Best PayFac Platforms for EdTech: Fees and Recurring Billing

The best PayFac platforms for edtech selling to Indian learners are 1. Xflow, 2. Razorpay, 3. Cashfree, 4. PayU, 5. EximPe and 6. Stripe.

With Xflow, an embedded payments infrastructure provider, your Indian learners pay by card, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) or netbanking and renew plans on UPI AutoPay, card mandates or e-NACH, and you are paid abroad in T+2 (2 business days).

The six differ most on how learners pay, how plans renew and how each pays a company abroad.

One number shapes every plan price: the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lets a mandate debit up to INR 15,000 run without the learner's extra approval.

Six platforms let an edtech company outside India collect from Indian learners and be paid abroad, ranked for edtech fit.

1. Xflow: best for edtech companies that want UPI, cards and renewals on one checkout carrying their own brand, with no Indian entity and payouts in their own currency.
2. Razorpay: best for edtech teams already integrated with Razorpay that want to add Indian learners without building a second checkout.
3. Cashfree: best for edtech teams selling courses through Shopify that want a native plugin from the Shopify app store for an Indian checkout.
4. PayU: best for edtech teams that want a pre-debit notification API they can call from their own billing system.
5. EximPe: best for edtech teams that want buyers to pay by bank transfer to a virtual account without leaving their own product.
6. Stripe: best for edtech teams already on Stripe that want to add UPI and UPI AutoPay without bringing in a second vendor.

Indian learners pay by UPI, cards and netbanking, and plans renew on mandates they approve once, so how each platform handles payment methods and renewals decides most of the choice.

As of 6 October 2026, RBI's authorised payment aggregator list shows Xflow, Razorpay, Cashfree, PayU and EximPe each with the final Payment Aggregator Cross-Border (PA-CB) authorisation for inward and outward flows. Final is the fully approved stage after in-principle approval.

Stripe's Indian entity is listed only as an online payment aggregator (PA-O), without PA-CB.

Our team helps you onboard and agrees custom pricing for your plans. Razorpay, Cashfree, PayU and EximPe quote import pricing on request, so ask each for one quote covering mandate set-up, each debit, currency conversion and disputes.

A checkout that offers only international cards can leave some learners in India unable to pay. UPI sits inside the banking app already on their phone, while cards can need settings some learners have never turned on.

That is why every platform here offers UPI, and most add RuPay and mandates.

• Cards start with online use switched off: under RBI's 2020 card rules, a new card works only at ATMs and shop terminals within India until the cardholder turns on online and international use, so a first payment can fail on a setting in the learner's bank app.
• Cross-border card payments get a new check: from 1 October 2026, RBI's authentication directions require Indian card issuers to validate a non-recurring card payment to an overseas merchant that asks for it.
• Repeat card charges need a mandate: Stripe declines an off-session card payment made without a mandate, including on accounts outside India whose customers pay with Indian cards or UPI.

Each of the six lets a company abroad collect from Indian learners, so the useful differences are how renewals run, where checkout sits on your course site, and how support and payouts hold up when something goes wrong. The limits below are ones an edtech team would feel day to day.

1. Xflow

Best for: edtech companies that want UPI, cards and renewals on one checkout carrying their own brand.

Xflow is an embedded payments infrastructure provider that lets a company outside India collect from Indian customers. Learners pay in INR, and the money reaches your overseas account through an Authorised Dealer Category-1 (AD-1) bank in T+2 (2 business days).

As of Feb 2026, Xflow holds a final PA-CB licence from RBI covering inward and outward flows.

It suits subscription apps, cohort businesses and course marketplaces, and the service to accept international payments from India is built for a company abroad.

Key features

• Learners pay in INR by Visa, Mastercard or RuPay card, UPI or netbanking on a hosted checkout that carries your brand, so they use the methods they already know.
• Plans renew through UPI AutoPay, card mandates or e-NACH, so a monthly subscription can run on the method each learner approved once, within RBI's e-mandate rules.
• Funds settle into your existing overseas account in USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD and more, so you do not open a new account to be paid.
• A course marketplace can onboard its instructors or schools as sellers, and Xflow's team checks each one before it collects, so you do not have to build that verification step yourself.

Pros

• Xflow's team guides you through onboarding, and support is quick to answer questions during set-up, so a small team is not left to work out the checkout alone.
• The interface is simple and clear, and payments feel smooth and compliant instead of feeling like a manual bank process, which suits a small finance team.
• You can collect without an Indian entity or a local bank account, so you can open to Indian learners before you hire or set up anything in India.

Cons

• Xflow has a smaller public review base than the older gateways, so you have fewer outside opinions to read before you sign.

2. Razorpay

Best for: edtech teams already integrated with Razorpay that want to add Indian learners without building a second checkout.

Razorpay is an Indian payment gateway, and its import service lets a company outside India accept payments from Indian customers and settle in an overseas bank account. Education is an eligible business category, and Import works on all Razorpay integrations.

A small course seller can start by sending Payment Links or a Payment Page, and move learners to the full checkout once it is built.

Key features

• The checkout shows UPI, netbanking and cards (Visa, Mastercard, RuPay, Diners and Amex) together, so learners pick the way they already pay without leaving the course page.
• Razorpay supports UPI AutoPay, card recurring and e-mandate on Import, so a subscription plan can renew on a mandate the learner approves once.
• Payment Links and Payment Pages work without a website or app, so a learner can pay from a link shared by email or chat.
• Funds settle into your overseas bank account in USD, EUR, CAD, GBP, SGD, AUD and other currencies, so you are paid in a currency you already hold.

Pros

• Setup is generally quick and well documented, and a team already on Razorpay needs no separate build for Indian learners, so a first Indian checkout can go live without much custom work.
• The dashboard is easy to use for tracking transactions and managing the account day to day, which helps a small finance team.

Cons

• Support is often ticket-based and agents can lack context from earlier conversations, so urgent issues may take time to resolve.
• Payouts can be held or an account put under review without a clear reason, so ask how holds are explained and how long they last before you sign.

3. Cashfree

Best for: edtech teams selling courses through Shopify that want a native plugin from the Shopify app store for an Indian checkout.

Cashfree is an Indian payments company, and its Collect from India service lets a company outside India collect INR from Indian learners and settle abroad in its own currency.

It has a dedicated education offering for tuition fees, course payments and recurring collections.

A Shopify course store gets the closest fit, while a team on another stack builds against its API.

Key features

• Learners pay by UPI, cards (RuPay, Visa, Mastercard and Amex) or netbanking across 90+ banks, which covers the main routes an Indian learner uses to pay a course fee.
• UPI AutoPay, card standing instructions and e-mandates cover recurring fees, so tuition plans and batch fee collection can renew on the route each learner approved.
• A native Shopify app and API or no-code integration are offered, so a Shopify course store can add the Indian checkout straight from the app store.
• Funds settle in USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, AUD, CAD, HKD and 100+ other currencies, with the exchange rate visible at settlement.

Pros

• Onboarding can be quick, with some accounts going from sign-up to live payments in a day, which helps when a launch date is fixed.
• The documentation is clear and the APIs are split by product, which shortens a custom build for a course platform outside Shopify.
• The platform generally stays steady during busy sales days, which matters when many learners pay at once in a launch week or before an admission deadline.

Cons

• Support replies can be slow, and several people may call about one issue without sharing context, so allow time for urgent problems.
• The dashboard has many report options, so non-technical finance staff face a learning curve before they find the views they need.
• Its native import-checkout plugin is built for Shopify, so a course site on another platform needs a direct API build before Indian learners can pay.

4. PayU

Best for: edtech teams that want a pre-debit notification API they can call from their own billing system.

PayU is an Indian payment gateway, and its Cross-Border Payments Import service lets merchants outside India collect from Indian consumers without an entity in India, with settlement to an offshore account in the merchant's currency.

Subscriptions are part of the same integration, with notice and retries built in.

Key features

• Learners pay by cards (including RuPay), UPI, netbanking and NEFT or RTGS bank transfers, so a larger course fee can also arrive as a transfer from their bank.
• The subscriptions integration covers tokenised cards, UPI and netbanking through e-NACH, with billing that runs monthly, yearly or on custom intervals for each plan.
• A pre-debit notification API and retry mechanisms for failed payments sit inside the recurring flow, so notice and retries are built into the integration.
• Funds are paid out in 100+ currencies with a quoted T+2/T+3 timeline, and the exchange rate is fixed at the moment of the transaction.

Pros

• The WooCommerce and Shopify plugins make setup easy for teams without a large engineering group, which suits a small course business.
• Dedicated account managers and tools for larger volumes suit an institute with many learners paying every day, where steady support matters most.

Cons

• Support can be slow, and a reply can take up to a week, so smaller teams should ask about service levels before they sign.
• Funds can be held or transactions left pending for a long time, so check the payout and hold terms before you sign.
• On the Shopify route, UPI and netbanking payments happen on a PayU-hosted page and only card payments stay inside the Shopify checkout, so the experience changes part-way through for those learners.

5. EximPe

Best for: edtech teams that want buyers to pay by bank transfer to a virtual account without leaving their own product.

EximPe is a cross-border payments provider built for global merchants that collect from India. A learner can pay on an EximPe-hosted checkout, or stay in your own product and pay by bank transfer to a virtual account.

It suits a high-ticket cohort whose buyers would rather pay from a bank account than by card or UPI.

Key features

• Learners pay by UPI, cards, netbanking or QR on an EximPe-hosted checkout, which keeps the common Indian payment methods in one place for a course page.
• A virtual account lets learners pay by NEFT, RTGS or IMPS transfer without leaving your product, so a learner pays by a bank transfer they already know how to make.
• UPI AutoPay and e-NACH handle subscriptions, with weekly, monthly or custom frequencies, and a REST API creates each mandate from your billing system.
• Funds settle in 30+ currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, AED and AUD, so an overseas team can be paid in its own currency.

Pros

• Collections and balances are tracked for each sub-merchant, so a marketplace can see what each instructor earned before it pays them onward.
• Failed renewals are retried automatically and the learner is alerted to update their details, which gives a declined monthly debit a defined next step.

Cons

• A refund is taken from your unsettled balance and fails if that balance is short, with nothing retried on its own, so refunds need cash held back on EximPe.
• The 30+ payout currencies are fewer than the 100+ that Cashfree and PayU offer, so a team paid in a less common currency should check its own first.

6. Stripe

Best for: edtech teams already on Stripe that want to add UPI and UPI AutoPay without bringing in a second vendor.

Stripe is a payment processor, and its UPI support lets accounts in 35 countries take payments from learners in India, charged in INR. It runs on the Checkout, Payment Links and Subscriptions tools a team may already use.

A UPI AutoPay mandate can take its first charge within minutes of set-up, so a learner can start a monthly plan straight away.

Key features

• UPI payments can be from INR 1 to INR 1,00,000 each, and the same Checkout, Elements, Payment Links, Invoicing and Subscriptions tools accept them.
• UPI AutoPay renewals are capped at INR 15,000 per debit, and Stripe sends the pre-debit notice and waits 24 hours before it charges.
• Checkout and Payment Links can run on your own domain, so a learner sees your course brand and not a Stripe address when paying.
• Stripe Connect supports platforms that pay sellers, so a course marketplace can keep instructor payouts on the Stripe account it already uses.

Pros

• The API, documentation and webhooks are well regarded, which shortens integration for engineering-led teams that build their own checkout.
• Setup and the dashboard are easy to use, so a small team can follow payments, payouts and disputes in one place.
• Recurring subscription payments run dependably, which matters when a learner base renews on the same day each month.

Cons

• UPI payments top out at INR 1,00,000 each, so a larger bootcamp fee needs another payment method or provider.
• Fees rise with volume and there is limited room to negotiate, so ask for the full fee list before you commit.
• Support can be hard to reach for urgent account problems, and payouts can be held on a new account with little explanation.

RBI's Digital Payments E-mandate Framework, 2026 (RBI/DPSS/2026-27/396, 21 April 2026) covers recurring payments on cards, prepaid instruments and UPI, whether domestic or cross-border.

An e-mandate is the learner's one-time approval for repeated charges, and automated e-mandates then run each debit on schedule through an RBI-compliant provider.

The duties fall on the learner's bank and the provider, not on your edtech directly, but they decide which plan prices you can run and how each renewal is approved.

What RBI requires before any recurring debit runs

• Up to INR 15,000: the learner completes extra authentication (additional factor of authentication, AFA) once to set up the mandate, and debits up to INR 15,000 each then run without it. Above that, each debit needs it.
• The INR 1,00,000 class: the higher limit applies only to insurance premiums, mutual fund subscriptions and credit card bills, so course fees are not on that list.
• 24-hour notice: the learner's bank must notify them at least 24 hours before each debit, and the learner can opt out of a single debit.

e-NACH is a bank-account mandate route that RBI's framework does not name, so ask your provider which limit applies. For the mechanics, read how UPI payments from India work.

Setting up renewals with us

we support UPI AutoPay for monthly plans, card mandates for learners who prefer to pay by card, and e-NACH for bank-account mandates.

Your plan prices decide which fits, and our sales team confirms the e-NACH limit that applies to your plans.

Why annual plans above INR 15,000 break and how to bill them

An annual or bootcamp price above INR 15,000 can fail as a silent auto-charge, because each debit needs the learner's extra authentication and lapses if they skip it.

That matters most for recurring billing for tuition, where the yearly plan is the largest charge.

Keep recurring plans at INR 15,000 or less per debit, bill a larger plan in instalments only where the product genuinely works that way, and treat renewals above the cap as a reminder plus a learner-approved payment.

What to do when a renewal fails or the learner opts out

A learner can opt out of one debit, change the mandate or cancel it, so course access cannot depend on every debit succeeding. Plan for it before launch.

• Grace period: keep access open for a few days after a failed debit, so one declined charge does not cost a learner a cohort seat.
• Second route: send a one-time payment link by card, UPI or netbanking for the missed month.
• Retry terms: ask each provider how many retries run, on which days, and whether its smart retry logic skips a learner who opted out.

Payments from India usually carry the payer's Permanent Account Number (PAN), and Razorpay and Cashfree ask for it on their import checkouts.

We ask for it during checkout where it applies, so your course page needs room for a PAN from your Indian learners.

• Payment limit: RBI's payment aggregator rules cap each inward or outward payment through a cross-border provider at INR 25 lakh, so a larger fee may need to be split, and some providers set a lower limit of their own; ask yours.
• Who can pay: some providers, EximPe among them, accept education payments only from the learner's own bank account, matched to their PAN, so a course an employer pays for may not go through for Indian students. Ask each provider, us included, whether a company can pay.
• Tax collected at source: learners sometimes ask about tax collected at source (TCS) on a payment abroad, and our guide to TCS on foreign remittance covers when it applies.

RBI requires a payment aggregator to refund to the original method of payment, unless the payer asks for credit to another account of their own, and a customer's chargeback rights stay in place.

A money-back promise on a course therefore follows the same refund rule, but the refund window and where the money comes from differ by provider.

• Refund window: Stripe allows UPI refunds up to 60 days after the payment, so match a money-back promise to the window your provider sets.
• Where the money comes from: EximPe takes refunds from your unsettled balance, so hold back cash if you offer refunds there.
• Chargebacks: Razorpay handles chargebacks through the card networks as usual, so keep proof that a learner received the course.

A course marketplace that collects for many instructors or schools works as a payment facilitator, sometimes sold as PayFac-as-a-Service. Unlike a plain payment service provider (PSP), it registers each seller itself.

Payment facilitators like this still need an RBI-authorised provider to collect rupees from India. Unlike a merchant of record, which sells in its own name, the marketplace keeps each instructor or school as the seller. Three points decide the fit:

• Instructor and school onboarding: check that the provider can register each seller as a sub-merchant. With Xflow, our team checks each instructor or school before it collects; Cashfree onboards sub-merchants by API, EximPe tracks each one, and Stripe Connect covers platforms that pay sellers.
• Money flow: learners pay on one checkout and the money lands under your master merchant account, so you decide the payout schedule for each instructor.
• Split payouts: you work out each seller's share after your commission, so ask whether the provider shows a balance for each instructor before you pay it onward.

For most edtech companies selling to Indian learners, we suggest starting with us. One checkout covers one-off course fees and plan renewals, and you need no Indian entity to start.

• Subscription app at INR 999 a month: Xflow, with UPI AutoPay or card mandates, so each renewal stays under INR 15,000 and needs no extra approval.
• Cohort or bootcamp at INR 49,999: Xflow, with the mandate type and limit agreed with our sales team first, since each debit above INR 15,000 needs the learner's approval.
• Course marketplace: Xflow, with each instructor or school onboarded as a seller.
• If your stack decides it: Cashfree for a Shopify course store, PayU for a pre-debit notification API in your own billing system, EximPe for bank-transfer payments to a virtual account, and Razorpay or Stripe if you already run on them.

Whichever you shortlist, ask each for one quote on a sample debit. For a wider field of payfac providers, see the payment gateway for foreign companies comparison.