How To Make An Online Payment App: All-in-One Development Guide

How to Make an Online payment app: All-in-One Development Guide


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Online payment has brought revolution in the finance industry that has made the lives of people easy in making payments. People have started adopting cashless, contactless, and even cardless payments. Be it booking tickets, shopping online, or buying groceries from a nearby retail store, users can now make online payments for almost everything.

According to the research by Mordor Intelligence, the online mobile payment markets are expected to grow at a CAGR of 29.5% from 2022 to 2027. Considering this pace, the payment world is going to see significant growth in the coming future.

Moreover, the fintech industry is growing at a lightning speed. A study by Allied Market Research suggests that the fintech market size is projected to reach up to $698.48 billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 20.3 % from 2021 to 2030.

This suggests that payment services are in decent demand globally. And now is the right time to invest in payment applications and cater to the increasing demand. In this article, you will learn about how to make an online payment app.

What’s an Online Payment App?

It is an app specially curated for making payments of various sorts. It allows users to make online payments directly to another user’s account with the help of a smartphone. Users can also connect their credit/debit cards or bank accounts to the app.

Some of the best examples of online payment apps are Google Pay, Apple Pay, Paypal, Stripe, Venmo, and Wise.

Types of Payment Apps

Standalone payment apps

This type of payment app simplifies and optimizes the payment system to free users from complex banking infrastructure. Here, the users can deposit money in the wallet of their payment app and can freely transfer funds to the users using the same app.

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The best example of these types of payment apps are Paypal, Alipay, Square Cash, and Venmo.

Bank-based payment apps

This type of payment app is created by the banking institutions by keeping the current banking infrastructure in mind. This app helps in simplifying cashless transactions for users.

For example, Zelle is a bank-centric payment app curated by top financial institutions in the USA. This app is being integrated with most of the banks in the US. It enables users to make cashless transactions while purchasing from retailers.

Social media-based payment apps

This type of payment is particularly in demand in the social media space after online payments became prevalent. By using this app users can transfer money from social media by connecting it to their bank account or credit/debit cards.

For example, WhatsApp has its payment option within the app only where you can pay through QR code or UPI. Facebook has Facebook pay successfully running in the US.

Mobile OS payment apps

This type of app includes payment apps that are already integrated into your smartphone. For example, XIAOMI mobile users have MI Pay, Apple mobile users have Apple Pay, and many others, such as Samsung Pay, Vivo Pay, and Sony Pay.

Creating an online payment app

With so many advanced mobile money solutions coming into the digital market, it is really important to stand out. Developing an online payment app can help you do this. You just need to keep this simple process in mind:

Choose what kind of app you want

Before you start developing an app, you first need to decide what kind of app you want to develop. The types of online payment apps discussed above are standalone apps, bank-based apps, social media-based apps, and mobile OS payment apps.

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From these options, you need to choose the app type you want to work on. You can also consult financial experts for the same.

Decide on the important features

You need to make a note of what features your app should have so that users find it seamless to use. This will create a great impact once the app is ready.

The essential features include:

  • Sign Up and Login
  • Login with OTP, email, or any other attribute
  • Unique User IDs and Dashboards
  • Messaging
  • Notifications
  • Send and request funds
  • Send bills and invoices
  • Digital wallets
  • Bank transfers
  • Transaction history and statements

Ensure that the security standards are met

Once you are sure about the type of app and the features to be involved in it, you need to ensure the security standards required for online payment. It includes the PCI DSS standards, the privacy of identity, and payment details for users.

You must also implement necessary payment security aspects such as biometrics, tokenization, SSL certificates, data encryption, and 3D Secures.

Design the UI and UX

Now, the payment app development process will begin! You need to first design the UI and UX of the app because this is the first thing that users see and get compelled to use the app.

The more modern and extraordinary your designs are, the higher odds are that you can gain more love and attention from the users. This will keep your users more engaged with the app.

Choose the most optimal development technology

Deciding on the most optimal tech stack plays a very important role in beginning to develop the payment app. The tech is to be decided for various app types and functions. For example, Swift or Apple XCode for iOS, Java or android studio for android, Rest APIs for notifications, unique IDs and OTP, and many more.

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Create a Minimum Viable Product

The next step is to create a minimum viable product with only truly necessary features and make it up and running. We need the users to interact with our MVP or Beta version, to understand the product better and make improvements based on the feedback.

Test it internally

Once the MVP is ready, test the APP internally among the various teams and take their feedback. Implement this feedback by taking 2-3 days or even a week if necessary. This will help you to launch a better MVP in the market.

Launch and promote the app

Now, you just need to launch the MVP version of the payment app. Then you need to promote it among the potential audience to let maximum users use it and give their responses and feedback. You can then implement the relevant feedback in the next update.

3 ways to monetize your app

During the process of app development, you have to also decide on the revenue generation options to survive in the competitive market:

Charge per feature

You can deliver the basic functions for free but have to offer paid plans for extra features for which users are ready to pay.

Charge app fees

You can charge a particular fixed charge for every transaction.

Charge per usage

You can charge after the particular mark of usage is done by the users. It is charged generally for high usage of the app.

Final Thoughts

Online payment apps are one of the most popular online payment solutions in the digital payment world. With digitization, access to smartphones and mobile payment apps has also increased. This ultimately promotes and increases financial inclusion.

With online payment apps, it becomes easier to transfer funds to friends, family, or businesses. It also facilitates making payments for bills & recharges and maintain the money flow in a bank account. This makes users’ life easier and time-saving.


Nasrullah Patel
Patel Nasrullah Co-founder Peerbits, one of the leading Top web application development company USA, in 2011. He devotes his time in inspiring young leaders to take the leap of faith. With the experience of 10 years in Web and App development, he now gives full attention to the enterprise by offering mobility solutions about the strategic planning and execution.