Adobe Announces Payment Services for Adobe Commerce

September 15, 2021 brought a significant strategic announcement: Adobe launched Payment Services for Adobe Commerce, a first-party managed payment solution built on PayPal's infrastructure. It unified credit card, debit card, PayPal and Venmo payments under a single, PCI-compliant interface, giving merchants a seamless alternative to third-party payment gateways.

What Is Adobe Payment Services?

Adobe Payment Services is a SaaS payment processing layer that sits between Adobe Commerce and the payment networks. Rather than merchants integrating Stripe, Square, Adyen or other processors individually, they plug into Adobe's managed service, which:

• Handles card tokenisation and PCI compliance.
• Processes payments through PayPal and associated networks (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover).
• Supports digital wallets including PayPal and Venmo.
• Provides unified reporting and reconciliation in the Adobe Commerce admin.

The service is available as an add-on to Adobe Commerce Cloud and (later) on-premise installations, competing directly with third-party payment processors but with the advantage of native integration and Adobe's support backing.

A Shift in Adobe's Payment Strategy

Historically, Adobe left payment processing to third-party specialists. Merchants chose their own gateway and integrated it (Braintree, Stripe, CyberSource, etc.). Adobe remained agnostic, shipping reference implementations and guides.

Payment Services represents a change. Adobe is now offering an opinionated, managed payment solution—a clear signal that payment processing is core commerce infrastructure, not a commodity sideline. This shift aligns with broader SaaS trends: companies like Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce all offer managed payment services, recognising that payments are where data, compliance and customer trust converge.

Why Merchants Should Care

Simplified compliance: PCI-DSS compliance is notoriously complex. Card tokenisation means raw card data never touches Adobe Commerce servers, shifting compliance burden to Adobe and PayPal. Merchants reduce their PCI scope to Level 3 or 4 (the safest tiers), dramatically cutting audit costs and risk exposure.

Unified merchant experience: Instead of configuring separate integrations for Stripe and PayPal, merchants configure Payment Services once. All payment methods feed into a single dashboard, single reporting view and single settlement account. This simplicity drives better operational hygiene.

Faster deployment: Native integration means faster onboarding. No custom code or connector development—merchants enable the service and start processing payments within hours.

PayPal's network: By partnering with PayPal (a major player in digital wallets and B2B payments), Adobe gains access to Venmo (PayPal's peer-to-peer network with millions of active users) and PayPal's fraud and risk management systems. This depth of network effects is hard to replicate independently.

Payment Method Coverage

The initial launch supports:

• Credit and debit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and local variants.
• PayPal wallet: Users with PayPal accounts skip the card form entirely and pay with a single click.
• Venmo: Particularly popular with younger demographics, Venmo brings an additional payment option at minimal integration cost.

This covers the vast majority of online transactions in the US and Europe. Additional methods (Apple Pay, Google Pay, regional digital wallets) were expected to follow as the service matured.

Pricing and Economics

Adobe did not publish comprehensive pricing details at launch, but the model was clear: Payment Services charges a per-transaction fee (typically 2–3% + fixed amount) plus any acquirer fees from the payment network. This is market-rate for managed payment processing.

For merchants, the economics depend on current setup:

• If using multiple processors (Stripe for cards, PayPal for digital wallets), Payment Services consolidation may reduce total fees by avoiding redundant integrations and reconciliation overhead.
• If using a single efficient processor, Payment Services might add cost—but gains in compliance and operational simplicity often justify it.

For fast-growing merchants, the value of reduced PCI scope and native compliance support typically outweighs per-transaction cost increases.

Operational Workflow

With Payment Services enabled:

• Customer sees a unified checkout with card fields and PayPal/Venmo buttons.
• Customer selects payment method and completes the flow.
• Payment is processed through PayPal's infrastructure and tokenised.
• Order status updates in Adobe Commerce with payment confirmation.
• Merchant sees transaction in the Adobe Commerce admin and in PayPal's merchant dashboard.
• Settlement flows to merchant's bank account via PayPal's settlement network.

The process is conventional but the integration depth is not—Adobe has embedded payment reconciliation, fraud signals and settlement tracking directly into commerce operations.

Competition and Market Context

Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce all offer first-party payment solutions. Adobe's entry was late but strategic: it leverages PayPal's scale and expertise while offering deep integration that third-party processors cannot match. For enterprises already committed to Adobe Commerce, Payment Services reduces friction and total cost of ownership.

However, merchants with complex payment needs (high-risk categories, specific regional processors, custom risk rules) may still prefer flexibility of third-party integrations. Payment Services is opinionated and optimised for the 80% of merchants who need solid, straightforward payment processing.

Looking Ahead

Payment Services for Adobe Commerce is a foundational piece of Adobe's SaaS strategy. As the service matures, expect:

• Expanded payment method coverage (Apple Pay, Google Pay, regional wallets).
• Deeper integration with Adobe Analytics and CDP for fraud detection and customer insights.
• Support for subscription billing and marketplace payouts.
• Availability on Magento Open Source and third-party platforms via APIs.

For now, merchants on Adobe Commerce Cloud have a clear path to modern, managed payment processing. The convenience and compliance benefits alone make it worth evaluating.