A hosted checkout and an API are not necessarily alternatives. Checkout determines where the customer pays; an API connects your system to the provider. You can create a payment through an API and send the customer to a hosted page.
A simple journey
Your application prepares the sale → requests an operation from the provider → the buyer pays → your server checks the result → the order updates.
Changing the screen does not remove the work of connecting payment to the sale. The browser return and server notification also perform different jobs.
What should you compare?
| Decision | Hosted checkout | More customised experience |
|---|---|---|
| Screen | Check the provider’s available settings | Define and maintain more of your own elements |
| Order connection | Still required | Still required |
| Updates | Shared between provider and integration | More project responsibilities need defining |
| Tests | Return, result, errors and sale status | Include your own interface components and states |
This is a comparison framework, not a guarantee about every provider. A hosted page also does not remove all merchant security responsibilities.
Do subscriptions require a custom screen?
Not by definition. MONEI documents subscriptions with a hosted payment page. That establishes the possibility for its integration; your project’s compatibility needs a separate check.
When is customisation worthwhile?
When a specific need is not met by the available configuration and you can support development, maintenance and testing. Describe what must change for the buyer and how you will judge its value. “More control” alone does not define the work.
What must both approaches test?
Check success, decline, abandonment, late confirmation and repeated notification. The same result should update the same sale without repeating actions. Use our testing guide and AndorPay documentation, in Spanish to prepare the steps.