Payments Intelligence
Research on payment economics, fee mechanics, processor data, and the operating decisions behind healthy programs.
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Payments is the largest P&L line for a growing number of software platforms. It is also the one they understand least.
A market report on the forces reshaping how software platforms understand, optimize, and monetize the money flowing through their systems.
The instinct is to switch. Often the same money is recoverable without the disruption. A framework for deciding on evidence.
How a thousand interchange rates turn into silent cost, and what can honestly be fixed.
Half of platforms are not paid what their contract owes. And correct is only the floor.
How 40+ new charges turned card processing into an optimization crisis.
Browse By Question
Go straight to the part of your payments program you need to understand.
All Resources
Clear explanations of the mechanics, data gaps, and decisions hidden inside payment economics.
In Straata’s audits, roughly half of platforms were not paid what their contract owes. And correct is only the floor, not the ceiling.
The Rainforest 2026 spread: 98 bps with a C-suite owner, 53 with none. Why seniority is the top predictor of take rate, and how to get it without the hire.
Every transaction is sorted into one of roughly a thousand rates. How that becomes silent cost, and what can honestly be fixed.
Card networks have introduced more than 40 fee categories since 2010. Most platforms cannot name them, much less manage them.
The instinct when payments feels expensive is to switch. Often the same money is recoverable without the disruption. Decide on four numbers, not a gut feel.
Payments is the largest P&L line for a growing number of software platforms. It is also the one they understand least.
A market report on the forces reshaping how software platforms understand, optimize, and monetize the money flowing through their systems.
Connecting to a processor API is the easy part. The hard part is everything that has to happen after.
Editorial Departments
Six recurring lenses on the market, the strategy, and the operating work behind embedded payments.
Pinned Market Commentary
A pinned set of market commentary on the shifts shaping embedded payments right now.
A market report on the forces reshaping how software platforms understand, optimize, and monetize the money flowing through their systems.
Connecting to a processor API is the easy part. The hard part is everything that has to happen after.
The $16 billion revenue line nobody can report on.
Check Your Own Statements
The paid Payments Diagnostic starts with your evidence, and sometimes the answer is that you are fine.