Smart Routing vs Payment Cascading
Smart Routing and Payment Cascading are easy to mix up. Here are both definitions from the HighRisk Media glossary side by side.
Comparison table
| Term | Smart Routing | Payment Cascading |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | — | — |
| In short | Smart Routing is the automatic selection of a payment route for each transaction, based on rules and real-time data: which provider or acquirer should process it. | Payment cascading is the sequential routing of a payment through several payment providers or acquirers: if one declines the transaction, the system automatically tries the next one. |
| Verticals | Fintech, Gambling, Betting | Fintech, Gambling, Betting |
What is Smart Routing?
The router receives a payment and, based on set rules or scoring, selects a provider. The rules take into account the card BIN, issuer country, currency, amount, transaction type, and decline history. If the first route returns a decline with a code that allows a retry, the transaction is sent to a backup route.
What is Payment Cascading?
Payment cascading (also called a waterfall) is a routing rule under which a transaction passes through a chain of channels in a set order. The first channel receives the request. If it returns a decline, the request goes to the second channel, then the third, and so on, until the payment succeeds or the chain runs out.