For any business selling online, the question is not whether to accept digital payments, but how. And here’s where companies face a critical choice:

Do you outsource everything to a Payment Service Provider (PSP)?

Or do you use a Gateway and Orchestration technology provider as the backbone, while retaining control of your payment partners and strategy?

The difference between these approaches impacts your costs, flexibility, approval rates, and global reach.

Option 1: PSP (Payment Service Provider)

A PSP is like a “one-stop shop.” They handle every part of the payment process: merchant account setup, acquiring relationships, compliance, fraud tools, and, in many cases, reporting.

Benefits of PSPs

• Simple onboarding: Fast setup when working with a single PSP.
  
• No direct banking relationships needed: The PSP manages accounts and acquirers.
  
• Out-of-the-box compliance: Fraud prevention, PCI DSS, and chargeback handling included.
  

Drawbacks of PSPs

• Less flexibility: You’re limited to the PSP’s network of acquirers and methods.
  
• Higher costs: PSPs add margins on top of processing fees.
  
• Risk of account freezes: Especially in high-risk industries.
  
• Limited local payment options: Many PSPs focus on cards, missing bank-driven (APMs – Alternative Payment Methods) methods (PIX, UPI).
  
• Multiple PSPs = complexity:
  When businesses grow and need more than one PSP, onboarding becomes complicated. Multiple PSP integrations require significant development time, heavy IT resources, ongoing maintenance, and complex technical management.
  

PSPs work best for small businesses starting out or those with simple domestic payment needs.

Option 2: Gateway & Orchestration (Technology Provider)

A Gateway securely connects your checkout with acquirers or banks, encrypting and transmitting payment data. Orchestration adds an intelligence layer:

• Smart routing: Send transactions through the cheapest or most reliable provider.
  
• Failover cascading: If one acquirer declines, retry through another.
  
• Local alternative payment method (APM) integration: Quickly add PIX (Brazil), UPI (India), etc.
  
• Unified reporting: One dashboard across all your providers.
  

With this model, you keep your own merchant accounts and acquiring relationships, but rely on a provider like TransactaPay for the gateway + orchestration layer — with optional full cashier services to manage deposits and withdrawals inside your ecosystem.

Multiple PSP Connections by Default

Unlike a single PSP setup, a gateway + orchestration solution allows you to connect to multiple PSPs/acquirers simultaneously without relying on one provider. You gain redundancy, flexibility, and control.

Benefits of Gateway & Orchestration

• Flexibility: Choose which acquirers and PSPs to work with.
  
• Cost control: Optimize routing to reduce fees and improve approval rates.
  
• Scalability: Add new PSPs, acquirers, and local payment methods fast.
  
• Stability for high-risk merchants: Spread transactions across multiple providers.
  
• Less IT burden:
  The orchestration provider (TransactaPay) manages the integrations, upgrades, and API changes, meaning internal dev teams are not required to build and maintain multiple PSP integrations.
  
• BizDev advantage:
  TransactaPay’s business development team is constantly searching for new PSPs and acquirers. You get access to additional providers without needing to hire your own internal payments BD team. TransactaPay acts as your trusted payments agent.
  
• Operational continuity: Optional integration with TransactaPay’s cashier suite provides unified management of user-facing payments and back-office settlements.
  

Drawbacks of Gateway & Orchestration

• More responsibility: You manage your acquirer contracts and relationships.
  
• Financial reconciliation complexity:
  Working with multiple PSPs means handling multiple settlement cycles, payout schedules, and financial follow-ups.
  
• Setup involves planning:
  But the integration itself is much simpler than managing multiple PSPs individually because you only integrate once with the gateway. Without a gateway, each new PSP requires its own custom integration, which is far more complex and time-consuming.
  

This option works best for growing SMBs, high-risk industries, and businesses with international customers.

Real-World Example: Why Local Payment Methods Matter

When serving global customers, relying only on cards isn’t enough.

• Brazil: Over half of online transactions use PIX.
  
• India: UPI dominates daily transactions.
  

If you only offer cards, you lose massive customer segments.

A PSP may not support these methods. A Gateway & Orchestration provider like TransactaPay ensures you can plug them in alongside cards, wallets, or crypto, and manage everything through a unified cashier interface when needed.

PSP vs. Gateway & Orchestration: A Strategic Choice

The decision comes down to control vs. convenience.

If you’re small, domestic, and low-risk, a PSP may be enough.
If you’re scaling, global, or high-risk, Gateway + Orchestration is the smarter long-term play.

Extra Advantage: Access to New Acquirers and Providers

One overlooked benefit of choosing a Gateway & Orchestration provider with deep industry experience is the network effect.

With TransactaPay’s global network, you gain:

• Easier access to new banks and PSPs in restricted markets
  
• Faster approvals with providers already vetted by TransactaPay
  
• More options for redundancy
  
• Negotiation leverage
  
• Long-term resilience
  
• And, when needed, integrated cashier capabilities
  

This combination of technology + network support is a major edge for high-risk and international businesses.

Why TransactaPay?

TransactaPay offers a secure payment gateway + orchestration platform designed for businesses globally:

• Smart routing & cascading for higher approval rates
  
• Local APM coverage (PIX, UPI, iDEAL, JCB, etc.)
  
• High-risk merchant support with multiple provider connections
  
• Introductions to acquirers through a wide partner network
  
• Unified reporting and reconciliation
  
• Optional cashier services to streamline deposits, withdrawals, and settlements
  

With TransactaPay, you get both world-class technology and hands-on commercial support.