NMI vs Authorize.net: which gateway should your business use?

Can I buy NMI directly, the way I can sign up for Authorize.net?

No. NMI sells its gateway only through resellers and the processors that embed it, so nmi.com has no merchant signup and no price list; Authorize.net does take direct signups. That is why every NMI price you see online is a reseller's price, and the reseller also boards your merchant account. Stratamize resells both gateways and provisions either one with a merchant account behind it from one application.

Am I already on NMI without knowing it?

Possibly. NMI is often white-labeled, so the login your provider gave you may carry their name while the virtual terminal, Customer Vault, recurring module and reporting underneath are NMI. The tell is the vocabulary: Customer Vault, security key, Collect.js. If that is you, a move to a gateway we provision can be simpler than a move between two different gateways, because the vault and the integration already speak NMI. Send us a screenshot of your login.

Does NMI work with Shopify?

This is the one-sided row in the table. Authorize.net has a current Shopify app, and we set it up for stores that Shopify Payments will not take, which is why a Shopify store defaults to Authorize.net here. NMI's position on Shopify has changed over time, so rather than state it and let it go stale, our Authorize.net for Shopify page covers both gateways on Shopify, including Shopify's own fee for third-party gateways. On WooCommerce, Magento and BigCommerce, both are listed and the other rows decide.

Which is cheaper, NMI or Authorize.net?

It depends on the merchant account behind the gateway more than on the gateway. Authorize.net publishes its own pricing, starting from a flat gateway fee of $25 per month on every plan, as published by Authorize.net at the time of writing. All-in-One folds a merchant account into a single rate; gateway-only adds per-transaction and daily batch fees and expects you to bring a merchant account, which is the plan we board, priced at interchange plus a margin we show you.

NMI has no list price, because each reseller sets its gateway fee; we quote ours with your processing. For most businesses the processing is the larger line and it is the same merchant account either way, so compare the two totals, not the two gateway fees.

Which is better for recurring billing?

Either, with notes. NMI's recurring module runs plans and subscriptions against the Customer Vault, in the same login as the virtual terminal and invoicing. Authorize.net's ARB runs schedules, and pairing it with customer profiles and Account Updater handles retries and replaced cards. The practical differences: NMI can spread subscription volume across more than one merchant account, which matters for high-risk subscription businesses; Authorize.net has more subscription-software partners that connect to it by name. If you are rebuilding a large subscriber base, tell us how many schedules and which software, and we will pick the one that rebuilds with less pain.

What is the Authorize.net emulator in NMI, and can I switch without reprogramming?

NMI accepts an Authorize.net-emulated API: an integration written against Authorize.net's transaction calls can be pointed at an NMI endpoint with new credentials and keep working, which is how many developers and cart plugins move to NMI without a rewrite. The caveat: emulation covers the common transaction calls, not every feature. Recurring schedules, stored profiles and some reporting do not come across and are rebuilt natively. It is a bridge for the checkout, not a full migration; we test your integration against it before go-live.

Can I move my Authorize.net vault to NMI, or the other way?

Often, yes, but it is a project rather than a setting. Stored cards are tokens that belong to the gateway that created them, so a move is an export from one gateway and an import into the other, with both providers involved, a compliance step on each side and sometimes a per-record fee from the exporting gateway. Recurring schedules do not travel with the tokens, so ARB or NMI subscriptions get rebuilt after the import. Our sequence: new account and gateway live, import the vault, rebuild the schedules, switch the checkout, cancel the old gateway. Talk to us before you cancel anything.

Which gateway is better for a high-risk business?

A gateway does not get anyone approved; the merchant account behind it does, and that is where underwriting looks at your products, sales channels and processing history. With that said, NMI is the gateway most high-risk providers build on: one gateway can carry more than one merchant account with routing between them, its hosted checkout keeps your site out of card-data scope, and its card-testing filters are the ones those providers know. Authorize.net is the route for a high-risk Shopify store, and fine elsewhere when the account is underwritten for the industry. Our high-risk gateway page has the industry-by-industry view.

Can I run both NMI and Authorize.net?

Yes, and some businesses should. A common pattern is Authorize.net on the Shopify store and NMI for invoicing, phone orders and recurring billing, with one merchant account or two behind them. The costs are two gateway fees, two logins and reporting reconciled across both. If you have two channels with different needs, two gateways on one application is a normal setup; if the only reason is one platform's integration, we suggest picking one.