Gateways are themselves just more APIs. They don't have much, if any, impact on the "zero hassle" question you asked, which is all about the lack of an applicat

Gateways are themselves just more APIs. They don't have much, if any, impact on the "zero hassle" question you asked, which is all about the lack of an application/underwriting process compared to getting a merchant account. There's no separate application/underwriting for getting gateway accounts, your MAP typically resells one or more and just gives you credentials once you're through the MA underwriting and get account numbers to attach to it. Recurly doesn't save you from that at all.