BlueSnap: The Smart Braintree Alternative to Get Global Conversions Right

Braintree, a PayPal company, has built its reputation on offering payment solutions to support eCommerce merchants primarily in the US, but with limited global reach. While the Braintree solution does have its perks, it does not address some of the most pressing and practical issues facing global merchants today. Fortunately, there are better Braintree alternatives, like BlueSnap.

With BlueSnap, you receive a sophisticated Global Payment Orchestration Platform that can get your business operating more efficiently. With one integration to BlueSnap, you receive one account. No need for multiple payment integrations or third-party vendors. You get everything you need in one solution to help you take advantage of our optimized payments and value-added services.

Which Is the Better Choice for Your Business – BlueSnap or Braintree/PayPal?

Global Processing

Features	BlueSnap	Braintree
Countries Supported for Business	180	45
Acquiring Banks for Local Payment Processing	Network of 30+ global banks	A single bank in eight regions
# of Currencies Accepted	100+	130
Mobile Wallets	PayPal, Alipay, Masterpass, Click to Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay	PayPal, Apple Pay, Visa Checkout, Masterpass, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Amex Express Checkout
# of Payment Types Accepted	100+	25

User Experience & Integration

Features	BlueSnap	Braintree
Integration Methods/Options	API with Hosted Payment Fields, Localized Hosted Checkout, Platform plug-ins, SDKs in 8 languages, in-app payments	API with Hosted Payment Fields, Platform plug-ins, drop in UI
# of Languages	29	23
Mobile Payments, including in-app payments	Yes	Yes

Subscriptions

Features	BlueSnap	Braintree
Recurring Payments	Yes – plus a full subscription engine for more complex requirements	Yes
Tokenization and Vaulting	Yes	Yes

Security and Compliance

Features	BlueSnap	Braintree
Fraud Protection	Yes Including multiple levels of control enabled through Kount (Portfolio, Custom, Complete)	Yes – Kount Standard & Kount Custom solutions, and 3D Secure
PCI Compliance	PCI Level 1	PCI Level 1

Reporting and Support

Features	BlueSnap	Braintree
Reporting	Sales Intelligence and Consolidated Reconciliation for all payment types, Payment Conversion Reporting	Limited reports via Control Panel or API
Customer Support	Global team with call-in support, customer portal, FAQs	Global team with call-in support
Developer Support	A Developer Hub and a dedicated account management team	Support page

Here are a few critical areas where Braintree/PayPal fall short:

• Payment Conversions: With less global bank connections to process payments locally, Braintree/PayPal merchants often receive lower payment conversion rates than their industry peers, particularly if they are selling into multiple countries.
• Global Payment Types: While PayPal may be the most well known, there are hundreds of alternative payment types needed to support a true global eCommerce effort — Braintree only supports 25.
• Detailed Payment Analytics: Braintree/PayPal has reporting on sales and reconciliation, but falls short on the detailed analytics you need to understand whether your site is converting well.  BlueSnap provides detailed reports beyond the basic sales intelligence and reconciliation reporting.  Empowering merchants with detailed Payment Conversion reports by currency, geography, price point and more enables continuous optimization of payment success rates.

The breadth of the Braintree / PayPal combo and their capabilities is broad. As such, they are not solely focused on the needs of merchants like you — Braintree/PayPal has dual interests, with a focus on both supporting the consumer with their wallets (PayPal and Venmo) as well as supporting eCommerce merchants. As a result, they are often placed in a situation where they must choose between serving the merchant processing needs or the needs of the consumer wallet holder. These interests also pit Braintree/PayPal in direct competition with some of the largest payment types in the world; including emerging digital wallets that compete with Venmo such as Click to Pay, AliPay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and more.

BlueSnap, on the other hand, is focused entirely on supporting merchants like you by offering the global functionality you need, while matching the API and developer-friendly functionality of Braintree/PayPal –  allowing you to capitalize on today’s $4 billion cross-border eCommerce opportunities. Read on to learn why BlueSnap might be your best option if you are looking for a strong Braintree alternative.

Processing

As your business grows, you need the power of multiple bank connections to ensure you are maximizing payment conversions. BlueSnap’s Intelligent Payment Routing leverages a network of global banks through a single connection with failover to ensure that every transaction that can be approved, is approved.  Braintree/PayPal will limit you to only a few local banks, severely hampering your conversion opportunities and increasing the likelihood of payment processing declines.

BlueSnap’s Global Payment Orchestration Platform was designed to provide users with more control over important aspects of their end-to-end payment stack, allowing them to turn functionality on or off as needed. This can all be accessed through a single integration to our Payment API or hosted payment page to provide control over the checkout experience. Our solution was also designed to increase your revenue by improving the payment experience, reduce friction, and increase your authorization rates to help expand your global footprint.

Security and Compliance

We provide the most extensive fraud and chargeback management solutions that are built-in to safeguard your revenue and prevent fraud and chargebacks from compromising your business.

• Our Global Payment Orchestration Platform, with Kount’s fraud prevention solution built-in, makes it possible to verify legitimate customer transactions while declining suspicious transactions. This optimizes your revenue while safeguarding your company.
• We offer a comprehensive chargeback management solution that allows you to monitor and dispute chargebacks before they even occur. With BlueSnap, you can track trends and optimize your data to target disputed transactions and recover lost revenue.
• We employ a variety of tools to help identify fraudulent activity and potential chargebacks, mitigating the impact on your business. Best of all, BlueSnap will handle the dispute process and refund the customer for you so you can focus on your business.
• BlueSnap incorporates award-winning fraud prevention solutions like Kount and Strong Customer Authentication tools like 3DS to verify legitimate customer transactions and decline suspicious transactions.
• PCI level 1 compliance, or for merchants that host their own order pages and use BlueSnap APIs, free enrollment in a PCI security program through Security Metrics.

Pricing and Support

Our in-person support for merchants makes us an especially strong Braintree alternative. We offer:

• Support staff available around the world. We are always ready to assist you with your payment gateway and merchant account questions. Contact us by phone, email, or live chat.
• Developer documentation that’s among the best in the business. Our Developer Hub provides code samples, a simple sandbox testing tool (no account needed!), and a place for developers to ask questions and get answers.

So, if you are looking for a strong Braintree alternative, consider BlueSnap. Contact us today to learn more.