What is payment routing and how does it improve approval rates?

Payment routing is the logic that decides which provider should process each transaction based on factors like BIN, country, currency, amount, merchant, or risk profile. Instead of sending all traffic to a single PSP, routing distributes transactions across the providers most likely to approve them. This typically improves approval rates by: - Avoiding weak-performing providers for certain geos or BINs - Automatically falling back when a provider fails - Applying different logic for different flows (e.g. deposits vs payouts). If you want to quantify the potential impact for your setup, Corefy’s ROI calculator estimates how smarter routing and cascading could affect approval rates and revenue based on your volumes.

Can routing logic help reduce processing costs, not just improve approvals?

Yes. Well-designed routing logic is often used to optimise for cost, not only for performance. For example, teams use routing to: - Prioritise lower-fee providers when approval rates are comparable - Limit traffic to expensive routes once volume thresholds are reached - Control FX costs by selecting providers with better currency coverage - Balance volumes to meet contractual pricing tiers Corefy’s ROI calculator helps model these trade-offs by showing how different routing strategies can affect both approval rates and processing costs in real terms.

How does cascading differ from standard payment retries?

Standard retries usually repeat the same payment attempt with the same provider, which often leads to the same failure again. In many setups, the only alternative is a user-made retry — where the customer manually re-enters card details or tries again later, creating friction and increasing drop-off. Cascading works differently. When a transaction fails, it is automatically retried through another eligible provider, based on your routing rules and priorities. This happens in the background, without requiring any action from the user. The difference in practice: - User retry: customer re-enters details → higher friction, lower conversion - Standard retry: same provider → same outcome - Cascading: different provider → higher chance of success

Can I use different routing logic for different merchants, markets, or payment methods?

Yes. Routing in Corefy is designed for granular control, not one-size-fits-all logic. You can apply different rules based on: - Merchant or account - Country or region - Payment method (cards, APMs, wallets, etc.) - Currency and amount - BIN ranges - Custom attributes from your system This allows PSPs, platforms, and large merchants to reflect how their payments actually behave in the real world instead of forcing everything through a single static flow. That’s why cascading is used to recover soft declines, reduce checkout friction, and protect conversion during provider issues or outages.

Do I need developers to manage routing rules in Corefy?

No. Routing logic can be created and maintained through a visual, no-code interface designed for payments teams. Most customers manage routing using: - A visual rule builder - Draft and publish workflows - Version history and rollback - Role-based access for governance Developers are only needed if you want to deeply automate configuration through APIs or integrate routing logic into your internal tooling. Day-to-day optimisation and experimentation can be handled directly by payments or operations teams.

Routing & Cascading

Boost payment approvals with Smart routing & Cascading

Ensure every transaction counts. Corefy's smart routing engine chooses the optimal provider in real time, while cascading instantly retries failed payments — lifting success rates, cutting costs, and keeping your payment flows uninterrupted.

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Transaction routing flow from checkout through routing conditions to selected payment providers based on rules.

No-code editorVersion historyPCI DSS L1 compliant

Route

Send each transaction to the most suitable provider based on BIN, country, currency, amount, or any custom attribute.

Failover

If a payment fails, automatically retry it via another eligible provider — without user re-entry or checkout friction.

Control

Build and manage routing logic in a visual editor with drafts, approvals, role-based access, and portable rule sets.

Optimise

Continuously balance cost vs performance using live routing decisions, not fixed provider priorities.

Logic builder

No-code routing logic builder

Define payment routing conditions, assign actions, connect providers, and control how transactions move through your infrastructure — without hardcoding or developer dependency.

Multi-currency

Route only via providers that support the transaction currency and required currency pair.

Version history

Create drafts, publish updates, and roll back routing changes with a complete audit trail.

Rule sections

Group related conditions into clear blocks to keep complex routing logic structured and manageable.

JSON import/export

Reuse routing setups across environments and accounts without rebuilding them from scratch.

Distribution strategies

Traffic distribution strategies for payment routing

Choose the routing behaviour that fits your objective. Combine strategies, preview outcomes, and fine-tune how transactions are distributed across providers.

Priority routing

Send traffic to your preferred provider first and automatically fall back to next eligible option if the attempt fails.

*Best for uptime, provider preferences, and compliance constraints.

Balance-based routing

Direct traffic toward providers with lower balances to keep wallet utilisation aligned with your target.

*Best for diversifying risk and managing pre-funded provider wallets.

Weighted routing

Distribute traffic across providers by fixed percentages you define.

*Best for load balancing, gradual rollouts, and controlled testing.

Turnover caps

Automatically pause a route once its daily volume limit is reached and resume when the limit resets.

*Best for contractual caps, scheme thresholds, and risk control.

Optimal

Automatically select the Route predicted to deliver the highest conversion, with seamless fallback if unavailable.

*Best for dynamic portfolios chasing maximum approvals with minimal manual tuning.

Cascading groups

Retry failed transactions across defined route groups based on your retry policy and limits.

*Best for recovering soft declines and limiting incident impact.

Priority routing
Send traffic to your preferred provider first and automatically fall back to next eligible option if the attempt fails.
*Best for uptime, provider preferences, and compliance constraints.
Balance-based routing
Direct traffic toward providers with lower balances to keep wallet utilisation aligned with your target.
*Best for diversifying risk and managing pre-funded provider wallets.
Weighted routing
Distribute traffic across providers by fixed percentages you define.
*Best for load balancing, gradual rollouts, and controlled testing.
Turnover caps
Automatically pause a route once its daily volume limit is reached and resume when the limit resets.
*Best for contractual caps, scheme thresholds, and risk control.
Optimal
Automatically select the Route predicted to deliver the highest conversion, with seamless fallback if unavailable.
*Best for dynamic portfolios chasing maximum approvals with minimal manual tuning.
Cascading groups
Retry failed transactions across defined route groups based on your retry policy and limits.
*Best for recovering soft declines and limiting incident impact.

Cascading recovery

Recover failed payments automatically with cascading

Cascading and automatic transaction retries protect your conversion without adding friction for customers.

Instant auto-retry

Automatically retry failed payments via another eligible provider — without customer re-entry or added checkout friction.

Retry management

Define provider priority and retry logic so traffic automatically bypasses problematic routes and keeps processing stable.

PSP health monitoring

Continuously monitor provider and account availability to reroute transactions to healthy paths when issues occur.

Recurring token cascading

Retry stored tokens across multiple providers to increase successful subscription charges and reduce churn.

Build routing that performs under pressure

See how automated payment routing and cascading improve approval rates, protect uptime, and reduce processing costs.

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Routing tools

Built-in routing tools for complex payment use cases

Corefy gives you practical controls to adapt routing and processing logic to real-world payment scenarios — from risk management and subscriptions to caps, testing, and dynamic behaviour — without hardcoding or fragile workarounds.

Triggers

Automatically adjust processing rules when defined conditions are met — for example, relax 3DS after a pattern of successful payments or tighten rules when risk increases.

Splitting

Process high-value payments across multiple providers or methods to stay within caps and improve reliability.

P2P routing

Automatically route peer-to-peer flows to the correct transit accounts based on your internal logic and account structure.

Recurring token routing

Select and retry stored tokens across multiple providers to stabilise subscription revenue and reduce failed rebills.

Routing A/B testing

Test different routing strategies, compare approval rate, cost, and latency, and confidently roll out the best-performing configuration.

3D Secure 1 & 2

Apply 3DS1 or 3DS2 selectively based on transaction parameters instead of enforcing a single blanket rule.

Payment infrastructure

Scale your payment infrastructure without losing control

Connect routing with checkout, currency logic, and compliance controls so your payment flows stay consistent, predictable, and safe as your setup grows.

Checkout integration
Pre-aggregated routes keep the UI in sync across Elements, Embedded and Redirect, while server-side field aggregation stays PCI-compliant — no front-end changes.
Dynamic FX schemes
Enforce currency-pair rules and merchant FX schemes, selecting only compatible providers and weighing costs when conversion is needed.
Compliance guardrails
Keep flows compliant with scheme rules, geos, and currency pairs before traffic hits production.

Security & compliance

Security & compliance you can trust.

PCI DSS L1 compliance, tokenisation, 3D Secure, access controls, signed webhooks, and full audit trails — built into every layer of the platform.

Learn more about Security and Compliance

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Your payment infrastructure, fully under control.
Connect providers, configure flows, and manage routing from one platform.

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Expert payment supportStable and scalableSecure and compliant

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

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Boost payment approvals with Smart routing & Cascading

Route

Failover

Control

Optimise

No-code routing logic builder

Condition nodes

Action nodes

Route nodes

Multi-currency

Version history

Rule sections

JSON import/export