MTN MoMo API
MTN MoMo API integration
Boldrails provides MTN Mobile Money collections and payouts through one API, built on MTN's MoMo Open API. We collect and disburse Ugandan shillings over MTN MoMo in Uganda, live in production for both pay-ins and payouts, with onboarding in 3 to 14 days, depending on your case.
- Uganda, pay-ins and payouts live in production
- Bulk payout, flat UGX 300 per transaction
- Onboarding, 3 to 14 days, depending on your case
Uganda MTN MoMo runs in production today, onboarding in 3 to 14 days
Last updated: 1 August 2026
Overview
What is the MTN MoMo API?
The MTN MoMo API is MTN Mobile Money's Open API, the interface a business uses to collect from and pay out to MoMo wallets. Boldrails runs both directions through one integration, live in production in Uganda. MTN publishes it on the MoMo Developer Portal as four products under its own names: MoMo Collection for pay-ins, MoMo Disbursement for payouts, MoMo Collection Widget for QR on a website, and MoMo Remittances for cross-border.
Two other things carry the name. MoMo is also a Vietnamese wallet operated by M_Service, and MoMo PSB is MTN's separately licensed Payment Service Bank in Nigeria. This page covers MTN Mobile Money, the rail MTN runs across Africa.
We wrote it for businesses collecting and disbursing at volume, not for wallet top-ups or USSD self-service. For the other rails we run, see the mobile money API hub.
Collections
How do MTN MoMo collections work?
A collection starts as a request to the customer's wallet number. We send it, the customer approves, and we confirm the final status back to your system in Ugandan shillings.
- 1
We call RequestToPay against the customer's MTN MoMo number.
- 2
The customer approves on their own handset, at the prompt or over USSD.
- 3
We check the outcome with GetTransactionStatus and fire a callback to your system.
MoMo Collection Widget adds a QR option for a website checkout. Approval happens on the customer's phone, so no card data reaches your servers and this rail puts no PCI scope on you. Collections carry a merchant commission set by business category, in the table below.
Payouts and settlement
How do MTN MoMo payouts and disbursements work?
MoMo Disbursement pays out to wallet numbers, one wallet or thousands in a single instruction.
Transfer moves funds to a wallet. ValidateAccountHolder confirms the recipient exists first, so payouts do not land on dead numbers. Balance checks float before a run. MTN describes bulk disbursement as depositing funds to multiple mobile money users in one transaction, which is how mass payouts run here. Our payout API exposes the same instruction across markets.
MTN's payment system rules set out how the money reaches your bank. Collected e-money is exchanged for cash through a partner escrow bank. You self-liquidate from your own balance at any time, run a standing order daily, weekly or monthly, or have escrow bank partners settle on demand. Settlement goes only to a predefined bank account, and MTN states there are no transaction limits on settlement through escrow bank partners. With us the cadence is configurable and agreed at onboarding.
That is also why collections are denominated and settled in Ugandan shillings: you can only liquidate e-money held on your own account. Converting to another currency or a stablecoin is a separate treasury step off the rail, on request through crypto-fiat settlement.
Integration
How to integrate the MTN MoMo API
- 1
Decide the route
MTN's payment system rules say the platform is integrated "either directly (through standard APIs) or indirectly through Aggregators, integrators or Payment Service Providers". Direct means you carry the MTN contracting, the KYB and the licensing. Through us, we carry all three.
- 2
Build in the sandbox
The Open API ships with a sandbox, so you can wire collections and payouts end to end before touching production money.
- 3
Get credentials
Sign up on the MoMo Developer Portal for an API user and an API key, plus VPN and certificate exchange where MTN requires it.
- 4
Complete KYB
MTN requires every payment service provider, integrator and aggregator to submit KYC documents for contracting. That gate is where high-risk verticals stall on a direct build. With us it happens once, at onboarding.
- 5
Go live
Participants get 24/7 platform access for processing, and transacting and account-holding limits apply.
MTN Uganda states that after development and testing, "integration to go live via the open API takes approximately 10 days as opposed to over 2 months previously experienced". Our onboarding runs 3 to 14 days, depending on your case.
Cost structure
What does it cost to move money on MTN MoMo?
Moving money on this rail costs a percentage on the way in and a flat fee on the way out. MTN Uganda publishes both.
| Cost type | Applies to | Published rate | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merchant commission | Collections (pay-ins) | 11 published categories, 0% to 2.50%, set by business category | MTN Uganda payment system rules |
| Bulk payment fee | Disbursements (payouts) | Flat UGX 300 per transaction at every tier, UGX 500 to UGX 7,000,000 | MTN Uganda payment system rules |
| Mobile-money withdrawal excise duty | Cash-out from a wallet | 0.5% of the amount withdrawn | MTN Uganda mobile money tariffs |
| Open API portal access | Sign-up and portal use | Free; transaction fees apply to the commercialised service | MTN Uganda Open API |
On MTN Mobile Money in Uganda a bulk payout costs a flat UGX 300 whether you send UGX 500 or UGX 7 million, while collections are charged as a commission of up to 2.50%. So paying money out on this rail is cheap and predictable. Taking money in is not.
Portal access itself is free, sign-up included. Boldrails pricing is quoted per account at onboarding, against your volume, market and vertical.
Coverage
Where MTN MoMo runs, and where we run it
MTN Mobile Money runs across much of MTN's African footprint. Ours is narrower, so we state it per country. The settlement route, the cadence options and the tariffs on this page are Uganda's. Other markets follow their own MTN scheme rules, and we confirm the route and the numbers at onboarding.
| Country | MTN MoMo present | Collections | Payouts | Boldrails status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uganda | Yes | Yes | Yes | Live in production |
| Benin | Yes | Yes | Yes | In onboarding |
| Ghana | Yes | Yes | Yes | On request |
| Cameroon | Yes | Yes | Yes | On request |
| Rwanda | Yes | Yes | Yes | On request |
| Côte d'Ivoire | Yes | Yes | Yes | On request |
| Zambia | Yes | Yes | Yes | On request |
| Nigeria | No, MTN's entity there is MoMo PSB | Separate product | Separate product | Not on this rail, see payments in Nigeria |
Two notes on that table. Presence outside Uganda reflects MTN's published African footprint rather than a market-by-market citation, so treat the Uganda row as the sourced one and confirm the rest with us. And Uganda has no M-Pesa: mobile money there is the MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Money duopoly only.
We accept licensed iGaming, forex and CFD brokers, crypto businesses and high-volume e-commerce, confirmed for your market and vertical at onboarding. The acceptance index tracks where each rail stands. pawaPay states it covers 20 African markets and a large share of African mobile money, wider reach than ours. We are narrower and deeper: one market live in both directions, with published fees where they quote-gate pricing. For the country view, see payments in Uganda and payments in Ghana, payments in Benin. The other Ugandan rail is the Airtel Money API, live in production for pay-ins and payouts alongside this one.
Regulation
Who regulates MTN MoMo payments in Uganda?
The Bank of Uganda regulates payment systems under Uganda's National Payment Systems Act 2020. Before you can operate a payment system, the Act requires a licence in one of three categories: payment system operator, payment service provider, or payment instrument issuer. Gateway and aggregation services sit under the payment system operator licence.
Under the Act a payment instruction is final and irrevocable once the system's own rules determine it final. MTN's scheme rules agree: a transfer is irrevocable once the e-money leaves its ecosystem. So this rail carries no card-style chargebacks. Settlement accounts must sit with the central bank or an authorised settlement agent. That is why collections settle through a partner escrow bank.
You do not need a payment licence to accept MTN MoMo. Your provider does. Boldrails is a licensed principal and we hold the necessary licences required in the markets we serve.
