There's a new term floating around fintech: payment orchestration. It sounds complicated. And depending on who you ask, it either is or isn't. Here's the unfiltered version: payment orchestration is the trend that solves the problem created by too many payment platforms.
The Problem
Ten years ago, you had two payment options: a traditional payment processor or a bank. Simple. Today you have options: processors, banks, alternative rails, specialty networks, crypto on-ramps, and local payment methods. You have ACH, RTP, FedNow, wires, cards, and wallets.
Each has different features. Different coverage. Different economics.
So what does a fintech do? You integrate with multiple platforms. You build logic to decide which platform to use for each transaction. You monitor each one. You handle failures and fallbacks. It works. Sort of. But it's a mess.
You've got three integration teams managing five platforms. You've got custom routing logic that's fragile and hard to maintain. You've got monitoring systems that duplicate across platforms. This is the problem that payment orchestration solves. Check out Sila’s ACHNow orchestration.
What does Payment Orchestration Really Mean
Payment orchestration is a middleware layer. It sits between your product and all your payment providers. Instead of integrating directly with five payment platforms, you integrate once with the orchestration layer. The orchestration layer handles all the complexity: routing, failover, monitoring, and reconciliation. It learns which providers work best for which corridors, geographies, and transaction types.
You build once. The orchestration layer manages everything else.
Why it Matters
The economic argument is straightforward: orchestration reduces your operational complexity and integration cost.
But the strategic argument is better: orchestration gives you flexibility. If a payment provider raises prices, you can route away from them. If a new provider emerges with better economics, you can plug it in. You're not locked into any single platform. That's power.
What to Look For
If you're evaluating orchestration platforms, here's what matters:
- Provider coverage. Can they connect to all the providers you use? Can they integrate with the ones you want to use in the future?
- Routing logic. Can they intelligently route based on geography, corridor, transaction type, and amount? Or do you have to build custom routing?
- Monitoring and failover. If a provider goes down, does the orchestration layer automatically failover to another? Or do you have to manage it?
- Reporting. Do they give you unified reporting across all providers? Or do you have to build a custom dashboard?
- Compliance. Who's responsible for compliance? Does the orchestration layer handle regulatory reporting? Or do you?
The Timeline
Payment orchestration is moving from "nice to have" to "should consider" in 2026. If you're small and using one provider, you don't need it yet. Keep it simple. If you're mid-market and using 2-3 providers, you're starting to feel the pain of multiple integrations. Orchestration makes sense. If you're an enterprise and managing 5 plus providers, you need orchestration. Not doing it is like managing five separate accounting systems.
Buy vs. Build Question
Can you build payment orchestration in-house? Yes. Some large fintech companies have. Should you? Probably not. Payment orchestration isn't your product. It's plumbing. Your engineering team should focus on your product, not on managing payment infrastructure.
Building it in-house also locks you into your own design. If a new payment provider emerges with unique capabilities, can you adapt? If the market shifts, can you pivot?
Using a platform gives you flexibility. It lets your engineers focus on your product. It reduces your operational burden.
Looking Forward
Payment orchestration is a commodity in the making. In 2026, the best platforms will consolidate. Pricing will normalize. If you're going to implement orchestration, 2026 is the window before it becomes table stakes and everyone's using the same few platforms.
Get ahead of it. Evaluate. Implement. Reap the benefits of simplified integration and intelligent routing.
Your engineering team will thank you.