Adyen Payment API
Adyen Payment API
Adyen Payments API is its flagship payment-processing API — authorize, capture, and refund across cards, local payment methods, and wallets.
Covers 250+ global payment methods with deep local support
Targets enterprise customers — onboarding is higher friction than Stripe
Apply for an Adyen merchant account, obtain API Key and Merchant Account code from Customer Area. POST /pal/servlet/Payment/v68/authorise to submit an authorization.
Uptime · 30-day window
About this API
Adyen is a Dutch full-stack payments company — in Europe its profile matches Stripe in the US. Payments API is its oldest interface (also called "Classic Payments API"), handling the traditional flow: authorise → capture → refund → modify. Its strength is local payment-method coverage — beyond Visa/Mastercard, it natively supports iDEAL (Netherlands), Sofort (Germany), Bancontact (Belgium), Klarna (Nordics), Alipay, WeChat Pay, Boleto (Brazil), and more. Customers include Uber, Spotify, Netflix, IKEA, and other multinationals. Note: Adyen also offers Checkout API (newer, simpler); new projects should start with Checkout API — Payments API is mainly for existing integrations.
What you can build
- 1Process credit-card authorizations and captures
- 2Integrate local payment methods (iDEAL, Sofort, Alipay, WeChat Pay)
- 3Process refunds and partial refunds
- 4Card tokenization for subscription reuse
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
- Covers 250+ global payment methods with deep local support
- Enterprise-grade compliance and fraud engine
- Single API for multi-currency multi-market
Limitations
- Targets enterprise customers — onboarding is higher friction than Stripe
- Pricing is contract-based, not transparent
- API surface is relatively complex
Example request
curl https://www.adyen.help/hc/en-us/community/topics/<endpoint>Getting started
Apply for an Adyen merchant account, obtain API Key and Merchant Account code from Customer Area. POST /pal/servlet/Payment/v68/authorise to submit an authorization.
FAQ
How do I choose between Payments API and Checkout API?+
New projects: use Checkout API (simpler, component-based frontend). Payments API is the legacy classic interface — keep using it for existing integrations.
Is Adyen suitable for small companies?+
Not really. Adyen targets enterprise — requires a contract and certain volume. Small companies are better off with Stripe.
Does it support Chinese payments?+
Supports Alipay (domestic + cross-border), WeChat Pay (cross-border), UnionPay (card). RMB settlement onshore requires a local entity.
Technical details
- Auth type
- unknown
- Pricing
- unknown
- Protocols
- REST
- SDKs
- java, python, javascript, php, ruby, csharp, go, nodejs
- Response time
- 184 ms
- Last health check
- 5/12/2026, 7:36:31 AM
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