PayWhirl

What PayWhirl does

PayWhirl gives ecommerce merchants and custom-site operators tools for subscriptions and recurring charges. They can create recurring plans, payment schedules, installments, retainers, pre-orders, donations, manual subscriptions, one-time payments and recurring invoices.

Scheduled charges, invoices, email notices, retries and other dunning steps can be automated. Subject to merchant settings, subscribers can update payment methods, billing details and subscription changes in a self-service portal.

Fees and plans

There are free PayWhirl options alongside paid plans beginning at $9 per month. Plans that include a trial provide 14 days with the full application available. PayWhirl charges its transaction fees in addition to payment-gateway or processor fees.

The Free plan has no monthly charge and applies a 3% transaction fee; it includes subscription billing, a customer portal and payment retries. Starter also has no monthly charge, applies a 3% transaction fee and supports Stripe and Square gateways.

At $9 per month, Pro applies a 2% transaction fee and adds customizable email templates, automatic address updates, faster support and a 14-day trial. Traction costs $29 monthly, applies a 1.5% transaction fee and includes workflow automation, failed-payment actions, inventory management, Klaviyo integration, API access and webhooks, plus a 14-day trial.

Business Pro is $49 monthly with a 2% transaction fee, three account managers, data export, MRR, subscription, churn and customer reports, and white labeling. Scale is $149 monthly with a 0.75% transaction fee, a high-volume rate, a dedicated account manager, first-priority support and a 14-day trial.

Business Plus costs $149 monthly and applies a 1% transaction fee; it includes 10 account managers, data export, MRR, subscription, churn and customer reports, and white labeling. Business Ultimate is $249 monthly with a 0.5% transaction fee, unlimited account managers, data export, MRR, subscription, churn and customer reports, phone support and white labeling.

Enterprise uses custom pricing for businesses processing over $5,000,000 annually. Accounts on the free Starter plan must contact support to enable API access; no additional API charge is stated.

Where it runs

PayWhirl offers web and API access. Its widgets and payment forms work in modern browsers, including Safari on iPhone and iPad, and adapt to mobile browsing.

Delivery options include embeddable widgets, hosted payment links, portals, custom API flows, webhooks and JavaScript custom scripts. The API uses rate limiting, while webhooks send JSON event notifications to merchant servers.

The service is described for BigCommerce, custom websites and a separate Shopify application. BigCommerce's native integration needs a Stencil theme and a gateway able to vault payment methods. Because native BigCommerce checkout does not yet provide a subscription section in its customer portal, pause, skip, cancel and address changes take place in the PayWhirl portal.

Protection, as PayWhirl publishes it

PayWhirl says its platform uses HTTPS with TLS 1.2 and reports PCI DSS 4.0 compliance. It says full card numbers and card verification codes are intended to go directly to payment providers rather than its servers, with PCI-related controls suited to its role and system scope.

The privacy policy says PayWhirl requires multifactor authentication for personnel, makes it available to users, uses role-based access and records important security events. Its data protection addendum says PayWhirl processes merchant subscriber data and will not sell it or use it for unrelated advertising or profiling.

PayWhirl's terms say PayWhirl and its licensors own the service, software, documentation and interfaces, describing proprietary rather than open-source software.

Strengths

The platform combines recurring billing with installments, retainers, pre-orders, donations and one-time payments. It also brings together payment retries, dunning, invoices, scheduled charges and a subscriber portal.

Merchants may deploy widgets, hosted links, APIs, webhooks or custom scripts. Its reports cover MRR, ARR, customer lifetime value, churn, payment calendars, geographic information and growth forecasts.

PayWhirl says it supports more than 10 gateways and major credit and debit cards in over 100 currencies, depending on gateway capabilities. Listed integrations include Shopify, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Wix, Stripe, Square, PayPal, Authorize.Net, Braintree, ShipStation, Mailchimp, Google Analytics and Zapier.

Catches and conditions

PayWhirl's transaction charges are separate from gateway or processor costs. The free tiers still impose a 3% transaction fee, while lower rates require paid plans and Enterprise uses custom pricing.

Available currencies and gateways vary with the selected gateway. Starter accounts on the free plan need a support request for API access, and the API enforces rate limits.

BigCommerce use requires a Stencil theme and a vault-capable gateway. Actions such as pausing, skipping, canceling and changing an address are handled in PayWhirl's portal instead of BigCommerce's native customer checkout.

Who should skip PayWhirl

PayWhirl may be a poor fit for a business that requires all subscription controls inside BigCommerce's native customer portal or needs a single fixed schedule of gateway fees.

Verdict

PayWhirl suits merchants seeking recurring charges, varied offer types, payment recovery and a customer portal for web stores or custom sites. Free entry points remove the monthly charge, but the 3% transaction fee remains; paid tiers add monthly prices and their own transaction rates.

The service is better suited to teams comfortable with gateway-dependent setup, browser tools and API or webhook work. BigCommerce merchants must use the separate PayWhirl portal for several subscription changes.

Questions