Your Own Payment Gateway: Luxury or Necessity?

The main functions of a payment gateway solution are to ensure payment security and adjust the formats of payment data on its way from merchant to processor. A robust payment gateway product should support a variety of critical functions. It should be integrated with numerous acquiring and processing solutions. It should have a unified API to support all target payment types and currencies. It should be PCI compliant and protect sensitive payment data. It should be able to handle recurring payments, chargebacks, and refunds. Finally, it should be user-friendly and open to further adjustments.

So, does it make sense to build payment gateway solution, complete with all the listed features, on your own? Or is third-party slash white label payment gateway a better option? The answer depends on the size, as well as specific features and needs of your business.

When does it make sense to build your own payment gateway?

Companies decide to build their own payment gateway solutions when they want to:

1. Save on (or completely eliminate) payment gateway fees.
2. Customize their payment gateway product as they please and thoroughly control it.
3. Provide merchant services on their own behalf and, potentially, resell the product as a white label solution, to their respective customers.

These strategic steps are common for large payment software companies, acquirers in need of front-end solutions, billing companies, and some other major players.

If you decide to build your own payment gateway, you should be aware of the risks related to the process, such as.

• Large development and maintenance costs.
• The need for numerous integrations and certifications.
• PCI compliance and harmonization of data formats across acquiring and processing partners.

If benefits and savings offset the costs and risks, you can build your own payment gateway from scratch. Or license a ready-made payment gateway technology, take it in-house, and customize it according to your specific business needs.

Robust payment gateway solution to call your own

Again, “your own payment gateway” is not necessarily a gateway product you develop from scratch yourself. Some modern companies offer licensable gateway software products with open source code. If you license such a product, you might get most of the necessary features and integrations off-the-shelf. At the same time, you will be free to add any new features when necessary. Although adjustments you make have to be separately certified, your costs will be much lower than the cost of developing a payment gateway from scratch. And still, it will be your own payment gateway solution.

If you want to have a payment gateway of your own, but do not want to build it yourself, UniPay Gateway software by United Thinkers might be the best option for your business. It is a robust licensable payment gateway solution, already used by multiple companies and integrated with various payment platforms worldwide. Feel free to contact our experts at unipaygateway.com and learn how UniPay Gateway technology can help your business thrive.