Sofort

 

SOFORT was a German bank transfer payment method that allowed consumers to pay online directly from their bank account without a credit card or separate registration. Founded in 2005 as Sofort GmbH, it was acquired by Klarna in 2014 and became one of the most widely used online bank transfer methods across Germany, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands, trusted for its real-time confirmation and direct bank authentication model.

SOFORT was fully discontinued as a standalone payment method on 1 October 2024. Klarna integrated its functionality into Klarna Pay Now, its real-time bank payment product. Merchants who had SOFORT in their checkout and have not yet acted need to remove it, as any SOFORT button remaining in a checkout will produce an error for customers attempting to use it.

The bank transfer functionality that SOFORT provided is still available through Klarna Pay Now in markets where Klarna is active. The underlying experience is comparable: the customer authenticates through their bank and the merchant receives real-time confirmation. The difference is that the payment now routes through Klarna’s infrastructure and is presented under the Klarna brand, with the added option of Klarna’s BNPL products visible alongside it.

For merchants who preferred SOFORT specifically as a non-BNPL bank transfer option and are uncomfortable with Klarna’s fuller product set in their checkout, alternatives worth evaluating include Open Banking-based payment initiation providers, SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, and country-specific bank transfer methods like iDEAL in the Netherlands and EPS in Austria.

PSPs that previously offered SOFORT have either migrated their integration to Klarna Pay Now or removed the method from their supported list. If SOFORT appears as an available option in a PSP’s documentation, it is worth confirming with the provider whether it is still live or pending decommissioning.

Relevant markets: Historically Germany, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, now superseded by Klarna Pay Now