According to a report by Gartner, the SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) industry in 2022 was worth in excess of $195 billion. As such, SaaS applications are used in almost every industry—fashion, insurance, eCommerce—you name it.
Their increasing popularity can be partly attributed to their ease of use—businesses don’t need to host, install, or maintain the software. Instead, they can simply access and use them online, just like a subscription. This greatly simplifies things as these businesses don’t need to manage complex IT infrastructure.
Of late, many SaaS providers are leaning towards facilitating payments for their users as well. By offering payment functionality within their core solutions, these software companies can provide seamless end-to-end solutions to their users.
What’s more, they have an opportunity to grow their revenue significantly by integrating payments into their SaaS offerings. Integrated payment processing improves the end-user experience as they don’t need to be redirected to a third-party payment page to complete their payments. This also enhances data security and elevates the customer experience as the entire payments experience is now owned by the SaaS user (being contained within the same software).
In this article, we’ll compare two payment solutions—Payrix and Stax Connect—that can help ISVs and SaaS companies easily embed payment functionality in their offerings.
TL;DR
- Payrix calls itself an “embedded payment technology platform.” Considered a Managed Payfac, the company provides payment facilitation infrastructure to software companies.
- Payrix provides onboarding, KYC integrations, processing, chargebacks, reporting, and certification. Its open API allows for seamless integration and its pre-built white-label portal enables businesses to create branded payment pages.
- However, the company operates in an increasingly saturated market of other “PayFacs in a box” focusing largely on small and medium-sized ISVs, while lacking experience in supporting larger vendors or enterprise-level clients. There are also reports of misalignment with Worldpay when it comes to implementation, contract negotiations, and chargeback management systems.
Overview of Payrix
Payrix calls itself an “embedded payment technology platform.” Considered a Managed Payfac, the company provides payment facilitation infrastructure to software companies and serves the following general categories:
- Vertical SaaS companies
- Online marketplaces
- eCommerce platforms
- Merchants
- PayFacs
- Monetization for developers
Founded in Frisco, Texas in 2008, the company was acquired by the fintech giant FIS in 2022. Currently headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Payrix helps software SMBs to get set up as payment facilitators more quickly and easily while managing sub-merchant profiles and billing, assisting with risk and underwriting, managing settlements, and Visa member sponsorship.
Overview of Stax Connect
Stax is a payments technology provider that offers an all-in-one platform for managing payments, financials, inventory, sales data, invoicing, etc., catering to businesses of all sizes.
Stax Connect is Stax’s payment solution designed for software companies and ISVs that want to integrate payment processing into their existing software offerings. It is a fully managed integrated payments ecosystem that allows software or SaaS companies the power to have complete control over their users’ payment experiences while building an additional revenue stream.
Features and Capabilities
As with any payment facilitator, both Stax Connect and Payrix allow end users (i.e., sub-merchants) to accept non-cash payments.
Besides this primary functionality, Payrix provides onboarding, KYC integrations, processing, chargebacks, reporting, and certification. Its open API allows for seamless integration and its pre-built white-label portal enables businesses to create branded payment pages. Payrix supports multiple payment methods and currencies and offers powerful reporting capabilities so that businesses can monitor their overall payment activity, analyze payments, and identify trends.
Stax Connect makes it easy for software companies to implement a complete payments ecosystem—either from an all-in-one API or by white-labeling the Stax Pay portal. You get to leverage Stax’s long-standing relationship with one of the world’s biggest sponsor banks as well as the powerful Stax API which offers a single integration to access some of the best-in-class tools for accepting payments. Not only does this reduce your time-to-market, but also helps you become a PayFac with very little investment.
Stax Connect comes with a centralized dashboard that provides insights into payment activity, onboarding, and much more. It also handles risk and compliance, invoicing, and data security, while providing top-notch customer and marketing support every step of the way.
Integration Capabilities
Stax Connect offers a single API to integrate the payment processing component into your software platform. This means you can start accepting payments with a white-labeled enrollment system—with zero development—as soon as tomorrow. You may also build custom enrollment flows depending on which features—e.g., surcharging, ACH payments, split payments—make the most sense for your users.
Payrix also offers an open API for seamless integration. Once you become a Payrix partner, their team will help you connect your software application with the Payrix offering of your choice. Payrix Pro comes with minimal regulatory burden for potential partners and shared risk that can be fully integrated in a month.
Payrix Premium, on the other hand, makes partners fully liable for risk and gives them greater control over the payment experiences of sub-merchants. However, this means partners must become fully registered and compliant, requiring greater upfront investment and a longer time period (~3 months) before going live.
Payment Options
Both Payrix and Stax Connect allow sub-merchants to accept a wide range of payment methods including:
- Credit cards (Both card-present and card-not-present transactions)
- Debit cards
- ACH (Automated Clearing House)
- eChecks
- Digital wallets
- Recurring payments
- Invoicing
Customer Support
Even though Payrix claims to offer 24/7 customer support, there have been reports that their account management team is not as supportive as marketed to be, especially when it comes to premium account holders.
In contrast, Stax is particularly known for its white-glove approach to customer support. Besides an award-winning live customer support team that you can reach out to directly, you also benefit from a dedicated partner success manager who can help you take your solution to the next level. Stax also offers different levels of customer support that your users/sub-merchants may also avail the expertise of our payment experts.
In addition, Stax partners benefit from our custom revenue-share opportunity and customized marketing plans. Partners are free to set their own pricing model and structure and can access direct interchange rates allowing them to create more value for their users.
Security Measures
Stax Connect and Payrix are both PCI DSS compliant. Stax has an in-house team that monitors and validates payments so you don’t need to hire independent risk analysts. The API is also FINCEN compliant, facilitating quick underwriting approval, and allowing sub-merchants to accept payments within 20 minutes of getting started. For maximum data security, Stax Connect uses tokenization to safeguard sensitive cardholder and payment information.
Payrix also offers fraud detection and is compliant with the necessary regulations. However, its risk management tool doesn’t currently support geolocation verification, auto-TIN verification, or inventory support.
Flexibility and Customization
Both Stax Connect and Payrix have customizable interfaces that allow businesses to create white-labeled payment pages and custom payment models. However, Payrix is not considered to be as customizable or provide as high-touch service as Stax Connect.
Final Words
Payrix’s automated onboarding allows for quick and easy implementation and it offers considerable documentation and technical guides through the developer portal. Its graduated PayFac capabilities allow ISVs to take on more responsibility and risk gradually, and risk scoring is done within seconds of application submission.
However, while it is considered competitive with other major players in the managed PayFac space, it isn’t considered as customizable or provides as high-touch service as others. The company operates in an increasingly saturated market of other “PayFacs in a box” focusing largely on small and medium-sized ISVs, while lacking experience in supporting larger vendors or enterprise-level clients. There are also reports of misalignment with Worldpay when it comes to implementation, contract negotiations, and chargeback management systems.
In contrast, Stax Connect offers a well-rounded solution for ISVs of all sizes along with excellent customer support and revenue sharing opportunities. Risk, compliance, underwriting, security, bank partnerships, automated onboarding, and enrollment—you can leave it all to us and focus on your core competencies. With Stax Connect, you can rest assured that you are in good hands. Contact us today to learn more or request a demo.
FAQs about Payrix
Q: What is Payrix?
Payrix calls itself an “embedded payment technology platform.” It’s considered a Managed Payfac that provides payment facilitation infrastructure to software companies. Founded in Frisco, Texas in 2008, it was acquired by the fintech giant FIS in 2022 and is currently headquartered in Atlanta, GA. Payrix serves software SMBs to assist them in setting up as payment facilitators and manages various payment-related processes for them.
Q: What are the top features and capabilities of Payrix?
Some of the top features and capabilities of Payrix include:
- Onboarding
- KYC integrations
- Processing of payments
- Handling chargebacks
- Reporting capabilities
- Certification
- An open API for seamless integration
- A pre-built white-label portal for businesses to create branded payment pages
- Support for multiple payment methods and currencies
- Powerful reporting capabilities for monitoring and analyzing payment activity.
Q: Who is the target market of Payrix?
The target market of Payrix includes vertical SaaS companies, PayFacs, developers looking for monetization, and more. It’s worth noting that Payrix focuses largely on small and medium-sized ISVs (Independent Software Vendors), which suggests that its primary target market is smaller to medium-sized businesses looking for payment facilitation solutions.
Q: What are the security features offered by Payrix?
Payrix adheres to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which sets the operational and technical requirements for organizations accepting or processing payment transactions. The company also offers fraud detection mechanisms to identify and prevent suspicious or unauthorized payment activities.
Q: How does Payrix compare to Stax Connect?
While both are payment facilitators, Payrix is largely tailored towards smaller and medium-sized ISVs, and there are reports of it lacking the experience for larger vendors or enterprise-level clients. Stax Connect, on the other hand, caters to businesses of all sizes. Payrix offers automated onboarding, an open API, and several other features, but might not be as customizable or provide as high-touch service as Stax Connect.
