Redirecting customers to an external checkout costs more than sales. Learn how embedded checkout converts more buyers, adds new revenue streams, and keeps users on your platform.
Embedded checkout increases platform revenue and retention by keeping the entire payment flow inside the product, instead of redirecting buyers to an external page.
This lifts conversion rates, opens new revenue streams like transaction fees, and builds the purchase history that keeps users from switching to a competitor.
The global embedded payments market is expected to be valued at $430B in 2033, with a CAGR of roughly 35.5%, according to Grand View Research.
In this guide, you'll learn what embedded checkout is and how it helps platforms not only boost total revenue, but retain users at the same time.
What is embedded checkout?
Embedded checkout is a checkout integrated directly into a website, platform, or software product, rather than redirecting customers to an external page to complete payment.
So why the switch?
Embedding your checkout keeps the payment flow on-page, reduces customer drop-off, and ensures branding remains consistent.
But there's another big benefit: revenue. When you embed checkouts directly, you can take a share of every transaction processed, and that's where platforms can see huge uplift.
Here's a brief breakdown:
| Redirect checkout | Embedded checkout | |
|---|---|---|
| Customer experience | Buyer leaves your site to pay on a third-party page: new branding, extra steps, broken trust | Buyer pays without leaving your product: one continuous, on-brand flow |
| Data | Transaction data lives with the payment provider | You own first-party data: purchase frequency, AOV, churn signals |
| Revenue | Capped at your product's own pricing; drop-off at the handoff | Higher completion rates, plus a share of every transaction processed |
How does embedded checkout work for platforms?
Platforms typically integrate embedded checkouts via a provider's API or drop-in components. This allows the checkout to render inside the web or app interface natively.
The API handles account creation for users, checkout customization, fund routing between parties, payouts, and your platform's share of each transaction.
You configure how money moves (which payment methods are accepted, what goes to the seller, what goes to the platform, and on what timeline); the provider carries KYC, compliance, and the banking relationships. How much of that flow you build yourself depends on the provider you choose.
With Whop, you can drop in a prebuilt checkout component or checkout link and go live in minutes.
Or, you can create an embedded checkout flow using Whop's API for full control over routing, splits, and payouts.
We're building the first end-to-end API for running a business. Money movement, customer acquisition, and payouts all run through the same system your checkout does.
How checkout redirects cost your platform
Checkout redirects play a huge part in making checkouts complicated, and a complicated checkout process is consistently one of the top reasons buyers give up before completion.
According to the Baymard Institute, around 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned.
Every time a buyer is sent from your product to a third-party payment page, several things go wrong at once: the branding changes, an extra page has to load, saved details may not be accessible, and the buyer has to trust an unfamiliar domain with sensitive payment info.
Every one of those moments is a chance to lose a sale.
The numbers back this up: industry benchmarks put redirect checkout completion at roughly 35 to 45%, while embedded checkout typically completes at 50 to 65%. That's a 15 to 20 percentage point gap on the same buying intent.
So let's break that down in terms of real money:
Say your platform generates 10,000 checkouts a month at a $50 AOV (average order value). At 40% completion, typical for redirected checkout, you're looking at 4,000 completed orders and $200,000 in monthly GMV (gross merchandise value).
Introduce embedded checkout instead, and the exact same buyers can jump to 55% completion, 5,500 successful orders and $275,000.
So if your platform is taking a 10% fee on each sale? That's the difference between $20,000 and $27,500 in platform revenue each month, or a 37.5% lift from traffic your sellers already earned.
Over the course of a whole year? The improved checkout conversion is worth an extra $90,000 to you, before a single new seller signs up.
That's the point a lot of platforms miss. Every abandoned checkout is a double loss. Your seller loses the sale, and you lose the fee.
Do that to a seller enough times and they don't just earn less, they leave for a platform where their buyers actually convert.
Embedded checkout has perks third-party payment pages can't give you:
Removing the redirect is only the baseline. Embedding checkout also unlocks:
- Saved payment methods: Returning buyers check out in one click instead of re-entering card details.
- BNPL at checkout: Buyers split the payment; you get paid upfront.
- Local payment methods and adaptive pricing: Buyers see prices in their own currency and pay with the payment method they're used to, including Apple Pay and crypto.
- Smart payment routing: If a payment fails, it's automatically retried with another provider instead of dying on the spot.
Whop's embedded checkout builds all of this in. Purchases stay on your domain, with BNPL, crypto, and payment orchestration already configured.
Unlock new revenue streams with embedded checkout
Beyond taking a cut of each transaction facilitated, platforms can also introduce new revenue streams when embedding checkout. These include instant payout fees, premium checkout features, upsells, and affiliate splits.
Instant payout fees
According to research from PYMNTS, 40% of millennials would be willing to pay for instant payouts, even when they can wait more than a week to receive the funds. Only 29% of Gen Z would be willing to pay when they can wait.
But that's if they can wait. For most sellers, time is of the essence and revenue is needed ASAP. That's where instant payout fees can drive platform revenue higher.
Just remember, it's best to keep instant payouts as an opt-in upgrade.
The same study found that 65% of sellers are more likely to stick with a platform that offers instant payouts, but also gives the option to wait for funds to clear with no extra fee.
When instant payouts are forced, that 65% drops to 24%.
Premium checkout features
While basic checkout should come free for sellers, premium checkout features can also be the reason sellers upgrade to a higher paid tier.
Take Shopify, for example: higher plans come with lower card rates, and full checkout customization is reserved for Shopify Plus. Sellers doing bigger volume upgrade the moment the math makes sense.
The features worth gating are the ones that grow with a seller's success. Lower transaction fees at higher plans, advanced payment methods like BNPL, white-labeled checkout branding, recurring billing and payment plans, or abandoned-checkout recovery and conversion analytics.
Order bumps and upsells
Configuring embedded checkout to have an order bump or upsell feature is a win for platforms and sellers alike.
An order bump is basically a one-click add-on that appears at the point of payment. Say a customer is buying a seller's course, but they also offer a workbook. An order bump would ask if they'd like to add the companion workbook for $9. It often converts because the buyer's already committed; saying yes only takes one tap.
Higher AOV = more profit on both ends. By building this into your checkout system you increase order value for sellers, and give your platform a bigger cut.
Affiliate splits
Affiliates help promote a seller's product to their own audience and earn a commission each time someone buys. Without automation, this can get messy. When it's built into checkout, it's seamless.
For platforms, every affiliate-driven sale increases GMV. You earn your normal cut, and your seller doesn't have to spend as much on ads.
Say a $100 sale comes through an affiliate link. An embedded checkout with split routing capabilities automatically sends the affiliate their commission, issues your platform fee, and sends the rest to the seller.
This is a native feature on Whop embedded checkouts. Just pass an affiliate code into the embed, and the commission splits automatically across every sale it drives.
There's no code inventory to manage, either: an affiliate's account identity is their code, so onboarding the ten-thousandth affiliate is no different from the first.
Use embedded checkout to improve platform retention
Boosting revenue is one half of the embedded checkout equation – the other half is retention.
Keeping customers and sellers on-platform is central to GMV and growth. Research from JPMorgan found that embedded payments can cut annual user churn by up to 10% over five years and lift LTV:CAC ratios to 3.6x.
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) discovered more than half of North American ISVs offered embedded payments in 2025. Customers are growing to expect this sort of convenience from platforms, so not having embedded checkout implemented becomes a bigger risk than it was 5 years ago.
Embedded checkout helps retention three-fold: buyers keep coming back for the convenience, sellers stay because switching providers isn't worth the hassle, and your data becomes more valuable with each and every sale.
What to consider when choosing an embedded checkout provider
To maximize revenue and retention for your platform, choosing the right provider for embedded checkout is key. Here are the main areas you want to scope:
Conversion features
Conversion features on embedded checkout include things like saved payment methods, one-click checkout for returning buyers, local payment methods and currencies, and a flow that actually works on mobile. A checkout that embeds but doesn't convert solves nothing.
Whop offers 100+ local payment methods, upsell features, saved payment methods, and more conversion boosters like BNPL.
Compliance
Payment acceptance means PCI scope, card network rules, and dispute handling become front and center. Find out which of those the provider takes on and which stay with you and your sellers.
Data access
To make the most of your data and feed your retention loop, you need to be able to access it. Some embedded checkout providers treat your data as theirs, so make sure the provider you go with makes it fully accessible to your platform.
Time to go live
Some providers need months of integration work before you can process a single payment, which could cost you a quarter (or more) of increased revenue. The best providers give you options: a prebuilt embed you can paste in and launch the same day, or an API you can build on in days when you want more control.
Cal.com incorporated Whop's embedded checkout to upgrade from SaaS to fintech, allowing the platform to earn revenue on every paid booking. And they did it without any integration bottlenecks.
"Very happy for this partnership. Technically was a breeze to integrate."
Keith Williams, Head of Engineering at Cal.com
Embed checkout with Whop and boost revenue and retention at once
Embedded checkout is becoming one of the cheapest growth levers for platforms to pull.
Introduce it, and you'll see fewer redirects, higher conversions, bigger profits, and more stickiness. It's one simple upgrade that has benefits spanning your entire business, helping your users, sellers, and the platform as a whole.
Whop makes embedding checkout fast and simple, whether you opt for the prebuilt component or the API (when you want full control over routing, splits, and payouts).
Either way, BNPL, crypto, smart payment routing, and affiliate splits come with it.
Embedded checkout FAQs
What's the difference between embedded checkout and a hosted/redirect checkout?
Embedded checkouts keep your buyers on your platform throughout the entire payment process, while redirected/hosted checkouts send customers to an external page run by your payments provider. Keeping customers on your own platform has many benefits, including branding control, higher conversion rates, and more trust.
Does embedded checkout increase conversion rates?
Yes. Embedded checkout increases conversion rates, typically to 50 to 65%, while redirect checkout completion sits at roughly 35 to 45%.
How do platforms make money from embedded checkout?
Platforms make money from embedded checkout through taking a cut of transaction fees. This can be boosted by introducing premium checkout features for sellers, like adding financing options, instant payouts, and upsell configurations.
Is embedded checkout secure/PCI compliant?
Embedded checkouts are secure, but compliance depends on your provider and their specific terms.
Whop's embedded checkout loads as a secure frame inside your page, so card details go directly to Whop and never touch your servers. That architecture is what keeps sensitive payment data out of your systems, and out of your compliance burden. Whop processes the payment, appears as the processor on the buyer's card statement, and the checkout itself can't be tampered with by outside code.
