model and product availability depend on the merchant agreement and country. The documented flows do not establish EBANX as the merchant of record or a universal direct acquirer: the merchant remains the seller, while local acquirers, banks and payment rails may perform regulated parts of the flow.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Platforms, wallets & payouts
Ecommpay
Ecommpay combines direct card acquiring, a proprietary payment gateway, local and alternative payment methods, open-banking payments, orchestration, recurring billing and merchant-funded payouts. Ecommpay Limited is the disclosed UK contracting and regulated payment-services entity; the exact acquiring route, external payment-method provider, settlement terms and payout rail remain product- and agreement-specific.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Elavon
Elavon is the merchant-payments product line of U.S. Bank. Its documented U.S. merchant-processing route is supplied by Elavon, Inc. with a designated Member that is initially U.S. Bank, N.A. or Elavon, Inc.; Elavon processes transactions and provisional merchant funding while the Member facilitates settlement through the banking rails. Converge is separately documented as a hosted gateway that can send transactions to Elavon or a third-party destination, so the gateway alone does not establish who supplies the merchant account, underwriting or settlement. In the UK, the regulated entity is U.S. Bank Europe DAC, formerly Elavon Financial Services DAC, operating through its registered UK branch and trading as Elavon Merchant Services.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
emerchantpay
emerchantpay provides card acquiring, payment gateway technology, payment processing, merchant accounts, risk and chargeback management, reporting and customer payouts. The commercial and funds-flow model depends on whether the merchant uses direct acquiring, gateway technology, the UK referral and collection service, or US ISO processing.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
FreedomPay
FreedomPay provides an independent payment gateway and payment-orchestration platform for in-store, online, mobile and unattended commerce, including travel and hospitality. Its platform connects merchants to selected processors, acquirers, payment methods and commerce systems, while Merchant Centered Acquiring is a separate referral advisory service. FreedomPay does not provide direct acquiring, a merchant account or MID on these models and does not perform merchant underwriting or merchant settlement; the selected processor or acquirer controls those responsibilities under its own agreement.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Payment orchestration
Global Payments
Global Payments sells merchant payment processing and commerce technology through different legal and bank structures. In the documented U.S. sponsorship model, Global Payments Direct, Inc. is the processor and registered ISO while a member bank sponsors the card activity, retains control of network settlement funds until the merchant is funded and participates in merchant acceptance. In the UK, GPUK LLP is the FCA-authorised payment-services entity behind the Global Payments trading name. European materials describe both financial-institution processing capabilities and merchant card-acceptance contracts with Global Payments s.r.o.; the public sources reviewed do not establish one universal responsibility split for every s.r.o. relationship.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Mangopay
Mangopay supplies wallet-based payment infrastructure for platforms: pay-ins enter electronic wallets, wallet transfers can allocate or split balances, verified users can receive funds, and payouts move wallet funds to registered bank recipients. Pay-ins may be acquired by Mangopay or by another approved payment service provider. Multi-currency Accounts, Identity and Payouts are also sold as distinct products. The contracting entity, regulated service, funds treatment and product access depend on the platform agreement and jurisdiction.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Platforms, wallets & payouts
Mollie
Mollie provides regulated online and in-person payment services for businesses in the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Mollie B.V. is the Dutch-regulated entity for EEA services, while Mollie UK Ltd provides the UK-regulated service and UK settlement route; UK non-card EU methods can pass first through Mollie B.V. and Stichting Mollie Payments before Mollie UK safeguards and pays out the funds. Mollie processes and settles merchant payments but its general card route connects merchants to external method acquirers and financial institutions. Mollie states that it became an iDEAL acquirer, but that method-specific role does not make Mollie a universal card acquirer, traditional merchant-account provider or dedicated-MID provider.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
NMI
NMI provides embedded payment infrastructure, including a white-label payment gateway for online, in-store, mobile and self-service payments. The gateway includes checkout, tokenization, routing, recurring billing and reporting; the merchant-account provider, underwriter, acquirer and settlement provider depend on the merchant setup.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways
Nuvei
Nuvei provides acquiring, processing, gateway, orchestration, merchant accounts, payouts, platform payments, issuing, banking and crypto services.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Outpayce
Outpayce provides the travel-focused Xchange Payment Platform for payment orchestration, gateway connectivity, alternative payment methods, refund messaging, reporting and reconciliation. XPP routes requests and data to customer-selected acquirers, gateways, payment service providers and other third parties. Those connected providers retain the merchant account, any MID, merchant underwriting, financial processing, funds custody and settlement. Outpayce S.A.U. is a Spanish electronic money institution, but that status does not authorize XPP as a direct acquirer or provider of a merchant account or MID.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Payment orchestration
Paysafe
Paysafe combines card acquiring and merchant processing with a payments API, Skrill and Neteller wallet acceptance, PaysafeCard eCash and a single-integration iGaming payment platform. The contracting entity, merchant account, regulatory permission and funds flow depend on the selected product and region.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
PayU
PayU Payments Private Limited is the current Prosus-controlled PayU payments business in India. It operates RBI-authorised online, offline and cross-border payment aggregation. India-registered merchants use its domestic, offline and international-acceptance route; approved merchants established outside India can use the separate Cross-Border Payments Import route to collect from Indian buyers without an Indian entity and receive settlement to an offshore account through authorised dealer banks. PayU supplies merchant integration and risk controls and participates in the applicable aggregation funds flow; banks, card networks and payment-system participants retain payer-account, authorization and rail roles.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways
Planet
Planet combines online and in-person payment acceptance, acquiring, a payment gateway, tokenization, Dynamic Currency Conversion and Multi-Currency Pricing with hospitality software. Planet Merchant Services Limited provides the documented UK regulated route and Planet Merchant Services SAS provides the documented EU acquiring route. Availability outside those entity scopes may involve another Planet entity or an acquiring partner and must be confirmed by product, country and contract.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
PPRO
PPRO connects payment service providers and approved direct merchants to local payment methods through the PPRO Global API, checkout products and the PPRO Payment Gateway. Its funds and commercial roles are product-specific: PPRO Payment Services S.A. fulfils settlement obligations for methods in which PPRO receives funds, processing-only methods expressly keep funds outside PPRO, and PPRO's current Mexico product combines Mexican local-acquiring access with a payment-local Merchant-of-Record route for merchants that may be located inside or outside Mexico. PPRO performs the payment-related local collection, remittance and associated tax procedures defined by the LATAM terms; the Contractual Partner remains the product seller and retains product, consumer and tax liability. PPRO does not publicly establish one universal merchant account, acquiring-bank MID or direct licensed-acquirer role across these paths.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Merchant of Record
Praxis Tech
B2B payment orchestration platform connecting merchants to third-party PSPs and acquirers through hosted and API-based payment flows. Praxis is not the payment processor or acquirer, does not provide a merchant account, and does not hold merchant funds or provide merchant settlement.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Payment orchestration
Segpay
Segpay offers three distinct merchant products: payment facilitation, placement for a direct merchant account and gateway technology. Payment facilitation includes submerchant onboarding and processing; the direct account is placed with an acquiring bank; the gateway connects a merchant's payment setup to banks and processors.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Shift4
Shift4 combines online, in-person and hospitality payment technology with card processing, tokenization, reporting and currency-conversion products. The documented U.S. merchant-processing route is a joint agreement with Citizens Bank, N.A.; Shift4 Limited provides regulated EEA acquiring and Shift4 Payments UK Limited provides regulated UK acquiring. Gateway availability and merchant reach must not be read as direct Shift4 acquiring in every country.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Stripe
Stripe provides online payment acceptance, connected-account infrastructure for platforms, a separate merchant-of-record product for digital commerce, and card-program infrastructure. Payments, Connect, Managed Payments, and Issuing have different merchant-of-record, acquiring, loss-liability, settlement, and bank responsibilities. Business approval is product-, country-, activity-, and contract-specific.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Trust Payments
Trust Payments combines UK and EEA merchant acquiring with the TRU Connect online gateway, hosted and embedded checkout, mobile SDKs, tokenization, fraud controls, payment links, reporting and in-person terminals. TrustUK Payments Ltd is the documented UK acquiring entity and Trust Payments (Malta) Limited is the documented Malta-regulated acquiring entity. Gateway and POS technology can be contracted separately, so gateway status must not be confused with settlement by the merchant's acquirer.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Unlimit
Unlimit provides card acquiring and payment processing, a gateway and checkout stack, local payment methods, tokenized recurring payments and merchant-funded payouts. The operating route is regional rather than one global licence: Unlimit EU Ltd is a Cyprus electronic-money institution, Unlimit UK Ltd is a UK electronic-money institution, Unlimint IN Private Limited is an Indian payment aggregator, and Brazil separates the authorised payment institution and merchant acquirer from the technology and integration company.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Worldline
Worldline combines regulated card acquiring with online and in-person payment technology. The documented UK route contracts through Worldline Merchant Services UK Limited, an FCA-authorised payment institution that underwrites the merchant, processes transactions, safeguards merchant funds and settles the approved card activity. Its Online Payments Gateway is a separate non-regulated SaaS service that can route to Worldline acquiring or to a third-party acquirer; on the latter route it does not supply that acquirer’s merchant account, underwriting or settlement.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Worldpay
Worldpay provides direct card and alternative-payment acquiring, payment processing and gateway services. Corporate Gateway can connect a merchant to a separate acquirer. Worldpay Integrated Payments combines U.S. processing, merchant underwriting and a Worldpay-issued MID with a Member Bank relationship. Access Worldpay also supports card and bank-account payouts as a separate service.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Merchant accounts & acquiring · Gateways
Xsolla
Xsolla provides game-commerce products for developers and publishers. Pay Station is its payment checkout product; Xsolla Payments is the wider solution that groups Pay Station with supporting game-commerce tools. Pay Station has two materially different commercial configurations: Xsolla can sell approved game content to the player as Merchant of Record and aggregate the developer's payout, or the developer can connect its own payment-system agreements through Partner Gateways and retain the direct money flow, tax, refund, chargeback and payout-cost responsibilities.
Reviewed products
Product categories
Gateways · Merchant of Record
Decision brief
Decide what the gateway does and what it leaves to others
Use this page when
You need checkout, tokenization or routing technology but still have to resolve the merchant account and acquiring relationship.
Integration scope
Choose the required API, hosted checkout, virtual terminal, recurring and token-vault capabilities.
Provider connections
Confirm which processors and acquirers are available for your entity, region and payment methods.
Failure ownership
Set who investigates declines, duplicate charges, routing failures, token issues and settlement mismatches.
Technical and contractual checks
- Live processor and acquirer connections for the selected product
- Token portability, data export and migration support
- Gateway fees separated from processing, acquiring and risk fees
Start with the gateway’s actual responsibility
A standalone gateway normally handles payment-data transport and transaction controls while a separate acquirer or PSP underwrites the merchant and settles funds. A full-stack provider may sell the gateway and acquiring under one commercial relationship. Confirm the arrangement for the selected product instead of inferring it from the provider’s company-wide capabilities.
The contract should state who operates the checkout, stores tokens, routes transactions, performs processing, manages disputes, holds reserves, and pays the merchant. If several providers are involved, map the support owner for each failure point.
Choose the checkout and API model deliberately
A hosted payment page redirects the customer or presents a provider-managed page. Hosted fields or embedded components keep the checkout experience on the merchant site while the provider captures sensitive card data. A direct API gives the merchant more control but can increase engineering and PCI DSS responsibilities.
Compare SDK support, API versioning, idempotency, webhooks, authentication, test environments, error codes, retry behavior, and backward-compatibility policy. A broad API list is less useful than a documented path for the merchant’s actual checkout, recurring, refund, and reporting needs.
- Cards, bank payments, wallets, and local payment methods required at launch
- Authorization, capture, void, refund, recurring, and dispute operations
- Hosted checkout, embedded fields, mobile SDKs, and server-side API
- Webhook delivery, replay, signature verification, and reconciliation
Check routing rules and token portability before committing
Multi-acquirer routing can improve control, but every route still needs a valid contract and approval for the merchant’s activity. Ask which rules are configurable, whether the gateway retries soft declines, how duplicate transactions are prevented, and how the system behaves when an endpoint times out.
Token portability determines how difficult it may be to change gateways or acquirers. Establish who owns the tokens, whether raw card data can be migrated through a PCI-compliant process, which tokens can be used with another processor, and what export assistance and fees apply at termination.
Define payment-data scope instead of relying on a badge
PCI DSS applies according to how account data is stored, processed, transmitted, or affected by the merchant environment. Using hosted components or tokenization may reduce scope, but it does not remove the merchant’s responsibility to determine and validate the requirements that apply to its implementation.
Review data residency, subprocessors, encryption, access controls, audit logs, incident notification, availability commitments, recovery objectives, and the treatment of cardholder data in logs, analytics, and support tools.
Compare gateway cost with the acquiring route attached
Gateway pricing may include setup, monthly, per-transaction, token, 3-D Secure, account updater, routing, reporting, and support fees. Reserves and settlement delays normally belong to the acquiring relationship, not the standalone gateway, although a bundled PSP may present them in one agreement.
- Named compatible processors and acquirers for the merchant’s region and industry
- Production features included in the quoted plan, not only the published API list
- Uptime, incident communication, support hours, and escalation path
- Token export, data export, termination assistance, and end-of-contract fees
- Total gateway, processor, acquirer, security, and operational cost
FAQ
Common questions
Can a high-risk gateway provide a merchant account?
Only when the product also includes an acquiring or payment-facilitator relationship. A standalone gateway supplies technology, not a high-risk merchant account. Confirm the acquirer, underwriting entity, contracting entity, and settlement path separately.
Does tokenization remove PCI DSS obligations?
No. Tokenization can reduce the systems that handle primary account numbers, but the effect depends on the implementation. The merchant must determine its applicable PCI DSS scope and validation requirements.
Can a gateway route transactions to any processor?
No. The gateway needs a supported technical connection, and the merchant needs an approved commercial relationship with each processor or acquirer route. Compatibility and approval are separate questions.
What should happen to stored cards when a gateway contract ends?
The agreement should define token ownership, export format, eligible destinations, PCI-compliant transfer, timing, fees, and deletion. Confirm this before storing production credentials, not during an urgent migration.