Elavon Wins TSG’s 2026 Best B2B API Award for Innovative Payment Gateway
Elavon, a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Bank and a major global payments processor, has received the 2026 Best B2B API Award as part of TSG’s API Best of Breed Awards. The recognition highlights Elavon’s work in developing payment technology designed to address the specific requirements of business-to-business transactions while helping organizations streamline payment operations and accelerate technology implementation.
The award recognizes capabilities within Elavon’s payment gateway that support complex B2B payment requirements, including workflow automation, detailed transactional data exchange and interchange optimization. These capabilities are designed to help businesses, software providers and technology partners integrate payments into existing systems while supporting a more efficient approach to managing commercial transactions.
The recognition also adds to a broader set of honors Elavon received in TSG’s 2026 awards. Elavon Payment Gateway was named a runner-up for Best Developer Experience, while Converge was recognized as a runner-up for Best Dev Stack. TSG based these recognitions on an independent evaluation of publicly available application programming interface documentation and the performance of the payment gateways assessed across the respective award categories.
Recognition for B2B Payment Technology
Business-to-business payments can involve requirements that extend beyond basic payment acceptance. Organizations may need to manage multiple payment types, exchange detailed transaction information, automate internal processes and account for payment costs across different transaction environments.
Elavon’s payment gateway has been designed to address these requirements through a combination of payment capabilities and API functionality.
According to TSG, the gateway’s support for B2B payment requirements, advanced data management, workflow capabilities and interchange optimization were among the factors contributing to its recognition in the Best B2B API category.
The award reflects the growing importance of API infrastructure in the payments industry. As businesses increasingly rely on software platforms and interconnected technology environments, the ability to integrate payment functionality into existing systems has become an important consideration when organizations select payment technology.
APIs allow different software systems to communicate with one another and exchange information. Within payments, they can enable businesses and software providers to connect payment functionality with commerce platforms, enterprise applications, accounting systems and other digital tools.
TSG Evaluates API Capabilities
TSG’s annual API Best of Breed Awards evaluate payment gateway APIs across several aspects of the developer and integration experience.
The evaluation considers factors including performance, developer experience, onboarding processes, documentation, ease of integration and innovation.
For the 2026 awards, TSG used its Global Experience Monitoring platform, known as GEM, to assess publicly available API documentation and integration experiences.
The evaluation considered the experiences of both novice and experienced developers. This approach is intended to examine how effectively payment technology providers communicate their capabilities and support implementation through available developer resources.
For payment gateways, API documentation can play an important role in determining how quickly developers can understand available functionality and integrate payment services into applications.
Clear documentation can help developers identify available endpoints, understand data requirements and determine how different payment capabilities can be incorporated into existing systems.
The Best B2B API category specifically focuses on payment gateways that address the complexity associated with commercial payments while maintaining a strong developer experience and efficient implementation process.
Addressing Complex Commercial Payments
B2B payments can differ significantly from consumer transactions in terms of data requirements, payment workflows and cost considerations.
Commercial transactions may require businesses to exchange more detailed information between systems. Organizations may also have more complex approval and reconciliation processes, as well as requirements for handling multiple payment methods and transaction types.
Elavon’s payment gateway is designed to support these requirements by providing capabilities that businesses can integrate into their existing technology environments.
Workflow automation is one of the areas highlighted by TSG. Automating payment-related processes can help businesses reduce manual intervention and connect payment activity with broader operational workflows.
For software providers and enterprise organizations, the ability to integrate payment processes directly into existing applications can also reduce the need for separate systems and manual processes.
Detailed transactional data is another important element of B2B payment infrastructure. Businesses often need access to transaction information for purposes such as reconciliation, reporting, customer management and financial operations.
By supporting the exchange of transactional data through its API capabilities, Elavon enables organizations to connect payment activity with other systems and applications.
Interchange Optimization
TSG also identified interchange optimization as an important component of Elavon’s B2B payment capabilities.
Interchange represents a component of payment transaction economics, and optimization can be particularly relevant for businesses processing significant volumes of commercial transactions.
By incorporating capabilities designed to address interchange considerations, Elavon’s gateway can help businesses manage payment acceptance in environments where transaction costs and payment routing are important considerations.
For organizations processing multiple types of payments, having these capabilities within a unified payment environment can simplify technology management and reduce the need to work across disconnected systems.
The combination of workflow support, data management and interchange optimization contributed to Elavon’s recognition in the Best B2B API category.
Importance of Developer Experience
The awards also recognize Elavon’s broader focus on developer experience.
Elavon Payment Gateway was named a runner-up for TSG’s Best Developer Experience category. The recognition reflects the importance of how developers interact with payment technology during the implementation process.
For businesses and software providers, integrating payments can be a significant technical undertaking. Developers need to understand the API, review documentation, configure payment functionality and connect the gateway with other components of the technology environment.
A well-structured developer experience can help simplify these processes and reduce friction during implementation.
Elavon’s recognition in this category complements its Best B2B API award by highlighting both the functionality of the gateway and the experience involved in implementing it.
Converge Recognized for Best Dev Stack
Elavon also received a runner-up recognition for Converge in TSG’s Best Dev Stack category.
Converge is part of Elavon’s broader payment technology offering and supports organizations seeking payment capabilities that can be integrated into digital commerce environments.
The additional recognition demonstrates that Elavon’s technology portfolio was evaluated across multiple dimensions of API and developer capabilities.
The three honors received by Elavon and its products in the 2026 awards include the Best B2B API award for the payment gateway, a runner-up position for Best Developer Experience and a runner-up recognition for Best Dev Stack for Converge.
TSG’s assessments were based on publicly available API documentation and the results of the gateways evaluated within each category.
APIs Become More Important to Payment Technology
The increasing importance of APIs reflects broader changes in how businesses deploy technology.
Organizations increasingly use interconnected software platforms rather than relying on isolated applications. Payment functionality therefore needs to operate as part of a wider digital ecosystem.
For businesses, software vendors and technology partners, APIs can provide a way to embed payment functionality directly into existing products and workflows.
This can be particularly relevant for software companies that want to offer payment acceptance as part of their applications. Instead of requiring customers to leave a platform to complete payment-related tasks, embedded payment functionality can allow transactions to take place within an integrated environment.
For payment providers, this creates a need to develop APIs that are flexible, scalable and accessible to developers.
Elavon’s payment gateway is positioned to support these requirements by enabling businesses and software providers to accept payments, automate workflows and exchange transaction information with other systems.
Supporting Faster Implementation
Speed to market has become an increasingly important consideration for businesses developing or deploying digital products.
Organizations may need to launch new payment capabilities quickly in response to changing customer expectations, new business models or expansion into additional channels.
The complexity of payment integration can influence how quickly these capabilities can be deployed.
Elavon’s API-based approach is intended to help businesses and software providers integrate payment functionality into their existing technology environments and bring products and services to market more efficiently.
By providing payment capabilities through a unified platform, Elavon aims to reduce the technical complexity associated with building and maintaining separate payment integrations.
The ability to connect payments with existing business systems can also support operational efficiency after implementation.
Elavon’s Broader Commerce Strategy
The TSG recognition forms part of Elavon’s broader focus on payment technology and digital commerce solutions.
Through its payment gateway and other commerce offerings, the company supports merchants, software providers and enterprise organizations with technology designed to facilitate payment acceptance and transaction management.
The company’s position within U.S. Bank also provides it with access to the resources and infrastructure of a major financial institution.
Elavon serves businesses across different industries and transaction environments, requiring its payment technology to accommodate a range of operational requirements.
Its focus on API-based capabilities reflects the increasing integration between payments and business software.
Leadership Perspective
Wally Mlynarski, CEO of Elavon, said the recognition reflects the company’s commitment to helping businesses simplify payments, improve efficiency and support growth.
He also emphasized the company’s focus on supporting both customers and partners as payment technology continues to evolve.
According to Mlynarski, Elavon intends to continue investing in modern payment capabilities designed to make it easier for businesses to innovate and scale.
The comments highlight the company’s emphasis on technology development as part of its broader payments strategy.
TSG’s Assessment of Elavon’s Approach
Darren Adelgren, Senior Head of Payment Technology, Development & Enablement at TSG, noted that B2B payments can require richer data, more complex workflows and greater attention to interchange optimization than many standard payment APIs.
He said these requirements were reflected in TSG’s assessment of Elavon’s technology.
The comments reinforce the specific nature of the Best B2B API recognition. Rather than evaluating only basic payment acceptance functionality, the award considers how payment APIs address the operational requirements associated with commercial transactions.
Supporting the Future of Digital Payments
The recognition comes at a time when businesses are increasingly integrating payment capabilities directly into digital products and operational systems.
As software platforms become more central to commerce, payments are increasingly becoming part of broader technology ecosystems. Businesses want payment solutions that can connect with their existing systems, support multiple transaction types and provide access to data that can be used throughout their operations.
Elavon’s investment in API technology addresses this shift by providing tools for businesses, software vendors and partners to integrate payments into their technology environments.
The 2026 TSG awards recognize several aspects of that approach, from B2B payment functionality to developer experience and development infrastructure.
With the Best B2B API Award, along with runner-up recognitions for Best Developer Experience and Best Dev Stack, Elavon’s payment technology portfolio has received recognition across several areas of API development.
The company said it will continue investing in digital payment capabilities as businesses seek more integrated and efficient ways to manage commerce.
The recognition underscores the role of API technology in the continued modernization of payment infrastructure. For merchants, software providers and enterprise organizations, payment APIs can provide the foundation for connecting transaction processing with broader business workflows.
Through its payment gateway, Converge and wider commerce solutions, Elavon continues to develop technology intended to help organizations integrate payments, automate processes and manage the movement of money across increasingly connected digital environments.
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