Payment routing

Logic that decides which PSP, acquirer, or method to use for a given transaction.

When this matters

You operate multiple PSPs or acquirers in the same region.
You want to run experiments on auth rate or cost by route.
You are building an in-house orchestration layer.

Operator tips

Start with simple, explainable rules (by country, scheme, or amount) before complex scoring.
Ensure routing decisions and changes are logged for future analysis.
Guardrail experiments with clear stop conditions so routing does not quietly erode performance.

How to use this term

Use this definition when you are aligning stakeholders across product, engineering, finance, and operations. Shared vocabulary makes it much easier to argue about tradeoffs without talking past each other.

For deeper context, pair this term with the free assessment and providers/methods directories. They give you a concrete view of how concepts show up in real stacks.