In 2023, the average cart abandonment rate in Europe was around 73%. That means that nearly three out of four customers add products to their cart and never complete the purchase.
Many of the reasons behind this staggering rate come down to broken expectations at the final step of the purchase, such as unexpected extra costs, forced account creation, or slow delivery.
However, just as many reasons are directly linked to the payment experience itself.
Customers leave when the checkout feels complicated, when the site feels slow or clunky on mobile, or when they don’t see payment methods they trust.
For merchants, this clearly shows how important it is to choose the right payment setup.
To help you do just that, we’ll compare checkout solutions vs. payment links across the factors that matter most, so you can reduce friction and turn more carts into completed sales.
Key takeaways
- Checkout solutions and payment links solve different sales scenarios
Embedded checkout is designed for website-based sales with a structured shopping flow. Payment links are built for flexibility, allowing you to collect payments without a website through email, social media, messaging apps, or QR codes. - Your sales channel should guide your decision
If your website is your main sales engine, embedded checkout gives you a seamless, branded experience. If you sell through conversations, invoices, or remote channels, payment links reduce friction and help you close sales faster. - Speed and setup requirements vary significantly
Payment links require no integration and can go live in minutes. Embedded checkout needs technical setup but offers more control over branding, multi-step flows, and advanced features like subscriptions. - Customer experience impacts conversion
Embedded checkout creates a consistent on-site journey that can improve trust and completion rates. Payment links provide a fast, distraction-free payment moment, especially effective for mobile users and one-off transactions. - You don’t have to choose one over the other
The most effective setup for many businesses is combining both. With Paypercut, you can offer embedded checkout and payment links in one platform, support cards, wallets, and BNPL, and manage everything through a single dashboard. This gives you the flexibility to meet customers wherever they are and turn more payment opportunities into completed sales.
What are checkout solutions?
Checkout solutions are tools that allow you to accept online payments directly on your website by integrating a ready-made payment page or checkout form.
This pre-built solution will handle the entire payment process for you, including the payment flow, security, and transaction processing.
Reliable payment providers like Paypercut typically offer several options in this area:
- Hosted checkout – a prebuilt payment page that customers are redirected to in order to complete their purchase
- Embedded checkout – a checkout form integrated directly into your website or app, so customers stay on your page from start to finish
- E-commerce plugins – ready-to-install integrations for platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce
- Express checkout – a one-tap payment option that lets customers pay directly from the product page using digital wallets
For this guide, we’ll focus on embedded checkout, as it’s the option that businesses most often compare with payment links.
What are payment links?
Payment links are secure, shareable URLs that take the customer directly to a payment page for a specific product, subscription, invoice, or donation.
What makes payment links fundamentally different from embedded checkout is that you don’t need a website to use them.
Instead of integrating a checkout form into your online store, you simply create a link and send it to your customer. They click the link and complete the payment on a secure, hosted page.
Compare checkout solutions vs. payment links: 10 key differences
Both embedded checkout and payment links help you accept online payments, but they work in very different ways.
To make choosing the right option easier, we’ve broken down 10 key differences that matter most for small and mid-sized businesses.
1. Channel distribution
With embedded checkout, payments are distributed through your website or app.
Customers land on your online store, add products to their cart, and complete the purchase there.
You can also drive traffic through ads, email campaigns, or deep links, but the transaction still happens on your site.
Payment links work differently.
Instead of bringing customers to your website, you bring the checkout directly to them, allowing you to sell your products or services anywhere.
You can share payment links through:
- SMS
- Messaging apps like WhatsApp or Messenger
- QR codes on printed materials and invoices
- Chat conversations for manual or custom orders
- Social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram
This flexibility is especially valuable for merchants operating in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), where social media usage continues to grow in every country.
However, payment links can also be shared in person.
For example, merchants can display QR codes at events, pop-up stores, market stalls, or other temporary sales locations, allowing customers to pay on the spot without a traditional POS or SoftPOS terminal.
2. Customer access
With embedded checkout, access is limited to people who visit your website. Customers must land on your store or app to start and complete the purchase.
With payment links, anyone with the link can pay. You can send it to one specific customer for a custom order, or share it publicly for multiple buyers.
The first option is particularly useful when selling customized products or services that aren’t part of your standard catalog. Links allow you to collect payments for those products or services without creating a new page and publishing it on your website for everyone to see.
This difference makes payment links more flexible when you sell directly, while embedded checkout works best when your website is the main sales channel.
3. Implementation complexity
Embedded checkout requires integration into your website or app.
Even if it’s low-code, you still need a technical setup that involves:
- Connecting APIs
- Configuring sessions
- Managing success or cancel URLs
As for payment links, there’s no code and no website integration required.
You generate a link in your dashboard and share it, which can be handled by sales or operations teams without developer support.
This means that payment links are the lighter option for merchants who prioritize speed and minimal setup.
4. Speed to launch
If speed is your priority, payment links are the fastest option. You can create a link and start accepting payments within minutes, which is ideal for simple offers or one-time sales.
Embedded checkout is still much faster than building a custom payment system from scratch, but it does require development time, integration, and testing before going live.
5. Supported payment types
Supported payment methods depend on the payment partner or aggregator you choose.
With Paypercut, both embedded checkout and payment links support the most common payment types from day one:
6. Reusability
Payment links are highly flexible when it comes to reuse.
You can create a standard link with a fixed amount and share it with multiple customers. If needed, you can also set them as single-use for one specific payment.
Embedded checkout works differently since it’s tied to your website flow.
Customers access it through your store, so each transaction is part of a structured checkout process. So, embedded checkout is reusable in the sense that it’s always available on your website, but it’s not reusable as a standalone payment request.
7. UI customization
When it comes to user interface design, embedded checkout gives you more flexibility.
Because it’s integrated into your website, it can adapt to your existing layout, colors, and overall user experience.
Even without advanced coding, you can align the checkout with your brand style.
In comparison, the customization of payment links is more limited.
You can usually add your logo, adjust brand colors, and display your business name, but the overall layout of the hosted payment page stays largely the same.
8. Flow flexibility
Embedded checkout is better suited for structured, multi-step purchase journeys since it supports features like:
- Cart review
- Shipping options
- Discount codes
- Promotions
- Customer accounts
If your sales process includes multiple steps or upselling logic, embedded checkout gives you more room to build that flow.
Payment links are typically simpler.
They’re usually created for a single product, service, or fixed amount. The customer clicks the link and completes the payment on a straightforward page, without a full cart experience.
9. Customer experience
Embedded checkout creates a more seamless customer experience because the entire journey happens on your website.
Customers move from product selection to payment and confirmation without being redirected elsewhere. This feels like a natural part of your store, which can improve trust and completion rates.
As for payment links, they provide a fast and distraction-free payment experience.
The customer doesn’t need to browse a website or go through a full cart flow. They click the link and land directly on a secure payment page.
This reduces steps and saves time, which is especially helpful for invoices, bookings, support payments, or social media sales. It also works smoothly on mobile devices, which matters because more and more customers complete payments on their phones.
At the same time, because the payment happens on a hosted page and not fully inside your website, the experience feels more like a quick transaction than a full branded shopping journey.
10. Localization
Localization isn’t a universal difference between payment links and embedded checkout. Instead, it depends on the payment provider you use.
With Paypercut, both options are built for European markets.
Local currencies, authentication rules, and available Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) providers are applied automatically based on the customer’s country.
That means you don’t have to manually configure separate setups for different markets. Whether you use embedded checkout or payment links, customers see payment options that match their location.
Compare checkout solutions vs. payment links: What’s the better fit for your business?
Choosing between embedded checkout and payment links isn’t about which one is “better.” It’s about how and where you sell.
Here’s how to think about it in real business terms.
1. Running a structured online store
If you have a full e-commerce website where customers browse products, add items to a cart, and complete purchases in a defined flow, embedded checkout is usually the better fit.
This works best for:
- Online stores with multiple products
- Subscription or SaaS platforms
- Digital services
- Event ticket sales
- Membership-based businesses
In these cases, checkout is part of the overall experience.
You want customers to stay on your site, move smoothly from product selection to payment, and complete their purchase without interruption.
2. Selling through conversations or remote channels
Payment links are often the smarter choice for businesses that sell outside a traditional online store.
This applies if you:
- Send invoices by email
- Close sales in DMs or messaging apps
- Collect deposits for bookings
- Offer services like repairs, consultations, or maintenance
- Handle payments through customer support
- Sell directly on social media
3. Selling in multiple ways
For merchants who sell through a website and through conversations, invoices, or social media, the best solution is often a combination of both.
Embedded checkout can handle your main online store, where customers browse products and complete structured purchases. At the same time, payment links can support remote sales, deposits, custom products and services, support cases, and one-off collections.
Paypercut: A unified approach to online payments
When choosing between embedded checkout and payment links, you should also take your customers’ preferences into consideration.
Some customers simply prefer browsing your website and checking out there, while others prefer to respond to a message, an invoice, or a quick link in a chat.
If you only support one payment flow, you’re likely leaving sales on the table.
By offering both embedded checkout and payment links in one platform, Paypercut helps you meet customers wherever they are: on your website, in their inbox, or inside a messaging app.
Paypercut makes remote payments simple and flexible by allowing you to:
- Create secure payment links or QR codes in seconds
- Share them via chat, email, invoices, printed materials, or digital screens
- Reuse links by default or set them as one-off payments
- Track every transaction in your dashboard
- Receive payouts directly to your existing bank account
For website-based sales, Paypercut offers an embedded checkout that:
- Keeps customers on your site from start to finish
- Supports cards, wallets, BNPL, subscriptions, and recurring billing
- Is fully mobile-optimized
- Adapts to your brand style without complex development
- Applies local European rules and currencies automatically
Onboarding is fully digital, pricing is simple and transparent, and payouts go straight to your existing bank account.
Whether you sell through a website, through conversations, or both, Paypercut gives you the tools to accept payments easily and scale without complexity.
To access these tools as soon as possible, sign up for Paypercut today and go through seamless digital onboarding.
If you need more information, book a 30-minute meeting with one of our sales managers to see how Paypercut can support your business and payment goals.
