Comparison
High-risk payment processors, compared
Mainstream processors exclude this category in their acceptable use policies, so the choice is between a handful of specialists. The first decision is not which one — it is whether you want somebody else to carry the risk.
The short answer
Subscription business, want the risk handled: CCBill, Segpay or Epoch. All three are merchants of record, all three have survived decades of card-scheme pressure, and the choice between them usually comes down to geography and who answers the phone.
Want to own the merchant relationship: RocketGate or Netbilling. These are gateways. Cheaper on paper, and you take on the acquiring relationship, the compliance work and the chargeback exposure yourself.
The processors
Who does what.
No rates published. They are negotiated, volume-dependent and confidential, and a percentage on this page would be wrong for almost every reader.
| Processor | Built for | What it is known for |
|---|---|---|
| CCBill | Subscription, memberships | The default in adult for decades. Handles billing, rebills and chargeback defence end to end. |
| Segpay | Subscription, EU-heavy | Strong European coverage and a reputation for surviving card-scheme pressure. |
| Epoch | Subscription, global | Long-established, broad currency and local-method coverage. |
| Verotel | Subscription, EU | Netherlands-based, EU-first, widely used by smaller European operators. |
| RocketGate | Gateway for your own acquiring | A gateway rather than a merchant of record. More control, more of the risk sits with you. |
| Netbilling | Gateway and billing | US-focused, flexible, favoured by operators who want to own the merchant relationship. |
What actually decides it
Five things that matter more than the rate.
| Consideration | Why |
|---|---|
| Merchant of record or gateway | A merchant of record takes the regulatory and chargeback risk and charges for it. A gateway is cheaper and leaves that risk with you. This is the first fork and it decides everything downstream. |
| Chargeback tolerance | Card schemes impose thresholds, and exceeding them ends accounts. Ask what the processor does at 0.6% rather than what its headline rate is. |
| Rebill handling | Subscription businesses live or die on failed-payment recovery. Dunning quality varies far more between processors than pricing does. |
| Local payment methods | Card penetration varies enormously by market. SEPA, iDEAL, Boleto and local wallets decide whether a geography converts at all. |
| What happens when it goes wrong | Every operator in this category eventually has an account reviewed. The useful question is who picks up the phone, not what the rate card says. |
If you are the processor
This is the most commercially valuable search term in the category and one of the hardest to rank for, which is an unusual combination worth understanding before you spend against it. The measured picture is on the high-risk payments page.
5 questions
Questions we get asked
Which high-risk processor is best for adult?
For subscription businesses, CCBill, Segpay and Epoch are the established options and the choice usually comes down to geography and support rather than capability. If you want to own the merchant relationship and carry the risk yourself, RocketGate and Netbilling are gateways rather than merchants of record, which is a materially different arrangement.
Why can I not just use Stripe?
Stripe and the other mainstream processors exclude adult in their acceptable use policies. Operators who get onboarded anyway are usually terminated later, often with a rolling reserve held for months. The termination is the expected outcome, not bad luck.
What does high risk actually cost?
Materially more than mainstream, and the headline rate is the least important part. Reserve requirements, chargeback fees and rebill recovery rates move the real economics far more. Any comparison quoting only percentage rates is comparing the wrong number.
Is a gateway cheaper than a merchant of record?
On paper, yes. In practice you take on the acquiring relationship, the compliance burden and the chargeback exposure yourself. It is cheaper in the way self-insuring is cheaper.
Do you have a relationship with any of these?
No affiliate or referral arrangement with any processor listed. Several are companies we would like as clients in the infrastructure vertical, which is a bias worth knowing when reading this page.
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