Choosing an Integration

PayRex offers two ways to accept payments. Both support the same payment methods (cards, GCash, Maya, BillEase, QR Ph, etc.) and both use webhooks to notify your app when a payment succeeds or fails. The difference is where the payment UI lives.

Not sure where to start?

Start with Checkout Sessions. It requires no frontend code, handles the entire payment UI, and gets you accepting payments in minutes. You can always switch to Payment Intents + Elements later when you need more control — the backend concepts (payment intents, webhooks, customers) are the same.

Checkout Sessions

PayRex hosts the entire payment page. You create a session on the backend, redirect the customer to PayRex, and they come back to your site when done.

$session = Payrex::checkoutSessions()->create([
    'line_items' => [
        ['name' => 'Pro Plan', 'amount' => 99900, 'quantity' => 1],
    ],
    'payment_methods' => ['card', 'gcash', 'maya'],
    'success_url' => route('checkout.success'),
    'cancel_url' => route('checkout.cancel'),
]);

return redirect()->away($session->url);

Best for:

• Getting started quickly
• Landing pages and simple storefronts
• When you don't want to build or maintain a payment form
• When PCI compliance concerns are a priority

See Checkout Sessions for the full guide.

Payment Intents + Elements

You build the payment form in your own app using the PayRex JS SDK. You create a Payment Intent on the backend, pass the clientSecret to your frontend, and mount a payment element that collects payment details and sends them directly to PayRex — sensitive card data never touches your server.

Best for:

• Fully branded checkout experience
• Single-page applications (Vue, React, etc.)
• Complex checkout flows with multiple steps
• When you want complete control over the UI

See Elements for the full integration guide with Vanilla JS, Vue, and React examples.

Quick Comparison

	Checkout Sessions	Payment Intents + Elements
Frontend code	None	PayRex JS SDK
UI customization	Limited	Full control
Customer stays on your site	No (redirected to PayRex)	Yes
Implementation effort	Minimal	Moderate
Hold then capture	Yes	Yes
Best for	Simple integrations	Custom checkout flows

Which Should I Pick?

Start with Checkout Sessions if you want to accept payments as fast as possible. You can always migrate to Payment Intents + Elements later when you need more control — the backend concepts (payment intents, webhooks, customers) are the same.

Use Payment Intents + Elements if you already know you need a custom checkout experience or if your app is a single-page application where redirecting away would break the user flow.

TIP

Both approaches create a Payment Intent under the hood. A Checkout Session is essentially a PayRex-hosted wrapper around a Payment Intent. This means everything you learn about payment intents, webhooks, and error handling applies to both flows.

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Next up: Ready to build? Jump to Checkout Sessions (recommended) or Elements for a custom UI.

Further Reading

• Checkout Sessions — Full guide for the hosted payment page
• Elements — Full guide for the custom payment form
• Accept a Payment — Step-by-step payment guide
• Payment Methods — All supported payment methods