Want To Become a PSP?
If you want to become a payment service provider or a PSP you need to be aware of the costs involved in order to be able to plan your budget. So what are the most significant ones?
1. Gateway Software License ($50 000 — $250 000).
If you want to be a PSP you need to have your own payment processing software. You can either build a payment processing system from scratch or license an open source payment processing solution.
2. Tokenization Appliance ($50 000 — $100 000).
Tokenization helps to protect credit card data and as a result to reduce the PCI scope. This mechanism is used to replace real credit card numbers with tokens so even if fraudsters manage to steal the information they will not be able to use it. That’s why PSPs should have a tokenization appliance, physical tokenization equipment and related logics.
3. Annual PCI audit ($25 000).
If you self-host your payment gateway you will have to undergo PCI audit. Its purpose is to check whether the level of security you provide corresponds the demands of PCI DSS.
4. Monthly PCI Hosting Fees ($2,500 to $3,500).
Also you may choose to host your software in a PCI-compliant hosting accounting. In such a case you will not have to deal with PCI audit but these hosting solutions are quite expensive and there are significant monthly fees associated with them.
5. Integrations With Banks And Processors ($5,000 to $15,000 each).
If you prefer to develop a payment processing system instead of licensing one you will have to establish relationships with different financial institutions on your own (banks, processors, other gateways). Usually these integrations are expensive and can take a lot of time. But when you use the licensed payment processing software you obtain these integrations together with the solution.
There is one more thing which I would like to share with you — the example of the open source payment processing solution. UniPay Payment Management Platform is a great example which you need to consider (Details are available here).
Additional information on this issue is provided at PayVisors.
