Braintreepayments

What is Braintreepayments

Braintreepayments is a payment processing platform designed for online and mobile merchants and platforms that need embedded payments, recurring billing, and global payment acceptance. The service provides a payment gateway and merchant account capabilities through a single integration, plus client and server SDKs for web and native mobile applications. Braintreepayments is used by developers to integrate payment methods such as credit and debit cards, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and local payment methods, while giving product and operations teams controls for subscriptions, dispute handling, and reporting.

The product focuses on raw payment processing with developer-friendly tools: hosted fields and drop-in UI options, tokenization (vault) for stored payment methods, transparent recurring billing controls, and fraud protection modules. It supports multi-currency acceptance and settlement, so businesses selling internationally can both accept local card brands and manage currency conversion. For larger or complex businesses, Braintreepayments offers account management and custom pricing through enterprise agreements.

Braintreepayments is commonly selected by SaaS platforms, marketplaces, mobile app publishers, and e-commerce stores that require direct control over payment flows while retaining compliance features (PCI and tokenization) and advanced integrations with fraud management and reporting systems. The public-facing documentation and SDKs emphasize ease of integration, data security, and extensible webhooks and APIs for custom workflows.

Braintreepayments features

What does Braintreepayments do?

Braintreepayments accepts and routes payments from multiple methods and provides the building blocks for payment flows. Core capabilities include credit and debit card processing, support for digital wallets, recurring billing (subscriptions), and a tokenized vault for securely storing customer payment information. The platform also supplies hosted UI elements to reduce PCI scope and direct-debit capabilities for ACH in supported markets.

The platform exposes server and client SDKs in common languages and frameworks (Java, Ruby, Python, PHP, Node.js, iOS, Android) to handle tokenization, payment method creation, and transaction processing. Built-in webhooks and a robust events system let merchants connect transaction lifecycle events to order systems, CRM tools, and custom business logic.

Braintreepayments also provides fraud protection controls and integrations: configurable risk rules, device data collection, 3D Secure support for liability shift, and tools to surface suspicious behavior. Administrative features include transaction reporting, settlement reconciliation, dispute/chargeback workflows, and role-based access controls for operations teams.

Additional features:

• Hosted drop-in UI and Hosted Fields: pre-built payment UIs and customizable field components for PCI scope reduction
• Vault and tokenization: persistent, PCI-compliant stored payment methods for one-click checkout and subscription billing
• Recurring billing and subscription management: plan creation, billing cycles, proration, and coupon handling
• Multiple payment methods: credit/debit cards, PayPal, Venmo (US), Apple Pay, Google Pay, and select local payment methods
• Global support and multi-currency settlements: accept payments in many currencies and route settlements by region
• Developer tooling and sandbox environment: SDKs, CLI tools, sandbox/test credentials, and sample apps
• Fraud management: device fingerprinting, 3D Secure, and configurable rules

Braintreepayments pricing

Braintreepayments offers these pricing plans:

• Pay-as-you-go: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for most U.S.-issued card transactions (standard online card rate)
• International / cross-border card processing: additional fees apply, typically a percentage on top of the standard rate
• Custom enterprise pricing: available for high-volume merchants, marketplaces, or businesses with specialized needs

Braintreepayments does not publish multiple named monthly plans in the way consumer SaaS products do; instead, pricing is primarily transaction-based with volume discounts and negotiated rates for large businesses. Optional add-ons—such as advanced fraud tools, alternative payment method routing, and dedicated account management—may carry additional fees or be included in custom enterprise agreements. Check Braintreepayments' current processing rates (https://www.braintreepayments.com/pricing) for the latest terms and enterprise options.

Braintreepayments generally does not charge a separate monthly gateway fee for basic merchant accounts under the standard offering, and there is no public listing of Free Plan, Starter, or Professional tiers because pricing is structured around per-transaction fees and optional services. Merchants should discuss anticipated volumes and currency mix with sales to confirm final pricing and any tiered discounts.

How much is Braintreepayments per month

Braintreepayments starts at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for most standard card transactions when using the default online processing setup in the United States. Because there is no standard per-month subscription for core processing, your monthly bill will depend on transaction volume and average order value. High-volume merchants will typically negotiate lower per-transaction rates in exchange for committed volume.

For merchants using optional managed services or enterprise features, there can be recurring monthly fees for services like advanced fraud analytics, dedicated support, or gateway features; those fees are quoted during sales engagement.

How much is Braintreepayments per year

Braintreepayments costs are billed per transaction rather than by annual subscription in standard setups; therefore annual costs equal the sum of per-transaction fees across the year plus any optional services. For planning, multiply expected transaction volume by 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction to estimate baseline annual processing fees, then add fees for chargebacks, cross-border conversions, and optional services. For businesses with predictable annual volume, negotiating an annual or volume-based arrangement with Braintreepayments' sales team can produce lower effective rates.

How much is Braintreepayments in general

Braintreepayments pricing ranges from a standard card processing rate of approximately 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction to custom enterprise rates that can be significantly lower for high-volume merchants. Additional fees apply for cross-border transactions, currency conversion, ACH or alternate payment methods, and optional fraud or reconciliation products. Because Braintreepayments bundles a gateway and merchant account functionality, the total cost picture includes processing fees plus any optional services and chargeback or dispute handling costs.

What is Braintreepayments used for

Braintreepayments is used to accept online and mobile payments and to embed payment flows in applications. Typical use cases include standard e-commerce checkout flows, in-app purchases in mobile apps, subscription billing for SaaS businesses, and marketplace payouts for platforms that need to manage payments between buyers and sellers. The platform's tokenization and vault features are commonly used for one-click reorders and churn-reducing stored payment methods.

Developers use Braintreepayments when they need fine-grained control over the payment experience, such as custom user interfaces, split payments in marketplaces (with responsible routing), or specific reconciliation workflows. Product teams use the subscription APIs to implement trial-to-paid migrations, plan changes, and proration logic without building a billing engine from scratch.

Operations and finance teams rely on Braintreepayments for settlement reporting, chargeback handling, and integration with accounting systems. The combination of detailed transaction records, webhooks, and exportable reports makes it suitable for businesses that require audit trails and integration with ERP or bookkeeping systems.

Pros and cons of Braintreepayments

Pros:

• Developer-friendly SDKs and extensive documentation that simplify integration into web and mobile apps
• Support for a broad set of payment methods (cards, wallets, PayPal, Venmo, local methods) and multi-currency acceptance
• Tokenization and vault services that reduce PCI compliance scope and enable recurring billing
• Detailed fraud tools, 3D Secure support, and configurable risk rules to lower fraudulent charge volume
• Combined gateway + merchant account model reduces complexity compared with integrating separate providers

Cons:

• Public pricing is transaction-based and can be unclear for merchants expecting fixed-tier plans; enterprise pricing requires negotiation
• Cross-border and currency conversion fees can make international acceptance more expensive without optimization
• Some advanced features (marketplace split-payments, advanced fraud analytics) may require additional configuration or premium agreements
• For very small merchants, the per-transaction rates may be higher than certain card readers or bundled small-business processors

Braintreepayments free trial

Braintreepayments provides a fully featured sandbox environment for development and testing that simulates most production behaviors, including test payment methods and webhook events. The sandbox is intended as a no-cost trial environment where developers can build and validate integrations before requesting production credentials.

The sandbox supports testing of card auths, 3D Secure flows, tokenization, subscriptions, and simulated dispute events. To move to production, merchants complete the account onboarding and underwriting steps required to go live, which may include submitting business information and bank details for settlement.

Because production processing requires a merchant account and compliance checks, there isn't a one-click free trial of live processing—but the development sandbox enables full technical validation without processing real transactions.

Is Braintreepayments free

No, Braintreepayments is not free for live processing; businesses pay per-transaction processing fees and any optional service fees. However, Braintreepayments provides a free sandbox for development and testing so teams can integrate and validate flows without incurring live processing costs. Production pricing is transaction-based and requires account activation and underwriting.

Braintreepayments API

Braintreepayments exposes RESTful APIs and language-specific SDKs for server-side and client-side operations. Key API surface areas include payment method creation and tokenization, transaction creation and settlement, subscription lifecycle management, customer vault management, and payment method verification. The APIs return structured JSON responses and emit webhook events for asynchronous lifecycle events (settlements, disputes, subscription billing events).

The developer experience centers on SDKs for common server languages (Node.js, Ruby, Python, Java, PHP) and mobile SDKs for iOS and Android. Client SDKs support secure tokenization via hosted fields or drop-in UI so sensitive card data never touches merchant servers. For advanced uses, the platform provides direct API endpoints for vault management, transaction search, reconciliation exports, and dispute management.

Integration patterns supported:

• Drop-in UI: fastest path to a PCI-light checkout with built-in payment method support
• Hosted Fields: customizable fields to control UI while keeping PCI compliance
• Direct API calls with client tokens: build fully custom checkout flows while using tokenization
• Webhooks and event handling: integrate settlement and dispute events into back-office systems

Braintreepayments also supports developer tools such as SDK changelogs, sample applications, and interactive API explorers in the developer docs. Their API reference includes request/response examples, error codes, and recommended retry patterns for network errors.

10 Braintreepayments alternatives

Paid alternatives to Braintreepayments

• Stripe — Comprehensive payments platform with extensive APIs, billing and invoicing features, marketplace support, and clear published pricing; strong developer tools and global reach.
• PayPal — Widely used digital payments platform with buyer protection, simple checkout buttons, and merchant services; often chosen for consumer trust and PayPal wallet access.
• Adyen — Enterprise-focused global payments processor with unified acquiring, in-depth risk tools, and strong multi-currency capabilities for large merchants.
• Square — Point-of-sale and online payments platform better suited for combined retail and online businesses; simple pricing and hardware integration.
• Authorize.Net — Legacy gateway service with broad integrations and developer APIs, commonly used by merchants migrating from traditional merchant account setups.
• Worldpay — Global acquirer and payments provider focused on enterprise and retail payments with in-person and online processing services.
• Checkout.com — Modern payments provider with developer-friendly APIs and global acquiring footprints targeted at mid-market and enterprise merchants.

Open source alternatives to Braintreepayments

• Kill Bill — An open source billing and payments orchestration platform that handles subscriptions, invoices, and plugin-based payment processor integrations; used for custom billing stacks.
• Apache OFBiz — An open source e-commerce and ERP framework that can be extended with payment connectors and used where end-to-end control of the stack is required.
• Solidus — Open source e-commerce platform (Ruby on Rails) that integrates with gateways and can be combined with open payments orchestration for custom flows.

Frequently asked questions about Braintreepayments

What is Braintreepayments used for?

Braintreepayments is used for accepting online and in-app payments across cards, digital wallets, and alternative methods. Merchants use it to build custom checkout flows, store payment methods securely for subscriptions, and integrate fraud prevention and reconciliation into their finance systems.

Does Braintreepayments support PayPal and Venmo?

Yes, Braintreepayments supports PayPal and Venmo integration alongside standard card acceptance. These wallet options are available through the same integration and can be enabled to give customers more payment choices, although availability may vary by region and account type.

How much does Braintreepayments charge per transaction?

Braintreepayments charges approximately 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for standard U.S. card processing under its common pay-as-you-go rates. Actual rates vary by country, card type, and negotiated volume discounts, and cross-border transactions typically incur additional fees.

Can I use Braintreepayments for subscriptions?

Yes, Braintreepayments offers subscription and recurring billing features that let you define plans, billing cycles, prorations, trials, and coupon codes. These features integrate with the token vault to bill stored payment methods automatically.

Does Braintreepayments provide a sandbox for testing?

Yes, Braintreepayments provides a free sandbox environment where developers can simulate transactions, test webhooks, and validate integration logic before going live. The sandbox mimics most production behaviors without processing real payments.

Is Braintreepayments PCI compliant?

Braintreepayments provides PCI-compliant tools and tokenization to help reduce merchant PCI scope; hosted fields and the drop-in UI are designed to minimize card data exposure. Merchants are still responsible for completing applicable PCI validation depending on their integration.

Does Braintreepayments support mobile SDKs for iOS and Android?

Yes, Braintreepayments offers mobile SDKs for iOS and Android that handle tokenization, vaulting, and wallet integrations like Apple Pay and Google Pay. These SDKs simplify secure mobile checkout flows and reduce PCI requirements.

How does Braintreepayments handle chargebacks and disputes?

Braintreepayments provides dispute management tools that surface chargeback notifications, allow merchants to submit evidence, and track dispute outcomes. The platform also supplies reporting to help analyze dispute trends and associated costs.

Can I accept multiple currencies with Braintreepayments?

Yes, Braintreepayments supports multi-currency acceptance in many regions, allowing merchants to accept local currencies and settle funds according to configured settlement options. Currency conversion and cross-border fees may apply depending on the merchant account setup.

Does Braintreepayments integrate with accounting and ERP systems?

Yes, Braintreepayments offers reporting exports and webhooks that can be integrated with accounting systems, ERPs, and third-party reconciliation tools. Many merchants export transaction and settlement data for automated bookkeeping and reconciliation.

### braintreepayments careers

Braintreepayments maintains roles across engineering, product, sales, and operations teams, most often listed under the parent company's careers site when applicable. Typical openings include backend and mobile engineers focused on payments, compliance specialists, and developer advocates. To find current job postings, check the company’s hiring pages and parent company listings for up-to-date openings.

### braintreepayments affiliate

Braintreepayments does not commonly operate a traditional affiliate program for referring merchants; however, partner and referral programs may exist through channel partnerships, agency programs, or integrations with platform partners. Interested partners should contact sales or partner relations to learn about referral structures and co-selling opportunities.

### Where to find braintreepayments reviews

You can find independent reviews of Braintreepayments on software review sites, developer forums, and payment industry analyst reports. Look for merchant case studies, user reviews on platforms like G2 and Trustpilot, and developer feedback in GitHub issues and Stack Overflow threads. For the most authoritative source of feature details and pricing, consult Braintreepayments' official documentation and their processing rates page at https://www.braintreepayments.com/pricing.