AstroPay payment method provides a wallet for users who prefer online and cross-border payments, often with multi-currency balances and cards linked to the app. It has strong visibility in Latin America, with public updates around expanding its multi-currency wallet in the region.
Merchants add it when they want to reach wallet-first users and make cross-border checkout feel less like a bank form. In real payment stacks, the AstroPay payment gateway typically sits alongside cards and local methods, and to ensure transaction success, teams use an orchestration solution like Akurateco, which provides smart routing and reporting that remain consistent throughout the checkout.
What is AstroPay
AstroPay is a digital wallet product. For users, it’s an app where they can hold value in multiple currencies, send and receive money, and pay online or abroad using wallet balance or cards tied to the account. For merchants, it appears as a wallet-style method you can add to checkout.
AstroPay also publishes merchant-facing documentation for payment processing, which is a good signal that AstroPay integration is meant to be done via APIs, not only through consumer card usage.
Where AstroPay is used
AstroPay offers its multi-currency wallet across Latin America, naming Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Chile. That does not automatically mean every merchant feature is identical in every market.
AstroPay supported countries and feature scope can differ by product, account type, and your merchant setup, so treat country coverage as something you confirm during onboarding and testing.
Typical industries where AstroPay is a practical fit:
- Online services with international customers
- Digital goods where customers prefer wallet-based payments
- Travel-related spend where multi-currency matters
- E-commerce brands targeting Latin America users who already use the wallet
How AstroPay works
- The customer selects AstroPay at checkout.
- Your system creates a payment request using the AstroPay API and receives a payment reference to track status.
- The customer authenticates in the AstroPay flow. Depending on the product, that can be an in-app approval or a redirect-style flow.
- AstroPay processes the payment and returns an initial status to your backend.
- Final confirmation is delivered asynchronously via webhook or callback, so you can safely mark the order as completed.
- Your system updates the order state to paid, failed, or pending.
- If it’s pending, you wait for the final webhook confirmation before fulfillment.
- Your finance team reconciles using transaction IDs, webhook history, and provider reports from the merchant back office.
Merchant requirements and setup basics
You usually start with commercial onboarding, then testing, then production launch.
Common requirements for AstroPay integration:
- Merchant onboarding with KYB and KYC checks, based on your business model and region
- Access to merchant’s back office to retrieve API credentials
- Configuration for your webhook endpoint so you can receive status events
- Redirect and return URLs if your customer flow uses redirects
- Clear handling for pending outcomes, timeouts, and cancellations
- Sandbox testing before going live
Fees, settlement, and refunds overview
Fees in the AstroPay payment gateway are contract-specific. They usually depend on customer region, payment type, volumes, and your risk category. Public sources often do not list exact pricing, so you should treat fees as a commercial topic, not something to guess.
Settlement timingalso depends on your agreement and how payouts are configured. Some providers embed settlement schedules in merchant terms, so the right approach is to confirm the payout cadence during onboarding and validate it against real-time reports after launch.
AstroPay refunds are supported at the API level in their merchant documentation, but refunds still have practical rules: the original payment must be completed, and the final timeline can depend on the underlying rails and banking systems.
Pros and cons of AstroPay for merchants
Pros:
- Good add-on if your customers already use the AstroPay wallet in your target market
- Wallet approval flow can reduce checkout friction for users who dislike entering card details
- Useful for cross-border audiences where a multi-currency approach matters
- Clear developer docs make AstroPay integration easier to plan and test
Cons:
- If customers do not already have AstroPay, adoption can be low, and the method may sit unused
- Coverage is not one simple list, so AstroPay supported countries and features must be confirmed for your merchant setup
- Wallet flows often rely on asynchronous confirmations, which can complicate fulfillment if your system expects instant finality
- Refund handling can be more operational than cards, so you need clean customer support and reconciliation steps
Using AstroPay in a multi-method checkout
AstroPay works best as a targeted option, not as your only rail. Most teams keep cards as the default, add local methods for regional conversion, and include wallets like AstroPay.
Once you do that, the bigger challenge is not adding one more method. It’s maintaining a single view of performance across all methods, with consistent routing rules and reporting. That is where an orchestration layer like Akurateco helps, especially when you run multiple PSPs and want a single operational view.
Integration via Akurateco
With Akurateco, teams manage many payment methods through one orchestration layer instead of separate integrations. If you need a particular payment method for your checkout, we can deliver it upon request. Contact us to confirm details.
FAQ about AstroPay
What is AstroPay?
AstroPay is a digital wallet that lets users store funds in multiple currencies and make online payments.
Where is AstroPay available?
It is strongly associated with Latin America, with public updates naming Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and Chile for its multi-currency wallet. Confirm AstroPay supported countries for your merchant setup during onboarding.
Does AstroPay support refunds?
Yes, AstroPay refunds are supported, typically after the payment is completed. Exact timing depends on rails and processing rules, so rely on refund status updates for customer support.
How long does the settlement take?
AstroPay settlement timing depends on your agreement and payout configuration. Confirm the schedule during onboarding, then validate it in production with real reports.
Is AstroPay good for recurring subscriptions?
It depends on how the wallet flow supports recurring authorization in your target market. Many businesses use cards as the primary recurring channel and wallets as an optional alternative.
Can I offer AstroPay alongside cards and other local methods?
Yes. Most merchants do exactly that. If you also use multiple providers, orchestration helps you consistently monitor and route transactions across the full mix of payment methods.
