Ask HN: Alternative to Authorize.net? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Alternative to Authorize.net?

27 pointsScottWhigham30 comments

As of today, authorize.net has been down for more than 6 hours (why is no one reporting on this?). Any good alternatives?

View on HN

We switched to braintree from paypal at the beginning of the year - they are the most responsive payment provider I have ever dealt with. Our customer service that answers non technical questions also helped me troubleshoot some api issues I was having.

Braintree has been good to work with so far. Haven't launched yet, but during the research & dev process they've been great.

Similar position, except I'm even earlier in the process. Tentatively planning to go with braintree as seemingly the most powerful/flexible gateway and also by far the most up-front about pricing. Should probably talk to the trustcommerce folks, though.

We use Braintree and they have been very good.

+1 for Braintree. We also haven't launched yet, but their API is unmatched and their support staff has been very responsive.

We're in the process of setting up an account with them. So far, their customer service has been stellar. And their API is supposed to be the best in the industry.

Are their fees competitive with authorize.net?

Braintree seems to have more paperwork than other providers and you can find cheaper alternatives. I signed up with another company yesterday that ties in with Authorize.net. Odd that they are down today. In many years this is the first time I know of them having a major outage.

We use them quite a bit and they have been really good.

I'll throw more support in for Braintree. We use them, and they are great. Their customer vault API is simple, straightforward, and very effective. They've been quick, and their whole system just makes slightly more sense than the others.

It's still credit cards, and it's still magic... just slightly less painful than other providers that I've used.

I like TrustCommerce; simple, solid API and no bullshit. Also their "vault" is great for storing CC info. It's a holiday weekend in the US so don't expect miracles, though. Setting up a new payment gateway takes time. For a quick fix it's better to use PayPal until you get something better set up.

We have PayPal set up already so our customers that can use PayPal are okay during the downtime.

I'll check out TC - thanks.

I second that recommendation. I've worked with all the major payment processors at one time or another and TC is the only one that really seemed to Get It.

I know there are a lot of haters, but I've had no problem integrating with PayPal's PayFlow Pro. It's not PayPal, it's a regular payment gateway. They bought the business from Verisign a while back.

I'm not involved on the business end so I'm not sure what the rates are, but the API is easy to integrate with and it's stable. Though I guess all gateways can have trouble like a datacenter fire.

Your best bet is probably to have a backup gateway and a non-gateway backup like PayPal or Google Checkout. Cover all your bases.

Back in 2004 or so, Payflow Pro was down for a Sunday because they neglected to renew an internal Oracle security cert and the DBs stopped talking. Took 'em a day to sort that one out.

Random events and being human affect all 24/7 services.

Thanks. We actually do have PayPal along with their Payflow Pro. However, not all of our customers accounts can use PayPal hence the need for another provider.

Payflow Pro just processes credit card numbers you throw at it. No need for your customers to have a Paypal account.

You're probably thinking of PayPal Website Payments Pro--I'm talking about PayFlow which is a straight payment gateway (almost exactly like Authorize.net). You process credit cards on your website and the funds go into the merchant account at your bank. You can't accept PayPal with PayFlow.

panicking because of random events doesn't do anyone any good. it's not like any alternative will guarantee that it doesn't happen to them either

Why is this upvoted? I don't get it. This adds nothing. No one panicked. No one suggested anyone was panicking. Having alternatives that you can switch on in the event one goes down is just good practice.

authorize.net was bought a few years back and there has been few changes to it. Some of the original developers on the authorize.net team have started mtrex. It is a similar service, but things seem to fit together better. I guess the second time around they know what they are doing.

Auth is nothing more than a gateway, ie, hosted software. There are numerous gateway software available which you can run yourself and connect directly to your merchant acquirer.

Many might want to consider Chase Paymentech, the largest acquirer, whom you can directly connect with. Paypal runs their credit and partner transactions over the Paymentech network if that gives you any confidence.

I'm setting up PayPal for payment processing next month. Is it really as awful as everyone on HN make it out to be?

I am considering amazon fps for a project mostly because I'm using several other aws services and am comfortable hacking with those. I haven't had a merchant account before so I wonder with fps what advantages I'd be missing over authorize.net, braintree or paypal.

I have experience with Auth.net and generally have been happy with them.

That being said, I also like VeriFone's offerings - very powerful and their rates are really good.

I've also used PayPal's Website Payments Pro and Payflow Pro - good experiences there as well.

imeem.com used cybersource (authorize.net) for micro-transactions awhile back and the API was pretty straight forward. Support was very responsive. International payments is a whole other game.

vxsbill.com jettis.com epoch.com

there must be lots more...

Do you have any experience with any of those? I can google "authorize.net alternative" and find lots of "unbiased" reviews but if people here have experience with a good choice, I'd like to hear about it.

I'm currently using vxsbill, they're pretty good at what they do, segregated merchant accounts, vbv and so on. They do have a lengthy signup process though for that reason.

Epoch has been in business many years, jettis a bit less long.

I chose for vxsbill for a number of reasons, one of them is I am based in the Netherlands so it was relatively easy to get my own merchant account (but it still took more time than I liked).

If you're on the other side of the atlantic then I'd look at epoch first, then jettis, ccbill or some other reputable company.

If you can get a merchant account of your own, this will greatly reduce your exposure to trouble, as well as a significant reduction in fees.

I use paypal, personally.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com