Challenge

For many solopreneurs, delivering a winning service is the easy part. The real challenge is getting paid for it. Unlike larger companies with dedicated billing teams and custom-built checkout flows, these business owners often rely on piecemeal tools that never quite fit together. Founded in 2014, Houston-based PayFunnels gives solopreneurs and other small businesses a simple way to launch branded checkout pages and start collecting payments from customers in minutes.

As it grew, the company needed to keep pace with new user demands. But building and maintaining custom payment solutions would be time-consuming for its lean engineering team. Off-the-shelf backend solutions were either difficult to integrate or lacked the level of customization and control PayFunnels wanted to provide.

PayFunnels began working with Stripe in 2015, initially choosing it for its developer-friendly APIs and robust support for subscription billing. Stripe allowed the company to offload complex backend functionality like billing cycles and authentication, enabling PayFunnels to focus on building its own layer of value-added services.

Initially, PayFunnels integrated Stripe using the Card Element, a customizable UI component for collecting card details. This provided full control over the checkout process, enabling PayFunnels to tailor the experience to its needs. However, as PayFunnels grew internationally and its requirements became more complex, it needed to accommodate more payment methods and offer additional billing and payment functionality while preserving flexibility at scale. The company turned to Stripe to meet these evolving needs.

“We required a developer-friendly platform, clear APIs, strong SDKs, and great documentation to allow for iterative development,” said Imtiyaz Momin, managing partner at PayFunnels.

Solution

To provide solopreneurs with a more flexible checkout experience, in 2022 PayFunnels began using the Optimized Checkout Suite, which includes Stripe Elements, a set of prebuilt, secure UI components that enable businesses to create custom checkout experiences. Thanks to Stripe’s ease of implementation and strong documentation, the company was able to quickly integrate Elements without disrupting the client experience. Built-in validation, error messaging, accessibility, and auto-suggestions accelerated development and reduced errors.

PayFunnels later transitioned its API integration to the Checkout Sessions API to further reduce backend complexity by modeling a client’s entire checkout in one request, including line items, subscriptions, discounts, taxes, and 3DS card handling. Using Checkout Sessions, PayFunnels can support a wide range of checkout models, from one-time charges and deposits to recurring retainer payments and installment plans, often within a single checkout experience.

With full control over styling, layout, and functionality, PayFunnels used Elements with the Checkout Sessions API to ensure every client’s checkout experience reflects its unique brand. With these solutions, solopreneurs using PayFunnels can simply toggle on capabilities such as localized payment methods; Stripe’s digital wallet, Link, to autofill payment details; and Adaptive Pricing, which displays prices in local currencies across more than 150 markets.

“Stripe’s API has handled our use cases robustly,” said Momin.

Results

Branded checkout helps solopreneurs maintain standards

By embedding Elements directly into checkout pages, PayFunnels lets solopreneurs present their customers with a branded checkout, leading to a more cohesive checkout experience.

“Embedding Elements keeps their customers within our app instead of going to a hosted checkout page, which reduces cognitive load for customers and boosts conversions. We can make each checkout very personalized by fine-tuning the UI, which is a plus for our clients,” said Momin.

PayFunnels expands global reach with local payment methods

Stripe’s global infrastructure has helped PayFunnels expand its payment offerings to include ACH, SEPA, iDEAL, Revolut Pay, and buy now, pay later options Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay. Adaptive Pricing further streamlines cross-border growth by letting customers pay in their local currency while solopreneurs continue to settle in their preferred currency.

PayFunnels transitions to the Checkout Sessions API in three weeks with two developers

With only 2 full-time developers and 1 senior engineer, PayFunnels integrated Elements and the Checkout Session API in just 3 weeks—a 25% reduction in development time. Robust documentation meant onboarding was straightforward, allowing the team to focus their energy on testing scenarios.

“It was a light lift,” said Momin. “The majority of the time was spent testing different business scenarios—things like custom plans, coupons, and one-time fees—rather than coding the core payment logic.”

Checkout Sessions API helps PayFunnels roll out flexible billing models faster

Moving to the Checkout Sessions API and Elements helped the company refocus its engineering efforts. With Stripe managing the complexities of PCI compliance, SCA requirements, and payment method updates, PayFunnels was able to invest more in building industry-specific tools like calendar scheduling, third-party workflow automation, and flexible billing structures. These features have become central to the company’s customer retention strategy—especially as Stripe continues to add native support for capabilities that PayFunnels once offered as differentiators, such as installment plans.

“By building around Stripe and not on top of it, we’re able to focus on the needs of niche markets and specific industries,” said Momin.