FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How Noria Pay works, what it connects to and how it keeps money safe.
Noria Pay
What is Noria Pay?
Noria Pay is one payments API and dashboard for Kenyan businesses. It collects by M-Pesa, Airtel Money and card, pays out to M-Pesa, Airtel Money and banks, and reconciles statements, all through providers you already have accounts with.
Does Noria hold my money?
No. Payments settle from the provider straight into your own paybill, till or account. Pay uses your credentials to make requests on your behalf.
How much does it cost?
Pricing depends on your volume and the providers you use. Request access and we will talk it through.
How do I get started?
Request access. We set up your workspace, you add a project and your provider credentials in sandbox, and you go live when you are ready.
M-Pesa API
Do I need my own paybill or till?
Yes. Noria Pay calls Daraja with your own credentials, and Safaricom settles payments straight to your shortcode. Noria never holds your money.
Can I use a buy goods till instead of a paybill?
Yes. Each M-Pesa method is set to paybill or till, and STK push uses the matching Daraja transaction type.
What happens if the customer never enters their PIN?
The payment fails or expires once Safaricom says so. Pay never marks a payment succeeded or failed without Safaricom's answer, and a late answer is still applied.
Does Noria Pay accept fractions of a shilling?
No. M-Pesa settles whole shillings, so Pay rejects fractional KES amounts instead of rounding them and leaving your records out of step with your statement.
Payouts
Which providers can send payouts?
M-Pesa Daraja (B2C), SasaPay (M-Pesa, Airtel Money, bank and wallet) and KCB Buni (M-Pesa and bank).
Does Noria hold the money I pay out?
No. Payouts are sent from your own provider account with your own credentials. Noria never holds funds.
What if a payout request times out?
Pay records the outcome as unknown and settles it when the provider answers, or from your statement. It never sends a second payout to cover a first one that may have gone through.
Payment links
Do customers need an account?
No. They open the link, enter their phone number or card details and pay.
Can I switch a link off?
Yes. Deactivate it from the dashboard or the API and it stops accepting payments immediately.
Are payment links rate limited?
Yes. Anonymous checkout is limited per IP address, link and phone number before any payment is requested, which keeps a shared link from being used to spam prompts.
Reconciliation
Will reconciliation create payments from my statement?
No. Statement import only settles charges that already exist and match unambiguously. It never creates a payment on its own.
Can the same payment be counted twice?
No. Settlement happens once from a single open state, and a unique index on the provider receipt stops a callback, a notification and a statement row from settling the same payment twice.
Which statements can I import?
M-Pesa and bank statements. Each row is matched against the payment method it was paid into.
Developers
Is there an SDK?
No. The API is plain HTTP and JSON, and the reference has copy-ready samples in nine languages. Any HTTP client works.
How do I test without moving money?
Every payment method has sandbox and live modes. Point a sandbox method at the provider's sandbox credentials and use it exactly as you would live.
How do API keys work?
Keys belong to one project, are shown once, can expire after a set number of days, and revoking a key revokes every key it issued. Keys are for servers only and never sign in to the dashboard.
Integrations
Do I need accounts with these providers?
Yes. Pay uses your own credentials with each provider. Noria has no platform account that your money passes through.
How does Pay choose a provider?
Routing picks an enabled method in the right mode that supports the channel and currency, in the priority order you set. You can also name the provider on a request.
Can you add another bank or PSP?
Yes. Providers are adapters behind one interface, and a new one appears in the dashboard without dashboard changes. Request access and tell us which provider you need.
Daraja compared
Is Noria Pay built on Daraja?
Yes, for M-Pesa through Safaricom. Pay calls Daraja with your credentials; it does not replace your relationship with Safaricom.
Do I still need a Daraja app?
Yes. You create the app and go live with Safaricom as usual, then add its credentials to Pay.
Can I move an existing Daraja integration?
Yes. Add your existing credentials to a project and switch your STK push and B2C calls to the Pay API. Payments still settle to the same shortcode.
Security
Can Noria move money out of my account?
Pay only makes the requests your team or your API keys ask for, with the credentials you configured. Noria has no account your money passes through.
How are webhooks protected?
Every webhook is signed with your endpoint's secret and a timestamp. Pay also refuses to deliver to private network addresses in production.
Where do I report a security issue?
Email [email protected] with the details. We respond to every report.
Ready to take payments properly?
Tell us what you are building and which providers you use. We set up your workspace and help you go live.