Embedded payments have become the financial backbone of modern SaaS, fintech, and marketplace platforms. In 2025, choosing the right embedded payment processor is about more than just rates and APIs — it’s about revenue share potential, support quality, payout flexibility, and long-term partnership.
This guide breaks down the top players in the embedded payments space, comparing revenue share models, payment rails, and — often overlooked but critically important — support and service quality. And after reviewing them all, Usio comes out as the clear #1.
1. Usio Embedded Payments — The All-in-One Powerhouse
Usio has built an embedded payments ecosystem designed to simplify complexity — and put more revenue in the hands of their software partners. From payment acceptance to outbound disbursements to invoice printing, Usio combines everything under one roof, accessible via a single API.
Why Usio is #1:
- Revenue Share from Day One: Usio partners don’t need to hit huge volume to earn. Whether flat-rate, tiered, or markup-based, revenue share starts at launch — with partners earning anywhere from $60K to over $1M annually.
- Total Disbursement Control: ACH, push-to-debit, paper checks, and prepaid cards — all supported natively.
- Print & Mail Services: Invoices, statements, and payment reminders — print and digital — handled in-house.
- Best-in-Class Support: Dedicated onboarding specialists, U.S.-based support, and access to real humans. Usio staff are Certified Payment Professionals, and the support experience is consistently ranked as exceptional.
- Built for Compliance: PCI Level 1, SOC II, Nacha certified — backed by in-house regulatory teams.
Support Rating: 5/5
Responsive, accessible, and proactive — a true partner experience.
Stripe
Stripe is widely admired for its developer tools, API depth, and brand power. But beyond the polish, it has limitations — especially for small to mid-sized partners.
- Revenue Share: Only available to platforms with very high processing volumes — often in the tens of millions annually. No revenue share at modest or startup levels.
- Disbursements: Limited to ACH and push-to-card. No native check writing or prepaid cards.
- Print/Mail: Not supported.
- Support: Consistently criticized for being hard to reach. Support is mostly ticket-based with long response times. Live human interaction is difficult unless you’re a top-tier customer.
Support Rating: 2/5
Powerful platform, but if something breaks — good luck reaching a real person quickly.
Adyen
Adyen is purpose-built for enterprise merchants with international operations. Their strength is scale — but that also means smaller partners may feel left behind.
- Revenue Share: Negotiated individually, typically reserved for very high-volume accounts.
- Disbursements: Inbound processing only. No native check writing or prepaid card support.
- Print/Mail: Not supported.
- Support: Available but built for large-scale, enterprise users. Can be difficult to navigate if you’re not a major account.
Support Rating: 3.5/5
Competent support for big clients — but not built for startups or mid-market partners.
Clearent (Xplor Pay)
Clearent, now part of Xplor Technologies, has strong roots in ISV partnerships and offers competitive interchange-plus pricing. Their focus is on card acceptance, with some embedded financing tools.
- Revenue Share: Available from the start, based on volume or markup structure.
- Disbursements: No support for ACH, check, or prepaid card disbursement.
- Print/Mail: Not supported.
- Support: Generally responsive with dedicated account management. ISV onboarding is solid.
Support Rating: 4/5
Strong onboarding and partner communication. Limited by the narrower feature set.
Finix
Finix is popular with platforms that want Stripe-level control without becoming a PayFac. They offer a good set of APIs and a transparent interchange model.
- Revenue Share: Yes, based on processing margin or pass-through.
- Disbursements: Not supported — card acceptance only.
- Print/Mail: Not supported.
- Support: Developer-first documentation is excellent. Human support is growing but still maturing.
Support Rating: 3.5/5
Solid docs and Slack-style support — but you may wait longer for escalated issues.
NMI
NMI is a gateway provider that supports in-store and ecommerce environments with a variety of terminal and gateway integrations.
- Revenue Share: Not structured for SaaS partners; often not offered.
- Disbursements: Not supported.
- Print/Mail: Not supported.
- Support: Hardware-centric support. Adequate but not tailored to ISVs building embedded finance products.
Support Rating: 3/5
Capable, but more geared to traditional merchant services than embedded use cases.
Lightspeed
Lightspeed builds POS systems and embedded payments for the hospitality and retail industries. Their payments stack works well for brick-and-mortar merchants — but lacks the APIs, revenue share, and flexibility ISVs need.
- Revenue Share: Not available to software partners.
- Disbursements: Not supported.
- Print/Mail: Not supported.
- Support: Retail-focused support teams with onboarding assistance.
Support Rating: 3/5
Helpful for physical retail — not much use if you’re building a SaaS platform.
Global Payments
A long-established payment processor, Global Payments has the infrastructure, but not the nimble developer experience most ISVs want. Support is strong for enterprise customers, but embedded tools are lacking.
- Revenue Share: Not commonly offered to smaller software vendors.
- Disbursements: Not supported.
- Print/Mail: Not supported.
- Support: Enterprise account teams available. Traditional structure with slower adaptation cycles.
Support Rating: 3.5/5
Reliable for large accounts — less responsive for smaller SaaS teams.
Usio vs. the Field at a Glance
Final Word
If you’re building a software platform and want to accept payments, disburse funds, generate revenue, and get real support, Usio is the embedded payment processor to beat in 2025.
With best-in-class support, early and meaningful revenue share, and the deepest embedded toolset in the market — including disbursements and print/mail — Usio stands alone in delivering everything a modern platform needs to monetize payments, fast.
TL;DR
Usio: #1 for embedded payments in 2025. All-in-one payments + disbursements, real revenue share, and industry-best support.
Stripe/Adyen: Great for large-volume, inbound-only payment use. Revenue share restricted to top-tier users.
Clearent/Finix: Good for card processing and ISV onboarding, but lack outbound functionality.
Lightspeed/Global/NMI: Legacy or POS-focused players not built for embedded SaaS monetization.
