Quick answer: Cashfree Payments is an Indian payment aggregator whose distinguishing strength is money moving both ways — collection through a standard gateway, and payouts for disbursing to vendors, partners, refunds and salaries at scale. It also offers subscriptions with e-mandate auto-debit, payment links, and verification APIs. Charges are per transaction and vary by payment method, plus GST; payouts are charged separately, often per transfer.
What Cashfree is used for
| Product | Used for |
|---|---|
| Payment gateway | Website and app checkout |
| Payment links / forms | Collecting without a website |
| Subscriptions | Recurring billing via UPI AutoPay, e-NACH and card mandates |
| Payouts | Bulk disbursal to bank accounts, UPI and wallets |
| Verification APIs | Bank account and UPI ID validation before paying out |
| Easy Split | Splitting one collection across multiple parties |
The payouts capability is why marketplaces, lending platforms, gig-economy companies and insurance intermediaries shortlist Cashfree: they need to pay hundreds or thousands of people reliably, with verification before the transfer, which a collection-only gateway does not do.
How pricing works
Collection is charged as a percentage per successful transaction, varying by method — UPI, RuPay debit, other debit cards, credit cards, net banking, wallets, international cards and EMI all price differently — plus GST. As always in India, your method mix determines your effective rate far more than the headline. If most of your collection is UPI, where MDR is nil for most merchants under current rules, your blended cost will be very low regardless of the credit-card rate you were quoted.
Payouts are typically charged per transfer rather than as a percentage, sometimes tiered by volume, with different rates for IMPS, NEFT, RTGS and UPI. If payouts are central to your model, get that rate card separately and model it at your monthly transfer count.
Also establish: settlement cycle (commonly T+1 or T+2, longer for some risk categories), refund and chargeback fees, whether a rolling reserve applies to your category, and any setup or annual charges.
Subscriptions and e-mandate: the part that actually breaks
Recurring collection in India runs on mandates — UPI AutoPay, e-NACH and card mandates under the RBI's recurring-payments framework, which requires pre-debit notification and caps auto-debit above a threshold without additional authentication. What determines whether recurring collection works for you:
- Which mandate rails are supported and which banks are live on e-NACH.
- Mandate success rate at registration — a high drop-off at mandate creation destroys the model before any money moves.
- Retry and dunning logic for failed debits.
- Pre-debit notification handling, which is a regulatory requirement, not an option.
Our subscription billing and e-mandate guide covers the mechanics in full. If billing logic is complex — proration, plan changes, usage-based charges — you may want a billing product such as Zoho Billing or Chargebee sitting on top of the gateway rather than the gateway's own subscriptions module.
Cashfree versus the alternatives
- Razorpay — the broadest ecosystem, including RazorpayX business banking and payroll. See our Razorpay guide.
- Easebuzz — strong in recurring collection segments such as education and housing societies. See our Easebuzz guide.
- PayU — long-established, deep enterprise presence.
- Instamojo — simplest onboarding for very small sellers.
- Juspay — payment orchestration across multiple gateways, for high-volume merchants optimising success rates.
Compare the field in best payment gateway in India and browse payment gateways and UPI.
FAQs
What is Cashfree used for?
Cashfree Payments handles both collection and disbursal for Indian businesses: a payment gateway for website and app checkout, payment links, subscriptions with e-mandate auto-debit, and payouts for bulk transfers to bank accounts, UPI and wallets — plus verification APIs to validate a bank account or UPI ID before paying out.
What are Cashfree's charges?
Collection is charged per successful transaction as a percentage that varies by payment method, plus GST. Payouts are usually charged per transfer, with different rates for IMPS, NEFT, RTGS and UPI. There is no single rate — request the full method-wise rate card and the payout rate card, then model both against your actual volumes.
Is Cashfree free?
No. Cashfree is a commercial payment aggregator charging per transaction. There is no ongoing free tier for processing, though onboarding itself has no charge and some products have no setup fee. Any "free payment gateway" claim in India refers to zero setup or annual fees, not zero transaction cost.
Does Cashfree support recurring payments and auto-debit?
Yes, through Cashfree Subscriptions using UPI AutoPay, e-NACH and card mandates under the RBI recurring-payments framework, including the required pre-debit notification. What matters in practice is mandate registration success rate and retry logic on failed debits — ask for both before committing.
Cashfree or Razorpay?
Razorpay has the broader ecosystem, including business banking and payroll, and is often the default for a company wanting one vendor across payments and finance operations. Cashfree is the stronger pick when payouts are central to your business model — marketplaces, lending, gig platforms, insurance — because bulk disbursal with account verification is its core strength.
Next step: get a free matched payment stack shortlist based on your collection and payout volumes.
