A Revolut Business account manages company money; a Revolut Merchant account is the additional account used to accept customer payments. If you want to connect Revolut Pay to a checkout or payment page, you normally need both: first Revolut Business, then an approved Merchant account under it.
That distinction matters because a Business account can receive transfers without automatically giving you merchant checkout, order management, card acceptance or Merchant API credentials.
Business Account vs Merchant Account at a Glance
| Capability | Revolut Business account | Revolut Merchant account |
|---|---|---|
| Hold and exchange business funds | Yes | Settlement sub-account |
| Send bank transfers and business payouts | Yes | Not its main purpose |
| Issue and manage team cards | Yes | No |
| Accept online customer checkout payments | Not by itself | Yes, after approval |
| Create merchant orders and reports | No | Yes |
| Generate Merchant API keys | No | Yes |
| Connect Revolut Pay to PayRequest | Prerequisite | Required connection |
Revolut's official Merchant setup guide describes the Merchant account as a sub-account of Revolut Business that unlocks online, in-app and in-person payment acceptance, order management, reporting and Merchant API access.
What a Revolut Business Account Is For
Revolut Business is the operating finance account. Businesses use it to hold multiple currencies, make transfers, pay suppliers, manage team access and business cards, and organize everyday company spending.
Receiving an ordinary bank transfer into that account is not the same as processing a customer checkout. A bank transfer starts with account details and a payment reference. A merchant checkout creates an order, presents payment methods, returns a payment state and supports the operational records needed to reconcile a sale.
Use the Business account alone when your job is primarily:
- paying staff, contractors or suppliers;
- holding and exchanging operating currencies;
- receiving conventional bank transfers;
- managing company cards and spending controls.
What the Merchant Account Adds
The Merchant account adds payment acceptance. According to Revolut's Merchant account explanation, it sits under Revolut Business and lets an approved business accept customer payments through channels such as payment links, online checkout and compatible integrations.
It supplies the elements PayRequest needs for a direct merchant connection:
- a Production or Sandbox Public API key;
- a matching Secret API key for server-side order calls;
- a webhook signing secret for payment-event verification;
- merchant orders that can be retrieved and reconciled;
- settlement into the merchant's own Revolut account structure.
Approval is separate from opening the underlying Business account. Revolut can request information about your business, online presence, products, expected volume, transaction sizes and fulfillment model before activating merchant services.
Which Account Do You Need for Each Payment Job?
| Your job | Account or setup to use |
|---|---|
| Client sends a normal bank transfer | Revolut Business may be sufficient |
| Customer pays a hosted card checkout | Approved Merchant account |
| Customer uses Revolut Pay at checkout | Approved Merchant account with Revolut Pay enabled |
| You create links inside Revolut Business | Business plus Merchant account |
| You connect Revolut Pay to PayRequest | Business plus active Merchant account and API credentials |
| You send money to a supplier | Revolut Business; this is not a merchant payment |
Do not choose an account from the word “link” alone. A personal request link, business bank-transfer request, merchant payment link and payout link can all look like shareable URLs while doing different jobs.
The Pre-Connection Checklist
Before opening PayRequest Provider Settings, verify these items in Revolut:
- The Revolut Business account belongs to the legal business taking the payment.
- Merchant services show as approved rather than pending or restricted.
- The Public and Secret API keys come from the intended Production or Sandbox environment.
- A Merchant API webhook exists for the PayRequest endpoint.
- You copied the webhook signing secret, not the Secret API key, into the webhook-secret field.
- The currency and payment method you intend to test are enabled for that Merchant account.
This checklist prevents the most common setup mismatch: valid Business credentials or sandbox credentials being entered where production Merchant credentials are required.
How the PayRequest Connection Uses Both Accounts
The Business account establishes the company relationship with Revolut. The Merchant account supplies checkout and order capabilities. PayRequest then acts as the hosted payment-page and integration layer.
On a supported one-time payment page, PayRequest creates the Revolut order server-side. The customer completes the enabled checkout. Revolut sends the payment event, PayRequest verifies the signature and retrieves the final order state, and the matching transaction is updated idempotently. Funds remain scoped to the merchant's own connection.
PayRequest never substitutes a shared Revolut Merchant account. The Revolut Pay provider page explains the supported flow, and the connection guide covers the exact credentials and webhook events.
Current PayRequest Scope
As of August 2026, the first integration phase supports one-time amounts on simple PayRequest payment pages. It does not yet add Revolut Pay to product URLs, subscriptions, deposits or existing invoice checkouts.
Keep another connected provider available for those flows and test the exact public page you intend to share. An active Merchant account does not make every PayRequest checkout eligible automatically.
The Practical Decision
If you only manage company funds and receive conventional transfers, start with Revolut Business. If customers need a checkout, apply for the Merchant account. If you want that Merchant checkout inside a PayRequest payment-page workflow, connect the approved Merchant account under Settings → Providers.
Connect Revolut Pay to PayRequest when the Merchant account is active. PayRequest is free to start and charges 2% per successful payment, capped at €25 per transaction, in addition to the merchant fees shown by Revolut for your account and country.