One of the conveniences Brazilian consumers are used to is automatic debit—an easy way to automate payments for recurring expenses, either by charging a bank account or adding the amount to a credit card bill on a regular basis.
Automatic Pix, the latest Pix innovation developed by the Central Bank of Brazil, offers the same functionality, only with even more benefits for both merchants and consumers.
PagBrasil is a leading digital payment technology company and a pioneer in Pix solutions for e-commerce. In other words, Automatic Pix has been part of our offerings since its launch in June 2025.
As a new feature, Automatic Pix deserves a closer look—especially when it comes to the security it offers for both your e-commerce business and your customers. In this article, you’ll learn about the key aspects of Automatic Pix’s security infrastructure, find answers to the most common questions your customers might have about this new solution, and discover how PagBrasil powers Automatic Pix through our PagStream® platform.
Is Automatic Pix Safe? A Look at the Technology Behind the Innovation
Automatic Pix is another technology that makes it easier to automate payments from individuals to businesses. Brazilians who are already used to automatic debit or recurring charges on their credit cards will be able to follow the same logic with scheduled Pix payments—only with greater benefits. What’s more, Automatic Pix will bring recurring payment automation to a large portion of the population, as according to a report by Band in December 2024, nearly 80% of Brazilians use Pix.
Automatic Pix can be used for a wide range of services, including:
- Subscription clubs or boxes
- Streaming platforms, SaaS, or other online content
- Recurring donations
- School fees or memberships for gyms and sports centers
- Health plans
- Basic household bills like electricity, internet, and water
To help you feel confident using Automatic Pix in your e-commerce business, it’s important to explain the main reasons why it’s secure.
Strong Infrastructure Back by the Central Bank
Just like the Pix technology launched in 2020 and all its innovations since then, Automatic Pix is an official implementation by the Central Bank of Brazil (Bacen), developed within the bank’s Instant Payments System (SPI).
For the launch of Automatic Pix, the Central Bank established that only companies with an active CNPJ (Brazil’s official business registration number) for at least six months can offer this payment method to their customers, according to Infomoney. Other protective measures include allowing use only by companies with no signs of fraud and regularly verifying the trustworthiness of participating businesses.
In other words, the Central Bank’s security standards ensure that this new feature can only be offered by companies trusted by the Central Bank, giving your e-commerce business an even stronger seal of trust for your customers.
Pre-Authorized and Authenticated Consent
When a customer chooses Automatic Pix for a recurring purchase at your e-commerce checkout, they must pre-authorize the payment method in their banking app, giving consent for future charges.
The key security difference compared to other recurring payment methods is that Automatic Pix includes additional layers of protection for the customer.
For instance, with Automatic Pix, users can set an expiration date for the authorization—unlike credit card charges, which remain active indefinitely until manually canceled. Compared to direct debit, canceling is simpler, as the customer can revoke the recurring payment directly through their banking app without contacting the merchant.
Another key point is that Automatic Pix links the charge to a single, specific CNPJ (business registration number). With recurring credit card payments, the card can be used by third parties through marketplaces, and with direct debit, banks don’t control which CNPJ the charge is coming from.
User-Controlled Security Settings
When a customer chooses Automatic Pix for a recurring purchase on your e-commerce site, they have access to several settings that give them greater control over their payments.
As previously mentioned, the customer can choose to set a specific authorization period for the charge. They can also define a maximum amount (for variable-value subscriptions), select the payment frequency from the options you offer (not limited to monthly billing), choose the charge date (which can be the same as the date of the first purchase), and decide whether failed Pix payments can be retried using other payment methods, such as credit lines.
Built-In Verification to Prevent Out-of-Scope Transactions
Once the parameters are set, the Automatic Pix system ensures the customer is protected from any charges that fall outside the defined rules—such as date, maximum amount, and others.
This level of transparency puts Automatic Pix a step above traditional direct debits and scheduled credit card payments. As a merchant, clearly communicating this transparency will be key to encouraging your customers to adopt the new payment method.
Consumer Autonomy and Control with Automatic Pix: A New Level of Transparency
Once Automatic Pix is selected as the payment method for a recurring purchase, managing expenses and tracking purchases becomes much easier for the consumer. Here are three key points to highlight:
Simple and Convenient Management
As mentioned earlier, your customer can stop the authorization directly through their banking app where the payment is processed, without needing to log in or download a specific online store’s app to cancel a payment. This adds an extra layer of convenience to the user experience.
As a merchant, you might be hesitant to adopt Automatic Pix in your e-commerce business because of this easy cancellation feature. But when your customers feel secure thanks to the method’s transparency and greater control compared to traditional options (like direct debit and credit card charges), it actually makes them more likely to choose Automatic Pix over other payment models.
Prior Alerts to Keep Customers Informed
The financial institution processing the transaction is responsible for regularly notifying the customer about the charge. This helps consumers keep track of their spending.
In an interview with E-Investidor, the news portal of Estadão, Ralf Germer, CEO and co-founder of PagBrasil, explains: “The process is transparent since debits are notified in advance, and direct authentication with the bank account significantly reduces the risk of fraud compared to credit card–based models.”
After the payment is completed, the bank is also responsible for immediately confirming that the Pix transaction has been made.
Protection Against Unexpected Financial Situations
If the Pix payment isn’t completed on the scheduled date, the Central Bank allows up to three retry attempts within seven calendar days, always using the same amount as the first attempt.
Why might a charge fail? There are several reasons, including operational issues with the bank’s system, insufficient funds in the buyer’s account, or exceeding the daily or nighttime Pix transaction limit on the scheduled date—since these limits apply to both manual and automated payments.
Should a missed payment ever occur, the buyer can avoid penalties or subscription cancellations by authorizing the use of credit—such as an overdraft—when setting the payment parameters.
As a last resort, the customer is guaranteed that if they cancel a charge by 11:59 p.m. the day before, the next recurring Automatic Pix payment will not be processed.
Automatic Pix vs. Other Methods: A Comparison of Security and Usability
Faster, more convenient, and greater control for the buyer—these differences are already clear. But it’s important to compare Automatic Pix with the traditional payment methods Brazilians are already used to truly understand why Automatic Pix is such a game changer in recurring payments.
Recurring Payments with Traditional Direct Debit
With direct debit, your customer needs to find and provide a special code from the service provider—usually listed on their bill. This adds extra steps to what should be a simple payment process.
Direct debit is also much more limited in scope: While any bank participating in Pix can offer Automatic Pix within the Central Bank’s guidelines, direct debit requires a special agreement between your business and the customer’s bank.
This means that many customers want to set up automatic payments through direct debit but can’t, as they often find that their bank or the company they’re paying with doesn’t support this option.
Recurring Payments with Credit Cards
Compared to Automatic Pix, recurring credit card charges involve more hassle and higher costs for both customers and merchants. For merchants, Automatic Pix payments settle instantly (same day), while credit card payments can take anywhere from one to thirty days to process, depending on the payment processor and whether you choose to get paid early.
Costs for merchants are also higher with credit cards: exchange rates, processing fees, and advance payment charges all add up. In contrast, Automatic Pix has lower fees, following the Central Bank’s approach to keeping Pix solutions affordable.
On the customer’s side, canceling a recurring credit card payment can be more difficult. Contracts often include minimum commitment periods and penalties for early cancellation. Plus, if the customer chooses to pay in installments or misses a payment, extra fees may apply.
Pix Agendado (Scheduled Pix)
Pix Agendado (Scheduled Pix) is another solution offered by the Central Bank for Brazilians, but it serves a different purpose than Automatic Pix.
With Pix Agendado, the user sets a future date for a one-time payment. This helps ensure that, when there’s enough balance in the account, a personal debt—like money owed to a friend—is settled, or a bill is paid on its due date. On the other hand, Automatic Pix involves a one-time authorization for recurring charges, so the buyer doesn’t need to set up various payments manually.
Challenges and Myths: Addressing Concerns About Automatic Pix
With clear advantages over other recurring payment methods, the new Pix feature may still raise genuine questions from consumers. As a digital merchant looking to implement Automatic Pix, it’s important for you to keep your customers and prospects informed about any concerns they might have.
Can Automatic Pix Hide Fees or Make Cancellations Difficult?
No. For consumers, there are no hidden fees or transaction charges for using Automatic Pix as a payment method.
Canceling Automatic Pix is easy and doesn’t require approval from the merchant or company. The user simply disables the recurring payment through their banking app.
Can Only Big E-commerce Businesses Offer Automatic Pix?
No. Unlike automatic debit, which requires a direct integration between the company and the bank, or recurring credit card charges, which involve payment processors and networks that increase setup costs, Automatic Pix is designed to make automated recurring payments accessible to merchants of all sizes.
Can Automatic Pix Authorizations Lead to “Invisible Subscriptions” or Unexpected Charges?
No. Automatic Pix can be used for flexible recurring payments, where the amount may vary—like a utility bill. Yet even in those cases, the customer has full control and can set a maximum amount allowed for each Automatic Pix payment.
In addition, because the customer’s consent includes multiple parameters, it prevents a company from using an existing authorization to make unauthorized charges to the customer’s account.
Boost Your Business with Automatic Pix from PagBrasil
Automatic Pix is already available among PagBrasil’s solutions, ready for you to implement in your e-commerce business.
Consent Flows Designed for Your Customers
PagBrasil’s Automatic Pix offers two different consent flows for buyers, each tailored to suit different types of businesses.
- In the first flow, when the user makes their initial payment for a recurring purchase, you can request their consent for future automatic recurring charges.
This flow is ideal for use cases like the first payment of a software subscription (SaaS), subscription boxes that charge the first month to ship the initial product, or services that require an upfront payment to activate benefits followed by recurring charges. - In the second flow, you can collect the user’s consent for future charges without requiring an initial payment.
This flow is recommended for e-commerce businesses that want to offer free trial periods for online services, where the customer registers their payment method and gives consent, but the first charge only happens after the free period ends. It’s also suitable for “freemium” models, where premium features are automatically unlocked later on. Finally, this flow works well in situations where billing doesn’t start at signup—such as enrollments where payments begin at a later date.
How to Set Up Automatic Pix for Your E-Commerce Business
PagBrasil offers two ways to integrate the new Pix solution into your store.
- API Integration: You access the Automatic Pix API and build the entire system, including consent management, billing, retries, and payment reconciliation. To learn more about this integration method, check out PagBrasil’s Automatic Pix Integration Guide for Developers.
- Integration via PagStream®: Automatic Pix is one of the many solutions offered through PagStream®, PagBrasil’s proprietary platform for managing subscriptions. This option helps you streamline your daily operations and cut development costs. With PagStream®, you can easily set up your subscription plans, intelligently schedule billing notifications across multiple communication channels, and manage retries—all through a plug-and-play solution that includes a dashboard for you and your team to monitor everything.
Want to enhance your current customers’ experience and attract new buyers with the innovation of Automatic Pix? Get in touch with PagBrasil’s experts.
