Frequently asked questions

Developer API

What can I use the API for?

Our REST API allows developers to easily create powerful integrations with GoCardless. See our documentation to find out more.

You can integrate as a Merchant to take payments on your own behalf, or integrate as a Partner to create and manage multiple merchants.

How does the Partner API work?

A Partner integration allows your customers to quickly and easily create a GoCardless account without copying and pasting API keys.

This account will be linked to your Master Merchant account so that you can manage these accounts and process payment requests on their behalf.

For further information, see our partner API guide.

What programming languages can I use?

We have client libraries for Ruby, PHP, Java,Python and .NET

Can I host the payment pages on my site?

Yes, but only with GoCardless Pro. With Pro, you’re able to design your own payment pages and you can host them directly on your website.

On the standard GoCardless product, we host the payment pages securely on our website in order to comply with the Direct Debit scheme rules.

You can redirect the customer to our payment page and we will redirect them back to your site. Alternatively, you can allow customers to access the payment pages via a pop-up from your website.

Do you offer iFrames?

No - we do not offer iFraming of our payment pages as we are not sufficiently comfortable with the reliability and security of iFrames.

Can payments be made directly via the API?

Only once authorisation (the Direct Debit mandate) is in place. Customers must be sent to secure payment pages to give initial authorisation of the Direct Debit.

To make this as easy as possible for your clients, you can pass their personal information to us via the API to prepopulate the form.

Once authorisation is in place, payment can be requested via the API.

What information do you make available via the API?

GoCardless provides webhooks to notify Merchants of any changes in the status of its resources. One extremely useful example is determining when a bill has been paid.

You can find out more about available webhooks and how to use them in our webhook guide.

Where can I get technical support?

You can email us at help@gocardless.com, where our developers are on hand to help with your technical queries.

A number of detailed product guides are also available in our Support Centre.