Connections overview
Connections provides a single place to set up and manage payment processors, payment methods, and fraud providers in Modernized Zuora Payments.
This feature is available only with the Modernized Zuora Payments add-on SKU.
To access the Early Adopter program, contact your Zuora account representative.
Use Connections to configure multiple types of providers before you configure routing and checkout. In a typical setup flow, you create the provider connection first, and then continue to routing and checkout configuration.
Connections is part of the Payments navigation in Zuora. Entitled users perform connection-related tasks from this area.
Connection setup workflow
When you open Connections, you can browse available providers or search for a specific one, and then begin setup. During setup, complete the following actions:
- Set up credentials.
- (Optional) Add 3D Secure credentials to use the provider’s embedded solution.
- (Optional) Configure cost data to enable the route-by-cost Smart Routing feature for card routing.
- Select the accounts the connection applies to.
Supported payment service providers
Zuora allows you to connect to a world-class range of payment service providers (PSPs) and payment methods, with ongoing additions to expand your payment options. The payment service providers include payment processors/gateways, fraud service providers, and 3DS providers.
The available payment methods include:
Credit and debit cards
Digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay
Bank transfers, for example, ACH
Buy Now, Pay Later services, for example, Klarna
Regional payment methods, for example, UPI and Pix
Zuora maintains the supported catalog as a reference list and updates it as additional providers and payment methods become available.
Connection concepts
3D Secure
3D Secure provides additional cardholder authentication for card-not-present transactions. In Modernized Zuora Payments, 3D Secure support is part of the Connections and routing model for card payments. During connection setup, you can provide optional 3D Secure credentials when the selected provider requires them.
3D Secure execution is tied to card payment routing. For card routes, you can add 3D Secure before the payment provider step to apply authentication when the route requires it when utilizing an agnostic 3DS2 provider, otherwise it is automatically handled if the PSP Connection is configured to use 3DS. Depending on the transaction, 3D Secure can complete without additional customer input or require an additional challenge step.
Stored credentials
Stored credentials allow you to save a customer's card details for future use instead of asking the customer to enter the card again for every payment. They are used for both customer-initiated transactions (CIT), such as a shopper paying with a previously saved card, and merchant-initiated transactions (MIT), such as recurring subscription charges or unscheduled card-on-file payments.
Modernized Zuora Payments supports the stored credentials using the following flow:
When your customer enrolls a card or stores it during a successful payment, Zuora assigns a vaulted token that represents the card.
When your customer creates a payment with that saved card, Zuora adds the
stored_credentialsobject in the request to tell payment service providers how the card is being used. The reason, usage, subscription agreement ID and network transaction ID are included in thestored_credentialsobject.
Zuora also helps with scheme compliance by associating the network transaction ID with the vaulted token and reusing it for future merchant-initiated transactions when applicable. This reduces the amount of stored-credential logic that merchants need to manage directly and helps support approval rates and chargeback protection.
Webhooks
Webhooks keep payment information synchronized by delivering event-driven updates instead of relying only on repeated polling. For Modernized Zuora Payments, webhook processing is part of the core synchronization model for payment methods, payments, and refunds. Zuora uses webhook-driven event handling to keep states aligned across systems.
The supported webhook pipeline registers and maintains the required endpoints, validates inbound events, handles retries and duplicates safely, and processes events in a logical order. Webhooks support near-real-time state synchronization for asynchronous payment methods and transaction updates.
Zuora automatically configures webhooks when possible. For providers requiring manual setup, instructions are included in the Connection settings on the UI.
Fraud providers
You can connect fraud providers as part of your overall payment setup. Fraud providers are one of the supported provider categories, alongside payment processors, payment methods, 3DS provider, etc.
Fraud setup is part of the Connections area and includes a dedicated task to enable a fraud provider. Use fraud-related connections when you want to include fraud screening or fraud decision in your broader payment configuration.
Cost
You can define optional cost data for a provider connection to capture the cost of successful and unsuccessful payments.
Cost data supports downstream routing decisions with the Smart Routing feature. You can define default costs, add more specific cost conditions, and reorder those conditions in the sequence you want them applied. Cost configuration is optional. Smart Routing uses the costs you set up on the connection page to optimize your costs.