What is a payment service provider (PSP) and how do you choose one?

What is a payment service provider?

This guide explains what a PSP does, how it differs from related roles, which types of PSPs operate in Europe, what they cost and how to choose one. The same term appears in other languages as Zahlungsdienstleister (German), prestataire de paiement or PSP paiement (French) and betalingsprovider (Dutch).

A payment service provider is a company that handles the acceptance of electronic payments for merchants. Instead of signing separate contracts with an acquiring bank, each card scheme and each local method, the merchant signs with one PSP and integrates once.

"Was ist ein Zahlungsdienstleister?" has a legal answer too. Under PSD2, "payment service provider" covers banks, payment institutions and e-money institutions that provide payment services. In everyday merchant use, "PSP" means the company that sells payment acceptance.

• A gateway or checkout that collects payment details securely
• Connections to card schemes (Visa, Mastercard) and local methods such as iDEAL, Bancontact, BLIK or SEPA Direct Debit
• Acquiring, either itself or through partner acquirers
• Risk and fraud tools, including 3-D Secure for strong customer authentication
• Settlement: paying collected funds out to the merchant's bank account
• Reporting, refunds and dispute handling

How does a PSP process a payment?

A PSP takes a payment from the checkout through authorisation to settlement. For a card payment:

For bank-based methods such as iDEAL or Wero, steps 2 to 4 happen in the shopper's banking app instead of through the card network.

PSP vs payment gateway vs acquirer vs processor vs orchestrator: what is the difference?

These roles are often confused because one company can hold several of them. The table shows what each does.

Payment gateway vs PSP. A gateway is a component; a PSP is a service that usually includes a gateway plus contracts, methods and settlement.

PSP vs acquirer. An acquirer holds the card acquiring licence and scheme membership. Some PSPs are acquirers themselves; others work with partner acquirers.

PayFac. A payment facilitator onboards sub-merchants under its own master account with an acquirer. See what is a PayFac.

What types of PSPs operate in Europe?

European PSPs fall into a few groups. The examples are factual and not a ranking.

For comparisons, see Stripe alternatives.

• Global full-stack PSPs with their own acquiring in many countries, such as Adyen, Stripe and Checkout.com
• European PSPs focused on SMBs, such as Mollie, with published pricing and many local methods
• Bank-owned or traditional acquirers, such as Worldpay (part of Global Payments since January 2026), Nexi, Payone and Barclaycard Payments
• Wallet providers that also act as PSPs, such as PayPal and its Braintree service
• Local specialists that focus on one country or a set of local methods
• Point-of-sale specialists, such as SumUp, focused on small in-store merchants

How are PSPs regulated in the EU?

PSPs that provide payment services in the EU generally need authorisation as a bank, a payment institution or an e-money institution under PSD2 (Directive (EU) 2015/2366) or the E-Money Directive. A licence from one member state can be passported to others. PSD2 also has exceptions: Article 3 excludes certain activities from its scope (for example some commercial agents, limited networks and purely technical service providers); under Article 19 a payment institution can provide services through registered agents, which do not need their own licence; and under Article 32 member states may exempt small payment institutions whose payment transactions average no more than EUR 3 million a month, with registration instead of full authorisation (source: Directive (EU) 2015/2366, EUR-Lex, checked 23 Oct 2026). Whether an exception applies to a given business is a legal question for each case.

PSD2 also requires strong customer authentication for most online payments, which PSPs implement through 3-D Secure and in-app approval. PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation (PSR) are set to replace and update PSD2, with changes on fraud prevention, transparency and open banking. See PSD3.

Before signing, check that a PSP is licensed by looking it up in the register of the national competent authority or the EBA's register of payment and e-money institutions.

How much does a PSP cost?

PSP pricing consists of transaction fees, method fees and event fees, with a pricing model that is either blended or interchange++.

See payment processing fees for a full breakdown and a worked example.

• Blended: one rate per card type, such as a percentage plus a fixed fee. Stripe, for example, publishes 1.5% + €0.25 for standard EEA cards in Ireland (stripe.com/ie/pricing, checked 23 October 2026)
• Interchange++: the regulated interchange, scheme fee and the PSP margin shown separately
• Local methods often have a fixed fee per transaction
• Event fees: chargebacks, refunds, payouts and currency conversion
• Fixed charges: monthly fees or a minimum invoice at some PSPs

How do you choose a payment service provider?

Choose a PSP by checking fit with your markets, methods, volume and business model, then compare full costs and contract terms. Checklist:

• Markets and methods. Does the PSP support the local methods your customers use in each country?
• Business eligibility. Is your business type outside the PSP's restricted list?
• Pricing model. Blended or interchange++, and what your own card mix would cost.
• Fixed and event fees. Monthly minimums, chargebacks, payouts, FX.
• Payout schedule and reserves. How often you are paid and when funds can be held.
• Integration. APIs, plugins for your shop system, hosted checkout, test environment.
• Subscriptions and stored payments. Card tokenisation, account updater, SEPA mandates.
• Reporting and reconciliation. Settlement files that match your accounting.
• Licence. Check the regulator's register.
• Exit terms. Notice period and card data export.

Do you need one PSP or several?

One PSP is enough for many small merchants. Several PSPs make sense when you sell in many countries, need methods one PSP does not cover, want a fallback during outages or account reviews, or want to compare prices on real volume.

Running several PSPs means more contracts, integrations and reports. A payment orchestration layer handles that by giving you one integration and routing across PSPs.

• By country. A global PSP for most markets and a local PSP where a domestic method or local acquiring matters.
• By method. One PSP for cards and another for bank-based methods or buy now, pay later.
• As a fallback. A second PSP that takes over when the first has an outage or pauses payouts during a review.
• For price comparison. Splitting volume to compare authorisation rates and costs on real traffic.

What are common mistakes when choosing a PSP?

The most common mistakes come from looking only at the headline rate.

• Comparing headline rates without modelling your own card mix
• Ignoring monthly minimums and event fees
• Missing the reserve and payout clauses in the terms
• Choosing a PSP without the local methods your biggest market expects
• Not checking the restricted business list before integrating
• Building a deep integration with no plan for card data export
• Relying on a single PSP with no fallback

How does OrsunPay fit alongside PSPs?

OrsunPay is not a PSP. It provides payment orchestration software that connects you to licensed PSPs. OrsunPay is a payment orchestration platform that connects you to licensed PSPs; it does not process or hold funds itself.

Provider connections let you connect several PSPs through one integration.

You choose which PSP handles which methods or markets; rule-based routing across connected PSPs applies those choices, and retries can send a declined payment to another connection.

Contracts, pricing, settlement and disputes stay between you and each PSP.

OrsunPay connects you to licensed PSPs and acquirers.

How a PSP processes a card payment

1. Checkout The shopper enters card details in the PSP's payment form or hosted page.
2. Authentication The PSP runs 3-D Secure where required, and the issuer authenticates the shopper.
3. Authorisation request The PSP sends the request through the acquirer and card scheme to the shopper's bank.
4. Approval or decline The issuer approves or declines; the answer returns to the PSP and the checkout.
5. Capture The merchant, or the PSP automatically, captures the authorised amount.
6. Clearing and settlement The scheme clears the payment and the acquirer receives the funds.
7. Payout The PSP pays the merchant, minus fees, on the agreed schedule.