Vertical SaaS: Best Practices for Monetizing Payments

Integrated payments have become a fundamental value driver for vertical software-as-a-service companies, fueled by advances in broadband, cloud software, and consumer payment innovation. As vertical SaaS expands into increasingly specialized niches, payments are becoming both a core differentiator and a major revenue source, often surpassing software fees. Merchants now expect payment workflows tailored to their exact use cases, hardware suited to their operating environment, and onboarding processes that feel seamless and unified within the software they rely on. Time, not price, is merchants’ scarcest resource, making efficiency, stability, and transparent pricing essential to perceived value. 

For independent software vendors, the central challenge is designing an integrated payments strategy that aligns with the needs, risk profile, and economics of their vertical. Controlling elements like onboarding and underwriting can improve merchant experience and maximize revenue, but such approaches demand operational maturity in risk, compliance, and support. Many ISVs benefit more from choosing PSP partners whose policies align with their vertical rather than building fully in house programs. Continuous monitoring of attach rates, approval rates, uptime, service issues, and revenue is critical, and the most successful ISVs adapt quickly as conditions change.

Key questions discussed in this report: 

• How can ISVs best integrate payments with their platform?
• What resources can an ISV expect to commit to a successful payments program?
• What do merchants value most in integrated payments? 

Companies Mentioned: 

Stripe, Toast