Build, Own, Scale.
Don't Rent.

Payment infrastructure intel for merchants, SaaS & fintechs

18 layers. 150+ providers. Real trade-offs. Built from years inside the stack, not from vendor decks.

What's Your Goal? 18 Layers Who Are You?
FRONT SYSTEMS
Merchant
CMS · OMS · POS · ERP
Vertical SaaS
Your Platform · Client App
Marketplace
Platform · Seller Portal
↓ Triggers Payment
PAYMENT LAYERS
0 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11
18 layers · Money flow · Your infrastructure choices
↓ Generates Data
OPERATIONAL BACKBONE
📊 Data
What happened?
⚙️ Admin
Let me manage it
🔄 Process
Automate it
Start Here

What Are You Trying To Achieve?

Pick your goal. We'll highlight the layers that matter.

💰
Improve Margins
Move from ~2.9% to IC++ (~1.2%)
L4 → L5 → L6
📊
Own Your Data
Raw auth codes, proprietary models
L3 → L5 → L8
🔐
Own Your Tokens
No PSP lock-in, portable PANs
L4 → L6
🏦
Own Financial Products
Cards, wallets, accounts, stablecoins
L7 → L10.1
📒
Own Your Ledger
Real-time balances, multi-currency, crypto
L7 → L10
🛡️
Own Your Compliance
DORA, MiCA, PSD2/PSD3, NIS2
L3 → L7 → L10 → Backbone
🚀
New Rails Readiness
A2A, stablecoins, 24/7 settlement
L2 → L10.3
🤖
Prepare for Agentic
AI agents as buyers
L11.1 → L11.2 → L11.3
🔄
Show All Layers
Reset filter
The Building Blocks

18 Layers. Your Choices.

Click any layer to explore providers. From bundled PSPs to agentic payments.

MATURE Production-ready GROWING Rapid adoption EARLY 2025 Emerging infrastructure
Surface Layer — The Bundled Starting Points
L0
Full-Stack PSP
All-in-one bundled
AllShow all
E-commerceOnline only
OmnichannelOnline + POS
MarketplaceMulti-seller
Convenience
vs control
Stripe Payments MCP
$1.4T TPV. Checkout, Elements, Payment Links. Stripe Connect for marketplaces.
Adyen MCP
$1.3T TPV. Unified commerce. Single platform online + POS.
Checkout.com
$250B+ TPV. Enterprise e-commerce. Strong EU/UK.
PayPal / Braintree
Consumer brand + wallet. Commerce Platform for marketplaces.
Mollie EU
EU-focused. SMB e-commerce. Fast onboarding.
Square
SMB. Strong POS hardware. Online + in-store.
Worldline
EU leader. Enterprise omnichannel. Strong retail.
PayPlug EU
France SMB. E-commerce focused. BPCE Group.
L0.1
MOR, PayFac & Cross-Border
Full liability outsource
AllShow all
MORMerchant of Record
Cross-BorderInternational DTC
PayFacEmbedded
Zero Liability
they own risk
Paddle
MOR for SaaS. Handles VAT, sales tax globally.
FastSpring
MOR for software, games. Global tax compliance.
Digital River
Enterprise MOR. 200+ countries tax handling.
2Checkout / Verifone
MOR + subscription billing.
LemonSqueezy
MOR for creators, indie devs. Simple.
Global-e HOT
Cross-border DTC. Duties, taxes, localized checkout. Powers Adidas, LVMH.
Zonos
Landed cost calculator. Duties + taxes at checkout.
Flow Commerce
Cross-border platform. Shopify Plus partner.
Stripe Connect
Marketplace PayFac. Stripe Tax for compliance. 40+ countries.
Nuvei
PayFac enabler. Global acquiring.
Shift4
PayFac. Strong hospitality, restaurants.
Rapyd
Fintech-as-a-service. PayFac + BaaS.
Finix
PayFac infrastructure. SaaS becomes PayFac.
L0.2
Acquirers
Direct processing relationship
AllShow all
GlobalMulti-region
EuropeEU/UK strength
EmergingLatAm, Asia
Direct Rates
IC++ possible
Worldpay MCP
$2.3T TPV. Largest processor. 52B txn/year.
Worldline
EU leader by revenue. Enterprise omnichannel.
Fiserv
US giant. Owns Clover. Global reach.
Global Payments
Merging with Worldpay. $9T combined.
J.P. Morgan Payments
#1 CNP acquirer in EU. Bank-grade.
Nexi EU
Italy, Nordics, DACH. Post-Nets merger.
PayPlug EU
France SMB. BPCE Group. Growing fast.
Revolut Business NEW
EU acquiring live. Fast onboarding. Growing merchant base.
SumUp
SMB acquiring + terminals. 4M+ merchants.
Dojo EU
UK SMB acquirer. Paymentsense rebrand. Fast growth.
myPOS EU
EU SMB. Instant settlement. Integrated terminals.
HiPay EU
France/EU mid-market. Omnichannel. Gaming strong.
Clover (Fiserv)
SMB platform. POS + acquiring. US dominant.
dLocal
LatAm & Africa specialist. Emerging markets.
Mercado Pago
LatAm dominant. 50M+ users.
Razorpay
India leader. $7.5B valuation.
Alipay / WeChat Pay
China. 1B+ users combined.
Core Stack — Build Your Own
L1
Capture
Customer touchpoint
AllShow all
OnlineCheckout
POS SoftwareOmnichannel
HardwareTerminals
Pay-at-TableHospitality
UX Control
own experience
Build in-house
Full checkout control. Max flexibility.
Bold Commerce
Headless checkout. Shopify Plus partner.
Fast (Affirm)
One-click checkout. Acquired by Affirm.
Bolt
One-click checkout network. 80M shoppers.
Nepting EU
Multi-acquirer POS. Nexo standard. EU leader.
FreedomPay
Enterprise POS. Hospitality, retail.
ACI Worldwide
Omnichannel. Real-time payments.
Lightspeed
SMB POS platform. Retail + hospitality.
PAX Technology
Android terminals. Global #2 in hardware.
Ingenico
AXIUM terminals. Enterprise grade.
Verifone
Terminals + cloud software.
Castles Technology
Android terminals. Asia + EU presence.
Tap to Pay (Apple/Google)
SoftPOS. Phone becomes terminal.
Dejamobile
SoftPOS SDK. White-label tap-to-pay.
Sunday HOT
Pay-at-table leader. 10K+ restaurants.
Obypay EU
France. QR order + pay.
QikServe
UK. Acquired by Access Group.
Vita Mojo
UK. Order & pay platform.
L2
Accept
Payment methods
AllShow all
Local APMsiDEAL, BLIK, etc.
BNPLBuy Now Pay Later
A2A / Open BankingBank transfers
CryptoStablecoin accept
Coverage
local methods
PPRO
175+ local APMs. Global coverage.
iDEAL (NL)
Netherlands. 70%+ online share. Bank redirect.
BLIK (PL)
Poland. 80M+ txn/month. Mobile-first.
Bancontact (BE)
Belgium. 85% card market. Payconiq merger.
Bizum (ES)
Spain. 28M users. Bank consortium P2P.
MB Way (PT)
Portugal. 5M users. Mobile payments.
Swish (SE)
Sweden. 8M users. Bank consortium.
Klarna HOT
Global BNPL leader. $6.7B valuation. Banking license.
Affirm
US BNPL. Public company. Amazon partner.
Afterpay (Block)
APAC/US BNPL. Acquired by Block $29B.
Alma EU
France BNPL leader. €490M raised.
Scalapay EU
Southern EU. Fashion focus. €700M+ raised.
Oney (BPCE)
France. Bank-backed BNPL. Retail partnerships.
Billie EU
B2B BNPL. Germany. €100M+ raised.
Wero / EPI HOT
EU instant A2A. Bank consortium. Replacing cards?
Token.io
A2A payments. Open banking connectivity.
TrueLayer
UK/EU open banking. VRP support.
Tink (Visa)
Open banking platform. Visa-owned.
Plaid
Bank linking. $6B valuation. 12K FIs.
GoCardless
SEPA, BACS, ACH direct debit. Recurring.
Bridge HOT
Stripe's $1.1B. Stablecoin orchestration.
BVNK
$12B volume. Multi-rail: stablecoin + fiat.
MoonPay
Crypto on-ramp. Let users buy to pay.
L3
Risk, Identity & Compliance
Fraud, Auth, KYC, Disputes
AllShow all
FraudML + guarantee
IdentityAuth + verification
KYC / KYBOnboarding
DisputesChargebacks
AMLSanctions
Own Risk
or outsource
Sardine HOT
All-in-one. Behavior ML + KYC + AML. Crypto-ready.
Stripe Radar
ML fraud built into Stripe. 38% less fraud on average. Custom rules.
Ravelin
ML fraud. 3DS optimization. UK-based.
Sift
Digital trust platform. Account protection.
Signifyd
100% chargeback guarantee. E-commerce.
Forter
Guaranteed fraud protection. Banks + merchants.
Riskified
Chargeback guarantee. Public company.
Feedzai
Bank-grade ML. Enterprise fraud.
Stytch HOT
Passwordless auth. Passkeys. B2B auth. $1B+ valuation.
Passage (1Password)
Passkeys-first. Acquired by 1Password.
Auth0 (Okta)
Identity platform. Enterprise SSO. MFA.
Plaid Identity
Bank account verification. Income + identity.
Stripe Identity
Document + selfie verification. Built into Stripe.
Persona
KYC/KYB flows. Identity verification.
Alloy
Identity decisioning. Bank onboarding.
Onfido
Document + biometric verification.
Chargebacks911
Chargeback prevention + management. ROI guarantee.
Midigator
Dispute management platform. Analytics.
Verifi (Visa)
Order Insight. CDRN alerts. Compelling Evidence 3.0.
Ethoca (Mastercard)
Consumer Clarity. Real-time alerts. Prevention.
Chainalysis
Crypto compliance. Blockchain analytics.
ComplyAdvantage
AML data. Sanctions screening.
L4
Route
Orchestration
AllShow all
Smart RoutingCost + auth opt.
Unified CheckoutMulti-PSP frontend
Resilience
+ lower costs
ProcessOut
Smart routing. Analytics. 45+ connections.
Payrails
Workflow engine. Rule-based routing.
Spreedly
$45B+ volume. Universal vault + routing. 100+ countries.
Gr4vy
Cloud-native. Checkout orchestration.
Primer HOT
$75M raised. Unified checkout. Drag-and-drop flows.
Yuno
LatAm focused. Local payment routing.
L5
Process
Direct acquiring
AllShow all
Direct-to-SchemeIC++ pricing
Processing-as-a-ServiceOutsourced infra
Sponsor BankBIN sponsorship
Best Economics
IC++ = 40% savings
Silverflow HOT
Cloud-native. Direct-to-scheme. Raw data access.
Estreem EU
BNP+BPCE JV. 17B txn. EU direct acquiring.
Paymenture
Direct acquiring. IC++ for enterprise.
Nexi
Processing-as-a-Service. EU scale.
Worldline
Processing infrastructure. EU leader.
FIS
Issuer + acquirer processing. Global.
BPCE / PPS
EU sponsor bank. PayPlug parent.
Elavon
Sponsor bank + acquirer. US Bank subsidiary.
L6
Vault
Token ownership
AllShow all
PAN VaultOwn your tokens
Data PrivacyPII protection
Portability
no PSP lock-in
VGS HOT
Zero data lock-in. Own your PANs. PSP portable.
Basis Theory
Developer-first. Token anywhere architecture.
Skyflow
Data privacy vault. PII + PCI in one.
TokenEx
Enterprise tokenization. 15+ years.
Evervault
Encryption infrastructure. Developer SDK.
L7
Ledger, Accounts & Cards
Own the financial products
AllShow all
LedgerSource of truth
BaaS / AccountsIBANs, wallets
Card IssuingDebit, credit, virtual
Own Products
wallets, cards, data
Formance OSS
Open-source ledger. Numscript DSL. Own your stack.
Modern Treasury MCP
Payment operations. Bank integrations. Reconciliation.
Mambu
Cloud core banking. SaaS model.
Thought Machine
Cloud-native core. Vault platform. Tier 1 banks.
10x Banking
Cloud core. UK-based. Westpac client.
Stripe Treasury
Embedded banking. FDIC-insured accounts via Stripe.
Swan EU
EU BaaS. French IBANs. EMI licensed.
Unit
US BaaS. Survived Synapse. Daily reconciliation.
Treezor
EU BaaS. Société Générale owned. EMI.
Solaris
German BaaS. Full banking license. Samsung partner.
Stripe Issuing
Card issuing via Stripe. Virtual + physical. Spending controls.
Marqeta
Card issuing. JIT funding. Powers Cash App, DoorDash.
Lithic HOT
$115M raised. API-first issuing. Stablecoin card partnership.
Highnote
$104M raised. PayPal alums. Embedded issuing.
Thredd (ex-GPS)
EU issuer processor. Revolut backend.
Galileo
US issuing. Powers SoFi, Chime. SoFi owned.
L8
Data & Billing
Measure & monetize
AllShow all
Payment AnalyticsIntelligence, data
Usage BillingMetered, consumption
SubscriptionRecurring revenue
Intelligence
& monetization
Pagos
Payment intelligence. Auth optimization.
via Silverflow
Raw scheme data. Direct access to auth codes.
Stripe Billing
Subscription + invoicing. Usage billing. Revenue Recovery.
Lago OSS
Open-source usage billing. Stripe alternative.
Orb
Usage billing. API companies. YC-backed.
Metronome
Consumption billing. a16z-backed.
Zuora
Enterprise subscription. Public company.
Chargebee
Subscription management. B2B SaaS.
Recurly
Subscription billing. Dunning, retention.
RevenueCat
Mobile subscriptions. In-app purchases.
L9
Money Movement
Splits, payouts, cross-border
AllShow all
MarketplaceMulti-seller
PayoutsGlobal FX
CapitalLending API
Distribution
your economics
Lemonway EU
EU regulated escrow. Marketplace splits. PSD2 licensed.
Mangopay
Marketplace-native. Escrow + wallets. €80B+ processed.
Wise Business
Best FX rates. 80+ countries. Real mid-market.
Airwallex
Multi-currency accounts. APAC strength. $5.5B valuation.
Payoneer
Global mass payouts. 190+ countries. Public company.
Tipalti
AP automation. Supplier payouts. Tax compliance.
Thunes
Emerging markets. Mobile money. Africa, SEA.
Nium
APAC real-time. 100+ countries. Licensed globally.
Sivo HOT
"Stripe for Debt." Debt-as-a-Service API. $100M capital.
Crypto Infrastructure — MiCA Regulated GROWING
L10.1
Stablecoin Issuance
MiCA: EMT/ART licensing
AllShow all
Use ExistingUSDC, USDT, PYUSD
White-LabelIssue your own
Digital $
programmable money
Circle HOT
USDC issuer. MiCA compliant. $62B market cap.
Paxos HOT
White-label stablecoins. Powers PayPal PYUSD.
Tether
USDT. $155B market cap. Dominant in emerging markets.
Breeze
Stablecoin-as-a-Service. Issue your own.
L10.2
Custody & Wallets
Hold crypto assets securely
AllShow all
API Wallet InfraEmbed in your app
Enterprise CustodyInstitutional grade
Security
hold assets
DFNS HOT
API-first wallet infra. MPC. For fintechs building wallets.
Fireblocks
Enterprise custody. 1800+ clients. $4B+ daily transfers.
Fordefi
Institutional MPC wallets. Acquired by Paxos $100M+.
BitGo
Multi-sig custody. $100B+ assets. Insurance available.
Anchorage
US qualified custodian. OCC-chartered. Institutional only.
L10.3
Acceptance & Settlement
Accept stablecoins, settle to fiat
AllShow all
Accept CryptoCustomer pays USDC
Crypto PayoutsPay vendors 24/7
On/Off RampFiat ↔ Crypto
24/7 Rails
instant, global
Bridge HOT
Stripe's $1.1B acquisition. Stablecoin orchestration API.
BVNK
$12B annual volume. Multi-rail: stablecoin + fiat.
Paxos Payments
Powers Stripe's crypto acceptance. Regulated.
Lightspark HOT
Lightning network. David Marcus (ex-PayPal). Instant cross-border.
BitPay
Crypto acceptance since 2011. Merchant settlement to fiat.
MoonPay
On/off ramp. Let customers buy crypto to pay you.
Infinia NEW
YC. Stablecoin → local EM rails. dLocal founding team.
Agentic Payments — AI Commerce Infrastructure EARLY 2025
L11.1
MCP Servers
Let AI agents call your payment APIs
AllShow all
Use Existing MCPStripe, Adyen, etc.
Build Your MCPExpose your API
AI Access
to payment APIs
Stripe Agentic Suite HOT
NEW Dec '25. ACP protocol + SPT tokens + Link wallet. Powers ChatGPT Instant Checkout.
Stripe MCP MCP
Official. AI agents create invoices, refunds, customers.
Adyen MCP MCP
Agentic commerce integration.
Worldpay MCP MCP
52B txn/year infrastructure. Public specs on GitHub.
Coinbase MCP MCP
Dual server: Commerce + Base. Crypto payments.
Modern Treasury MCP
Payment ops via natural language.
Stainless
Generate MCP servers from your API. Powers OpenAI SDK.
Speakeasy
OpenAPI → MCP server. Clients: Formance, Mistral.
L11.2
Agent Wallets & Identity
AI agents that hold money and pay
AllShow all
Crypto RailsUSDC, stablecoin
Card RailsVisa, Mastercard
AI Buyers
new customer type
Stripe Link HOT
Consumer wallet for agentic commerce. Spending limits, agent permissions.
Skyfire HOT
$9.5M. "Visa for AI." Agent wallets + KYAPay protocol. USDC rails.
Catena Labs HOT
$18M a16z. First regulated AI-native FI. Circle co-founder.
Nekuda NEW
$5M Visa/Amex. Agent payments on CARD rails (not just crypto).
Payman AI
Visa-backed. AI agents pay humans. USDC + ACH rails.
L11.3
Protocols & Standards
How agents authenticate and transact
AllShow all
Card NetworksVisa, Mastercard
Crypto-Nativex402, ATXP
Standards
interoperability
Stripe ACP HOT
Agentic Commerce Protocol. Open standard with OpenAI. SPT tokens.
Visa Intelligent Commerce
AI-Ready Cards. Tokenized credentials. Partners: Anthropic, OpenAI.
Mastercard Agent Pay
Agent verification before payment. Biometric auth.
Circuit & Chisel NEW
$19M. ATXP Protocol - "HTTP for agent payments."
x402 Protocol
Coinbase/Circle. HTTP 402 for AI micropayments. Open standard.
Nevermined
"PayPal for AI-to-AI." Decentralized agent commerce.
Operational Backbone

What Manages Your Stack

When you unbundle from Stripe/Adyen, you lose their dashboard. You need to rebuild three things.

📊
DATA
What really happened?
Raw decline codes Retry signals Settlement vs captured IC breakdown Audit trails
Pagos — Payment intelligence, auth optimization
dbt — Transform raw payment data
Metabase — Open-source BI, self-hosted
Compliance Automation (DORA, MiCA, PSD2/PSR)
Vanta — SOC2, ISO27001, DORA evidence
Drata — Continuous compliance monitoring
DORA + MiCA require audit trails across all ICT/crypto providers. PSD3/PSR coming 2026-27.
⚙️
ADMIN
Let me manage it
Tokens Refunds Disputes Sub-merchants Customer ops
Retool — Build custom internal tools fast
Forest Admin — Back-office on your data models
Appsmith — Open-source internal tools
Basedash — Database UI, instant admin panel
🔄
PROCESS
Automate it
Reconciliation Workflows Smart retries Notifications Dunning
Modern Treasury — Reconciliation + payment ops
Numeral — EU payment operations
Camunda — BPMN workflow orchestration
n8n — Workflow automation, self-hosted
Temporal — Durable execution engine
The pattern: As you go deeper in the stack (L4 → L5 → L6), your operational complexity increases. The backbone tools become essential — not optional.
Archetypes

Who Are You?

Your business model determines which layers matter most.

🏪
Marketplace / B2B SaaS Platform
Multi-seller splits, escrow, seller payouts
▼
When should I own my ledger?
Full-Stack PSP
Stripe Connect
<€10M GMV
Regulated Platform
Lemonway, Mangopay
Standard splits
BaaS + Own Logic
Formance + Swan
€50M+ GMV
Full Build
Formance + EMI
Split IS product
Critical Layers
L3 KYCL7 LedgerL9 SplitsL9 Payouts
⚡
PayFac / Embedded Payments
Embed payments, own merchant relationship
▼
How deep do I go?
PSP Wrapper
Stripe Connect
Fast, their compliance
Orchestrate + Vault
ProcessOut + VGS
Multi-PSP, own tokens
Sponsor Model
BPCE + Duna
Own compliance
Full PayFac
Own license
€500M+ volume
Critical Layers
L3 KYCL5 SponsorL6 VaultL7 Ledger
🏬
Omnichannel Retail
Unify online + POS, one customer view
▼
How do I unify online and in-store?
Single PSP
Adyen Unified
Simplicity
POS Abstraction
Nepting + PSP
Multi-acquirer POS
Unified Vault
VGS + Nepting
Single token
Direct Acquiring
Silverflow + VGS
€100M+, IC++
Critical Layers
L1 POSL4 OrchestrationL6 VaultL5 Direct
🏦
Fintech / Neobank
Issue cards, generate accounts
▼
BaaS wrapper or build the bank?
Full BaaS
Swan, Unit
Fast, their license
BaaS + Ledger
Formance + Swan
Custom logic
Core Banking
Mambu + EMI
Full products
Full Build
Mambu + License
You ARE the bank
Critical Layers
L3 KYCL7 LedgerL7 BaaSL7 Cards
🌍
Global Payouts
Pay creators, suppliers, 100+ countries
▼
Traditional rails or crypto?
Traditional FX
Wise, Airwallex
Established corridors
Mass Payout
Payoneer, Tipalti
High volume
Emerging
Thunes, Nium
Africa, LatAm
Stablecoin
Bridge, Lightspark
24/7, zero FX
Critical Layers
L3 IdentityL9 FXL10.3 SettlementL11.2 Agent Wallets
🔗
Crypto Player
Exchanges, wallets, DeFi going compliant
▼
How do I bridge to fiat?
Crypto-Native
DFNS, Fireblocks
Custody only
Fiat Ramp
MoonPay, Sardine
User fiat entry
BaaS
Swan + Chainalysis
Fiat accounts
Full Banking
Mambu + Cards
Crypto bank
Critical Layers
L2 Fiat rampL3 SardineL7 BaaSL10.2 Custody
Real Stacks

Case Studies Coming Soon

Deep dives into how leading companies actually built their payment infrastructure.

Klarna
BNPL → Full Banking License
Shopify
PayFac at $200B+ GMV
Toast
Vertical SaaS → Full Stack
Revolut
Neobank Multi-License
Who's Behind This

Nicolas & Friends

Operators, not consultants. We've built the stacks, not just advised on them.

Curator
Nicolas Devillard
8 years scaling a European PSP from early stage to €100M+ revenue. Grew the team from 15 to 400+. Saw every layer decision firsthand—what worked, what didn't, what we'd do differently.
CRO @ PayPlug (BPCE) €100M+ Revenue Now in NYC
Connect →
Contributors
Friends of the Stack
Payment architects, fintech founders, merchant CTOs, and infrastructure nerds who've lived the build-vs-buy decisions. This isn't theory—it's pattern recognition from the trenches.
Merchants PSP Veterans Fintech Founders Advisory Firms
Philosophy
Challenge the Status Quo
Most payment content is vendor marketing. We're here to show what actually works—from real infrastructure, real trade-offs, real failures. No sponsored content. No affiliate links.
No BS Operator POV Open Source Intel

Want to go deeper?

Stack reviews, infrastructure audits, build-vs-buy decisions. If you're making a call on your payment infrastructure, let's talk.

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