Payment Rails

PayStream supports multiple payment rails to balance speed and cost.

Available Rails

Rail	Speed	Cost	Limit
standard	2-3 business days	Free	$100,000
same_day_ach	Same business day	$1.00	$100,000
rtp	~30 seconds	1.5% (min $1, max $30)	$100,000
instant	~30 seconds	2% (min $1.50, max $50)	$10,000

Choosing a Rail

Standard ACH

Best for: Regular, non-urgent payouts

• Free processing
• 2-3 business day delivery
• Highest reliability

Same-Day ACH

Best for: Urgent payouts that don't need instant delivery

• $1 flat fee
• Same business day (if submitted before cutoff)
• Cutoff times vary by bank (typically 2-4pm ET)

RTP (Real-Time Payments)

Best for: Instant bank-to-bank transfers

• 30 second delivery
• 24/7/365 availability
• Requires recipient bank to support RTP
• Percentage fee (1.5%)

Instant (Push-to-Card)

Best for: Instant payouts to debit cards

• 30 second delivery
• Works with most debit cards
• Higher fees than RTP
• $10,000 limit per transaction

Automatic Rail Selection

Enable AI-powered rail selection:

{
  "paymentSettings": {
    "aiRoutingMode": "balanced"  // or "fastest" or "cheapest"
  }
}

Modes:

• cheapest - Always choose lowest cost rail
• fastest - Always choose fastest rail
• balanced - Balance cost and speed based on payment amount

Specifying a Rail

Override automatic selection per payment:

curl -X POST https://api.paystream.fi/api/v1/payments \
  -d '{
    "recipientId": "rec_abc123",
    "amount": 50000,
    "rail": "rtp",
    "urgency": true
  }'