Host2Host API in DECTA Gateway: How It Works for PSPs

If you're a Payment Service Provider (PSP) or Fintech company, building a robust technical infrastructure is essential to stay competitive in the complex world of payment acquiring. One of the most important technical components in this setup is the payment gateway. The gateway acts as the bridge that connects your business to various payment networks, handles transaction processing, and ensures both security and compliance.

However, not all gateways provide the same level of control or flexibility. Unlike traditional white-label gateways that limit your options, DECTA offers a true enterprise-class Host2Host API solution. This solution gives PSPs direct access to advanced payment capabilities, streamlines transactions, enhances security and allows you to maintain full operational autonomy.

In this post, we’ll look at how DECTA's Host2Host API works, why the payment gateway is a critical component, what unique advantages it offers for PSPs, and how you can implement it effectively.

Let’s understand the problem with traditional white-label gateways. When most PSPs purchase a white-label payment gateway from a provider, something important happens that isn't immediately obvious: they surrender control over their payment operations.

Here's what typically occurs:

Think of it like renting an apartment where you can't modify anything without the landlord's permission—you're operating a business, but you're fundamentally constrained by someone else's infrastructure and rules.

DECTA's Host2Host API offers all the familiar benefits of a typical white-label payment gateway, such as the ability to brand and tailor the customer-facing experience. What truly sets it apart, however, is the level of technical control and flexibility it delivers. While many traditional white-label solutions impose rigid frameworks, DECTA empowers PSPs with direct access to the backend.

By enabling server-to-server communication, DECTA allows PSPs to take full ownership of their payment infrastructure. This autonomy supports faster innovation, tailored integrations, and efficient scaling, all while maintaining a fully branded and seamless customer journey.

The Host2Host API is like having a universal adapter that connects different payment systems together behind the scenes. It enables your servers to communicate directly with DECTA's infrastructure without requiring client-side integrations. This backend-to-backend approach means several important things:

Imagine being able to combine the capabilities of multiple payment systems while presenting a single, unified interface to your customers—that's what DECTA's Host2Host API enables.

Host2Host integration is especially valuable for modern payment providers because it delivers three crucial technical benefits that traditional white-label gateways simply cannot match: full control, exceptional flexibility, and true scalability.

1. Full Control Over the Checkout Experience

When a payment provider uses standard hosted payment pages, they're limited to whatever the gateway provider has designed. It's like trying to sell your premium service through someone else's storefront—the experience never quite matches your brand or requirements.

With Host2Host integration, PSPs can build completely custom payment interfaces. Your designers and UX experts can create exactly the checkout experience your merchants need, optimized for your specific customer base. This control is invaluable for businesses that compete on user experience and brand consistency.

2. Seamless Multi-Gateway Integration

Many established PSPs already operate with one or more payment gateways. Traditionally, connecting multiple gateways creates a clunky experience with multiple redirects between different payment forms when switching between payment methods.

To understand this problem, imagine a customer trying to pay with a specific payment method. With traditional integrations, they might start on your payment page, get redirected for 3D Secure authentication, and then possibly be sent to another page for the actual payment method. While certain flows like 3D Secure authentication may involve necessary redirects, DECTA minimizes front-end friction and maintains a consistent experience for the end user. Each unnecessary redirect increases the risk of drop-offs and failed transactions, which DECTA's server-to-server model is designed to avoid.

DECTA's Host2Host API solves this by creating invisible connections between gateways. The customer stays on a single interface regardless of which payment method they choose or which gateway processes the transaction. This seamless experience happens because all the communication occurs server-to-server, behind the scenes, rather than through visible redirects.

3. Support for Advanced Use Cases

Some industries have particularly complex payment requirements. Think about gambling platforms that need real-time risk assessment, cryptocurrency exchanges that require specialized compliance checks, or travel companies managing multi-currency transactions with dynamic routing.

Host2Host integration makes these advanced use cases possible by allowing real-time execution of complex workflows. Since the integration happens at the server level, there are no front-end limitations to what you can implement. Your systems can make sophisticated decisions about routing, risk, and compliance without compromising the user experience.

4. Direct API Access to All Payment Methods

One of the most powerful features of Host2Host integration is direct API processing of both card transactions and alternative payment methods (APMs) like Open Banking, Klarna, Apple Pay, or PayPal.

This means your systems can programmatically initiate and manage any supported payment method without redirects or embedded forms. Your developers gain a consistent way to work with diverse payment methods, significantly simplifying your codebase and making it easier to add new payment options as your business expands.

5. Freedom from Vendor Lock-In

Perhaps the most strategic advantage of Host2Host integration is escaping vendor lock-in. With traditional white-label solutions, switching providers can be prohibitively difficult because you've built your entire operation around their specific interfaces and workflows.

Host2Host integration allows you to orchestrate your own payment flows and optimize routing based on your business needs. If you need to switch providers or add additional ones, the modular nature of API-based integration makes this much more manageable. Your payment infrastructure becomes more resilient and future-proof as a result.

DECTA's Host2Host API is particularly valuable for PSP developers, CTOs, and system architects who need sophisticated payment processing capabilities without sacrificing control. The server-side approach provides everything needed for secure, high-performance payment systems without forcing you into a rigid framework.

Additionally, DECTA functions as a white-label capabilities provider, ensuring that PSPs can maintain their own branding throughout all customer touchpoints. This is crucial for building trust and recognition in the competitive payment space.

As a certified payment card issuer and payment processor across Europe and North America, DECTA operates according to strict regulatory standards. This means PSPs don't have to worry about operating their own PCI-compliant merchant accounts—DECTA handles this complex aspect of payment processing.