Chargeback.io vs Signifyd: how they differ
Chargeback.io vs Signifyd comes down to timing. Signifyd checks each order at checkout and pays you back if an approved order is later charged back. Chargeback.io gets the dispute alert after the sale and refunds the customer before the chargeback lands.
I've advised merchants on cutting their chargeback rate, and most of them assumed anything with "chargeback" in the pitch did the same job. A guarantee that pays you back and an alert that stops the dispute are two different buys. Only one of them keeps your ratio down.
By the end of this you'll know whether you need one, both, or neither.
Key takeaways
Disputes already landing? See our per-alert pricing.
Is Chargeback.io a Signifyd alternative?
No. Signifyd guarantees an order at checkout, and Chargeback.io catches the dispute weeks later on an order it already approved.
Signifyd's decision engine screens the transaction before it clears, and its guarantee pays you back if that approved order is later charged back. Chargeback.io works downstream of that decision, matching a pre-dispute alert to the sale and refunding it before a chargeback ever posts. They sit at opposite ends of the same sale.
The separation is a matter of timing.
Signifyd's decision engine runs while the customer is still at checkout, and its guarantee covers that approval.
The alert networks we resell work the other way around. Ethoca and Verifi alerts only fire once a cardholder has already called their bank about a charge. That's usually days or weeks after the order shipped.
There is one place the two overlap. Signifyd fights disputes it reads as abusive, on its own, after the fact. That's recovery on a chargeback that already exists.
What each tool actually does
Signifyd sells a checkout decision plus a guarantee on the orders it approves. We sell dispute alerts plus an auto-refund before the chargeback posts. Both cut what chargebacks cost you, in opposite ways.
The customer does one thing. A guarantee moves the loss onto Signifyd, so you get the money back. An alert opens a window to refund early, so you get no chargeback.
Our guide to chargeback protection options maps the categories of tool.
An alert matches a dispute to your sale on amount, date, and descriptor. Our explainer on chargeback alerts walks through it in full.
Here's how the two compare:
Our per-alert pricing carries no monthly minimum and no contract, so you pay only when an alert stops a chargeback.
Fighting a chargeback that already posted, with no guarantee behind it, is a third job neither tool covers. We don't sell representment today, so a chargeback that gets past both is yours to answer.
What Signifyd's guarantee does and does not cover
Signifyd's Complete Chargeback Protection covers non-fraud chargebacks as well as fraud ones, on any order it approved. Its own product page says claims like item-not-received are all covered.
That's wider than the fraud-only coverage most comparison pages describe.
The guarantee applies to whatever Signifyd approved, so that's what sets the scope. The reason code the cardholder picks later doesn't change it. Disputes it reads as abusive get fought on its own, and you're paid back even when a fight fails.
Our reason code lookup will name the codes your own disputes are filing under.
The coverage has exclusions, though. A chargeback on an order Signifyd declined or left out stays your loss. One Leg Out and MOTO transactions run on their own terms, as do European orders where SCA was done.
Read your own contract if you're on custom terms.
A guarantee pays you back, it does not lower your ratio
A guarantee refunds your loss, and the chargeback still counts toward the monitoring ratios that decide whether you keep your processor.
Getting paid back changes nothing about that count.
Visa's Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) and Mastercard's Excessive Chargeback Program (ECP) both read your dispute count and ratio off network records, written the moment the chargeback posts. Who eats the loss is a deal between you and your vendor, and the networks never track it.
One bad quarter can put you over the published thresholds:
- Visa VAMP, excessive level: 1,500 combined fraud and dispute instances with a 1.50% ratio.
- Mastercard ECM: 100 to 299 chargebacks with a ratio of 1.50% to 2.99%.
- Mastercard HECM: According to Mastercard's same program schedule, 300 or more chargebacks with a ratio of 3.00% or higher.
Two merchants can hit those numbers with one of them out nothing, because the guarantee paid, and the programs still read the same count for both.
Friendly fraud makes that easier to hit than it looks. Juniper Research put it at 22% of chargebacks in 2026.
Our breakdown of what goes into a chargeback ratio walks through the math if you want to check your own.
This only matters if you're near a threshold. A merchant with a low ratio and a guarantee in place has already solved their problem.
Can you use Signifyd and Chargeback.io together?
Yes. Signifyd screens which orders you take and eats the loss on the ones it approves, while alerts catch the disputes filed anyway. Each covers what the other can't.
Signifyd runs at checkout, inside the authorization flow. An alert comes through the card networks after a cardholder calls their bank, so neither gets in the other's way.
There's one thing to set up. Before you turn on auto-refund, exclude the orders Signifyd already guarantees. Otherwise you refund a buyer it is paying you back for.
Some disputes arrive with no fraud in them, and screening never sees those. In our dataset, cancelled recurring charges (code 13.2) make up 8.5% of alerts with a recorded reason code. Cancelled goods or services (code 13.7) add another 8.2%.
Those buyers meant to order, then disputed later. No checkout decision would have stopped them.
Authentication leaves a gap too. Across the alerts our platform processed that carry a 3D Secure status, only 9.9% were on payments with it turned on. Disputes keep arriving on payments that cleared every check in front of them.
Running both earns its cost only when disputes are landing. Pull your last 90 days of fraud chargebacks and count how many came from orders your current rules approved. If most did, tighten screening before you buy alerts.
Which one does your problem call for?
Approval losses call for screening, and a climbing dispute ratio calls for alerts. Two questions separate them:
- Are you losing money on approvals? Fraud you're eating, or good orders you're turning away, points to screening.
- Is your dispute ratio climbing? Disputes landing month after month, guaranteed or not, points to alerts.
Answer yes to the first and you want a decision engine. Our roundup of chargeback prevention software has the vendors worth a quote.
Answer yes to the second and alerts are what your problem calls for.
Answer no to both and you can wait. A merchant approving cleanly with a flat, low dispute ratio is paying for a problem they don't have yet.
Start with Chargeback.io alerts and pay only for the ones that prevent a chargeback.
How we sourced our data
The platform figures here come from anonymous, pooled alert data across the merchants enrolled with us. We count totals in each category and report them as shares of the alerts that carry a recorded value for it.
Every percentage above covers that labeled group, not every alert we've seen.
These numbers describe alerts our platform processed, and the wider payments industry is much larger. Our coverage is thin for American Express, JCB in the US, and Discover. Any brand-level share here reads low for those cards.
FAQ
Does Signifyd stop chargebacks from happening?
No. Signifyd pays you back when an approved order is charged back, and the chargeback still gets recorded against your account.
What are the best alternatives to Signifyd?
Riskified, Forter, Kount, and Sift are the closest ones, since all four screen orders at checkout and several attach a guarantee. Chargeback.io is a different category, because we work after the sale.
Which is better, Signifyd or Riskified?
Both guarantee approved orders, so the difference is which one approves more of your traffic and at what price. Run your own order mix through each, because any page that picks one for you is guessing.
Do I need alerts if I already have a guarantee?
That depends on whether chargebacks are still landing. A guarantee covers the loss, so a low ratio means you're fine, but being paid back won't slow a ratio climbing toward a threshold.
