Payment Gateway Comparison 2025: PSP vs Payment Orchestration in Turkey

Choosing the right payment infrastructure is one of the most consequential decisions a growing business can make. The wrong choice means locked-in commission rates, limited routing flexibility, and painful migration costs down the road. Here's a clear-eyed comparison of the two dominant models in Turkey's payment landscape.

Two Fundamentally Different Models

Payment Service Provider (PSP) Model: TCMB-licensed payment institutions such as iyzico, PayTR, Paratika and Param process transactions through their own acquiring infrastructure. Merchants integrate once and payments flow through a single channel. Fast to start, but the merchant is bound to that channel's commission rates, uptime, and features.

Payment Orchestration Model: Platforms like Craftgate and Treps sit above PSPs and banks, managing multiple payment channels through a single API. PSPs become channels the orchestration layer routes to — not competitors. Every transaction is intelligently directed to the optimal channel based on commission, success rate, and business rules.

The Conductor Analogy

PSPs and banks are the instruments in the orchestra. Treps is the conductor — deciding which instrument plays each note, switching seamlessly when one fails, and optimising the overall performance. Payment orchestration doesn't compete with PSPs; it coordinates them.

When a Single PSP Is Enough

• Newly launched, low-volume e-commerce store
• Single payment channel is sufficient
• Speed to market is the primary concern

When Payment Orchestration Becomes Essential

• Commission optimisation: Route each transaction to the cheapest channel based on current volume targets
• Failover: Automatic switch to backup channel on downtime — customer sees no error
• Channel-independent card storage: Token stored in Treps vault, valid across all channels
• Centralised reconciliation: All banks and channels in one reporting screen
• Marketplace, B2B portal, e-money: Advanced payment products that PSPs alone cannot provide

What Treps Offers

Treps is a PCI DSS Level 1 certified payment orchestration platform developed by Lidya Technology. It connects businesses to all Turkish banks and payment channels through a single API, routes every transaction intelligently, and manages the entire payment infrastructure centrally. It also provides a TCMB-licensed e-money infrastructure, marketplace, B2B dealer portal and collection solutions.

Conclusion

PSP and orchestration are not competing choices — they serve different scales and needs. As transaction volume grows, payment orchestration delivers compounding benefits in cost, resilience and operational efficiency.

Learn more about Treps payment orchestration by getting in touch with us.