Choosing embedded payment platform partners is one of the most strategic decisions a SaaS company can make. It influences product experience, revenue potential, and long-term scalability. Whether you’re a founder, product manager, or tech leader, this guide will help you cut through the noise and choose a partner that supports your growth.
Highlights
- Clear framework for evaluating embedded payments partners
- Practical insights for SaaS leaders at every stage: startup, growth, and mature
- Monetization opportunities with the right payments partner
- Expert quote from Aurora’s Director of Partner Enablement
- Real-world red flags to avoid
Why Embedded Payments Matter for SaaS
Embedded payments aren’t just a backend feature. They have a direct impact on how your users interact with your software. When payments are integrated into your platform, users benefit from a smoother, more intuitive experience. This reduces friction, helps with retention, and can elevate customer satisfaction.
But there’s more to it than convenience. Embedded payments also offer the chance to unlock new revenue streams and improve the financial health of your business. By taking control of the payment flow, your SaaS platform can generate income from every transaction processed. It also improves your investor appeal, as recurring revenue streams and higher margins are often key metrics in valuation discussions.
Build vs. Buy vs. Partner: What’s Right for You?
SaaS leaders often debate whether to build their own payments infrastructure, buy from a processor, or embed payments through a partner. Each path has distinct trade-offs.
Building in-house gives you complete control over the payment stack. You can customize every detail and tailor the user experience to fit your product. However, this comes with major overhead. You’ll need a dedicated team for compliance, ongoing maintenance, fraud prevention, and customer support. For large or well-funded companies, this route might be viable, but for most, it’s not realistic.
Buying from a third-party processor can get you to market quickly, but you’ll sacrifice customization and brand control. Many processors also limit your ability to monetize payments directly, so the long-term upside may be small.
Partnering with an embedded payments provider can offer the best of both worlds. You maintain control over the experience while benefiting from APIs, integration support, compliance, and go-to-market enablement. This route is ideal for SaaS businesses looking to scale without rebuilding core infrastructure.
Evaluating Embedded Payment Platforms
Not all partners are created equal. Choosing embedded payment platform providers requires more than comparing rates or tech specs. A good partner should align with your goals, support your teams, and deliver a strong experience for your merchants.
Start by looking at integration capabilities. Are their APIs straightforward and well-documented? Do they offer direct support for your development team? A complex integration can slow your launch and distract your resources.
Next, assess how well the provider works with your internal teams. Do they support your onboarding, support, and sales teams? Or are they just another vendor? A true partner should operate as an extension of your business.
Also consider the end-user experience. Can your merchants get fast support when they need it? Do they have access to onboarding tools, reporting, and troubleshooting resources?
Finally, think about the business opportunity. The right provider will offer transparent pricing, revenue sharing options, and help you turn payments into a growth engine.
“As someone who works directly with software partners to drive adoption and performance, I’ve seen firsthand that the right embedded payments partner is a strategic growth lever. It’s not just about plugging in a payment solution. It’s about aligning with a partner that enhances your platform, supports your merchants, and helps you scale smarter. The right partner integrates seamlessly, accelerates onboarding, and acts as an extension of your team.” — Sherrie Bryant, Director of Partner Enablement at Aurora
Bryant’s perspective reflects a few critical elements that SaaS companies should prioritize when evaluating providers. A partner-first approach means finding a payments provider who doesn’t operate in a silo but collaborates with your onboarding, support, and sales teams. This creates a unified experience across your business and delivers smoother merchant launches.
Frictionless integration is another must-have. Look for providers offering simplified APIs and direct developer support. This can make or break your timeline when trying to go live. Fast, responsive communication and support for your technical team ensures integration issues don’t delay your growth.
It’s about aligning with a partner that enhances your platform, supports your merchants, and helps you scale smarter.
Sherrie Bryant – Director of Partner Enablement at Aurora
The merchant experience is just as important. A quality payments partner extends your brand’s promise. That includes reliable uptime, self-service tools, and support that makes you look good when issues arise. A seamless merchant experience builds trust and keeps users on your platform longer.
Most importantly, the right provider should help you grow through both revenue and retention. The best embedded payments strategy boosts your bottom line while making your product more valuable to customers.
Matching the Right Partner to Your SaaS Stage
Your needs will vary based on your company’s maturity. A startup launching an MVP will need different capabilities than an enterprise SaaS managing thousands of transactions daily.
In the startup phase, simplicity is key. Look for partners that can offer quick deployment and hands-on integration help. You may not be focused on monetizing payments yet, so prioritize ease of use and low technical lift.
During the growth stage, your payment needs become more complex. You’ll want APIs that support customization, onboarding support for scaling users, and merchant support that can scale with your customer base. This is also the time to start exploring how to turn payment processing into a revenue stream.
If your SaaS business is mature, flexibility is a top priority. You may need multi-channel support, such as enabling both card-present and card-not-present payments. Your partner should offer advanced analytics, flexible pricing models, and deep integration options to help you fine-tune your payment offering.
Monetizing Payments: Beyond the Basics
Payments aren’t just a feature to check off your list. They can be a serious growth lever. The right partner will offer revenue-sharing options that let you capture a percentage of each transaction. This becomes a predictable, scalable income stream.
You can also create new pricing tiers or product bundles by integrating premium payment features. Some platforms offer opportunities for upselling, such as instant payouts or custom invoicing, which can improve the overall lifetime value of your customers.
And most importantly, embedding payments into your platform increases user stickiness. Once customers run payments through your system, it’s much harder for them to churn.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
There are plenty of providers promising fast, easy payment integration. But not all deliver.
Watch for limited or poorly documented APIs. If your developers struggle during onboarding, that’s a sign the platform isn’t ready for prime time. Lack of direct support is another issue. If you can’t talk to a real person when things go wrong, that’s a risk.
Opaque pricing is also a major concern. If you don’t have a clear view into costs, you could be leaving money on the table. Inflexible contracts and minimal compliance support are other warning signs that you’re not working with a true partner.
A Real-World Example: ARISE in Action
Consider the example of a home services SaaS platform, representative of the kinds of ISV partners Aurora supports. This illustrative scenario demonstrates the type of impact ARISE can have. In this case, the platform needed both card-present and card-not-present payment capabilities, along with a way to streamline onboarding for new merchants.
By embedding Aurora’s ARISE platform, they would be able to offer a fully integrated, branded onboarding experience. They could also embed payments directly into their user flow and benefit from revenue-sharing that turns payment processing into a new source of income. With support from Aurora’s partner enablement team, including technical assistance and launch coordination, the rollout would be efficient and merchant experience seamless.
While this is a composite example, it reflects real results Aurora customers can expect, including faster onboarding, stronger monetization potential, and smoother merchant support, all through a strategic embedded payments partnership.
Next Steps
Choosing embedded payment platform providers is a decision that will shape your product, your customer experience, and your revenue strategy. Take the time to evaluate your options carefully and match your needs to a partner that supports your long-term goals.
Aurora’s ARISE platform is built specifically for SaaS platforms that want to scale faster, monetize payments, and deliver great experiences to their users. If your current payments setup isn’t helping you grow, it’s time to reevaluate.
Ready to level up your embedded payments strategy? Connect with Aurora and see how ARISE can transform the way your platform handles payments.
