Best for teams that are
- Developers building custom payment gateway apps for the Shopify ecosystem
- Shopify Partners creating payment extensions for merchants
Skip if
- Merchants looking for software to onboard their own customers
- Non-technical store owners looking for a plug-and-play app
- Businesses seeking a general client relationship management (CRM) tool
Expert Take
Our analysis shows that Shopify's Payments Extension Onboarding offers a highly integrated, secure environment for payment providers, backed by a developer-friendly revenue model (0% share on the first $1M). Research indicates that while the technical capabilities for handling authorizations, captures, and refunds are robust and PCI-compliant, the ecosystem is currently gated by an 'invitation-only' policy for new partners. Based on documented features, the seamless OAuth onboarding for merchants and strict security standards (mTLS, 3D Secure) create a trustworthy environment, though developers must navigate a rigorous and sometimes slow review process.
Pros
- 0% revenue share on first $1M revenue
- Seamless OAuth merchant onboarding flow
- Integrated 3D Secure and fraud protection
- Access to millions of Shopify merchants
- Robust GraphQL API capabilities
Cons
- Platform currently invitation-only for new partners
- Lengthy, inconsistent app review process
- Strict 99.95% uptime requirement
- No unstable API versions in production
- Support response delays during outages