Payment gateway choice is one of those decisions that seems minor until you try to switch — and realise how deeply it's woven into your billing, webhook architecture, and subscription logic. We've integrated all three for Indian SaaS and EdTech clients.
Transaction Fee Comparison
- Razorpay: 2% per transaction (domestic cards, UPI, netbanking). International cards: 3%.
- PayU: 1.99% base. Negotiable for volume above ₹10L/month.
- Cashfree: 1.75–1.95% depending on method. Cheapest for high-volume UPI.
Subscription Billing (Critical for SaaS)
Razorpay Subscriptions is the most mature: handles plan creation, pro-rata calculations, pause/resume, and dunning (automatic retry on failed payments). PayU and Cashfree have subscription features but they're less polished for complex SaaS billing scenarios.
Settlement Time
- Razorpay: T+2 days standard (T+1 for higher plans).
- PayU: T+2 standard, T+1 on PayU Pro.
- Cashfree: T+1 even on basic plan — best cash flow for growing businesses.
Developer Experience & Webhook Reliability
Razorpay has the best developer documentation in India. Their webhooks are reliable with HMAC signature verification. Cashfree's docs have improved significantly in 2025–26. PayU's API is older and less intuitive — expect more integration time.
Our Recommendation
For new SaaS/EdTech products: Razorpay. Best developer experience, most mature subscription billing, large support community. Only switch to Cashfree if transaction volume makes the 0.25% fee difference meaningful (above ₹50L/month, that's ₹12,500/month in savings).
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