Multi-PSP refers to a payment architecture in which a business maintains active connections to more than one payment service provider, using each for the scenarios where it performs best. Instead of relying on a single PSP for all transaction processing, a multi-PSP strategy allows the business to route payments to different providers based on criteria such as geographic region, card type, payment method, currency, transaction value, or real-time performance. The goal is to maximise authorisation rates, reduce processing costs, expand payment method coverage, and eliminate single points of failure.
The case for multi-PSP becomes clear when a business analyses its transaction data at a granular level. Authorisation rates, the percentage of transactions that the issuing bank approves, vary significantly depending on which PSP routes the transaction, which acquiring bank is used, and whether the transaction is domestic or cross-border. Similarly, processing costs vary between PSPs based on their acquiring relationships, interchange optimisation capabilities, and fee structures. A multi-PSP approach lets the business route each transaction through the most cost-effective path.
The challenge of multi-PSP is operational complexity. Each PSP has its own API specification, authentication method, webhook format, error taxonomy, and settlement cycle. Maintaining multiple direct integrations means duplicated engineering effort, fragmented reporting, and complex reconciliation. This is why many businesses that adopt a multi-PSP strategy do so through a payment orchestration layer rather than through direct integrations: the orchestration layer manages the connections and normalises the differences.
Shuttle Global is built for the multi-PSP model. It connects to over 40 payment service providers through a single integration, so a platform can work with each of its customers’ own compatible gateways, without building a separate integration for each one. Each merchant keeps its own provider agreements and rates. Within one account, each payment method can go to its own gateway, for example cards through Stripe, ACH through Authorize.net and direct debit through GoCardless. Across several clients or business entities, each one can run on its own gateway and merchant account. Shuttle does not route individual card payments by region, card type, currency or performance, and it does not retry a declined payment on a second provider. If a gateway is down, the platform can move the affected payment types to another connected gateway. There is no automatic failover, and saved cards stay with the gateway that stored them, so repeat payments on stored cards will not run through the second one. The same integration sits behind every product: Embedded Payments, Voice Checkout and Links Checkout.