Authentication analytics
Last updated: December 10, 2025
Use the Authentication view in the Dashboard's Payment lifecycle section to track your authentication performance over time and review your authentication analytics. Use the data to:
- Monitor and optimize your 3D Secure (3DS) performance.
- Review your authentication outcomes.
- Compare the effectiveness of frictionless and challenged authentication flows.
- Analyze the performance of your targeted exemption strategies to maximize acceptance and minimize customer friction.
To access your authentication analytics in the Dashboard:
- Sign in to the Dashboard.
- Go to Payments > Analytics > Payment lifecycle.
- Select the Authentication tab.
Your Authentication rate is calculated using the following formula:
number of successfully authenticated payments / total number of payments submitted for authentication
The Sankey diagram displays the end-to-end flow of your authentication requests, including their final outcomes. The diagram shows:
The Authenticated Requests Count represents the total volume of all transactions in which 3DS is initiated and includes:
- Frictionless Authentication - Transactions in which the cardholder authenticates successfully without a challenge.
- Challenged Authentication - Transactions in which the cardholder is presented with an authentication challenge.
The Outcomes represents the final result of the authentication flow:
- Success - The transaction was successfully authenticated. This includes both frictionless and successful challenge authentication flows.
- Issuer Declined - The cardholder's bank rejected the transaction during or after the authentication attempt. For example, because of risk factors, the account status, or the cardholder failing the challenge.
- Service Failure - A technical error occurred during the authentication process. For example, due to a system timeout or network issue.
- Expired - The session timed out because the cardholder failed to complete the challenge within the allowed time limit.
To review the performance of your challenge preferences and exemption strategy, select the Challenged and frictionless tab and find the Challenge indicators section.
The Authentication Requests by Payment Value graph displays authentication requests, grouped by the type of exemption you requested and segmented by the payment value. The segmentation is primarily applicable to transactions in the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom (UK):
| Challenge indicator type | Transaction value range | Exemption strategy |
|---|---|---|
Low-value exemption | Transactions below 30 EUR | Requested for transactions under the statutory threshold, to present a frictionless flow. Cannot be applied if the issuer's cumulative count or value limit is exceeded. |
TRA exemption | Transactions between 30 and 250 EUR | Requested for mid-value transactions deemed low-risk by the Transaction Risk Analysis (TRA) tool used by the acquirer or payment services provider (PSP). |
High-value exemption | Transactions above 250 EUR | Transactions above the highest TRA threshold. These typically default to a Challenge Required decision by the issuer, unless an out-of-scope reason applies. For example, for merchant-initiated transactions (MITs). |
Information
Low-value and TRA exemptions are directly related to Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements specified by the Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). They are primarily applicable for transactions in which the issuer and acquirer are both located within the EEA or UK.
The authentication flow and liability shift rules for transactions that do not fall within the scope of SCA are governed by standard scheme rules. For example, mail order / telephone order (MOTO) payments.
The tabs in the Issuer decision by payment value section enable you to monitor the performance of your specific exemption requests:
- 0 EUR - Tracks the success rate for 0 EUR transactions, typically used for card-on-file tokenization or account verification.
- 0 - 30 EUR - Tracks the success rate of challenged and frictionless authentications for transactions under 30 EUR, and shows how often the issuer honors your exemption request.
- 30 - 250 EUR - Tracks the success rate of transactions in the mid-value range, and shows the efficiency of your risk-based exemption strategy.
- > 250 EUR - Tracks the success rate of transactions in which you explicitly requested a challenge.
The Tracking Merchant preference vs. Checkout.com change table shows how Checkout.com's optimization engine impacted your challenge indicator:
- Merchant preference - The initial
challenge_indicatoryou submitted. For example, you requestedNo challenge requestedfor a low-value exemption. - Checkout.com change - Indicates if the Checkout.com optimization layer modified your request to improve success or ensure compliance. For example,
No challenge requestedwas modified toModify to challengeif the issuer's behavior strongly suggests they would decline otherwise. - Authorization success rate - The final rate at which the issuer accepted the payment after authentication. This is a key metric for your authentication strategy.
Your authorization analytics data on the Dashboard includes the following key metrics:
| Metric | Definition |
|---|---|
Authentication Success Rate | The percentage of all authentication requests that result in a successful outcome. |
Successful Authentications | The total volume of transactions that were authenticated successfully. |
Authentication Failures | The total volume of transactions where an authentication was attempted but was declined. |
Information
For definitions of other terms used throughout the payment lifecycle, see Terminology.