Payment Methods Overview

This page is the starting point for all payment methods and alternative payment methods (APMs) in Chargebee.

Chargebee supports 60+ payment methods across 30+ payment gateways, so you can match your business model, country of incorporation, and customer preferences. Use this overview to choose a category, open the matching configuration guide, and learn how Chargebee stores and charges payment methods for customers, subscriptions, and one-time charges.

How payment methods work in Chargebee

Most online payment methods require a supported payment gateway configured in Chargebee. After you enable a method on a gateway, use Smart Routing to decide which gateway account processes each method and currency.

You can store multiple payment methods for each customer, designate one primary and one backup method, and optionally assign a specific method to a subscription or one-time charge.

Multiple payment methods for a single customer provide:

• Revenue assurance — If the primary payment method fails, Chargebee can try the backup payment method before dunning begins.
• Flexibility — You can charge some invoices to one method and others to a different method (for example, a subscription-specific payment method).

Types of payment methods

Gateway-specific setup for each method lives under the matching payment gateway page. If you use Chargebee Pay, also see Supported payment methods.

Cards

Accept credit, debit, and prepaid cards through a supported payment gateway and merchant account. Chargebee works with your gateway to authorize, capture, and store card payment sources for recurring billing.

Learn more about cards

Chargebee also supports region-specific card flows such as South Korean cards via Stripe and Cartes Bancaires via Stripe.

Direct debit payments

Collect payments directly from a customer's bank account. Chargebee supports these regional direct debit networks:

• United States — ACH (Automated Clearing House)
• United Kingdom — BACS (Bankers' Automated Clearing System)
• Eurozone — SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area)
• Sweden — Autogiro
• New Zealand — BECS (Bulk Electronic Clearing System)
• Australia — BECS (Bulk Electronic Clearing System)
• Canada — PADs (Pre-authorized debits)

Learn more about direct debit payments, including the gateways that support each network.

Additional direct debit gateway guides:

• SEPA Direct Debit via Twikey
• BACS via J.P. Morgan Mobility Payment Solutions
• SEPA via J.P. Morgan Mobility Payment Solutions

Bank-based and open banking payments

Bank-based methods redirect customers to their bank or a banking partner to authorize payment. Chargebee supports the following methods through one or more gateways:

• iDEAL — Netherlands
• Bancontact — Belgium
• Klarna Pay Now / Klarna
• Online Banking Poland
• Trustly — also available via Mollie
• EPS — Austria
• KBC Payment Button — Belgium
• Pay by Bank — via Mollie
• Payconiq by Bancontact
• Open Banking via GoCardless
• Sofort — deprecated; existing merchants can continue using it, but new onboarding is not available

Learn more about bank-based payments

Wallets

Offer digital wallets so customers can pay with payment instruments stored in their wallet accounts.

Learn more about wallets

Supported wallet methods include:

• Amazon Payments and Amazon Pay via Stripe
• Apple Pay via Stripe, Braintree, Adyen, Checkout.com, Mollie, or Worldpay US eCom
• Google Pay via Stripe, Braintree, Adyen, BlueSnap, Checkout.com, or Worldpay US eCom
• PayPal via PayPal payment services, PayPal Express Checkout, Adyen, or Braintree
• Venmo via Braintree

Regional and local APMs

Use these methods when you need local payment preferences outside cards, direct debit, and the core wallets above. Configure each method on a supported gateway, then enable it in Chargebee.

Americas

• Cash App Pay via Stripe
• Pix via dLocal
• Pix via EBANX
• Boleto via Stripe — also listed under Vouchers
• Venmo via Braintree — also listed under Wallets

Europe

Local wallets and pay-by-app methods:

• Swish via Adyen — Sweden
• TWINT via Adyen — Switzerland
• Revolut Pay via Stripe

For European bank redirects and open banking methods — including Trustly, EPS, KBC Payment Button, Pay by Bank, and Payconiq — see Bank-based and open banking payments.

Asia-Pacific

• India — Netbanking and UPI via Razorpay, UPI via Stripe, UPI via dLocal
• China and Hong Kong — Alipay via Stripe, Alipay via Adyen, Alipay HK via Adyen, WeChat Pay via Stripe, WeChat Pay via Adyen, PayMe via Adyen
• Japan — PayPay via Stripe, PayPay via Adyen
• South Korea — Kakao Pay via Stripe, KakaoPay via Adyen, Naver Pay via Stripe, NaverPay via Adyen, PayCo via Adyen, South Korean cards via Stripe
• Southeast Asia — GCash via Adyen, GoPay via Adyen, GrabPay via Adyen

Other APMs

• Stablecoin via Stripe

Vouchers

Voucher methods let customers complete payment at authorized locations, such as convenience stores. They are useful when customers do not have cards or bank accounts, or when local card authorization rates are low.

• Boleto via Stripe

Learn more about vouchers

Credit transfers and automated bank transfers

Credit transfer is an electronic transfer initiated by the payer from their bank account to yours. Chargebee can reconcile some credit transfer and bank transfer payments automatically when they are configured through a supported gateway.

• ACH Credit Transfer via Stripe
• Automated Bank Transfer via Stripe

For offline payment options that include credit transfer, see Offline payments.

Offline and custom payment methods

Use offline payment methods when you accept payments outside Chargebee — for example, cash, check, or manual bank transfer — and need to record them against invoices.

Learn more about offline payments

If you collect payments that fall outside Chargebee's standard methods, configure custom payment methods with help from Chargebee Support.

Checkout without payment details

Allow customers to complete checkout without adding a payment method — for free trials, freemium plans, or 100% discount scenarios.

Learn more about checkout without payment details

Multiple payment methods for a customer

Customers can add and retain multiple payment methods. Chargebee supports one primary and one backup payment method per customer.

How Chargebee chooses which method to use:

• The first payment method added for a customer becomes the primary payment method.
• Additional payment methods are stored alongside existing ones and are not automatically set as primary.
• During renewal, Chargebee first attempts collection with the primary method. If that attempt fails and a backup method is available, Chargebee retries with the backup.
• If both the primary and backup methods fail, Chargebee does not try any remaining payment methods. Dunning continues based on your site configuration.

Review your checkout configuration, integrations, and customer experience flows so they support multiple payment methods end to end. You can also control which methods appear at checkout with payment method display rules.

Primary and backup payment methods

When a customer has more than one payment method, Chargebee designates one as primary (usually the first method added). You can also designate one other method as backup for use when the primary method fails.

How primary and backup payment methods affect collection

• Dunning: If both primary and backup fail, dunning starts. Chargebee retries the primary method first, then the backup, according to your dunning rules.
• Subscription-assigned payment methods: If a payment method is specifically assigned to a subscription, Chargebee does not try a different payment method when that assigned method fails.
• Direct debit in progress: When a direct debit payment is still in progress, Chargebee does not try the backup payment method. If the primary method fails immediately, Chargebee may try the backup.
• Location validation (EU VAT): If you sell within the EU, at least one payment method that a customer adds must pass location validation. See EU VAT rules.
• Collecting unpaid invoices: If collection failed because a payment method expired, update the customer's primary payment method before collecting again. See how customers can add or update payment information.

Delete a primary payment method

When you delete a customer's primary payment method:

• If a backup payment method exists, it becomes the new primary payment method.
• If no backup exists, Chargebee promotes the most recently added valid payment method as the new primary.

Assigning Primary/Backup payment method

1. Go to the Payment Method section on the customer details page.
2. Click the ellipsis icon next to the payment method.
3. Select Set as primary or Set as backup.

A Primary or Backup tag appears next to the payment method. Repeat these steps to change the tags later.

To remove the backup designation, select Remove backup. After you remove the backup tag, Chargebee does not try that payment method if the primary method fails.

Payment method for a subscription

By default, Chargebee uses the customer's primary payment method for subscription charges. You can assign a different payment method to a subscription. When a method is assigned to a subscription, Chargebee uses only that method for the subscription's charges — even if it fails, Chargebee does not fall back to the customer's primary or backup method.

• Assigning a payment method to a subscription is optional. If you do not assign one, Chargebee uses the primary payment method.
• If you assign the customer's current primary payment method to a subscription, that assignment stays on the subscription even if you later change the customer's primary or backup tags.
• Turn off auto-collection for a subscription if the customer has no primary payment source, to avoid collection failures. If a primary method (or a subscription-assigned method) is present, turning auto-collection on collects due charges with that method. See auto-collection.

Assigning a payment method to a subscription

1. Go to the Payment Method section on the subscription details page.
2. Click Change next to the payment method assigned to the subscription.
3. Select the payment method to use for the subscription.

To assign a payment method through the API, use Override Billing Profile.

Payment method for one time charges

One-time charges use the primary payment method by default. If the primary method fails, Chargebee tries the backup method. You can override this when you add the charge in the Chargebee UI, or by passing the payment method ID in the API.

Set up (Multiple) Payment Methods for a customer

Add a payment method in the Chargebee UI

1. Open the customer details page.
2. Click Add Payment Method (or Add Card, depending on the available options).
3. Enter the payment method details and save.

Use this option when you already have the customer's payment method details.

Collect payment methods through hosted pages

Use Chargebee hosted pages when you do not want to handle sensitive payment information directly:

• Customer Portal — Customers can add payment methods after checkout and update which method is primary.
• Manage Payment Sources
• Chargebee Checkout — Captures payment method details during checkout. The first payment method collected for a customer is tagged as primary.

Add a payment method through the API

• Create using temporary token
• Create a card payment source
• Create using permanent token

Request a payment method update from a customer

To help a customer update their primary payment method after they are created:

• Use the checkout existing customer API call, or
• From the customer details page, click Request Payment Method Update under Actions to email a request payment method URL.

Related documentation

• Payment gateways overview
• Payment method display rules
• Chargebee Pay supported payment methods
• Dunning
• Payment Methods articles and FAQ