SaaS Billing with TagadaPay

Time: ~20 minutes | Difficulty: Intermediate Bill subscriptions from your own SaaS app — not a storefront, not a funnel. You keep your UI; TagadaPay handles vaulting, routing, and recurring charges across any processor or TPA.

This guide is for SaaS builders migrating from Stripe Billing or building subscription billing from scratch. For e-commerce storefronts, see Build a Store with AI.

Why TagadaPay for SaaS (vs Stripe)

Stripe	TagadaPay
Locked to Stripe as processor	Processor-agnostic — Stripe, Adyen, Checkout.com, NMI, your own TPA
One `PaymentMethod` per Stripe account	One vault — card tokenized once, routed to any processor
Switching processor = re-collect cards	Payment flows — switch TPAs/processors without touching customer cards
`stripe.subscriptions.create`	`tagada.subscriptions.create` — same mental model

The killer feature: payment flows. Connect as many TPAs and processors as you want. If one TPA is banned, add a fallback in the flow — cards stay vaulted, rebills keep working.

Your SaaS checkout
       ↓
  Card tokenized (core-js) — once
       ↓
  ┌──── Payment Flow ────┐
  │  sandbox  (dev)      │
  │  → tagadapay-router  │  ← live TPA (tpa_xxx)
  │  → Stripe (optional) │
  │  → Checkout.com      │
  └──────────────────────┘
       ↓
  Subscription rebills — automatic, same vault

Architecture: frontend vs backend

Frontend (browser)
Backend (server)

Package: @tagadapay/core-js

Tokenize the card → tagadaToken
Handle 3DS if the charge asks for it (requireAction: 'redirect' → send the customer to the processor’s hosted page; standalone 3DS sessions are only for gateway-style processors like NMI — see Quick Start)
Never put your CRM API key in the browser

import { useCardTokenization } from '@tagadapay/core-js/react';

const { tokenizeCard } = useCardTokenization({ environment: 'production' });
const { tagadaToken } = await tokenizeCard({
  cardNumber: '4242424242424242',
  expiryDate: '12/30',
  cvc: '123',
  cardholderName: 'Alex Founder',
});

// Send tagadaToken to YOUR backend — not to TagadaPay directly
await fetch('/api/payment-instruments', {
  method: 'POST',
  body: JSON.stringify({ tagadaToken, storeId, customerData }),
});

Package: @tagadapay/node-sdk

Create customer
Vault card (createFromToken)
Charge through payment flow (payments.process)
Create subscription (subscriptions.create)
Verify webhooks (webhooks.constructEvent)

import Tagada from '@tagadapay/node-sdk';
const tagada = new Tagada(process.env.TAGADA_API_KEY!);

// Vault
const { paymentInstrument } = await tagada.paymentInstruments.createFromToken({
  tagadaToken, storeId, customerData,
});

// Charge (routes through your payment flow automatically)
const { payment } = await tagada.payments.process({
  amount: 1900, currency: 'EUR', storeId,
  paymentInstrumentId: paymentInstrument.id,
  customerId, initiatedBy: 'customer',
  paymentFlowId: process.env.TAGADA_PAYMENT_FLOW_ID,
});

// Subscribe
const { subscription } = await tagada.subscriptions.create({
  customerId, priceId, storeId, currency: 'EUR',
  defaultPaymentInstrumentId: paymentInstrument.id,
  paymentId: payment.id,
});

Working example

Everything in this guide was tested against production. Clone and run:

git clone https://github.com/TagadaPay/examples.git
cd examples/mini-saas-billing   # or examples/mini-saas-billing in the monorepo
cp env.example .env             # add TAGADA_API_KEY + TAGADA_STORE_ID
npm install
npm run seed                    # product + cascade payment flow
npm run verify                  # automated end-to-end test
npm run dev                     # frontend :5173 + backend :3001

Open http://localhost:5173, click Subscribe, and watch the flow log.

Next steps

Quick Start

Step-by-step: product → checkout → subscription in 15 minutes

Payment Flows

Multi-TPA routing, cascade, failover — the Stripe killer

Migrate from Stripe

Object mapping and cutover playbook

Subscriptions API

Rebilling, trials, cancel, processor migration

​SaaS Billing with TagadaPay

​Why TagadaPay for SaaS (vs Stripe)

​Architecture: frontend vs backend

​Working example

​Next steps

Quick Start

Payment Flows

Migrate from Stripe

Subscriptions API

SaaS Billing with TagadaPay

Why TagadaPay for SaaS (vs Stripe)

Architecture: frontend vs backend

Working example

Next steps