RazorPay: Review and Alternatives for SaaS in 2025
Joshua D'Costa
Growth & Marketing
Nov 19, 2025
|
5
min
Razorpay is a popular Indian fintech company that provides a full payment gateway solution. It’s become one of India’s largest business payment providers, trusted by millions of customers.
In fact, over 5 million businesses already use Razorpay to process their online payments. But what exactly does Razorpay offer, and where might it fall short, especially if you’re selling globally or through mobile apps?
Let’s unpack Razorpay’s features, strengths, and limitations, and explain why some companies choose a Merchant of Record platform for worldwide scaling.
What is RazorPay
Razorpay is a digital payments company based in India. It’s a payment gateway provider that lets online businesses accept payments securely on their website or app. Razorpay’s founders Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar launched the company in 2014 to make it easier for small businesses to accept online payments.
Razorpay allows you to integrate cards, UPI, net banking, and wallets on your site or app, processes those payments, and settles the funds into your bank account.
What does Razorpay do as a Payment Gateway
As a payment gateway, Razorpay enables your customers to pay you using various methods, and makes sure each transaction is secure and validated.
For example, in a typical online purchase:
A customer picks an item, clicks Checkout and selects Razorpay for payment.
Razorpay then presents its secure payment form for the customer to enter card or UPI details.
Razorpay immediately encrypts the data and runs fraud checks. It then communicates with the customer’s bank and your acquiring bank to authorize the transaction.
If approved, the customer sees a success message, and the transaction data is sent back to your system.
Finally, Razorpay settles the funds into your bank account. Throughout this flow it ensures PCI-compliance and fraud prevention, so sensitive data is protected.
Beyond basic payment acceptance: Razorpay offers an API-driven suite of tools tailored for digital businesses. You can generate payment links or QR codes to collect money without even having a website. You can set up subscriptions and automatic recurring billing for SaaS customers.
Some of Razorpay’s Top Features include
Multi-channel support: Razorpay lets businesses accept all major payment methods credit/debit cards, net banking, UPI, and popular wallets in one integration.
Global payments: Your clients can sell internationally. Razorpay handles 100+ currencies, so you can accept payments from around the globe and settle in INR or other currencies.
Fraud prevention & security: Razorpay uses advanced fraud detection and strong encryption. It meets PCI-DSS compliance and offers features to protect transactions.
Recurring billing: Built-in support for subscriptions/recurring payments allows SaaS models to run smoothly. You can easily manage plan upgrades, trials, and automated billing cycles.
Convenience tools: One-click payment links and mobile-friendly checkout, help boost conversions without extra development. The platform can send branded invoices, handle refunds, and integrate with CRMs/accounting tools.
Razorpay Limitations
Razorpay has some limitations that founders should know.
Geographic coverage: Razorpay’s core support is India plus select markets (US, Singapore, Malaysia), limited direct solutions for Europe or other regions.
Regulatory/technical gaps: If you target EU customers, expect extra regulatory or technical work Razorpay may not solve for you.
Support availability: As per merchants on reddit, there’s no standard 24/7 phone line, urgent issues can face delays. Integration can also get tricky if you’re using very niche platforms or custom tech, a few users reported glitches or the need for extra dev work in unusual cases.
Integration edge cases: Works well for common stacks, but niche platforms or custom tech can require extra dev effort; some users reported glitches.
Merchant of Record (MoR): Razorpay is a gateway, not your Merchant of Record — you’re responsible for invoicing, tax filings, and compliance per sale.
Cross-border tax complexity: Selling internationally means you’ll handle VAT/GST and local compliance yourself, which can get complex.
Mobile app caveat: Integrating Razorpay into iOS/Android has limitations, e.g., App Store policies restrict some third-party gateways in certain regions. Check platform rules before building.
Razorpay Pricing
Domestic fees (India): Typical rate is 2% + tax on most domestic payments.
International/high-end card fees: International or premium-card transactions are 3% + tax.
Tax add-ons: Indian GST of 18% is added on top of transaction fees.
No setup/annual fee: Standard accounts don’t have setup or annual charges, but cumulative fees and taxes still matter.
Overall, users say Razorpay’s pricing is transparent and predictable. The trade-off is the tax overhead and slightly higher rates for international transactions, which is why planning your pricing to maintain margins is important.
Why Razorpay Is Not Enough for Global Reach
While Razorpay is solid at handling payments, it doesn’t automatically make your business global compliant. RazorPay does not issue legally-compliant invoices or remit VAT/GST to foreign governments for you. All those responsibilities still fall on your business.
They also don’t take on legal liability for the sale. This limitation often catches global SaaS founders by surprise: without a Merchant of Record, you must navigate country-specific rules on your own.
Many digital businesses choose Merchant of Record (MoR) platforms like Dodo Payments for simplified global selling.
Plugging a gateway (e.g., Razorpay) directly into your app handles payments but doesn’t solve tax compliance, invoicing, refunds, or regulatory filings.
For startups, using an MoR lets you earn revenue worldwide without setting up foreign subsidiaries or separate tax registrations.
An MoR handles end-to-end payment processing (cards, UPI, wallets, etc.) plus tax filing and required documentation.
MoR platforms provide developer-friendly tools (SDKs or hosted checkouts) to integrate payments smoothly into mobile apps while avoiding App Store policy issues.
The result: fewer operational headaches and a clearer compliance footing for international sales.
Summary
Razorpay is a feature-rich payment gateway ideal for handling online transactions. It is a reliable choice that eliminates much of the pain of payment integration.
However, Razorpay alone won’t handle legal requirements or app-store policies. That’s where a Merchant-of-Record platform like Dodo Payments comes in. You can sell SaaS or digital products worldwide without setting up separate entities in each country.
If you’re building an AI or SaaS product with a global audience, consider pairing it with an MoR platform like Dodo Payments to simplify taxes, legalities, and support.
