eCommerce is a booming industry and will only increase in numbers in the coming years. With increasing e-retailers, business owners need payment gateways to receive money. This brings into consideration a number of aspects such as security, reliability, and pricing. After doing some research I have listed out top 10 payment gateways that are secure, reliable and provide the best pricing in the industry.
What is the cheapest payment gateway in the USA? BlueSnap provides the lowest pricing option with just (2% + $0.30) per transaction. However, this applies for debit made by Visa or Mastercard. For American Express and Non-US transactions, it is (3.70% + $0.30) per transaction.
Top 10 Cheapest Payment Gateways
- BlueSnap – 2% + $0.30 per transaction
- Stripe – 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- Braintree – 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- Amazon Payments – 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
- Payza – 2.9 % + $0.30 per transaction
- 2CheckOut – 3.5% + $0.35 per transaction
- Adyen – 3.95% + $0.12 per transaction
- Authorize.Net – $25/month + (2.9% + $0.30) per transaction
- Bambora – $49 set up + $25/month + (2.9% + $0.30) per transaction
- PayPal Payments Pro – $30/month, + (2.9% + $0.30) per transaction
01. BlueSnap
BlueSnap provides payment gateway services for ecommerce, web development, mobile and has a dedicated payment processor for merchants and retailers. Ecommerce businesses have the option to integrate it with most marketplaces and platforms. The payment gateway supports 100+ payment types, in 100+ countries and supports nearly 30 different languages. It is active in over 180 countries and connects automatically to a global network of acquiring banks.
BlueSnap includes a payment processor, gateway and merchant account in one unified platform and enables businesses to take payments via online gateways, and mobile wallets. It integrates with PayPal, ApplePay, VISA, etc. giving customers numerous options to make payments whereas a business can accept payment from both domestic and international customers, thereby increasing their income.
It comes with a built-in virtual terminal in every console, which enables businesses to accept payments over the phone. Moreover, the platform caters to cross-border ecommerce by integrating with international banks.
It also has strong analytics which enables ecommerce businesses to generate real-time sales, affiliate, revenue report, and other data.
02. Stripe
Today, Stripe is one of the most popular choices of payment gateways among ecommerce owners. The platform has established a partnership with almost all payment companies including local banks, card networks, PCI council, W3C and even internet browser providers. It is highly developer-centric, which enables customers to build production-ready integrations. The developer platform enables less maintenance for legacy systems, instead focus more on customer and product experiences. All payment is processed and displayed to customers based on their currency, thereby increasing sales and help avoid conversion costs.
Stripe enables businesses to provide customized checkout experience to their customers. You can use the UI toolkit to build and customize your own payment forms. Embed checkout on your site using only a single line of JavaScript.
It enables businesses to take payments across multiple options and even makes international transactions. The company supports nearly all credit and debit cards in every country. It even supports digital wallets such as Amex Express Checkout, Apple Pay, Alipay etc.
All payments are made securely because of its direct integrations with card networks such as Visa, MasterCards, and American Express. This reduces processing time and improves success rates. It also adds an additional layer of authentication to avoid fraud risks and chargebacks.
The company provides advanced reports generation. Businesses can generate automated accounting, financial reports, streamline transactions etc. all in one platform.
03. Braintree
This is an all-in-one payment processing platform for businesses of all sizes. The company’s partnership with PayPal makes it one of the most reliable and cost-effective payment gateways in the industry. Business can accept, send, process payments across various other platforms and payment methods to increase their revenue and maximize business opportunities. The company is best known for its seamless checkout process which gives customers a sense of security and confidence, thereby inspiring returning customers. The company also brings latest fraud prevention tools to help business manage risks and prevent payment frauds. Braintree provides four modules to meet customers of all industries.
Braintree has wide integration, thereby giving ecommerce businesses a global market reach. Users have access to the global market with Braintree’s support in over 40 countries, 130+ currencies, along with integrations for settlement and fraud prevention. Moreover, there’s isn’t any foreign exchange or cross-border fees.
Braintree’s drop-in UI lets business start taking payments almost immediately. The ready-made payment UI enables you to accept cards and PayPal in any app or website.
Businesses can tailor their checkout flows while keeping compliant with PCI. It provides easy-to-use APIs for app or web, giving an opportunity for online businesses to scale-up without worrying about the payment gateway. The Braintree Vault enables businesses to keep sensitive information stored on a secure system, as well as stay PCI-compliant.
04. Amazon Payments
Amazon Payment provides secure and streamlined payment services to its customers. It offers services to both merchants and shoppers which enables them to make transactions without giving their personal information every time. The customers have to log-in and give their credentials once to make further transactions without hassle. Amazon guarantees that all its transactions are 100% secure. Businesses will also find a fully-featured ecommerce suite to help them promote, and sell products even on international markets. The company supports multiple languages and currencies. With all its features and security, Amazon Pay charges only a fixed amount for each transaction without any additional monthly payments.
The payment gateway is designed for online retailers who want to provide a seamless shopping experience to their buyers. The platform provides tools and features that attract repeat shoppers with a streamlined shopping experience. Amazon implements strict protocols for data security and also offers fraud detection and merchant protection.
With its seamless checkout experience, Amazon facilitates few cart abandonment and more repeat customers. It’s support for both web and mobile devices, enables businesses to reach a wider customers base. Amazon also makes it easier for business to keep up their margins by changing transaction-based fees, without incurring monthly subscriptions.
05. Payza
Payza provides a cost-effective payment transfer solutions for both private and commercial usage. Send and receive payments worldwide as well as facilitate the customer to make payments from mobile devices. Enable money transfer from credit cards, bank accounts as well as BitCoin accounts. It enables ecommerce businesses to process payments directly on the store as well as facilitate customers to store money in Payza wallet. Payza even offers its own card, which can be used to pay or withdraw money.
Payza supports a wide range of Bitcoin and Altcoin services that enables the customer to turn Altcoin to US dollars and use their prepaid cards to make transactions or withdraw money from ATMs. Payza supports 25 currencies and features hassle-free, fast exchanges. Moreover, it provides a dedicated Dispute Resolution Center that enables you to have your issues resolved with another Payza user by experts.
Payza is unique and provides a payment transfer platform to both businesses and individuals. It is perfect for freelancers who can send and accept money from anywhere with a minimal transaction fee. For businesses, it provides other solutions to enable easy payment and checkout to customers. It provides an all-in-one payment processing platform and accepts transactions through ACH transfers, bank transfers, checks, credit card, debit card, and bitcoin.
Its open API options enable developers to build custom connections with third-party applications. The company also has a strong Payza Developers’ Community.
06. 2CheckOut
2CheckOut is a fully-featured payment gateway that enables merchants to accept both mobile and online payments from domestic as well as international customers. This payment gateway lets you transact money instantly. 2CheckOut has been in the industry for over 10 years and the company has over 300 fraud prevention rules with Level 1 PCI compliance. 2CheckOut supports multiple payment types, 15+ languages, nearly 90 currencies. It enables eCommerce owners to create personalized checkout experience for their customers.
2CheckOut supports all leading payment methods such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, JCB, debit card, as well as PayPal. It enables businesses to operate in over 200 markets thereby personalizing the payment page as per the language, currency, as well as provide localized payment option of the demography. The platform also offers recurring billing to ensure fast transactions. Businesses get the benefits of a hosted checkout solution at the same seamlessly integrating it on the store’s checkout process, making it appear as a part of the merchant’s site. 2Checkout meets the PCI security standards and has the highest certification possible that guarantees 100% security from data theft and possible fraud.
07. Dyen
Adyen is an open source payment solution that provides the best security and stability. The platform’s service-oriented architecture gives you maximum uptime and enables merchants to accept payments on multiple hosting locations. The platform also features SLA reports which will keep your transactions under control.
The payment gateway supports all payment methods such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, JCB, AliPay and more. It enables online payments through mobile devices as well and ensures that the money arrives on time irrespective of the location of the buyer. It is ideal for businesses as it can connect to other productivity tools and business application such as Salesforce, Cegid, Hybris etc.
Adyen also provides end-to-end ecommerce functionality and a full range of mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay and Android Pay. This makes ecommerce sites more attractive to users and encourages more sales. It’s Revenue Accelerate feature increases card approval rates.
The company is a reliable partner for managing POS payments in the USA and Europe. All Adyen terminals support contactless payments and integrate will all leading POS solutions to provide a seamless customer journey. Furthermore, the company provides ready-to-use SLA report templates and can handle a large volume of transactions as well as a tackle with frauds.
08. Authorize.Net
Authorize.Net provides a flexible gateway solution to merchants and provides comprehensive features to automate most of the transactions related work. It enables ecommerce businesses to accept payment both locally and through online stores. It is capable enough to store, organize data and tackle frauds without any human involvement.
Authorize.Net is one of the most trusted payment gateways in the industry, serving small to medium size business by providing an affordable solution. The package also includes a free mobile POS app for iOS and Android, a website payment seal and free fraud prevention tools. Businesses will also appreciate its round the clock support from the team. You will also find a range of tutorials which you can employ to optimize the platform.
The payment gateway accepts cards, electronic checks and automatically deposits funds to the bank account. For retail, businesses can use it as a personalized virtual point of sale (VPOS) system. If you have POS in place, it will integrate with it. Its virtual terminal allows businesses to take mail and phone orders from their customers where transactions are submitted manually. Its free mobile app enables mobile transactions and money transfers from third-party solutions.
The company provides an exclusive and fully integrated electronic check payment methods which process payments directly from the user’s website or the virtual terminal. The platform provides a Customer Information Manager that stores customer’s personal and payment information on its secure servers. It simplifies the PCI compliance and simplifies recurring transactions.
09. Bambora
This payment gateway is designed to cater to small and medium-sized business who want to receive payments online, through the app or within the platform. The platform accepts payment from 60+ countries and even provides real-time reports and financial solutions for your business. It features numerous solutions for today’s online merchants such as credit card processing, creates an online payment form, automates recurring bills, batch process etc. The company also provides robust fraud determination tools as well as provides underwriting options to keep your and customer’s data safe while making transactions. Furthermore, it integrates to other software ecosystem has its own RESTful APIs and SDKs which will enable online businesses to integrate other applications as well.
Bambora offers some of the best functionalities in the industry to help businesses with a comprehensive payment processing needs. For a small or medium-sized corporation, they can reap maximum benefits from Bambora. The first appealing feature is its fast and easy payment processing. Online businesses can process various types of online transactions, where they can easily accept payments as well as monitor their profits from its intuitive reporting systems. Businesses can automate some transactions such as recurring bills, invoice, subscription payment etc.
Bambora enables customers for a seamless payment process, which provides a glitch-free shopping experience to the end customers. This enables e-commerce businesses to attract more customers and encourage repeat customers. Bambora doesn’t need your customers to set up other compatible merchant accounts as you can receive payments through this payment gateway alone. Moreover, it blends with the shopping cart of the ecommerce website enabling seamless transactions and faster invoice generation.
Probably the most crucial feature is its security. All transactions made through Bambora is secure, ensuring that your customers’ banking and personal information is well-protected. It also provides fraud defense tools and provides risk and underwriting options for your customer’s accounts.
10. PayPal Payments Pro
PayPal Payments Pro is one of the best payment gateways in the industry. This payment processing service facilitates ecommerce businesses without necessarily having a PayPal account. The gateway is geared towards streamlining business transactions and brings advanced security features and infrastructure of PayPal; no wonder, this is the costliest payment gateway in the list.
Its end-to-end platform supports credit cards such as Visa, Master, Discover, American Express, as well as PayPal and PayPal credit payment. It provides an open API infrastructure for an easy shopping and marketplace solution. It enables phone-based credit card payments and provides an automated invoicing kit. Its features and security make it one of the most opted payment gateway; today, it has nearly 200 million customer accounts.
Payments Pro makes it easier for customers to transfer money securely and offers a number of options for users to simplify PCI compliance. All Payments Pro data are secured by leading encryption standards. Moreover, the payment gateway makes business accessible to over 26 countries and 200+ markets.
This payment processing services from PayPal doesn’t require PayPal account. Moreover, its custom checkout process gives an enterprise-level platform and lets businesses customize their checkout process as needed, thereby giving a reliable and seamless checkout experience to customers. Businesses can also receive money from mobile devices without any hassle. Most importantly, it can be integrated with leading third-party applications such as CRM, sales management tools, accounting systems etc.
What are the Different Types of Payment Gateway Softwares?
01. Hosted payment gateways
These types of payment gateways usually take a customer off the ecommerce website’s checkout page. When the users click to make a payment they are redirected to the payment service provider page, and after the payment is done, they will be redirected back to the ecommerce website, from where they will complete the checkout process.
02. Self-hosted payment gateways
This type of payment gateway enables you to take payments on your website where customers give their payment details on your own website. The payment details are then sent to the payment gateway URL which will need data in a specific format or need a hash key.
03. API payment gateways
It enables ecommerce businesses to integrate the payment process directly to the checkout page and process payment using APIs.
04. Local bank integration
Here the customers are redirected to the payment gateway’s website where they give their payment and contact details. After payment, they are again redirected back to the ecommerce website.
05. Platform-based payment gateway solutions
Many ecommerce platforms come with their own integrated payment gateway solution, where businesses use the checkout page integrated payment process only if they use that particular ecommerce platform.
Key Features of Payment Gateway to Look for
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Global Payment Support
The payment gateway you choose should cater to international payments as well and should support multiple currencies. However, the payment gateway may charge an additional fee for the international transaction or during multi-currency payments.
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Security
Data security is an absolute necessity when it comes to online payment. Make sure that the payment gateway you choose is level 1 compliant with PCI DSS. Moreover, it should provide fraud protection tools.
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Customer support
The company should provide dependable customer support and should be reachable across multiple channels. During high-traffic, the payment gateway may collapse and you will need their customer support to fix.
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Payment methods
It should accept payment from multiple methods and channels such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, PayPal etc. It should also support local credit cards for international payments.
Key Benefits to Ecommerce Businesses
- Receive and send online payments for your ecommerce store.
- Use multiple payment methods and accept other currencies.
- Keep customer data safe and allow customers to transfer money securely.
- Protect against fraud by preventing unauthorized payments.
- Automate your finance.
- Effectively handle refunds and returns.
Potential Drawbacks of Payment Gateways
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Chargebacks
Payment gateways need additional protection from fraudulent misuse and data breach. It takes a lot of tools and an extra layer of security to detect fraud before it happens. This also requires a business to keep a track of their purchases and also employ a validation service. Online payments give customers the advantage to chargeback which is typically expensive for the company.
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Integration
Some payment gateway may be difficult to integrate to all platforms. Make sure it is compatible with the ecommerce platform you are using to avoid delays, and lost transactions.
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International transactions
International payments may take time and cost you additional fees for most payment gateways. Not all payment gateways are able to effectively handle cross-border transactions without involving risks.
Conclusion
Without reinventing the wheel new ecommerce stores could simply subscribe to a payment gateway and start taking orders in minutes. However, the cheapest in this list doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best nor does it mean that it’s not the best. All the payment gateways listed above have their own strength and weaknesses; it is up to you to choose the best one that meets your business needs. There are payment gateways that are more secure but take time to process orders and there are some that processes order instantly but take a bigger fee per transaction. Moreover, most of the pricing list above is their base fee; for international transactions or other payment methods, they could be charging a higher fee. This article list out some of the best and popular payment gateways in the market; however, if you want you can check-out other service providers as well.