Payment Methods

Supported methods

Cards

Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards. Supports 3DS2 authentication automatically.

Available in: All countries where Xtopay operates

// No extra parameters needed — cards are available by default
const payment = await xtopay.payments.create({
  amount: 5000,
  currency: "GHS",
  customer: { email: "ama@example.com" },
});

Mobile Money

Push-to-pay via mobile money networks. The customer receives a prompt on their phone and approves the payment with their PIN.

Availability by country and network:

Country	Networks
Ghana	MTN MoMo, Vodafone Cash, AirtelTigo Money
Uganda	MTN MoMo, Airtel Money
Tanzania	M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money
Rwanda	MTN MoMo, Airtel Money
Kenya	M-Pesa

const payment = await xtopay.payments.create({
  amount: 5000,
  currency: "GHS",
  customer: {
    email: "ama@example.com",
    phone: "+233244000000",  // required for mobile money
  },
  checkout: {
    preferred_method: "mobile_money",
  },
});

Bank Transfer

The customer transfers from their bank account to a dynamically generated virtual account number. Xtopay confirms the transfer in real time via direct bank integration.

Available in: Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa

const payment = await xtopay.payments.create({
  amount: 50000,
  currency: "NGN",
  customer: { email: "chidi@example.com" },
  checkout: {
    preferred_method: "bank_transfer",
    bank_transfer: {
      expires_in: 1800, // seconds — default 30 minutes
    },
  },
});

USSD

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data — works on any phone, no internet required. The customer dials a USSD code shown on the checkout page, enters their PIN, and payment is confirmed.

Available in: Nigeria, Ghana

const payment = await xtopay.payments.create({
  amount: 2000,
  currency: "NGN",
  customer: { phone: "+2348012345678" },
  checkout: {
    preferred_method: "ussd",
  },
});

Method availability matrix

Method	GHS	NGN	KES	UGX	ZAR	USD
Card	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Mobile Money	✓	—	✓	✓	—	—
Bank Transfer	✓	✓	✓	—	✓	—
USSD	✓	✓	—	—	—	—

Restricting methods

By default, Xtopay shows all available methods for the customer's currency. You can restrict to specific methods:

checkout: {
  allowed_methods: ["card", "mobile_money"],
}