The detail

M-Pesa payment integration that reconciles itself

Our M-Pesa payment integration service connects your website, online store or web application to Safaricom's Daraja API so customers can pay by M-Pesa and your system records each payment against the right order, invoice or booking automatically. We work with retailers, schools, clinics, landlords, SACCOs, event organizers, SaaS products and any Kenyan business that collects payments online.

Which M-Pesa option fits your business?

Before any code is written, it helps to understand the main options:

• Lipa na M-Pesa Online (STK Push, also called M-Pesa Express). Your system sends a payment prompt directly to the customer's phone with the amount pre-filled. They enter their PIN and your system receives the result through a callback. This is usually the smoothest checkout experience.
• Paybill. Customers pay to your business number and enter an account number. That account reference is what lets you match the payment to an invoice, student, tenant or member, which makes Paybill well suited to recurring or reference-based payments.
• Till number (Buy Goods). Customers pay to a till without an account number. It is simple and familiar for retail, but payments are harder to match automatically unless you pair it with STK Push.
• C2B confirmation and validation. When customers pay your Paybill or Till directly from their phone menu, Safaricom can notify your system through a confirmation URL. A validation URL, where enabled, lets you check details like the account number before the payment is accepted.

If you also need to send money out, for refunds or disbursements, Safaricom's B2C API is a separate product with its own approval, so we scope it on its own. Many businesses combine STK Push at checkout with C2B callbacks for customers who pay manually, so no payment slips through.

How we build Daraja API integrations

1. Payment flow design. We document every way a customer might pay, what reference identifies them, and what should happen when a payment succeeds, fails, is cancelled or times out.
2. Secure server-side build. API credentials and passkeys stay on your server, never in the browser or app code. Callback endpoints run over HTTPS and log every request.
3. Callback handling. Each callback is checked against the pending transaction, recorded once, and used to update the order or invoice. Duplicate notifications are recognized and ignored rather than double-counted.
4. Status checks. If a callback never arrives, the system queries the STK Push or transaction status so pending payments are resolved instead of left hanging.
5. Sandbox testing. We test successful payments, wrong PINs, cancellations, timeouts and mismatched references in the Daraja sandbox.
6. Production go-live. We guide you through taking the app live on the Daraja portal with your own Paybill or Till shortcode, then verify real transactions end to end.

Where we integrate M-Pesa

• WooCommerce stores, where orders should move to paid automatically. See our WooCommerce development service.
• Custom Laravel applications such as portals, SaaS products and school or member systems. Our API integration services cover connecting M-Pesa alongside CRMs, SMS and ERPs.
• Booking and reservation systems for events, travel, clinics and services, where a slot should be held only until payment is confirmed.

What you get and how success is measured

At the end of an M-Pesa payment integration project, you receive a working integration, a payment log your finance team can search, clear handling for exceptions and documentation of every endpoint and setting. We judge success by a simple test: can your team stop matching M-Pesa statements to orders by hand?

• Paid orders and invoices update automatically, usually within moments of payment
• Every transaction is logged with its M-Pesa receipt number and linked record
• Unmatched or unusual payments are flagged for review, not lost
• Pending payments are resolved through status queries rather than guesswork

Common M-Pesa integration mistakes

• Trusting the browser instead of the callback. An order should only be marked paid when your server receives and verifies Safaricom's result.
• No plan for timeouts. Customers sometimes pay after the prompt appears to fail. Without status checks, those payments go unmatched.
• Weak account references. Free-text references lead to typos. Use clear, short references that customers can enter correctly.
• Relying on plugins you can't inspect. Unmaintained or unknown M-Pesa plugins can break after updates or mishandle callbacks. Whatever tool is used, you should be able to see how payments are verified and logged.
• Exposed credentials. Consumer keys and passkeys must never be placed in front-end code. Our article on securing your business website explains why.

Get your M-Pesa payments working properly

Whether you are adding M-Pesa for the first time or fixing an integration that keeps missing payments, we can help. We will review your current setup and recommend the simplest M-Pesa payment integration that reliably matches every payment. Book a discovery call and walk us through how your customers pay today.