American Express Token Service vs Razorpay TokenHQ

American Express Token Service replaces a card’s primary account number with a payment token for online and mobile commerce. It includes a token vault, token issuance and provisioning, lifecycle management, and risk management. Tokens are surrogate values that can be restricted by retailer, number of uses, lifetime, and other variables, and follow EMVCo Payment Tokenization specifications. During provisioning, issuers can assess whether a card is active, suspected of fraud, eligible for tokenization, and belongs to the card member requesting the token. Lifecycle management can keep tokens current when cards are replaced, reducing manual updates to stored payment details. Listed uses include card-on-file payments, Click to Pay, digital wallets, virtual cards, browser autofill virtual card numbers, and digital or numberless cards. The service is cloud-based and supports payment cards, card-on-file credentials, digital wallets, wearables, Click to Pay, and QR code payments. Pricing is on request; the listed plan is free, with no deployment or use fees stated. Availability varies by market and enablement is required.

Razorpay TokenHQ replaces card numbers with tokens so businesses can offer customers saved-card checkout. Razorpay connects businesses with card networks and issuers, either as the Token Requestor or as a connecting layer when the business already fills that role. The service works across Mastercard, RuPay, and Visa, and Razorpay says tokens can be used through other payment gateways. Standard Checkout businesses have TokenHQ enabled without integration; Custom Checkout businesses can request it on demand. API-integrated or server-to-server checkout may take 0–3 weeks of integration effort, depending on current integrations and API count. A dashboard lets businesses track and control token requests and create custom reports. Razorpay describes the APIs as suited to high traffic volumes. Saving a card or creating a token requires customer consent and an additional authentication factor. The card-to-token relationship is held in a vault owned by a card network or issuing bank; merchants may retain the last four card digits and issuer name for tracking or analytics. Pricing is on request. The service is available on Android, iOS, web, and API.