Checkout.com - What They Don't Tell You in the Sales Pitch

Why Checkout.com Will Ruin Your Week

Why Checkout.com Will Ruin Your WeekI've integrated five different payment processors and they all suck in their own special ways.

Here's how Checkout.com specifically tries to ruin your life.The typical payment flow goes like this: Customer enters card details → Your frontend tokenizes the data → You send payment request to Checkout.com → They route it through their processor network → Bank approves/declines → You get webhooks about the result.

Simple enough, right? Wrong.Checkout.com loves to position itself as the "developer-first" alternative to Stripe, but let me tell you what actually happens when you start implementing their APIs.### The Good News FirstTheir API documentation is actually decent

better than most payment processors that aren't Stripe.

The REST endpoints are logically organized, and they do provide working code samples. If you're coming from something like PayPal's nightmare API labyrinth, Checkout.com will feel refreshing.

They support webhooks properly, unlike some providers that treat them as an afterthought.

Event handling is straightforward, and they actually send consistent payloads. Their SDK implementations are available for major languages, though quality varies between platforms.### Now The Reality Kicks InHere's where shit gets real.

The onboarding process takes forever. While Stripe lets you start testing immediately, Checkout.com's approval process can drag on for weeks.

One developer reported on Reddit waiting over a month just to get sandbox access.

The Apple Pay integration is particularly painful.

Unlike Stripe's streamlined approach, you need to jump through multiple hoops: 1.

Make eligibility calls to Apple's servers 2. Handle token exchanges manually 3. Deal with biometric authentication flows 4. Map Apple Pay responses to Checkout.com's expected formatWhat should be a 30-minute Stripe Apple Pay integration becomes a multi-day debugging session.

The Stack Overflow thread about this issue shows how many developers struggle with this flow.### The Europe Problem

If you're targeting European markets, Checkout.com's Strong Customer Authentication implementation is solid.

They handle 3D Secure 2.0 properly, which matters for PSD2 compliance.

Their European payment methods support includes SEPA, i

DEAL, and other local options.

But here's the gotcha

their routing logic isn't as smart as they claim. You might find transactions getting routed through expensive providers when cheaper options were available. Monitor your actual processing costs closely, not just their quoted rates. Their routing documentation doesn't explain the optimization algorithms clearly.### Production War Stories

The real fun begins when you hit production volumes.

Checkout.com's platform can handle scale, but their support response times vary wildly. During a payment outage (yes, they happen), you might wait hours for a response while your revenue bleeds.Their fraud detection also tends to be overly aggressive initially. Expect to spend time tuning false positive rates, especially if you're in a "high-risk" industry like gaming or digital goods.### The Pricing TrapTheir "competitive rates" marketing is misleading. The base rates look good, but watch for:

Cross-border fees that aren't clearly disclosed upfront
Currency conversion margins that add up quickly
"Assessment fees" that appear on enterprise contracts
Higher rates for certain card types (Amex, corporate cards)Get everything in writing during negotiations, and test with real transaction volumes before committing.### Developer Experience Truth

The SDK quality is inconsistent across platforms.

Their JavaScript SDK is solid, but mobile SDKs (iOS/Android) lag behind and sometimes have breaking changes between versions. Case in point: their iOS SDK update from 3.2.0 to 3.2.1 changed error handling without documenting it.

We pushed to production on Friday and spent the weekend fixing payment failures. Their changelog called it a "minor update"

no mention of breaking changes.We had this integration failure that killed payments for most of the afternoon. I was debugging until like 3am and honestly everything from that day is a blur. Turned out their webhook signature validation changed without warning.3D Secure is where things get really messy: For European transactions, you need to handle challenge flows where customers get redirected to their bank's authentication page, then redirected back to your site. Unlike Stripe's seamless implementation, you're manually managing redirects, parsing authentication responses, and handling all the edge cases where the flow breaks.Error handling is better than most processors but not as polished as Stripe. You'll still encounter cryptic error codes that require digging through documentation or support tickets to decode.### When It Actually Works

Don't get me wrong

once properly configured, Checkout.com can be reliable. Their uptime is decent (99.9% claimed, probably accurate), and settlement times are competitive. The dashboard isn't terrible, though it's not winning any UX awards.For businesses processing significant volume in Europe, Middle East, or Asia-Pacific, they offer legitimate advantages over Stripe's more limited regional coverage.The question is whether the integration pain and ongoing operational overhead is worth the potential savings and geographic coverage.

The Questions You'll Actually Ask (Not Their Marketing FAQ)

How long does onboarding actually take?

Plan for 2-4 weeks minimum, even for sandbox access. Their compliance team moves slower than they advertise. If you're in a "high-risk" industry (crypto, gaming, adult content), add another month. Unlike Stripe's instant sandbox access, you'll be waiting.

Why does Apple Pay integration suck compared to Stripe?

Because they make you handle all the Apple Pay bullshit manually. Token exchanges, eligibility checks, payment sheet garbage

Stripe just does this for you. Budget 3x the development time you'd spend on Stripe's Apple Pay implementation.

Do their "competitive rates" actually save money?

Maybe, if you process massive volume and negotiate hard. For most businesses under $1M monthly processing, the rates are similar to Stripe after accounting for hidden fees. The real savings come at enterprise scale ($10M+ monthly) where they'll actually compete on pricing.

What breaks when you hit production scale?

The fraud detection goes haywire first. Expect legitimate transactions to get flagged while obvious fraud slips through initially. You'll spend weeks tuning rules and thresholds. Their routing optimization also needs manual adjustment

it doesn't "learn" your patterns like they claim.

How's their support when shit hits the fan?

Depends entirely on your contract tier. Basic support is slow (24-48 hours). Enterprise gets decent response times, but you'll often get bounced between L1 and L2 before reaching someone who understands the technical issue. During outages, communication is poor compared to Stripe's status page updates.

Can you actually migrate from Stripe easily?

The API patterns are similar enough that migration is possible, but expect integration differences around webhooks, error handling, and payment flow states. Budget 2-3 sprints for a clean migration, not the "drop-in replacement" their sales team implies.

What's the biggest gotcha they don't mention?

Settlement timing varies by region and payment method in ways that aren't well documented. What works in the UK might have different timing in Germany or Singapore. Test thoroughly in each target market before launch.

Is their dashboard actually usable?

It's functional but dated compared to Stripe's sleek interface. Reporting is adequate for basic needs, but you'll likely build custom dashboards for anything sophisticated. The search and filtering capabilities are particularly weak.

What happens if you get flagged by their risk system?

Account holds can happen with minimal warning, especially for newer merchants. Their risk review process is opaque and slow. Unlike Stripe's relatively transparent approach, you'll often be left guessing what triggered the flag.

Should startups use Checkout.com?

Probably not. Unless you have specific geographic requirements (Middle East, certain Asian markets) that Stripe doesn't serve well, the additional complexity isn't worth it for early-stage companies. Stick with Stripe until you have clear evidence of better economics at scale.

When You Should Actually Consider This Mess

After dealing with three different payment processors over the past five years, here's when Checkout.com actually makes sense (spoiler: probably not for you).

Despite all the pain points, there are legitimate scenarios where Checkout.com is the right choice. Here's when you should seriously consider them over Stripe or Adyen.

You're Serious About Asia-Pacific Markets

Checkout.com has deeper payment method coverage in Southeast Asia than Stripe. They properly support local payment methods like [Grab

Pay, Touch 'n Go eWallet](https://www.checkout.com/payment-methods/singapore), and various bank transfer systems that matter for local conversion rates.

Their Asia-Pacific presence includes local acquiring in multiple markets.

If you're seeing significant traffic from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, or Philippines, their local acquiring capabilities can improve authorization rates by 5-10% compared to international processors.

That translates to real revenue, especially for higher-ticket items. Regional payment methods differ significantly from Western markets.

Your Volume Justifies Enterprise Negotiations

Once you're processing $5M+ monthly, Checkout.com's sales team gets serious about custom pricing.

They'll negotiate on interchange-plus models that can save 20-30 basis points compared to Stripe's fixed rates.

At scale, this covers the additional operational overhead.

They're also more flexible on settlement schedules and reserve requirements for established businesses. Stripe's account policies are more rigid, while Checkout.com will actually negotiate terms.

Their enterprise pricing discussions can include volume discounts and custom fee structures.

You Need Serious Multi-Currency Support

While Stripe supports many currencies, Checkout.com's 150+ currency support includes more exotic options that matter for global businesses.

Their FX rates are often better than Stripe's, and they provide more transparency into currency conversion costs.

For businesses with significant non-USD revenue, the FX savings can be meaningful

sometimes 50+ basis points per transaction.

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) Compliance Matters

If you're serious about European markets, Checkout.com's 3D Secure 2.0 implementation is more sophisticated than Stripe's basic approach.

They provide better exemption handling and risk-based authentication that reduces friction while maintaining compliance.

This particularly matters for subscription businesses where failed recurring payments due to SCA issues can kill customer lifetime value.

Your Risk Profile is Complex

Checkout.com's risk management is more customizable than Stripe's black-box approach. If you have unusual transaction patterns (high average order values, B2B payments, seasonal spikes), you can actually tune their risk engine instead of hoping Stripe's algorithms figure you out.

They're also more willing to work with "higher-risk" industries that Stripe increasingly avoids

gaming, CBD, certain crypto adjacent businesses.

The Real Decision Framework

Here's how to actually decide:

Choose Checkout.com if:

Processing $3M+ monthly with negotiating leverage
Significant APAC or MENA market exposure
Complex risk profile requiring custom tuning
Need advanced SCA compliance features
FX optimization provides measurable savings

Stick with Stripe if:

Under $1M monthly processing volume
Primarily US/basic international markets
Developer velocity matters more than cost optimization
You value ecosystem integrations and third-party tools

Consider Adyen instead if:

You're truly enterprise scale ($50M+ annually)
Need unified omnichannel payments (online + in-person)
Can handle their complex integration requirements
Want the most sophisticated global acquiring network

The Cold Truth

We switched from Stripe to save 40 basis points.

Six months later, we'd spent $30K in engineering time dealing with their quirks, plus lost $8K in revenue during a three-day webhook debugging marathon. Their fraud detection flagged our biggest customer's legitimate $15K transaction on Black Friday. The math didn't work out like our CFO hoped.

Checkout.com occupies an awkward middle ground. They're more complex than Stripe but less capable than Adyen. They work best for businesses that have outgrown Stripe's pricing but aren't large enough for Adyen's complexity.

Most companies try Checkout.com for cost savings and end up staying because switching payment processors is painful, not because they love the experience. That's not necessarily wrong

many successful businesses run on "good enough" payment infrastructure.

The competitive landscape breaks down like this: Stripe dominates developer experience but gets expensive at scale. Adyen handles enterprise complexity but requires serious technical resources. Checkout.com sits awkwardly in the middle

more complex than Stripe, less capable than Adyen, but potentially cheaper for the right use case.

The key is being honest about your priorities. If optimizing payment costs is critical to your unit economics, the operational overhead might be worth it. If developer productivity and time-to-market matter more, you're probably better off sticking with Stripe until you have enterprise-level leverage.

The Migration Reality

If you do decide to switch from Stripe, plan the migration carefully. You can't just swap API keys and call it done. Webhook structures differ, error handling patterns vary, and settlement timing will change.

Budget 2-3 engineering sprints for a clean migration, plus time for testing edge cases in each market you serve. And keep your Stripe integration as a backup for the first few months

payment processor migrations can go sideways quickly.

What Sales Won't Tell You: Real Integration Comparison

Factor	Checkout.com Reality	Stripe Reality	Adyen Reality
Time to First Payment	2-4 weeks (sandbox approval required)	5 minutes (instant sandbox)	1-3 months (enterprise sales process)
Documentation Quality	Decent but gaps in edge cases	Industry gold standard	Comprehensive but overwhelming
Mobile SDK Stability	Breaking changes between versions	Rock solid, backward compatible	Enterprise-grade but complex
Apple Pay Integration	Manual token orchestration hell	One-click setup	Sophisticated but documented
Support Response Time	24-48 hours (basic), faster if paying	2-4 hours for serious issues	Dedicated TAM if you pay enough
Actual Pricing Transparency	Hidden fees emerge later	What you see is what you pay	Complex but everything documented
Production Gotchas	Webhook retries are inconsistent (unlike Stripe's reliable 3-day retry cycle)	Occasional account holds	Complex routing configuration
Settlement Speed	Varies by region (unclear)	Predictable 2-7 days	Fast but varies by setup
Webhook Reliability	Good when working, debugging sucks	Just works consistently	Enterprise-grade monitoring
Error Messages	Cryptic codes requiring docs	Usually helpful	Technical but complete

The Technical Issues You'll Actually Hit

Why do I keep getting "request_json_invalid" errors?

This is their shitty way of saying your JSON is fucked up. Unlike Stripe, which tells you exactly what's wrong, you get to play detective. Nine times out of ten it's because you forgot amounts need to be in cents (not dollars) or used the wrong currency code. Common culprits: currency codes (use ISO 4217), amount formatting (integers in smallest currency unit), and date formats (ISO 8601 required). Check their official error codes for the complete list.

How do I handle their webhook signature verification?

Their webhook signing is different from Stripe's approach. You need to verify the Cko-Signature header using HMAC-SHA256. Here's the gotcha: they don't include timestamps in signatures like Stripe does. So if someone captures your webhook payloads, they can replay them later. You get to implement your own replay protection because apparently that's too much to ask from a payment processor.

The webhook verification process works like this: Checkout.com sends a request with the Cko-Signature header containing an HMAC-SHA256 hash of the payload using your webhook secret. You recreate the hash on your end and compare. Unlike Stripe's approach that includes timestamps to prevent replay attacks, you need to implement your own replay protection.

Pro tip: Never update their SDK on Fridays. Their webhook signature validation broke for 6 hours on March 15th, 2024, with zero communication until developers started complaining on Twitter.

Pro debugging tip: If webhook verification suddenly fails, check for trailing whitespace in your secret key. Their dashboard sometimes adds invisible characters when you copy the key. Took us four hours to figure that out.

Why does 3D Secure authentication keep failing?

Their 3D Secure implementation requires specific browser handling that's not well documented. You need to handle the authentication redirect flow manually and ensure your frontend properly handles the challenge responses. Unlike Stripe's seamless handling, you're managing more of the authentication state yourself.

What's the deal with their "source" vs "destination" terminology?

This confuses everyone coming from other processors. In Checkout.com's API:

Source: Where money comes from (customer payment method)
Destination: Where money goes to (your account, marketplace split, etc.)

It's different from Stripe's simpler charge model and requires rethinking your payment flow logic.

How do I test different payment methods in sandbox?

Their sandbox test cards are buried in documentation and don't cover all scenarios. For Apple Pay testing, you need actual iOS devices with test Apple IDs

their simulator support is limited. Google Pay testing is similarly constrained. Budget extra time for payment method testing.

Why are my recurring payments failing randomly?

Checkout.com's recurring billing isn't as robust as Stripe's. Failed recurring payments often need manual retry logic because their automatic retry attempts are limited. Also, their "dunning management" is basic

you'll likely need to build your own retry schedules and customer communication.

How do I handle currency conversion properly?

Unlike Stripe's transparent FX handling, Checkout.com requires you to be explicit about multi-currency processing. You need to specify whether you want DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion) and handle the customer currency selection flow yourself. Their FX rates update frequency isn't clearly documented.

What's the real latency for authorization responses?

Despite claims of "real-time" processing, authorization responses typically take 300-800ms in production. This is slower than Stripe (100-300ms average) but faster than some traditional processors. Plan your UI accordingly

don't assume instant responses.

How do I debug failed transactions?

Their error codes are less descriptive than Stripe's.

You might get card_authorization_failed which could mean anything from "insufficient funds" to "card blocked by issuer" to "we just don't like this transaction." Pro tip: check the response_code field

if it's "20051" the customer's card is probably fine, but their fraud system flagged it.

If it's "20014", the card is actually declined. Keep their error code documentation bookmarked.

Why does settlement take longer than advertised?

Settlement timing varies by:

Payment method (cards vs bank transfers)
Issuing bank location
Your merchant category code
Transaction amount thresholds

Their "T+1" claims often become "T+2 or T+3" in reality, especially for international transactions. This affects cash flow planning more than they admit.

How do I handle marketplace payments and splits?

Their marketplace functionality exists but isn't as polished as Stripe Connect. You'll need to:

Manage sub-merchant onboarding manually
Handle split payment calculations yourself
Deal with separate compliance requirements per sub-merchant

The documentation assumes you understand payment facilitator regulations, which most developers don't.

What happens when their API goes down?

Unlike Stripe's graceful degradation, Checkout.com's API tends to fail harder during outages. Their rate limiting is also less predictable - you might get rate limited without clear indication of when to retry. Implement circuit breaker patterns and robust retry logic with exponential backoff.

We processed $12K in duplicate charges during a webhook retry storm when their validation endpoint went down. Their "99.9% uptime" claims don't account for these partial failures that still fuck up your business.

What are the limitations of their dashboard?

Their dashboard search is garbage - try searching for transactions by amount. Spoiler: you can't. Date ranges randomly break if you go past 90 days, and CSV exports timeout if you have more than like 1000 records.

Dashboard limitations you'll hit: Search only works on transaction IDs and customer emails, not amounts or metadata. Date range picker breaks if you select more than 90 days. CSV exports timeout on anything over 1000 records. The pagination is slow and clunky compared to Stripe's smooth infinite scroll.

Quick Navigation

Why Checkout.com Will Ruin Your WeekI've integrated five different payment processors and they all suck in their own special ways.

How long does onboarding actually take?

Why does Apple Pay integration suck compared to Stripe?

Do their "competitive rates" actually save money?

What breaks when you hit production scale?

How's their support when shit hits the fan?

Can you actually migrate from Stripe easily?

What's the biggest gotcha they don't mention?

Is their dashboard actually usable?

What happens if you get flagged by their risk system?

Should startups use Checkout.com?

You're Serious About Asia-Pacific Markets

Your Volume Justifies Enterprise Negotiations

You Need Serious Multi-Currency Support

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) Compliance Matters

Your Risk Profile is Complex

The Real Decision Framework

The Cold Truth

The Migration Reality

Why do I keep getting "request_json_invalid" errors?

How do I handle their webhook signature verification?

Why does 3D Secure authentication keep failing?

What's the deal with their "source" vs "destination" terminology?

How do I test different payment methods in sandbox?

Why are my recurring payments failing randomly?

How do I handle currency conversion properly?

What's the real latency for authorization responses?

How do I debug failed transactions?

Why does settlement take longer than advertised?

How do I handle marketplace payments and splits?

What happens when their API goes down?

What are the limitations of their dashboard?

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