Betalingsgateways

A betalingsgateway, or payment gateway, is a technology that enables merchants to accept electronic payments online or in apps by securely transmitting payment data between the customer, the merchant, and the financial networks. Gateways do not transfer funds themselves; they authorize transactions and route data to payment processors and card networks, which settle the funds to the merchant through a payment service provider or acquiring bank.

Most gateways operate as part of a PSP ecosystem or with a merchant account. The gateway handles encryption, submission of payment details to the processor, and the return of the authorization or decline to the merchant’s checkout flow. This process allows a seamless customer experience while maintaining security and compliance.

Two common integration approaches are used. Hosted payment pages redirect the customer to a gateway-hosted page for entering payment details, while integrated or embedded checkout collects data on the merchant site via API or JavaScript fields, typically using tokenization to limit exposure of card data.

Security and compliance are central. Gateways use encryption (TLS), tokenization, and PCI DSS controls to minimize data handling by merchants. Additional measures include 3D Secure authentication and fraud prevention tools. In the European Union, PSD2 introduces Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) for many online payments, influencing user flows and risk checks.

Key features often include support for multiple currencies, mobile-friendly interfaces, recurring payments, refunds, and detailed reconciliation data. Examples of providers include Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, Klarna, Mollie, and Nets.