As a SaaS company, you know growing revenue isn’t always easy. 

Raising subscription prices can make your platform less competitive, while acquiring new customers often becomes more expensive over time. As a result, you may find yourself searching for new ways to grow revenue without increasing costs for existing users or disrupting the customer experience.

What many don’t realize is that payments can be one of the most powerful – and underutilized – revenue levers available to a SaaS platform.

Every transaction processed through your platform represents a potential revenue opportunity. Yet many SaaS companies either leave that revenue on the table or assume they need to become a payment facilitator (PayFac) to participate in it. Others rely on traditional payment providers that offer limited flexibility and little opportunity to share in the economics of payment processing.

The reality is that there are ways to transform payments from a necessary feature into a meaningful source of recurring revenue without taking on the complexity of running a payments business yourself.

In this article, we’ll explore how SaaS companies make money from payments, the different models available, and why a revenue-share approach is becoming an increasingly popular way to monetize payment volume.

In this article:

• Why many SaaS companies struggle to monetize payments
• How can SaaS companies make money from payments?
• The power of embedded payments for SaaS
• Four benefits of Fiska’s partnership model (over traditional payment provider models)
• How Fiska helped a SaaS platform improve customer adoption, GPV, and revenue

 

Why many SaaS companies struggle to monetize payments

Many SaaS platforms try to create payments revenue by adding a markup on top of an existing processor like Stripe.

The problem is that Stripe’s standard pricing is already familiar to merchants. If you charge much more than Stripe’s 2.9% + 30 cents fee, merchants may choose Stripe or another processor instead.

This creates a difficult balancing act:

• Charge too much and become uncompetitive
• Charge too little and generate very little revenue
• Take on payment infrastructure yourself and inherit significant operational complexity

To successfully monetize payments, you need a model that allows you to remain competitive while still participating in payment revenue.

How can SaaS companies make money from payments?

Most SaaS companies rely on subscription revenue, but payments can create a far more scalable revenue stream that grows alongside your customers’ businesses. The question is how to participate in that revenue without creating operational headaches or becoming uncompetitive.

There are three common approaches:

1. Offer payments through a traditional processor: Many SaaS companies add payments to their platform through providers like Stripe or other payment processors. While this allows merchants to accept payments without leaving your platform, it doesn’t always create a meaningful revenue opportunity for you.In many cases, you either receive little to no share of the payment revenue or have to add your own markup to generate income. The challenge is that merchants are often familiar with standard processor pricing. If your rates become noticeably higher, it can be harder to stay competitive and drive adoption.As a result, you may successfully offer payments but struggle to turn them into a significant revenue stream.
2. Become a PayFac: Some SaaS companies choose to become a PayFac, which allows them to own the payment experience and capture more of the economics associated with payment processing.However, becoming a PayFac comes with significant responsibilities, including merchant underwriting, compliance management, fraud monitoring, chargeback handling, risk management, and payment operations. For most SaaS companies, the cost and complexity outweigh the potential benefits.Read more: How to become a payment facilitator (PayFac) as a SaaS platform 
3. Embed payments and earn revenue share: For many SaaS companies, this is the most practical path. By embedding payments directly into your platform and partnering with a provider that offers a revenue share, you can provide a seamless payment experience while earning a share of the payment revenue generated by your merchants.

A strong payments partner handles the infrastructure, compliance, and operational complexity behind the scenes, which allows you to focus on your product and customers while building a scalable source of recurring revenue.

The power of embedded payments for SaaS

For many SaaS companies, payments start as a necessity. Merchants need a way to accept payments, so platforms partner with a third-party processor and move on.

But the most successful SaaS companies treat payments differently. Instead of viewing payments as a standalone feature, they make them a core part of the product experience. This is the idea behind embedded payments: integrating payment acceptance directly into your platform so merchants can manage their business without leaving your software.

When payments are embedded, the benefits extend far beyond convenience. Merchants can manage fewer vendors and complete critical workflows, from invoicing to payment collection, within a single platform. This creates a more seamless experience that increases the value your software delivers.

Embedded payments also strengthen your business. Rather than acting as a pass-through service, payments become part of your product strategy. You gain greater control over the payment experience, deepen relationships with your merchants, and create new opportunities to generate revenue from the payment volume already flowing through your platform.

This is why so many SaaS companies are turning to embedded payments. They’re not simply looking for a way to process transactions: they want to increase merchant adoption, improve retention, and unlock a scalable source of revenue that grows alongside their customers.

The question then becomes: how do you structure embedded payments so they create meaningful revenue for your platform? That’s where the payment model matters.

Four benefits of Fiska’s partnership model (over traditional payment provider models)

When exploring how to make money from payments, the model you choose matters just as much as the technology behind it.

That’s why revenue share is at the center of our approach.

Instead of adding fixed platform fees or limiting how you monetize payment volume, we’ve designed Fiska to help you turn payments into a scalable revenue stream. We work with you to increase payment adoption, optimize monetization, and build a payments experience that delivers value for your merchants while supporting your long-term revenue growth.

Read more about why we started Fiska here: Integrating payments as a software company is expensive, complex and time-consuming. Here’s how we’re solving it.

1. You get to set your own pricing when selling to your customers

By setting your own pricing, you can offer rates that are more attractive to your customers compared to fixed pricing models imposed on you by other providers (like Stripe and Square).

Having the ability to customize your pricing is critical for increasing adoption rates and gross transaction volume. For example, you can attract more merchants to your platform by setting a lower transaction fee or offering volume discounts. Conversely, if your target market values premium service, you might choose to set higher fees that reflect the additional value you provide. Being able to adjust pricing based on your business strategy and customer expectations is a powerful tool for making your platform stand out from competitors.

2. Customize your payment portal with your own branding and extra features

As well as customizing your pricing, we also enable you to fully customize your payment process, so it’s more aligned with the experience you offer with your software platform. Instead of going from your thoughtfully designed platform to a stock payment portal, your merchants will continue to see your branding and features, inspiring confidence and improving the cohesiveness of your customer experience.

Fiska enables you to add features like tips and recurring billing: you can’t do this with Stripe and many other payment providers. We believe that adding more customization options makes your merchants more likely to choose and stick with your platform, driving higher gross volume and revenue over time.

3. You get a payments provider that is motivated to improve your payment strategy long-term

At Fiska, our success is directly tied to your success. Unlike other providers that charge fixed fees, our revenue model is based on a true revenue share, meaning we only make money when you do. This approach ensures that our incentives fully align with yours, motivating us to help you grow – even after we’ve set you up to take payments.

To do this, we go beyond mere payment processing by offering a comprehensive support system, including insights into market trends, best practices for payment strategy, and technical support to ensure smooth operations. For example, with Stripe, you’re often limited to online self-help guides, which can fall short during critical moments. When your merchants face urgent payment issues, the lack of direct support can lead to frustration, delays, and a poor customer experience. Self-help guides are no substitute for real-time assistance, especially with complex or time-sensitive problems when emotions run high.

At Fiska, we offer level 1 support to you and level 2 support to your merchants. Our multi-channel support system allows you to reach us via call, email, or Slack, ensuring you have multiple ways to get the assistance you need.

4. Spend more energy improving your software, and let us act as your fractional Head of Payments

As a payment partner, Fiska functions like your fractional Head of Payments. But we understand that you know your merchants better than we do. While we offer our expertise and guidance, we’ll never dictate how you run your business. We’re not trying to turn you into a payment company: SaaS is your business, not payments.

But as a SaaS platform, it can be difficult to continue to scale your monthly licensing fee without becoming less competitive and turning off your customers. But payments are far more scalable: and in many cases, your payment revenue can eventually bring in more revenue than your license fees. To help you do this, we’ll provide you with the information, tools, support, and context you need to make the best decisions for your business and optimize your payments. For example, we can help you decide when it’s worth becoming a PayFac, or if operating as an Independent Sales Organization (ISO) is a better choice for your business.

By giving you the knowledge you need to optimize your payments, you can spend more time focusing on what excites you: creating innovative software.

How Fiska helped a SaaS platform improve customer adoption, GPV, and revenue

A sports and recreation platform initially used Stripe for payment processing, but they wanted to offer a more customizable in-house payment solution that could be branded under their own name and priced more competitively.

They also needed a way to increase customer acquisition and processing volume without sacrificing revenue.

To start with, the platform integrated Fiska alongside Stripe, giving merchants the option to choose between the two during onboarding.

Fiska provided a white-label payment solution, allowing the platform to brand the payment system as its own and set a competitive rate slightly below Stripe’s pricing. This side-by-side presentation in the onboarding flow allowed merchants to compare the two options easily.

Despite Stripe’s recognizable brand name, the platform saw a 50% higher adoption rate for its own branded solution. This higher adoption rate led to an increase in processing volume and customer acquisition.

With Stripe, the platform had to pay a fee and an additional 50 basis points upcharge. But by using Fiska, they could earn more revenue while charging a lower rate. The profit margin remained the same at 40-45 basis points, but with the increased adoption and greater gross payment volume (GPV), their revenue increased by 50%.

Integrating Fiska allowed the sports and recreation platform to offer a more flexible and branded payment solution, resulting in higher customer adoption, increased processing volume, and greater revenue. They ultimately dropped the solution that used Stripe and continued to use their own branded solution when onboarding customers.

A smarter approach to payment monetization

For many SaaS companies, subscription revenue alone can only take growth so far. Raising your prices risks creating friction for customers, while acquiring new users becomes increasingly expensive.

Payments offer a different path. By embedding payments into your platform, you can create a new revenue stream tied directly to the success of your customers. As their payment volume grows, so does your opportunity to earn revenue.

The easiest way to make money from payments is simple: embed payments, offer a seamless merchant experience, and partner with a provider that shares in your success. That’s exactly what Fiska was built to do. By combining revenue share, white-label payments, and hands-on payments expertise, we help SaaS companies turn payment volume into a meaningful source of recurring revenue.

Book a no-obligation call to learn more about how our true revenue share model can help you make more money from payments.

FAQ

How can SaaS companies make money from payments?

SaaS companies can make money from payments by embedding payment processing into their platform and earning a share of the processing revenue. This allows them to generate income from transaction volume rather than relying solely on subscription fees. 

What’s the easiest way to monetize payments as a SaaS company?

For most SaaS companies, the simplest approach is to partner with an embedded payments provider that offers revenue sharing. This avoids the complexity of becoming a PayFac while still creating a new revenue stream. 

Do SaaS companies need to become a PayFac to earn payment revenue?

No. Many SaaS companies generate payment revenue through revenue-share agreements with embedded payments providers. The provider handles compliance, onboarding, underwriting, and payment operations.