CSG Forte
by CSG Forte · Payment Processing
Cloud payment gateway for ACH, card and digital wallet processing with built-in fraud protection.
Updated August 2026 · By the ERP Research Editorial Team · Independent and vendor-neutral.
- Deployment
- Cloud
- Company size
- Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
- Pricing
- Quote-based
- Headquarters
- Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Overview
CSG Forte (formerly Forte Payment Systems, and commonly branded CSG Forte since its 2018 acquisition by CSG Systems International) is a payment processing platform that lets businesses accept, manage and protect card, ACH and digital-wallet payments across online, in-person, phone and mobile channels. The company reports processing roughly 260 million transactions and more than $195 billion in payment volume annually across around 175,000 merchants, serving enterprise, government, non-profit, financial institution, ISO/ISV and small-to-medium business customers.
The platform is organized around four areas: accepting payments (credit/debit cards, ACH, digital wallets, IVR, point of sale, payment links, text-to-pay); managing payments (a multi-processor payment gateway, payment operations, payouts, electronic bill payment, and a reporting/analytics portal branded Dex); protecting payments (an AI/ML fraud-detection engine branded PaymentsProtection.ai, tokenization, PCI DSS Level 1 infrastructure, account updater, and payment verification/authentication); and integrating payments (a REST API, Forte.js client-side tokenization, a hosted Forte Checkout, and a React Native SDK).
CSG Forte does not publish prebuilt, certified connectors for named ERP systems. It documents generic integration with ERP, CRM and billing platforms through real-time API calls, batch file processing, and webhook/event notifications layered on top of a merchant's existing systems. Forte Payment Systems was acquired by CSG Systems International in 2018 for $85 million; CSG Systems was itself acquired by Japan's NEC Corporation, with the combined business led by NEC subsidiary Netcracker, in a deal that completed in 2026.
Screenshots & demo
Screenshots sourced from CSG Forte.
Features & capabilities
Accept Payments
Payment acceptance across card, ACH, digital wallet and phone channels.
- Credit and debit card processing (in-person, online and phone)
- ACH/eCheck processing with Standard and Same Day ACH
- Digital wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal
- IVR (phone) payments with customizable business rules
- Point-of-sale acceptance: EMV, contactless and P2PE terminals
- Payment links and text-to-pay/mobile collection
- Omnichannel acceptance with unified cross-channel reporting
Manage Payments
Gateway orchestration, operations and reporting for payments already accepted.
- Payment gateway connecting 20+ banking partners and processors through one integration
- Payment operations back-office workflow automation
- Payouts to vendors, staff and customers
- Electronic bill payment / billing solutions
- Dex reporting and analytics portal with real-time transaction, funding and settlement visibility
- Multi-format data export (PDF, XLSX, CSV) and API access for BI/data-warehouse tools
Protect Payments
Fraud detection, verification and compliance built into the payment flow.
- PaymentsProtection.ai: AI/ML fraud-detection engine analyzing behavioral patterns across roughly 215M annual transactions
- Configurable fraud rules with merchant-specific risk thresholds
- Account Updater: automatic card-on-file refresh for Visa, Mastercard and Discover
- Direct Fund Recovery: automated NSF/ACH re-presentment within Nacha rules
- Tokenization to reduce merchant PCI scope
- Payment verification, validation and account-ownership authentication
- PCI DSS Level 1 and SOC 2 Type II certified infrastructure
Integrate & Develop
Developer tooling for embedding payments into existing software.
- REST API with sandbox environment and code samples
- Forte.js client-side tokenization library
- Forte Checkout hosted/embeddable payment form
- React Native SDK for mobile app payments
- Low-code/no-code embedded-payments components
- Real-time API, batch-file, and webhook integration patterns for ERP/CRM/billing systems
Common use cases
- Accepting recurring ACH and card payments for subscription or membership billing
- Processing utility, telecom or government bill payments across web, IVR and in-person channels
- Consolidating multiple bank and processor relationships behind a single payment gateway integration
- Reducing payment fraud and chargebacks with AI-based transaction monitoring
- Recovering failed recurring ACH payments automatically via NSF re-presentment
- Embedding payment acceptance directly into an ISV's own software via API or SDK
- Centralizing payment reporting and reconciliation across card and ACH channels in one portal
Strengths & considerations
Strengths
- Single gateway integration to 20+ banking partners and processors, avoiding point-to-point bank connections
- In-house AI/ML fraud engine (PaymentsProtection.ai) trained on the platform's own transaction volume rather than a bolted-on third-party tool
- Broad acceptance surface spanning card, ACH, IVR, POS and text-to-pay under one reporting portal (Dex)
- PCI DSS Level 1 and SOC 2 Type II certified infrastructure
Considerations
- Does not publish prebuilt or certified connectors for named ERP systems; ERP integration is built via generic REST API, batch file, or webhook patterns rather than an off-the-shelf connector
Pricing
Pricing is not published. Cost is driven by payment mix (card vs. ACH), transaction volume, and which product areas (accept, manage, protect, integrate) a merchant uses. Get an independent shortlist with pricing guidance below.
Technical & security
- Hosting
- SaaS
- Compliance
- PCI DSS Level 1, SOC 2 Type II
- Languages
- English
About the vendor
- Headquarters
- Fort Worth, Texas, United States
- Ownership
- Subsidiary of CSG Systems International, itself acquired by NEC Corporation (combined business led by NEC's Netcracker) in a deal completed 2026
- Notable customers
- Mecklenburg County, WasteWORKS, Intech Apex Court Solutions, Gordon James Realty
Alternatives to CSG Forte in Payment Processing
CSG Forte — frequently asked questions
Does CSG Forte integrate with ERP systems?
CSG Forte does not publish prebuilt, certified connectors for specific ERP platforms. It documents generic integration with ERP, CRM and billing systems via real-time REST API calls, batch file processing, and webhook notifications layered on top of a merchant's existing systems.
What payment methods does CSG Forte support?
CSG Forte processes credit and debit cards, ACH/eCheck (including Same Day ACH), and digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal, across online, in-person, IVR and text-to-pay channels.
Is CSG Forte PCI compliant?
Yes. CSG Forte's payment gateway is PCI DSS Level 1 certified and SOC 2 Type II audited, and it offers tokenization to reduce merchants' own PCI compliance scope.
Who owns CSG Forte?
CSG Forte (formerly Forte Payment Systems) was acquired by CSG Systems International in 2018. CSG Systems was itself acquired by NEC Corporation, with the combined business led by NEC's Netcracker subsidiary, in a deal that completed in 2026.
How is CSG Forte priced?
CSG Forte does not publish pricing. Cost is quote-based, driven by transaction volume, payment mix between card and ACH, and which product modules (accept, manage, protect, integrate) a merchant uses.
Evaluating Payment Processing?
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