Create a Paga Business Account

Paga Engine is Paga's payments infrastructure for businesses. With one integration, you can accept payments from your customers, send money out, hold and move funds on behalf of your users, and get paid by customers through the Paga app and Paga's agent network, all on the same platform that powers the Paga app.

What you can build

	What it does	Products
Accept payments	Let customers pay you by card, bank transfer, USSD, direct debit or Paga Wallet	Checkout JS, Checkout Link, Checkout Inline, Dynamic Payment Identifier, Persistent Payment Identifier, Bank USSD, Direct Debit, Paga Wallet
Make payments	Send money to any bank account or Paga wallet, buy airtime and data, and pay bills	Money Transfer (Payout), Airtime and Data, Bill Payment
Manage accounts for your users	Issue Paga accounts to your customers and hold and move money on their behalf from your business account	Subsidiary Accounts
Get paid through Paga's network	List your business on the Paga app and Paga's agent network (web, POS and app) so customers can pay you there, and get notified of each payment in real time	Merchant Notification API

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Which collection method should I use?

One-off payments (an order or invoice): use Checkout, or a Dynamic Payment Identifier for a one-time account number.

Repeat customers (wallet top-ups, savings, rent): give each customer a Persistent Payment Identifier, a permanent account number they can pay into at any time.

Recurring charges (subscriptions, loan repayments): use Direct Debit.

Before you start

Every integration starts with a Paga Business account. Paga has two environments, and each one needs its own account:

	Sandbox (Test)	Live (Production)
Use it to	Build and test your integration	Process real payments
Money	Simulated; no real funds move	Real funds
Approval	Email request to Paga support (within 24 hours)	Business verification (KYC) in the portal (within 2 working days)
Dashboard	beta-business.paga.com	business.paga.com

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Start in Sandbox
Build and test your full integration in Sandbox first. When everything works, create your Live account and switch to your live API keys.

Step 1: Create a Sandbox account

Go to the Sandbox registration page.
Enter your business details and submit the form.
Request approval. Your Sandbox account must be approved before you can use it. Email [email protected] with your account name and Sandbox account number, which you'll find on your dashboard. Approval usually takes up to 24 hours.

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Sample approval request
To: [email protected]
Subject: Sandbox account approval request
Hello, please approve our Sandbox account.
Account name: [Your business name]
Account number: [Your Sandbox account number]

Once your account is approved, get your Sandbox API keys from Developer Tools → API Keys in the dashboard. See Get Your API Keys for details.

To test payments, use the cards, bank accounts and Paga accounts on the Test Data page, and Simulate Bank Transfers to test transfer-based collections.

Step 2: Go live

When your integration is ready to handle real payments:

Register a Live Paga Business account.
Complete business verification (KYC). After you register, the portal will prompt you to complete KYC. See business verification requirements for the documents you'll need. Our team reviews submissions within two working days. If we need more information, we'll follow up by email, so keep an eye on the inbox you registered with.
Once you're approved, get your live API keys from Developer Tools → API Keys on business.paga.com.
Replace your Sandbox keys and base URLs with the live ones.

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Sandbox and Live keys are different
Keys from one environment won't work in the other. Keep your secret key and hash key private, and never commit them to source control.

Get help

Our support team is available 24/7 at [email protected]. You can also join the Paga developer community on Slack to ask questions and connect with other developers.