Best PayFac Platforms for SaaS: Fees and Onboarding

The best PayFac platforms for SaaS companies collecting subscriptions from Indian customers are 1. Xflow, 2. Razorpay, 3. Cashfree, 4. EximPe, 5. Stripe, 6. Paddle and 7. Dodo Payments.

With Xflow, our embedded payments platform, your Indian customers pay by card, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) or netbanking and renew through recurring mandates such as UPI AutoPay.

You are paid abroad in your own currency on T+2 (2 business days), with no Indian entity needed.

A PayFac (payment facilitator) collects customer payments on your behalf, and because a SaaS bills Indian customers every month, the platform you pick decides which payment methods they see and whether their renewals succeed.

Seven providers let a SaaS outside India charge Indian customers and be paid abroad.

1. Xflow: best for SaaS companies that bill larger invoices to Indian customers and want custom pricing on one dedicated platform.
2. Razorpay: best for SaaS companies already on Razorpay that want cross-border collection added to the same dashboard.
3. Cashfree: best for SaaS companies that want settlement in 100+ currencies, the longest published settlement list among these seven.
4. EximPe: best for invoice-led B2B SaaS that collects from Indian businesses through INR virtual bank accounts.
5. Stripe: best for SaaS companies already on Stripe that want UPI for smaller INR payments on the same dashboard.
6. Paddle: best for SaaS companies that want a merchant of record to carry tax and invoicing.
7. Dodo Payments: best for SaaS and AI products that want a merchant of record with a published fee table covering subscriptions and usage-based billing.

Indian customers drop out of a SaaS checkout in three places, and each one narrows which payfac platforms for SaaS can work for you.

• UPI-first payers: many Indian customers prefer to pay by UPI, and a checkout that shows only international cards loses them at the last step. For the full flow, see how to accept UPI payments from India.
• Netbanking: customers who prefer to pay straight from a bank account need netbanking at checkout, and not every provider offers it alongside UPI.
• RuPay cards: RuPay is India's own card network, and a checkout that takes only Visa and Mastercard turns away a customer who holds only a RuPay card.

The seven platforms differ on what they charge a SaaS outside India, how you sign up and which Indian payment methods your customers get, renewals included. Quote on request means the provider shares its price when you ask.

PA-CB is the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) authorisation to collect for overseas businesses, and PA-O (Payment Aggregator, Online) is its domestic one.

The two routes split the work differently. A merchant of record becomes the seller to your customer and handles tax, while a PayFac with PA-CB authorisation collects the money and leaves you as the seller.

Which fits depends on how much of the seller's job you want to keep.

If you want to set your own prices, keep the customer relationship and are ready to manage your GST position with a tax adviser, the PayFac route fits, and it is the one we built Xflow for.

If you would rather hand tax and invoicing to another company and accept its percentage, a merchant of record fits better.

Who registers for Indian GST on a SaaS subscription?

Section 24(xi) of the Central GST Act makes registration compulsory for a person supplying online information and database access or retrieval services (OIDAR) from outside India to someone in India who is not a registered person.

A SaaS subscription can fit that description.

Where your customer is a GST-registered Indian business, the tax is generally payable by the buyer under reverse charge (Notification 10/2017-Integrated Tax (Rate)).

Check with a tax adviser before you rely on this, and if you pick a merchant of record, ask who files the return.

All seven take payments from Indian customers for a SaaS based abroad, but they differ on renewals, payout currencies, support and who acts as the seller.

1. Xflow

Best for: SaaS companies that bill larger invoices to Indian customers and want custom pricing on one dedicated platform.

Xflow is an embedded payments platform that lets a company outside India collect from Indian customers in INR and get paid abroad in its own currency, with funds settled through an AD-1 bank (authorised dealer category 1).

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

Key features

• Indian customers pay in INR on Xflow's hosted checkout by Visa, Mastercard or RuPay card, UPI or netbanking, and you can keep it fully branded.
• Subscriptions renew through UPI AutoPay, card mandates or e-NACH (e-mandate), so customers can renew with a method they already use.
• Xflow settles in USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD and many more on a T+2 (2 business days) cycle, so you are paid in the currency you already bank in.
• A test mode lets you run the hosted checkout end to end before you go live, with test data kept apart from live mode.

Pros

• You can collect without an Indian entity, local bank account or company registration, so you can start before any setup in India.
• A SaaS platform can offer Indian collection to its own users, with Xflow's operations team handling each user's onboarding, so you do not build verification in-house.
• Pricing is custom, agreed with Xflow's sales team, so a SaaS billing larger invoices can agree a rate for its own volume.

Cons

• Xflow doesn't offer wallets or equated monthly instalments (EMI), so customers who want to pay that way at checkout need a different option.

Verdict: pick Xflow when larger invoices, Indian renewal mandates, custom pricing and settlement into your own overseas account matter most.

2. Razorpay

Best for: SaaS companies already on Razorpay that want cross-border collection added to the same dashboard.

Razorpay is an Indian payment gateway whose Import Flow product lets a business outside India collect from Indian customers and settle abroad.

You activate it by form once your Razorpay account has passed know-your-customer (KYC) checks, so a SaaS that already has an account adds overseas collection to it.

Key features

• Customers can pay by UPI, netbanking or cards on six networks, including RuPay, Diners, Amex and Discover, and Import Flow supports UPI AutoPay, card recurring and e-mandate for renewals.
• Subscription tools handle plan changes, pauses, retries and UPI AutoPay mandates, which makes them one of the stronger recurring-billing setups among Indian gateways.
• Import Flow payments settle in all major currencies, including USD, EUR, CAD, GBP, JPY, SGD and AUD, so your Indian revenue reaches you in your home currency.

Pros

• Setup is quick and the API is easy to work with, so a first integration does not tie up your engineers for long.
• The dashboard makes transactions and settlements easy to track, which helps a finance team reconcile its payouts against Indian customer payments each month.
• A SaaS already on Razorpay can add Indian collection to the account it knows, so finance and engineering keep one vendor, one dashboard and one set of reports.

Cons

• Support can be slow to reach, with replies taking from a few hours to several days, which hurts when a failed renewal needs a quick answer.
• Payments or accounts are sometimes held for weeks with little explanation, which worries a business that depends on steady payouts.
• Fees can feel steep for low-margin products, which squeezes a SaaS whose plans sell for small amounts each month.

Verdict: choose Razorpay when you already run on its dashboard and want Indian collection without a second vendor.

3. Cashfree

Best for: SaaS companies that want settlement in 100+ currencies, the longest published settlement list among these seven.

Cashfree is an Indian payments company that lets overseas businesses collect from Indian customers through a single API or a no-code setup and settle the money abroad.

Sign-up is self-serve, with live payments within 48 hours of onboarding once documents clear, which suits a small team that wants to start quickly.

Key features

• Customers can pay by UPI, RuPay, Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Diners or netbanking across 90+ banks, and recurring billing runs on UPI AutoPay, card standing instructions and e-mandates.
• You can use payment links and pages or REST APIs for a fully customised checkout, and a sandbox lets you test the integration before collecting a live payment.
• Sub-merchant onboarding is available by API for global payment aggregators, and the Payouts API handles bulk vendor payments and refunds.

Pros

• The API is easy to integrate and well documented, which matters when your own engineers wire up renewals and refunds.
• Payments settle quickly and UPI success rates hold steady, which keeps renewals from Indian customers predictable for a SaaS that bills every month.
• Payout is available in 100+ currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, AUD and CAD, so most overseas SaaS companies can be paid in the currency they bank in.

Cons

• Support can be slow on disputes and urgent queries, which is a worry when a renewal problem needs a fast reply.
• The dashboard and reports take time to learn, which slows down non-technical finance staff who need to find a payment quickly.

Verdict: Cashfree fits when the longest published list of settlement currencies matters most.

4. EximPe

Best for: invoice-led B2B SaaS that collects from Indian businesses through INR virtual bank accounts.

EximPe is a cross-border payments company that lets businesses outside India collect from Indian customers by UPI, cards, netbanking or an INR virtual bank account, and pays them out abroad.

The virtual account route means an Indian finance team can pay a SaaS invoice straight from its own bank.

Key features

• Customers can pay by UPI (Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm and BHIM), Visa, Mastercard, RuPay or netbanking, or by NEFT, RTGS or IMPS transfer into an INR virtual bank account.
• Buyers can pay on an EximPe-hosted checkout or stay inside your product through a virtual account, and built-in recurring payments run with UPI AutoPay ready.
• EximPe offers T+2 settlement in USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, AED and other currencies, and converts at the time it settles rather than when your buyer paid.

Pros

• INR virtual accounts suit invoice-led B2B billing, because an Indian finance team can pay a SaaS invoice from its own bank rather than through a card checkout.
• Go-live takes under 48 hours, so a B2B SaaS can set its India launch date before it signs.

Cons

• Sub-merchant collections settle to the platform, so a SaaS with its own sellers has to pay each sub-merchant onward itself.

Verdict: EximPe fits B2B invoices that Indian companies pay from their own bank.

5. Stripe

Best for: SaaS companies already on Stripe that want UPI for smaller INR payments on the same dashboard.

Stripe is a global payments company that lets businesses in 35 supported countries accept UPI from Indian customers alongside its card and subscription billing products.

A SaaS already on Stripe switches UPI on from its Dashboard without a new integration, though each UPI payment is capped at INR 100,000.

Key features

• Stripe offers UPI in INR from INR 1 to INR 100,000 per payment through Checkout, Elements, Invoicing and Payment Links, and you enable it yourself from the Dashboard.
• UPI supports recurring payments through e-mandates, also called UPI AutoPay, on Subscriptions, with each recurring payment limited to a maximum of INR 15,000.
• Stripe Billing supports usage-based and metered pricing, trials and proration, which suits SaaS plans with tiered or usage-based charges.

Pros

• The API and documentation are clear and complete, so engineers integrate quickly and find answers without a support ticket.
• A SaaS already on Stripe adds UPI for Indian customers without a second vendor integration, inside the clean dashboard its team already uses.
• UPI refunds are available for up to 60 days, so your support team can reverse a charge on the Stripe tools it already uses.

Cons

• Accounts are sometimes closed or funds held for long periods with little explanation, which is a risk when Stripe carries most of your revenue.
• Support is hard to reach, especially by phone, so an urgent dispute can wait a long time for an answer.
• Fees add up once international cards, currency conversion and tax tools are switched on, so price one Indian renewal in full before you commit.

Verdict: pick Stripe when you already run on it and need UPI for payments under INR 100,000.

6. Paddle

Best for: SaaS companies that want a merchant of record to carry tax and invoicing.

Paddle is a merchant of record that sells your software to customers as the legal seller, handles tax, fraud and billing, and pays you the net.

It suits a small team selling in many countries that wants tax and invoicing off its desk, at the cost of a percentage on the full plan value.

Key features

• Paddle takes on tax compliance, refunds and chargebacks as the legal seller, so a small team does not run those processes itself.
• Paddle Billing covers subscriptions with trials, proration and pause or resume, and includes revenue analytics for tracking renewals and churn.
• Paddle accepts 30+ payment methods, including UPI AutoPay for Indian-address customers paying INR-priced items, with a cap of INR 15,000 per renewal.

Pros

• Tax compliance stops being your problem, so a small team can sell in many countries without registering for sales tax or VAT in each one.
• Integration is straightforward for subscription products, with an API and documentation that engineers find solid, so a small team can start billing quickly.
• Built-in fraud monitoring suits a small team that sells in many countries without a dedicated risk function or a separate fraud tool to buy.

Cons

• The fee is above what many payment processors charge and applies to the full amount, so a USD 1,000 annual plan carries USD 50.50.
• Because Paddle is the seller, receipts carry its name and checkout customisation is more limited, so you have less control over how your customer sees the purchase.
• Accounts are sometimes closed with funds held, so keep a second way to collect if Paddle would carry most of your revenue.

Verdict: pick Paddle when handing tax and invoicing to someone else is worth the 5% + 50 cents rate.

7. Dodo Payments

Best for: SaaS and AI products that want a merchant of record with a published fee table covering subscriptions and usage-based billing.

Dodo Payments is a merchant of record for software and AI products that sells to your customers as the legal seller, handles tax and pays you the net.

It takes UPI and Indian cards in INR, and its subscription and usage-based billing suit AI and SaaS products.

Key features

• Dodo Payments accepts UPI and Indian-issued Visa, Mastercard and RuPay cards in INR from INR 5, with recurring payments through RBI mandates.
• Subscriptions, usage-based billing and license keys are built in, which fits AI and SaaS products that charge by usage as well as by plan.
• Dodo Payments applies OIDAR GST logic at checkout, and it pays out from USD, GBP and EUR wallets, twice a month by default, with a USD 50 minimum.

Pros

• Sign-up is quick and integration is easy, so a small team can start collecting without a long setup.
• Built-in tax handling takes much of the tax admin off a small team that sells in many countries.
• A published fee table with named rows lets you model your cost for Indian payments, including the 0.5% subscription add-on, before you speak to anyone.

Cons

• Accounts are sometimes suspended or funds held for weeks or months with little explanation, which is a risk when it carries most of your revenue.
• Support during payout holds can be slow or impersonal, which makes a held payout harder to resolve when your renewals depend on it.
• Fees stack up once international, subscription, refund and dispute charges are added, so model a full Indian renewal before you commit.

Verdict: choose Dodo Payments when a merchant of record with a published fee table fits an AI or usage-based product.

Recurring charges on Indian cards and UPI run on a mandate the customer approves once. RBI's Digital Payments E-mandate Framework (RBI/DPSS/2026-27/396, 21 April 2026) covers these recurring transactions on cards, prepaid instruments and UPI, domestic or cross-border.

A charge up to INR 15,000 can run without an extra authentication factor, and above that each charge needs one.

Issuers must send a notice at least 24 hours before each debit, so a renewal may not land on the day you expect.

• A cancelled mandate or a plan upgrade: if the customer cancels the mandate, or an upgrade pushes the charge past the mandate limit, the renewal fails. Stripe returns a mandate-cancelled error, and on Dodo Payments a plan change can cross the mandate limit.
• A charge that lands later than the renewal date: on Stripe, card charges go out 26 hours after the request and UPI charges one day after the notice, while on Dodo Payments each Indian renewal completes about 48 hours later.
• Plans above INR 15,000: annual plans and enterprise tiers priced in USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD or SGD hit the limit first. Convert your plan price at the current rate and compare it with INR 15,000 before you launch, because a weaker rupee can push a plan over the limit.

Email your customer before each renewal, hold access until the payment confirms, and keep a pay-by-link option for the days a mandate fails. Then ask each provider on your shortlist how it renews your highest-priced plan before you launch.

UPI payments are made in rupees, so your Indian customer sees an INR amount at the payment step, whichever provider you pick. What changes is whether you publish an INR price list or let the provider convert a dollar price.

• Price in rupees: on Paddle, UPI appears only for INR-priced items to customers with an Indian address, and Stripe takes UPI payments in INR only.
• Keep a dollar price list: on Dodo Payments, Adaptive Currency must be switched on before UPI works at a subscription checkout from outside India, so a dollar list needs that setting.
• Renew in rupees: with us, UPI AutoPay, card mandates and e-NACH support recurring charges on an INR invoice, so you can set the rupee amount once. Charges above INR 15,000 need an extra authentication step from the customer under RBI rules.

Ask each provider in writing which exchange rate it applies and who sets it, because the answer decides what a USD 100 plan nets you.

RBI's Payment Aggregator Directions 2025 cap a transaction collected through a PA-CB at INR 25 lakh, and the cap is the same for every PA-CB platform here.

For how it applies to a large invoice, see how to accept payments from Indian customers.

UPI adds its own limit by method: Stripe and EximPe both cap a single UPI payment at INR 1 lakh (INR 100,000). Documents and timing differ by provider, but going live follows the same steps on most platforms.

1. Send company documents: Cashfree asks for registration, proof of address, director ID, overseas bank details and your website address, and EximPe starts with company documents that it reviews within 24 hours.
2. Complete know-your-business (KYB) or KYC checks: the provider verifies your company and, for a platform, each sub-merchant. Razorpay runs KYC on your account before it activates Import Flow, and Dodo Payments checks the identity document you submit.
3. Integrate and test: Cashfree offers a sandbox, and Stripe lets you switch on UPI from the Dashboard. With us, test mode runs the checkout end to end, and test data does not carry over to live.
4. Send real payment details: on Razorpay, a payment fails if you pass a dummy customer email or phone number.
5. Go live: Cashfree goes live within 48 hours of onboarding, EximPe in under 48 hours, and Paddle runs a 12-day migration plan from kickoff to go-live. With us, onboarding is sales-assisted and merchants go live within days.

A platform whose own users take payments needs a provider that treats each user as a separate seller. Four things decide the fit, and providers differ on every one of them.

• Onboarding and verification (KYB): each sub-merchant is verified before it collects. With Stripe Connect the platform collects the details and Stripe verifies them, but you cannot rely on that for your own legal KYC.
• Collection and split: payments land in a balance per sub-merchant. EximPe works on a payment service provider (PSP) model in which the PSP onboards sub-merchants and balances are tracked per sub-merchant, with split payments between buyers, sellers and the platform.
• Payout: EximPe settles to the platform, which pays each sub-merchant onward, while Stripe Connect cross-border payouts are self-serve only inside the US, UK, EEA, Canada and Switzerland.
• Who carries the risk: with Stripe Connect the platform stays responsible for fraud, and Paddle and Dodo Payments do not accept marketplaces or multi-vendor platforms.

With us

you can offer Indian collection to your own users, and our operations team handles each user's onboarding. Their customers pay on a hosted checkout, and the money settles abroad through an AD-1 bank in the currency you choose.

We built Xflow for SaaS companies outside India that bill Indian customers and want the money settled abroad in their own currency, with no Indian entity.

The other six payfac platforms for SaaS suit more specific cases, so match the one below to how much tax handling you want off your desk and how you bill your plans.

• Larger invoices, custom pricing or a platform with its own users: Xflow. Talk to sales about how to accept international payments from India with settlement abroad in your own currency.
• Another PA-CB platform for a specific need: Razorpay if you already use its dashboard, Cashfree for the longest published settlement currency list, and EximPe for INR virtual accounts on B2B invoices.
• Already on Stripe and only UPI is needed: Stripe adds UPI on the same dashboard, with INR 15,000 as its recurring limit and no PA-CB authorisation from RBI.
• Tax and invoicing off your desk: Paddle or Dodo Payments, whose percentage includes tax handling, once each confirms in writing who files your GST return.

Whichever you shortlist, ask each provider for an all-in quote on one sample payment, and test your highest-priced plan against the INR 15,000 renewal line before you sign. Our team will scope your Indian collection and settlement currency with you.