Many merchants and platforms understand the value proposition of owning their payment tokens and implementing network tokens for payments. For these businesses, the real question is not “should I adopt?”, but “which provider makes the most sense for our business?”
Payment tokens can take on several forms: PSP-specific tokens, merchant-owned universal tokens, and network tokens issued by the card brands. If building for scale and resiliency, however, relying on a single token format rarely makes sense.
That’s why the highest-ROI token models combine multiple token types—specifically, universal tokens and network tokens. This winning combination gives merchants the ownership, flexibility, and interoperability they need to expertly manage payment operations across multiple-PSP setups. It also enables merchants to provision and deploy different token formats across providers, rather than locking them to a single endpoint.
IXOPAY offers two tokenization packages that use a multi-token framework to ensure that merchants can fully own, centralize, and optimize their payments. In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of each of our token packages—TokenEx Core and TokenEx Connect—as well as the factors to consider when selecting the best option for your business.
The TokenEx Difference: Multi-Token Connectivity
With over 240 payment service providers supported by major platforms, today’s merchants need the flexibility to work with the best providers for their unique needs. Access to a wide range of gateways is essential to boost authorizations, lower costs, improve the checkout experience, and maintain system resiliency. Similarly, supporting multiple token types allows merchants to deploy the right token for each transaction—with the option to fall back on another format when needed.
Tokenization lays the foundation for secure data portability and transaction routing that’s necessary within this multi-PSP environment. However, true flexibility for multi-PSP processing is only possible when universal tokens are combined with network tokens. Together, these two token types bring redundancy and stability to the payment layer—each serving a distinct role:
Universal tokens: These PCI-compliant tokens are compatible with all processors, payment channels, and issuers — making it easier to centralize, store, and transmit merchant-owned payment data.
Network tokens: Issued and maintained by the card networks, network tokens have been shown to boost authorizations by up to 4.6% and reduce fraud by up to 28%, driven by built-in lifecycle management and network-level intelligence.
TokenEx Core vs. TokenEx Connect
For growing enterprises that need to securely manage and transmit tokens across multiple providers and endpoints, a secure tokenization layer is the answer.
Our TokenEx Core and TokenEx Connect solutions pair this multi-token framework with flexible gateway connectivity so that merchants can start transacting with their preferred PSPs and maintain a portable, PCI-compliant token vault—without having to build a complete payment infrastructure from the ground up.
Wondering which one is right for you? The two packages are similar in that they provide both universal and network tokens for your vault. However, they differ in how you connect to your PSPs and other endpoints. Let’s dive into each solution:
TokenEx Core
TokenEx Core uses our Transparent Gateway API, which enables merchants to easily connect to any preferred PSPs or other endpoints without incurring PCI scope. This pass-through connectivity layer securely transmits tokenized payment data to your chosen PSP. Merchants handle the mapping, formatting, and PSP-specific logic using the PSP’s API.
This model works well for businesses with a small, stable PSP footprint and internal development resources. Merchants manage formatting and integration logic themselves, which provides a true bespoke experience. However, tailored builds—especially across many endpoints—require individual attention.
TokenEx Connect
TokenEx Connect uses IXOPAY’s Payment Services solution to build connections—a more scalable, developer-friendly connectivity layer designed for merchants who either currently manage many PSPs or are looking to add more as they grow. It handles PSP-specific formatting and coding on the merchant’s behalf, and provides access to 200+ of the most popular global gateways through a simple connection. Payment Services is also the easiest way to support network tokens, APMs, fraud tools, and other gateway-level capabilities. It also delivers raw response data while keeping routing decisions with the merchant.
It’s important to note that while TokenEx Connect is similar to payment orchestration in that it provides swift, secure connectivity options across PSPs, it does not automate reconciliation or have standard routing or decision-making logic. Instead, it acts as a plug-and-play connectivity layer, dramatically reducing integration effort while preserving flexibility.
The good news is that if and when merchants are ready to adopt more advanced orchestration capabilities through IXOPAY, their TokenEx Connect integration serves as a natural foundation, making orchestration faster to implement and easier to maintain.
Choosing the Right IXOPAY Token Package
As you consider the best IXOPAY tokenization package for your business, consider the following questions:
What is the desired level of control over your payment infrastructure?
How much time can you devote to development?
Can you afford to build direct connections yourself (and maintain them), or is a plug-and-play option more appropriate?
As you explore these questions and consider your unique business goals and needs, don’t hesitate to reach out to the IXOPAY team for support. Customers can get up and running with Core and then quickly and safely expand their connections through Payment Services when the time is right.
Prepare for the Future of Tokenized Payments
Tokenization plays a much larger role in payment strategy today than simple data protection. As payment setups become more diverse, decisions about how payment data is stored and transmitted directly affect payment processing performance and customer loyalty.
TokenEx Core and TokenEx Connect are built for this new reality. Both support a multi-token framework that keeps payment data usable across providers, while allowing merchants to control the level of integration effort required.
This powerful approach lays the foundation for scalable commerce. By separating payment data from provider constraints, merchants can expand into new markets, add payment partners, and evolve their checkout experience—without constantly revamping infrastructure.