Payment gateway
Razorpay, Stripe and their peers: the service that takes card, UPI and wallet payments for you and tells your system whether each one succeeded.
Updated October 2026 · with examples from our own builds
What does payment gateway mean in practice?
A gateway handles the parts of taking money you shouldn't build yourself: card networks, UPI, bank authentication and fraud checks. Your app creates an order, the customer pays on the gateway's secure screens, and the gateway confirms the result, ideally by a signed message to your server.
Where you sell and what you sell decide the choice. Indian businesses usually use Razorpay or similar, international products often use Stripe, and digital features inside mobile apps generally go through the app stores instead. Fees, payout timing and supported methods differ.
Integration effort goes into the edges: test mode, refunds, failed and abandoned payments, and making sure nothing is delivered before payment is verified.
Payment gateway at a glance
- Common in India
- Razorpay and similar
- Common internationally
- Stripe
- Never deliver before
- The payment is verified on the server
Where has payment gateway come up in our builds?
Card payments for packages, classes, upgrades and add-ons go through Stripe, with refunds for downgrades and cancelled classes; the Android app has taken live Stripe payments since version 1.0.3.
The pre-Play QA pass found that a Pay-now booking was offered to drivers before it was paid, so an abandoned checkout could be delivered for free. Online bookings now wait as awaiting payment and are searched only once the payment verifies.
No payment gateway is connected yet: bookings settle in cash for now, and money features stay closed in each country until its Market switches them on.
Common questions about payment gateway
When should my app treat an order as paid?
Only after your server has verified the payment with the gateway, through a checked signature or a status lookup. A redirect back from the payment page is not proof.
Can I launch before my payment gateway is approved?
You can launch the parts that move no money. EverybodysPet's records, reports and rescues work without payments, with bookings settled in cash until a gateway is connected.
Related terms
Planning a product and not sure where payment gateway fits? Ask us, or browse all 116 terms in the glossary.