Payment gateway
A payment gateway is the technical service that passes payment data from the merchant's checkout to the acquirer or payment network and returns the result.
A gateway is the pipe between your checkout and the banks: it takes card or other payment details, encrypts them, sends them for authorization and returns the answer — approved or declined. A gateway does not necessarily hold the merchant's money; settlement is done by the acquirer or PSP.
In practice, “gateway”, “PSP” and “payment aggregator” are often used interchangeably. The difference is financial responsibility: an aggregator onboards you under its own contract, while a pure gateway only routes data to your own acquirer.
When choosing a gateway, look at local methods in your target countries, H2H integration, cascading between providers and how payouts work.
Related terms
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