A field-service platform may already manage jobs, invoices, and customers. A marketplace may already connect buyers to hundreds of sellers. In both cases, however, if the users have to leave the software to enter a payment, the company loses control over that process.
Embedded payments offer the ability to accept payments, onboard customers, and report on financial transactions – all directly within the software. For SaaS companies and marketplaces, this can help to turn payments into a feature – and potentially a source of revenue – of the software itself.
What Are Embedded Payments?
Embedded payments integrate payment functionality directly into a non-payment product. Users can accept cards, ACH or other supported methods without leaving the platform to manage a separate processor interface.
NMI reports that 50% of businesses now obtain payment services directly from their software provider. Its current embedded-payments platform is designed around that shift, allowing SaaS providers to combine onboarding, processing and merchant management within their own product experience.
Embedded payments are part of the broader embedded finance category.
| Term | What It Includes |
|---|---|
| Embedded payments | Payment acceptance, billing, payouts and related transaction services |
| Embedded finance | Payments plus broader financial products such as lending, banking or cards |
| Integrated payments | Software connected to a separate payment system |
| Marketplace payments | Payments involving buyers, sellers and platform-controlled fund flows |
The distinction between integrated and embedded payments can be subtle. An integration may simply send transactions to an outside processor, while a deeper embedded model can allow the user to onboard, accept payments, review deposits and manage payment activity without leaving the software.
SaaS vs. Marketplace Payments: How the Models Differ
A vertical SaaS company that helps plumbers collect invoices has a different payment flow from a marketplace that collects $500 from a buyer, keeps a $50 platform fee and sends $450 to a service provider.
| Platform Type | Typical Payment Need | Key Operational Issue |
| Vertical SaaS | Let each business user accept customer payments | Merchant onboarding and payment monetization |
| Subscription software | Bill the platform’s own customers | Recurring billing and account updater tools |
| Marketplace | Collect from buyers and distribute funds to sellers | Split payments, payouts and seller verification |
| Booking platform | Collect deposits and distribute funds after service | Timing, cancellations and payout control |
| B2B platform | Process invoices and ACH payments | Reconciliation and larger transaction amounts |
| Multi-vendor ecommerce | Collect one checkout across several sellers | Fund allocation, refunds and disputes |
Stripe Connect, for example, supports connected accounts that represent sellers or service providers and provides controls for payment collection, fund routing and payouts. Depending on the marketplace configuration, the platform may also become responsible for processing fees, refunds, disputes and negative account balances.
Adyen for Platforms similarly supports split payments between user balance accounts and the platform’s liable account. The platform provides instructions determining how payment amounts, fees, commissions, refunds and other amounts should be allocated.
How Embedded Payments Work for SaaS Platforms and Marketplaces
Adding a button that allows customers to complete a transaction is only part of implementing embedded payments. A real embedded payments system has to manage the merchant lifecycle surrounding the transaction.
A typical SaaS or marketplace payments system includes the following steps:
- Sign up the business using the platform.
- Collect the information about the business and its owners.
- Verify and underwrite the business and its owners using the payment provider.
- Activate the payment account for the business.
- Submit the payment using a card, ACH or another method.
- Determine how to allocate the funds from the payment to the platform and merchant.
- Separate the fees and revenue for the platform.
- Send the remaining funds to the merchant.
- Reconcile any refunds or negative balances.
- Monitor the merchant’s account and transactions.
Stripe has created hosted and embedded onboarding solutions for third-party platforms to collect the information from the merchants without building the software themselves. Stripe’s marketplace solution can also automatically route the payments between the hosting platform and the merchants using the platform.
National Money Inc. manufactures an embedded platform for software companies. The embedded solution includes a payment gateway, merchant acquisition and onboarding, and payment processing functions. The company’s current payment gateway can handle multiple merchant identifiers (MIDs) and multiple types of payments, including online, in-person, mobile, and self-service payments.
The platform and developers have to determine who is legally and financially responsible for each transaction before they can build the user interface for the platform.
How SaaS Platforms Monetize Embedded Payments
Software providers can create payment revenue without necessarily becoming a full payment facilitator.
Common monetization strategies include:
- payment revenue sharing
- transaction markups
- application or platform fees
- premium payment features
- ACH add-ons
- instant-payout fees
- higher software subscription tiers
- recurring-billing tools
- advanced reporting or reconciliation
Stripe Connect currently offers two broad pricing approaches. A platform can let Stripe establish payment pricing for connected users and potentially qualify for revenue share, or the platform can control pricing itself. Under Stripe’s current U.S. published pricing for platforms that control pricing, Connect charges $2 per monthly active account plus 0.25% and 25 cents per payout.
The amount of control the platform wants determines how much operational responsibility it should accept.
| Model | Platform Control | Operational Responsibility |
| Referral relationship | Low | Low |
| Integrated payment partner | Moderate | Moderate |
| Embedded managed model | Moderate to high | Provider handles significant payment infrastructure |
| PayFac-as-a-Service | High | Provider handles much of the regulatory and payment framework |
| Full payment facilitator | Highest | Platform assumes substantially more payment operations and oversight |
Adyen describes PayFac-as-a-Service as a model that lets software companies provide payment-facilitator-style onboarding and processing without becoming a fully licensed payment facilitator themselves. The provider supplies much of the regulatory, technical and risk infrastructure.
More control is not automatically better. A SaaS business generating its first meaningful payment volume may benefit from a managed model, while a large platform with dedicated payment, risk and finance teams may eventually want greater control over pricing and merchant relationships.
How to Choose the Right Embedded Payments Partner
Your partner is part of your platform’s risk infrastructure, too.
Before you choose a provider, ask:
- Which industries’ merchants can be onboarded?
- Who underwrites the merchants?
- Who collects and verifies the merchant ownership information?
- Who is responsible for fraud and negative merchant balances?
- Who handles merchant disputes and refunds?
- Can the platform control the payment pricing?
- How are the merchant commissions calculated and reported?
- Can payments be split between multiple parties?
- What payout schedules does the provider support?
- Do they support cards and ACH payments?
- Can the platform use multiple payment processors and MIDs?
- Who owns the merchant relationship with the provider?
- What happens if the platform moves to a different provider?
- What APIs and tools will the provider offer the platform?
These considerations are especially important for SaaS companies that serve merchants in specialized industries. Even if a payment provider is technically capable of supporting a SaaS company’s merchants, that provider may still have rules against the industries that are represented by the merchants on that platform.
Payment Nerds can help SaaS companies compare different payment models, merchant account structures, payment gateways, and the requirements regarding risk and security for each payment provider before choosing one to implement in their software. Payment Nerds primarily works with NMI and Authorize.net, but can also assist with implementing custom payment solutions for other eligible businesses.
In addition to monitoring fraud and disputes on individual merchants that use a platform for card-not-present transactions, those platforms should also monitor fraud reports and chargebacks at the individual merchant level. Programs like the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) reveal that merchants with high volumes of fraud and chargebacks may create issues for the acquiring company or payment processor in that organization’s portfolio of merchants. Therefore, platforms that control merchant onboarding should monitor for chargebacks, card testing, and unusual volume growth among those merchants on the platform.
Embedded Payments FAQs for SaaS Platforms and Marketplaces
Q: What are embedded payments?
A: Embedded payments refer to the integration of payment systems directly within a software product. Users can onboard, accept payments and review transactions without leaving the software.
Q: What is embedded finance?
A: Embedded finance is the integration of financial products within a non-financial software product. Embedded finance can include payments, account and transaction management, lending, cards and more.
Q: How do SaaS platforms make money from embedded payments?
A: Platforms can use several models to generate revenue from embedded payments, including revenue sharing, transaction markups, platform fees, instant payouts, ACH payments and software tiers. The revenue models depend on the third-party payments provider and software platforms.
Q: What are marketplace payments?
A: Marketplace payments involve accepting funds from buyers and allocating them between sellers, service providers and the platform. The system may also manage commissions, refunds, disputes and payouts.
Q: Does a SaaS company need to become a payment facilitator?
A: Not necessarily. Referral, managed embedded-payment and PayFac-as-a-Service models can let platforms offer payment functionality without operating as a full payment facilitator.
Q: What is the difference between embedded and integrated payments?
A: Integrated payments connect software to an external payment provider. Embedded payments generally place more of the onboarding, payment, and management experience inside the software itself.
Q: Can embedded payments support high-risk merchants?
A: Embedded payments can support high-risk merchants – provided that the payment processor supports the types of merchants that the payment platform caters to. The platform should be able to confirm the eligibility of the merchant’s industry before embedding the payments with a provider.
Q: Can a marketplace split one payment between several sellers?
A: Some marketplace payment platforms do allow for split payments to occur between several sellers, transferring the funds from one balance to another or several connected seller accounts. The provider determines what is possible with split payments.
Q: What should SaaS companies evaluate before embedding payments?
A: A SaaS company will want to review the merchant eligibility and all aspects of the payment processor. This includes but is not limited to the onboarding process, available APIs, pricing options, payout options, fraud and dispute policies, and any issues related to negative balances or migrating to a new platform.
Make Embedded Payments Part of Your SaaS Platform
Embedded payments will make your SaaS product more useful to users while also providing revenue from those transactions. Consider how marketplaces can use the same technology to let sellers join and buyers pay them for the products they sell.
Decide how much control you want over the buying and selling process. Then, choose your payment provider based on your requirements.
Sources
- NMI. “What Are Embedded Payments?” Accessed August 2026.
- NMI. “Payment Solutions for Software Companies.” Accessed August 2026.
- Stripe. “Connect: Platform and Marketplace Payments.” Accessed August 2026.
- Stripe. “Connect Pricing.” Accessed August 2026.
- Stripe. “Build a Marketplace.” Accessed August 2026.
- Adyen. “Understanding PayFac-as-a-Service.” Accessed August 2026.
- Adyen. “Split Transactions Between Balance Accounts.” Accessed August 2026.
