Checkout
The checkout process is where your customers finalize a purchase, select their billing model, and securely submit their payment information. Airwallex Billing offers several flexible options to integrate this flow into your product but we recommend using the Hosted Billing Checkout.
Hosted Billing Checkout (low-code)
The Airwallex-hosted checkout is the quickest way to integrate billing with the checkout experience. Airwallex provides a secure, pre-built payment page that minimizes your development effort.
- How it works: You create a Billing Checkout object via the API, and then simply redirect your customer to the unique Airwallex-hosted URL.
- Automatic setup: Upon successful payment, Airwallex automatically creates all the required resources for you, including the Customer, secure Payment Source, and either a Subscription or Invoice (depending on the selected mode).
- Modes: When creating the checkout, specify its purpose:
PAYMENT: Collect a one-off charge.SUBSCRIPTION: Start a recurring billing relationship.SETUP: Collect and save a payment method for future use without a charge.
In SUBSCRIPTION mode, a line item can be a rate card instead of a price. You specify the rate card and the version number. Usage-based prices and rate cards do not need a quantity.
Embedded Billing Checkout (low-code) embeds the full Hosted Billing Checkout experience in an iframe on your page. Billing Checkout Elements (low to medium code) embeds a composable Billing Checkout form with more layout control.
Compare all options below and choose the right method for you.
Choose Billing Checkout, invoices, or Payment Links
Use this guide to pick the right way to collect payment. Billing Checkout, Billing invoices, and Payment Links serve different purposes.
| Your goal | Recommended approach | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Customer checks out on your website or app right now | Hosted Billing Checkout, Embedded Billing Checkout, or Billing Checkout Elements | Create Billing Checkout on your server when the customer clicks Checkout or Subscribe. Redirect to the hosted URL, or embed checkout with ui_mode EMBEDDED or ELEMENTS. The checkout expires after 1 hour if unpaid. |
| Send a specific customer a link to pay later (email, ops workflow, B2B) | Digital invoice | Finalize an invoice and share the digital invoice link. The link remains valid for 35 days after the payment due date. Obtain a new link from the web app or API if needed. |
| Collect a one-off payment without Billing invoices or subscriptions | Payment Links | A Payments product, not Billing. Payment Links are not integrated with Billing and cannot generate Billing invoices or subscriptions. |
Billing Checkout is not a shareable long-lived link. Do not create a Billing Checkout in advance and send the URL to customers later. If the customer does not pay within 1 hour, the checkout expires and you must create a new one.
Choose your checkout integration option
All Billing Checkout integration options below use Create a Billing CheckoutAPI. Set ui_mode to choose how the shopper completes checkout.
Compare integration options
| Hosted Billing Checkout (RECOMMENDED) | Embedded Billing Checkout | Billing Checkout Elements | Payments + Billing APIs | Mobile SDK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
API ui_mode | HOSTED (default) | EMBEDDED | ELEMENTS | N/A (no Billing Checkout UI) | N/A |
| Checkout experience | Redirects shoppers to a secure, pre-built payment page hosted by Airwallex | Embeds the full Hosted Billing Checkout experience in an iframe on your page | Embeds a composable Billing Checkout form (shopper details and payment) on your page | You build checkout UI; Payments collects payment; you orchestrate Billing via API | Pre-built Payments checkout screens in your mobile app |
| Best suited for | Fastest go-live; subscriptions, invoices, and setup flows with minimal front-end work | Same capabilities as Hosted Billing Checkout, but shoppers stay on your URL | On-brand web checkout with more layout control than the embedded iframe | Highly custom checkout UX or existing Payments integration | Native iOS/Android apps using Payments SDK |
| Integration effort | Low coding | Low coding | Low to medium coding | Most coding | More coding |
| UI customization | Basic theming | Basic theming. Preset Hosted Billing Checkout layout inside your page | Advanced theming for each Billing Checkout element. Flexible layout inside your page. | Full control over UI | Advanced theming to match your app |
| PCI-DSS requirement* | PCI-DSS SAQ A | PCI-DSS SAQ A | PCI-DSS SAQ A | PCI-DSS ROC (Payments Native API) | PCI-DSS SAQ A |
| Payment method support | Refer to the Payment methods overview. | Same as Hosted Billing Checkout | Same as Hosted Billing Checkout | All payment methods supported by your Airwallex Payments integration | Refer to the Payment methods overview for mobile support. |
| Billing Checkout modes | PAYMENT, SUBSCRIPTION, SETUP | PAYMENT, SUBSCRIPTION, SETUP | PAYMENT, SUBSCRIPTION, SETUP | You create Billing resources after payment via API | Payments flows; link to Billing via API if needed |
Billing Checkout vs Payment Elements: Payment Elements collect payment for a Payment IntentAPI and are part of the Payments product. Hosted Billing Checkout, Embedded Billing Checkout, and Billing Checkout Elements run a Billing CheckoutAPI and automatically create Billing customers, payment sources, and subscriptions or invoices. Hosted Billing Checkout redirects shoppers to Airwallex; Embedded Billing Checkout and Billing Checkout Elements run on your site using a client_secret. Billing Checkout embed options and Payment Elements are included in Airwallex.js, but they integrate with different server APIs.
*PCI-DSS questionnaire must be renewed regularly according to the specific policy.
Enable Airwallex Payments
Enable Airwallex Payments to start accepting payments online through Airwallex Billing. Accepting payments directly helps you get paid faster, reduce manual reconciliation, and deliver a seamless experience for your customers. Once activated, customers can view their invoices online and make payments instantly.
See Get started with payments.