Digital River Alternatives for 2024 -

Sep 24, 2024

There are a lot of Digital River alternatives on the market and you might not know what makes any of them stand out in particular.

It's important to know that Digital River is a merchant of record (MoR) This means that many payment service providers may not offer the type of complete services you're used to with an MoR.

In this post We discuss:

The Reasons to Choose HTML0 as the Most Effective Digital River Alternative Is a Merchant of Record

If you're a fan of Digital River but aren't familiar with the term "merchant of record" it's possible that you're not well-versed in the numerous advantages are associated with one.

Let's review the definition of MoR and what it is for is it important for your business uses one currently to monetize your SaaS software or any other digital item -You should make sure you keep employing one.

 What Is a Merchant of Record?

Merchant of Record (MoR) will be the person which sells the products and services that the client purchases. Companies can serve as their own MoR, but many opt to contract out this task to a company such as Digital River or to sell products and services on their behalf.

The MoR takes on the liability of SaaS transactions for you, meaning they handle everything from processing payments, to chargeback management, to collection and remittance of taxes, and even conformity with local laws and regulations. And because the MoR is liable for issues in those areas that they resolve, they can handle the issues for you so you don't have to.

Digital-commerce-reliant businesses that utilize an MoR can focus less on ecommerce and more on making great software, SaaS, video games, mobile games, or other digital goods.

What Makes an Merchant of Record Different From payment Service providers ?

The payment service provider (PSPs) as well as MoRs provide a bridge between businesses that wish to sell their product, and the specialized networks and services that are required on the backend in order to facilitate those transactions. The specialized networks and the services could include payment gateways, payments processing, merchant accounts that accept credit and debit card payments, and others.

PSPs generally also have the ecommerce platform and/or integration functionality (such like APIs, plugins and special integrations.) to integrate their payments platform or checkout with your online store or website, but different options are available.

However, payment service companies typically fall in the middle of managing risk, handling taxes, and assisting with chargebacks. If rules and regulations are changed within any of the areas or countries in which you offer your product, you'd have to keep up with the changes and making changes to your PSP processes, and checking out accordingly.

Certain PSPs may provide upgradeable payment options in order to bring their offerings closer to those that an MoR automatically provides, however they are often bolt-on features that be accompanied by upgrade costs. In the case of Stripe, for instance. Stripe offers a fraud-prevention upgrade known as Radar however it is bundled with extra costs per transaction costs.

 Grow With, an experienced merchant of Record

is the most prominent merchant of record for global software firms, processing more than 1 billion dollars worth of transactions per year.

Here's a selection of the many reasons why we've earned that reputation.

 We Have Decades of Expertise

In 2005, the company was founded and has more than two decades of experience enabling global payments, and have been a component of the SaaS scene as it's expanded.

Because of this, our team deeply understands the complexities of selling digital goods and applications, which includes subscription management and all of the nuanced needs that come with it.

 We're Backed by Great Investors

You don't need to worry about the possibility of being reliable or profitable. With our years of experience and expertise, we can also provide the security which comes from being supported by an extremely successful, top-performing and reputable investment firm.

With the help of Accel-KKR, you can access the money and resources to grow your company's operations with online payment, while providing excellent corporate, privacy, and security governance.

 We Grow When You Grow

The many years we have spent in the global market of payments platforms has helped us grow in the past However, that increase has occurred thanks to our wonderful customers.

This is due to two factors as we use the revenue-sharing model and also because we're a business company that wants to assist to continue your growth.

 1. Earns money when you make Money

Due to the revenue sharing model We earn a profit when you complete. If your customer makes a purchase and we take a commission on the transaction.

That means that if you're not doing any business or transferring money, we're not charging you the commission.

Our team will work with you to determine simple, flat-rate pricing dependent on the volume of business and transaction time. The pricing will include the features of our platform and tools.

2. We Want to be your Partner and Not Your Payments Solution

Stardock could make the change into SaaS subscriptions because of's ready-to-use existing subscription infrastructure, but they were also aware of the investment we made in our own platform to continue developing new products and features.

It made Brad Sams of Stardock feel secure in Stardock's partnership with  Brad Sams of Stardock, since he was able to see the partnership was to last. "Because the more we improve the better we're going to be. You have to be sure everyone is winning and everything's aligned."

" was on that path of continued investment and wasn't just collecting the paycheck every month, and not doing anything."

 -- Brad Sams, Stardock

TestDome has also been very satisfied with its support, noting that it goes all the way from helping with issues for buyers as well as chargebacks right all the way to the top of the organization and the CEO.

 Award-Winning Customer Support and Customer Retention

The high level of support and customer service has not just been acknowledged by our customers, it has also been recognized in our business.

We don't say just that we're looking to become an equal partner, we've set out to prove it.

 Our Hands-On Migration Team Strives for Your Success

support isn't only there for you after you've onboarded and we're here to help you get into the running of our payments platform as quickly and effortlessly as you can.

Our implementation team of hands-on high-performing sales engineers are experts on 's pre-built web storefront solution with its flexible and expansive webhook API as well as other features. They'll help users make seamless changes through migration and integration.

 Other Great Features

Below are more great reasons to use :

  • Your account will automatically comply in compliance with VAT, sales tax as well as privacy laws around the world.
  • accepts the top 98% of payment methods which are accepted in 185 countries across the world, and in more than 21 languages.
  • You can customize seamless, modal or embedded pop-up checkout pages on your website.
  • We make it easy to offer discounts, coupons and dynamic price points for promotions.
  • The process of checking out can be simplified to a single click with 1ClickPay.
  • Plus much plus!

3 Other Digital River Solutions

The options below are typical options to consider in the case of evaluating Digital River competitors. Remember that none of the options are merchants of record Therefore, you'll require to augment their offerings through internal channels or other vendors or solutions.

 Stripe

Screenshot of Digital River alternative Stripe's homepage, with a colorful red, purple, and yellow background, large black text on the left, and photos of a smartphone screen and an analytics dashboard on the right.

Stripe is a well-known credit card processor, which allows companies to accept credit cards, debit cards, as well as mobile payments and features like:

  • Payment processing.
  • A customizable UI and pre-built checkout flow.
  • Simple management of subscriptions.
  • Online invoice.

You may be wondering whether this is a viable option for your business simply because it's ubiquitous and may even initially appear to offer less expensive prices than the retailer of record you're currently employing. However, that's due to the fact that Stripe isn't a retailer of record.

If you're seeking to cut the costs of your transactions and you've got the capacity and expertise, as well as the time and teams to support all the services you'll end up losing when you switch from MoR account to Stripe, this may be the best option for your company. You'll still need to cover the cost in services lost, including the tax-related compliance aspect, fraud control, and more. Stripe offers products that help with some of these requirements However, these are add-ons that will raise your total costand any initial savings may quickly vanish.

But, if you're planning to switch to Digital River to a business similar to MoR, and enjoy the features and peace of mind an MoR provides, Stripe probably isn't the most suitable Digital River competitor for you.

 Adyen

Screenshot of Digital River alternative Adyen's homepage, white background with black or green text and a close-up image of a small digital device and stylus.

Adyen bills itself as an "end-to-end payments, data, and financial management, all within one solution." The company's solutions for payment as well as financial services come with features and products such as:

  • In-person and online payments in one system.
  • Revenue optimization with intelligent payment routing that improves the conversion rate.
  • Subscription management features like dunning automation.
  • Management of risk through the detection of fraud and prevention.

Although Adyen offers certain features that a merchant of record provides however, you'll still have to control your company accounts as well as merchant accounts.

PayPal is a great option for business

Screenshot of Digital River alternative PayPal for Business' homepage, white background with black and blue text and photos of people and digital devices.

PayPal is a well-known digital wallet for personal online payments However, they also offer an option to process payments for small-sized businesses. PayPal for Business is both an in-person and online shopping solution.

(SaaS companies that utilize it also process payments using PayPal.)

Other features offered by PayPal for Business include but are not limited to:

  • Integrations built-in to major web-based shopping carts (such as Shopify).
  • QR codes as well as POS system.
  • Invoicing.
  • Chargeback protection (only available for business accounts which have Advanced Credit and Debit Card checkout).

Besides PayPal for Business, PayPal also has a specific payment processor designed for SaaS known as Braintree.

 What Can I Do?

Need a merchant of record to help you grow your business internationally? It is a complete, integrated payment solution for SaaS, software, video games, and other businesses that sell digital products.

Our services include VAT and sales tax calculation, collection, and remittance Localization of payments; Regulation compliance; top-rated consumer support; and so many more!

Katie Stephan

Katie Stephan   Katie Stephan is the Senior Content Strategist at . Besides her extensive marketing experience and expertise, she also holds earned an MFA in non-fiction creative writing and has worked in the local community as a writing professor at a local college.