ACI Payments

What ACI Payments does

ACI Payments, Inc., founded in 1999, is a U.S.-based digital payment solutions provider operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ACI Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACIW). Headquartered in Elkhorn, Nebraska, the company processes electronic payments on behalf of federal, state, and local government agencies, utilities, courts, and higher education institutions, and has served as an authorized payment processor for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service since 1999. Its client base spans all 50 U.S. states and includes the IRS, 26+ state governments, the District of Columbia, 900+ county clients, 300+ court/citation clients, 250+ utilities, and 400+ higher education institutions. The company employs 101-250 staff, including a 15-person regional field sales force, and operates through sub-brands ACI Speedpay, ACI Pay, and the flagship 1-800-2PAY-TAX IVR brand.

The core platform is delivered through three primary channels — Internet Payment Services (acipayonline.com), Interactive Voice Response (IVR) services, and Point of Sale (POS)/kiosk systems — backed by a secure three-tiered architecture with full multi-data-center redundancy, 128-bit SSL encryption, firewalls, and Intrusion Detection Services. The infrastructure supports 24/7/365 availability with greater than 99.95% uptime, more than 8,000 simultaneous IVR calls, and tens of thousands of transactions per hour. Complementary features include Web Services integration, a ZIP-indexed centralized cross-biller payment system, an E-Wallet storing up to 10 card and 10 bank profiles, Schedule Payments/AutoPay (up to 12 monthly payments), Payment Reminders, Payment History, and a Tax Professionals co-marketing program. The company is PCI DSS compliant, NACHA certified, ISO/NIST-aligned, TRUSTe licensed, certified under the EU-U.S./UK/Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Frameworks, CCPA-aligned, and licensed as a money transmitter across all required states (NMLS #936777), with the IRS conducting annual Independent Verification & Validation audits.

ACI Payments generates revenue primarily through a consumer-paid convenience fee model, which the company pioneered with government clients who could not absorb electronic payment costs due to budgetary or statutory constraints. Fees are non-negotiable and vary by entity and amount — representative pricing includes a $3.50 flat fee on Visa/MasterCard debit card federal tax payments under $1,000 and $3.95 on payments of $1,000 or more. The company also receives per-transaction card processing fees from issuers/processors and operates under managed-services contracts with government agencies. Its go-to-market combines enterprise field sales, a three-tier partner ecosystem (Software, Service, Financial Partners), and direct-to-consumer self-service via web and IVR.

Name

ACI Payments

Legal name

ACI Payments, Inc.

Website

https://acipayonline.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

ACI Payments, Inc. (founded 1999) is a U.S. digital payment processor serving as the IRS's authorized payment provider and processing payments for 26+ state governments, 900+ counties, 300+ courts, 250+ utilities, and 400+ higher education institutions across all 50 states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Elkhorn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Convenience Fee (Transaction Fee): Charges consumers a convenience fee that covers the cost of processing the payment transaction. The convenience fee is non-negotiable and is paid directly to ACI Payments, Inc. by the consumer. Card statement shows payment charge and convenience fee separately. This is the consumer-paid transaction fee model pioneered with government clients who could not absorb electronic transaction costs due to budgeting constraints or statutory law.
2. Per-Transaction Card Processing Fees: Receives transaction fees from card issuers/processors for processing credit/debit card payments. Specific fee schedule examples include Visa/MasterCard: $3.50 flat service fee for federal tax payments under $1,000 and $3.95 for payments $1,000 or more.
3. Pay By Phone Convenience Fees: Automated Pay By Phone service (1-800-2PAY-TAX for federal/state/local; 1-888-UPAY-TAX for federal) charges a convenience fee for using the service. Fee is paid directly to ACI Payments, Inc. and payment partners do not receive any portion.
4. Government/Enterprise Service Contracts: Contracts with government agencies (IRS, 26+ state governments, 900+ counties, 300+ courts/citations, 250+ utilities, 400+ higher education) to provide payment processing services. Offers several technology packages and pricing models; pioneered the 'convenience fee' model of transaction processing with government clients. Does not charge separately for support services such as reporting, telecommunications, customer service, merchant IDs, bank setup, or marketing.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Core offering

ACI Payments, Inc. operates a multi-channel electronic payment platform that enables consumers to pay federal (IRS), state, local, and higher education bills—including taxes, utilities, tuition, citations, and court fees—via Internet (acipayonline.com), Interactive Voice Response (IVR) phone (1-800-2PAY-TAX), and Point-of-Sale kiosks. It acts as a licensed money transmitter and IRS-authorized payment processor, charging consumers a non-negotiable convenience fee for each transaction. The platform supports Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Network, debit cards, and electronic checks, and is offered both directly to consumers and via Web Services integration to government and institutional clients.

Product overview

ACI Payments, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of ACI Worldwide, Inc.) operates a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on the ACI Pay money transfer service, an IRS Payment Provider Since 1999. The core offering is delivered through three primary channels — Internet Payment Services (acipayonline.com and a dedicated fed.acipayonline.com federal site), Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Payment Services branded as 1-800-2PAY-TAX, and Point of Sale (POS) Payment Services with interactive kiosks — each supporting Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Network, debit cards, and electronic checks. Surrounding the core are the eCommerce Services suite (Web Design, Bill Presentment, Records Lookup, Electronic Document Requests, Request for Action) and the My Account program, which bundles the My Account Dashboard, E-Wallet, Schedule Payments / AutoPay, Payment Reminders, and Payment History. Co-branded Official Extras (Special Offers) with card networks, the Tax Professionals Program, the Pay By Phone automated service, and the ACI Speedpay sub-brand extend the platform across consumer, professional, and government-entity segments.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ACI Speedpay: Brand of ACI Payments, Inc. explicitly referenced in the Privacy Policy as one of its brands.
• ACI Pay
• 1-800-2PAY-TAX

Products and services

• ACI Pay (Money Transfer Service) Umbrella money transfer service operated by ACI Payments, Inc. covering all federal, state, local, and education bill payments conducted through the platform. Each bill payment is a money transfer performed by ACI Payments, Inc. on behalf of the sender under its multi-state money transmitter licenses.
• Internet Payment Services

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

Feature10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• FIS (Fidelity National Information Services): FIS operates a broad financial and government payments infrastructure business, including biller solutions and government processing services that intersect with ACI Payments' bill pay and ACH processing capabilities for U.S. government entities.
• Fiserv: Fiserv is a large diversified financial technology provider with bill payment, ACH, and government payment capabilities that overlap with ACI Payments' processing infrastructure, though Fiserv's footprint spans far beyond government.
• Jack Henry & Associates: Jack Henry provides core banking, payments, and bill pay technology to financial institutions, some of which in turn serve government clients similar to ACI Payments' bank partners. It is a broad incumbent in the U.S. payments stack rather than a head-to-head competitor.
• Tyler Technologies (NIC division): Tyler Technologies acquired NIC Inc., the long-standing government payments and digital services provider, and now competes in the same state and local government payment processing space as ACI Payments as part of a broader public sector software portfolio.

Emerging players

• Granicus: Granicus provides a government experience platform that increasingly bundles resident payment capabilities alongside communications and service request functionality, emerging as a partial competitor to ACI Payments' newer state and local government opportunities.
• USPS / PayIt (USPS online bill pay): The U.S. Postal Service and several state-level government portals are exploring direct bill payment and tax payment services that could partially disintermediate third-party processors like ACI Payments, particularly for federal and state tax categories.

Direct peers

• PayIt: PayIt is a direct competitor offering digital government payment and experience platforms to U.S. state and local agencies. It competes head-to-head with ACI Payments for state, county, and municipal bill payment contracts with a more modern, bundled resident experience product.
• Paymentus: Paymentus is a direct peer operating a bill payment platform for utilities, municipalities, and higher education clients. It overlaps directly with ACI Payments' utility (250+ clients) and higher education (400+ clients) verticals using a similar convenience-fee transaction model.
• Conduent: Conduent provides government BPO and electronic payment services, including tax payments, child support, and benefits disbursement, competing with ACI Payments across multiple government verticals in the U.S. with comparable scale.

Others

• NACHA (The Clearing House / Federal Reserve ACH ecosystem): NACHA governs the ACH network that ACI Payments relies on as a core processing rail, and The Clearing House and Federal Reserve operate real-time payment networks. These are infrastructure enablers and partners rather than direct competitors, but represent potential competitive vectors for new payment rails.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ACIPaymentsInc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/acipayonline

Compliance13 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ACI Payments