Variety is definitely a benefit, but sometimes it makes very difficult to choose. Payment providers (or payment gateways) are legion, so it is really easy to fall a victim to analysis paralysis while trying to chose the one that will power up your business. As always, there is not a universal solution for every problem. You should decide which payment provider to use based on the type of service you provide and a market you want to target.
However, always consider:
- The location of your company. The providers are limited to their partners and licenses for geographic regions. So, not all providers will be able to provide in your country;
- Payment methods you require. Not all providers support all methods;
- The currencies you want to operate with. Remember, people prefer using their domestic currencies
- Whether a provider is PCI compliant. If no, the providers are not secure for a business
- Whether a provider is GDPR compliant. if you want to work with the EU market, is a must.
Moreover, there are things you should avoid, choosing a payment provider:
- Complicated integration or setup (it is not that difficult to create easy-to-install service today. If a provider failed to do so, be ready for further unnecessary complications)
- Lack of transparency
- Unapparent fees (if a payment provider makes it difficult to determine the exact price of its services, it does not consider its price a competitive one)
- Lack of flexibility regarding adaptation to your service and/or programming language
- Reliable and easily-accessible support
Considering the mentioned above, we decided to put into a tight package key features of the top payment providers so you can read and pick the one and only that will suit your needs.
Stripe
Prices:
- 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- 3.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- $2 per active account per month + 0.25% of account volume
- 2% per transaction — currency conversion
- $15 for each chargeback incident
- 0.8% — $5 cap per ACH payment transaction
Key Advantages:
- Customized UX. Provides a UI toolkit that can be used to create unique Stripe payment forms.
- Quick and easy to setup or integration into an existing website.
- Sigma service allows to view data and analytics in real team, providing constant insights.
- Has feature that allows customer to divide payments between themselves and persons who use their service to sell stuff.
- Accepts ACH (Automated Clearing House) payments, which are direct charges to bank accounts.
- Covers 26 countries and works with 135 currencies.
- Works with AliPay, which allows to target Chinese market.
Key Disadvantages:
- Does not provide integration with PayPal
- Stripe holds platform owners responsible for any charges.
Conclusion: Stripe is best for accepting payments of any types.
Prominent Customers: Lyft, Slack, Kickstarter, Pinterest.
Braintree
Prices:
- 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- 3.9% + $0.30 for international transactions
- 1% per transaction — currency conversion
- $15 for each chargeback incident
Key Advantages:
- Complete drop-in UI offers a quick and simple way of accepting payments.
- Covers 40 countries and 130 currencies.
- Provides smooth and quick integration with PayPal
- Fast to response and easily-available support
- Braintree provides Vault for keeping sensitive data on a secure platform to ensure that a business stays PCI- compliant
Key Disadvantages:
- Requires an additional server request that can delay loading by 1–2 seconds
Conclusion: Braintree is best for accepting payments directly in international currencies.
Prominent Customers: Uber, Airbnb, GitHub, SkyScanner
PayPal
Prices:
- 2.9% + $0.30 for US transactions
- 4.4% + fixed fee for international transactions
- 1–4% per transaction — currency conversion
- $30 per month for PayPal Payments Pro plan
- $15 for each chargeback incident
Key Advantages (including Payments Pro plan):
- Complete drop-in UI offers a quick and simple way of accepting payments.
- Works in 200+ countries and regions
- Custom checkout
- Once a payment is sent and processed, it will available to you in minutes
Key Disadvantages:
- Payments Pro plan is required for fully customized experience
- Only 26 currencies are available
Conclusion: Best for simple online payments
Prominent Customers: ebay, Google Play, Cineplex, IKEA.
Amazon Payments
Prices:
- 2.9% + $0.30 for US transactions
- 3.9% + $0.30 for international transactions
- 1–4% per transaction — currency conversion
- $30 per month for PayPal Payments Pro plan
- $20 for each chargeback incident
Key Advantages:
- Allows clients to use their Amazon login information
- A-to-z guarantee and protection plan include fraud detection and merchant protection with a possible refund
- Featured eCommerce suite helps to promote and sell products
Key Disadvantages:
- Sometimes, integration requires additional development
- Narrow. Created for eCommerce retailers,
Conclusion: Amazon Payments service is created for online retailers and sellers. Ideal for accepting payments from Amazon accounts.
Prominent Customers: Dyson, Midwest Sports, Lulus, Nine West
PayU
Prices:
- 2% + GST (goods and services tax) per transaction
Key Advantages:
- Offers more than 250 local payment methods
- Direct connections to local acquirers, which results in higher clients’ approval rates
- Functional of the application is easy to extend even without coding knowledge
Key Disadvantages:
- 17 countries and 20+ currencies only
Conclusion: a simple payment solution that fills in the gaps left by the other payment providers
Prominent Customers: TUI, Amway, goibibo, Groupon
