Software companies that want to accept payments on behalf of their merchants have two paths forward. They can spend 12 to 24 months building their own payment facilitation infrastructure, often exceeding $1,000,000 in development costs, or they can partner with a PayFac-as-a-Service provider and launch in 4 to 8 months. The math here is straightforward, which explains why 91% of independent software vendors now expect embedded payments to play a larger role in their growth strategy over the next year, according to data from Stax Payments.
PayFac-as-a-Service gives platforms the ability to onboard merchants, process transactions, and earn revenue from payments without taking on the regulatory burden, compliance overhead, or technical complexity of becoming a registered payment facilitator. The provider handles underwriting, risk management, and card network relationships while the platform focuses on its core product.
Comparison of PayFac-as-a-Service Providers
| Provider | Primary Market | Key Strength | Onboarding Speed | Notable Metric |
| Finix | US & Canada | Full-stack processing with PayFac growth path | Minutes to hours | $208M total funding, quadrupled revenue in last year |
| Tilled | US & Canada | Transparent pricing, developer-focused | Under 10 minutes | 550%+ year-over-year revenue growth |
| Worldpay for Platforms | Global | Enterprise-scale, omnichannel | Varies by complexity | Processes for 75% of Mastercard PayFacs |
| Exact Payments | US & Canada | Processor-agnostic flexibility | Days | Nearly 1 billion transactions annually |
| Stax Connect | US & Canada | Payments-led growth framework | Varies | $23 billion+ annual processing volume |
| VoPay | Canada & US focus | Cross-border payments, Open Banking | As little as 2 weeks | 140+ countries, 250+ API endpoints |
Finix: Full-Stack Processing With a Long-Term PayFac Path
Finix operates as a full-stack payment processor that enables businesses to accept and send payments both online and in-store across the United States and Canada. The company has raised $208 million in total funding, including a $75 million Series C round led by Acrew Capital in October 2024.
What separates Finix from many competitors is its direct connections to American Express, Discover, Mastercard, and Visa. These relationships allow platforms to build payments and embedded fintech products without intermediary layers adding latency or cost.
The platform offers a growth path that starts with PayFac-as-a-Service and can transition to full PayFac ownership over time, all within the same infrastructure. This appeals to platforms that want to test embedded payments before committing to full facilitation responsibilities.
Finix provides both API-driven integration for development teams and no-code solutions for the 22 million businesses without dedicated developers. The feature set includes recurring billing, tokenization, virtual terminals, and real-time payouts.
For context on market opportunity, Finix CEO Richie Serna noted that Stripe holds approximately 6% of the U.S. market and less than 2% worldwide, with roughly 91% of payments still running through systems built in the 1980s and 1990s.
Tilled: Developer-First Tools With Transparent Economics
Tilled launched in 2019 in Boulder, Colorado, and has raised nearly $40 million since its founding. The company reports 550%+ year-over-year revenue growth , which it plans to support through expanded sales and marketing alongside product development.
The platform positions itself around transparency in pricing and the elimination of upfront costs. Software companies using Tilled can access payment facilitation benefits without initial investment or ongoing operational overhead, while retaining what the company describes as the majority of payment revenue.
Merchant onboarding through Tilled can complete in under 10 minutes for many applicants. The platform handles the application and underwriting process, reducing the administrative burden on software companies.
Tilled provides advanced APIs, developer tools, and white-label solutions designed for independent software vendors. In July 2025, the company announced a strategic partnership with KORT Payments to expand how platforms manage and scale payments infrastructure across the United States and Canada.
The integration approach focuses on removing the typical complexities of payment operations, letting development teams add payment functionality without building compliance and risk systems from scratch.
Worldpay for Platforms: Enterprise Infrastructure for Global Operations
Worldpay for Platforms, which previously operated as Payrix, serves enterprises with complex organizational structures and international requirements. The platform combines omnichannel acquiring, fraud prevention, and compliance infrastructure into a single system.
Worldpay processes transactions for 75% of Mastercard PayFacs, which indicates deep integration with card network requirements and standards. This relationship matters for platforms that need to meet strict compliance benchmarks or operate at high volume.
The PayFac-as-a-Service model from Worldpay allows platforms to maintain control over user relationships and branding while Worldpay manages underwriting and compliance processes. Platforms receive white-label payment capabilities alongside best-in-class APIs for PCI-compliant payment acceptance, merchant boarding, and reporting.
A centralized dashboard provides real-time portfolio metrics, embedded finance tools, and transaction-level visibility. This level of reporting helps platform operators monitor merchant performance and identify issues before they affect revenue.
The company highlights a case study where a hospitality software platform accelerated growth using an integrated PayFac-as-a-Service foundation with centralized financial services through a single portal.
Exact Payments: Processor-Agnostic Flexibility at Scale
Exact Payments processes nearly 1 billion transactions annually for customers including Chase, Ordway, Cineplex, Allianz, Levi’s, and Carfax. The platform supports over 10,000 merchant clients and maintains 99.99% uptime availability with transaction response times under 1 second.
The company integrates with leading processors in the U.S. and Canada, including Elavon, Fiserv, Global Payments/TSYS, Chase Canada, and Moneris. This processor-agnostic approach allows platforms to work with existing banking relationships or select processors based on specific requirements.
Exact Payments was recognized as a Top 10 Payments ISV for 2024 by the Electronic Transactions Association. The platform uses a modular, API-first architecture where a single integration provides comprehensive payments infrastructure from underwriting through funding and reconciliation.
Flexible pricing models let platforms earn margin on payment volume while potentially lowering processing costs for their merchants. The company states that platforms can be operational in a matter of days with a compatible PayFac technology partner.
This speed comes from pre-built infrastructure that handles the regulatory and technical requirements that would otherwise take months to develop internally.
Stax Connect: Payments-Led Growth Framework
Stax has processed over $23 billion annually in payments and serves more than 39,000 businesses and software platforms across the U.S. and Canada since its founding in 2014. In October 2025, the company launched Stax Processing, completing its transition to a full-stack, end-to-end payments processor.
Stax Connect offers software companies and independent software vendors a single integration that unlocks end-to-end payment functionality for merchants. The platform provides access to a cross-functional support team focused on what Stax calls payments-led growth.
Partnership models through Stax Connect include referral, reseller, and PayFac options. This flexibility lets platforms choose the level of involvement and revenue share that matches their business model and operational capacity.
Stax commissioned Forrester Consulting to study the economic impact of its platform. The Total Economic Impact study found that vertical software platforms can create an additional revenue stream estimated at $900,000 through embedded payments.
The company reports that 91% of independent software vendors expect growth from embedded payments, reinforcing the market trend toward integrated financial services within software platforms.
VoPay: Cross-Border Payments and Open Banking Integration
VoPay helps software companies add integrated payments and financial services to their platforms through a Fintech-as-a-Service model. The platform allows businesses to deploy instant payments, virtual wallets, and compliance solutions without building financial infrastructure internally.
In April 2025, VoPay launched its Cross Border Payments-as-a-Service platform for companies that need to send money globally without developing the underlying infrastructure. The service supports money movement for business-to-business, business-to-person, person-to-business, and person-to-person use cases across 140+ countries.
Through Mastercard Move integration, VoPay enables transfers to bank accounts, mobile wallets, cards, and cash-payout locations in over 100 countries. This cross-border capability addresses platforms serving international merchants or customer bases.
The platform provides access to Open Banking data, digital pre-authorized debit agreements, bank account verification, and unlimited virtual accounts through a single integration. Payment methods include Interac e-Transfer, EFT and ACH bank payments, credit card processing, and push-to-card payments for Canadian and U.S. markets.
VoPay’s API includes over 250 endpoints for controlling payment workflows, with industry-specific SDKs to accelerate integration. The company states that platforms can embed a full suite of payment rails in as little as 2 weeks using the single-layer API.
What to Consider When Selecting a Provider
Geographic Coverage: Finix, Tilled, Stax Connect, and Exact Payments focus primarily on the U.S. and Canada. VoPay extends to 140+ countries for cross-border use cases. Worldpay for Platforms offers the broadest enterprise-grade international support.
- Integration Timeline: Tilled and VoPay emphasize speed, with Tilled reporting sub-10-minute merchant onboarding and VoPay citing 2-week platform integration timelines. Exact Payments mentions days for implementation. Enterprise platforms through Worldpay may require longer setup periods.
- Technical Resources: Platforms with strong development teams will benefit from API-first approaches offered by Exact, Tilled, and VoPay. Finix provides both code-based and no-code options for teams with varying technical capacity.
- Growth Path: Finix specifically offers a transition from PayFac-as-a-Service to full PayFac ownership within the same platform. This matters for companies that want to start with managed services but eventually take on more control and higher margins.
- Pricing Structure: Each provider handles revenue sharing differently.
o Tilled emphasizes transparent pricing with platforms keeping the majority of revenue.
o Exact Payments offers flexible pricing models tied to portfolio volume.
o Direct comparison requires conversations with each provider based on projected transaction volumes.
The embedded payments market continues expanding as software platforms recognize payment processing as a revenue opportunity rather than a cost center. Building in-house remains possible but requires substantial capital, compliance expertise, and ongoing maintenance. PayFac-as-a-Service providers offer a faster path to market with lower upfront investment, which explains the growth projections across this sector through 2034 and beyond.
