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Top Payment Gateway Providers You Should Know About

Discover the top 10 payment gateway providers to streamline your online transactions and boost your business.

Quick Summary

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In today's digital era, having a reliable and efficient payment gateway is crucial for any business looking to thrive online. Payment gateways facilitate seamless transactions between customers and merchants, ensuring secure and swift payment processing. With numerous options available, choosing the right payment gateway can be overwhelming. This article highlights the top payment gateway providers you should know about, helping you make an informed decision for your business needs.

Key Takeaways

  • Stripe is renowned for its robust API and extensive customization options, making it a favorite among developers.
  • PayPal offers a trusted and widely recognized payment solution, ideal for businesses seeking credibility and ease of use.
  • Square provides a comprehensive suite of tools for both online and in-person transactions, catering to diverse business needs.
  • Authorize.net is known for its feature-rich gateway, offering advanced fraud detection and extensive security measures.
  • Braintree, a PayPal service, stands out for its seamless integration and support for multiple payment methods, including digital wallets.

1. Stripe

Stripe is a fintech company that offers payment management solutions. It serves both brick-and-mortar and online businesses. Stripe Payments lets you accept credit cards, debit cards, and mobile wallets around the world. Stripe is a good choice for businesses with their own apps or existing websites wanting to integrate payment processing.

Stripe offers a global payment system that can accept more than 135 currencies with transparent pricing and discounts for high-volume merchants.

Features

  • Accepts over 135 currencies
  • Integrates with a wide range of extensions
  • 24/7 merchant support via phone, chat, or email
  • Fraud prevention tool

Pricing

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Maximum customizability for developers
  • Prebuilt checkout pages for low-tech options
  • Wide range of customization tools

Cons

  • Can be complex for non-developers
  • Some features may require technical expertise

2. PayPal

PayPal distinguishes itself through its unmatched versatility and global recognition. A payment solution that caters to a variety of business requirements, PayPal ensures secure transactions for both online and in-person sales. It’s easy to implement, with compatibility on all major ecommerce platforms, simplifying the process of connecting an online store to a PayPal Business account. This ease extends to financial services too, with applications for business loans, credit cards and debit cards.

PayPal is one of the most widely used online payment platforms. Founded in 1998 as Cofinity, it lets you make and receive payments all over the world.

Reasons to Buy

  • Easy to set up and use
  • Many buyers have PayPal accounts
  • Customization options

Reasons to Avoid

  • You'll need a PayPal account
  • You may need to talk to sales team
  • Relatively high transaction rate at 2.99% (+flat fee)
  • Phone/chat support

Key Features

  • Payment processing services for e-commerce vendors, auction sites, and other commercial entities globally
  • Accepts credit cards including Amex and Visa
  • Easy cart integration
  • Plentiful customization options
  • Online invoicing
  • Facilitates credit card payments over the phone

Monthly Fees

Why We Like It

There’s not much PayPal doesn’t do. It offers in-house payment processing and payment gateway-only options that integrate with third-party shopping carts and payment processors. It’s a leader in developing and accepting payments in innovative ways, including through subsidiary Venmo, QR codes, payment links and buy-now-pay-later financing. It’s tough to find another company that does this much under one roof.

3. Square

Square is one of the industry disruptors in the payment processing industry. The company offers sleek, easy-to-use payment gateways to clients that accept online payments. However, Square is most famous for its in-person payment solutions and is a much better solution for retail businesses.

  • Security features
  • Easy-to-use portal
  • Full integration with Square hardware

Square is particularly useful for small businesses due to its easy-to-use software and convenient app for receiving payments from customers. It allows business owners to set up for both in-person and online payments with minimal effort or startup costs.

Square might not be as suitable for entrepreneurs wanting more complex payment options, though.

4. Authorize.net

Authorize.net is a robust payment gateway solution that has been around since 1996. It supports both credit card and digital payments, offering a wide selection of plans to suit different business sizes and industries. This Visa-owned service is ideal for more complex payment needs, providing numerous services including point-of-sale, e-commerce, mobile and phone payment options, billing, e-checks, and credit card readers.

5. Braintree

Braintree, owned by PayPal, is a payment gateway provider that offers a range of merchant services. While this platform offers the convenience of a payment service provider, you can still connect to an individual merchant account. An added benefit to bundling a merchant account and payment gateway is that it provides you with added control over your payments.

Braintree continues to be one of the first payment portal choices for many of the world’s most notable companies. Basecamp, Dropbox, Casper, Eventbrite, Uber, GitHub, Airbnb, and more all use Braintree to power their online payment platforms.

Features

  • Integrates to merchant accounts, PayPal, Google Pay, and more
  • Built-in fraud detection tools
  • Allows for mobile and international payments

Pricing

At Braintree, the payment gateway charges are not publicly displayed. However, the company advertises a 2.59% + $0.49 per transaction fee for all cards and digital wallet payments. This is the full cost of their payment processing service and not the cost of standalone payment gateway services.

Braintree provides developers with an SDK with multiple features. The firm had an estimated 6 billion processed transactions in 2018, and much of that success stems from its strategic focus on mobile, a high-growth commerce channel.

6. Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay is Amazon’s payment gateway service. While this payment portal was first launched in 2007, it has become increasingly popular in recent years. This type of payment gateway is extremely easy to use for Amazon users. Customers can log into their Amazon account and pay for goods on third-party websites without having to resubmit their payment details. This streamlines the payment process and ensures customers access a payment platform they trust.

Amazon’s proprietary credit card payment processor supports payments on its parent’s website, which gives it instantaneous access to high payment volume. Furthermore, it has expanded by offering its platform to other merchant sites – an attractive proposition for third-party merchants. One disadvantage, though, is that the gateway helps Amazon strengthen its brand, which many e-commerce merchants must compete against.

Features

  • Advanced fraud prevention
  • Works with Alexa
  • Connects to thousands of websites

Pricing

While Amazon doesn’t advertise fees for standalone gateway payments, it does have publicly listed fees for Amazon Pay payment processing. Let’s explore the fee options below:

Web and Mobile Payments

  • 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction + $0.40 authorization fee

Alexa Payments

  • 4% + $0.30 per transaction + $0.40 authorization fee

There are additional fees applicable for cross-border transactions, chargebacks, and other types of charges.

Amazon Pay is best for frequent Amazon users, offering a seamless and trusted payment experience.

7. Cybersource

Cybersource is a top gateway provider due to its fraud and security risk management solutions. In 2007, it acquired Authorize.Net, and the combined entity was acquired by Visa in 2010. Cybersource provides credit and debit card processing and claims to be used by over 450,000 businesses worldwide.

Cybersource is another Visa solution. This easy-to-use payment portal allows customers to click and pay from almost anywhere globally. One of the key features included in this payment gateway is its international customizability. If you operate an eCommerce business with online customers worldwide, you can customize the Cybersource portal to accept foreign currencies and display foreign languages.

Cybersource is trusted by some of America’s largest companies, including ACCOR, Harley-Davidson, ZUMBA, and more!

Key Features

  • Accepts payments in more than 190 countries
  • Partnered with more than 200 processors
  • 24/7 merchant support is available
  • Take transactions via QR codes
  • Unique tokenization feature

Pricing

Customer Support

Cybersource offers 24/7 merchant support, ensuring that businesses can get help whenever they need it. This is particularly beneficial for international businesses operating in different time zones.

Knowing we are part of Visa and their extensive network provides an added layer of trust and reliability for businesses using Cybersource.

8. NMI

NMI is a payment gateway provider known for its versatility and extensive features. With more than two billion processed transactions, NMI allows businesses to choose from over 200 payment processors and various shopping carts. Additionally, it offers full control over payment hardware.

Features

  • Advanced reporting
  • Transaction management
  • Allows you to connect multiple merchant accounts
  • Take transactions via QR codes
  • Unique tokenization feature

Pricing

NMI does not list its pricing publicly. Businesses need to fill out a contact form to discuss pricing options, allowing NMI to offer custom pricing based on revenue, business type, and other factors.

The platform's comprehensive payment gateway system has made it extremely easy for my customers to pay for their purchases, and it has greatly reduced the complexity of managing transactions.

9. USAePay

USAePay has been a reliable credit card processing payment gateway provider since 1998. In 2021, it was acquired by NMI to enhance the parent company's omnichannel payment options. If you plan to sign up for a new USAePay account, you will be redirected to the NMI website to access the payment gateway offers.

Features

  • In-depth database
  • Standard fraud detection
  • Transaction reporting

Pricing

USAePay does not publicly list its pricing. Like many other payment gateway providers, it offers custom pricing depending on individual factors. You will need to contact their office to discuss pricing options relevant to your business.

USAePay is considered a reliable credit card processing payment gateway provider. Its payment gateway software offers broad capabilities.

10. GoCardless

GoCardless makes getting paid, from one-off payments and invoices to recurring payments and subscriptions and international payments, quick and easy. GoCardless also helps you automate payment collection and bank reconciliation, cutting down the amount of financial admin your team needs to deal with.

How to Collect Direct Debit Payments with GoCardless

  1. Create your free GoCardless account, access your user-friendly payments dashboard & connect your accounting software (if you use one).
  2. Easily set up & schedule Direct Debit payments via payment pages on your website checkout or secure payment links.
  3. Collect payments effortlessly and manage everything from a single dashboard.

Why GoCardless?

  • For use case
    • Subscription payments: Recurring payments built for subscriptions
    • Invoice payments: Collect invoice payments automatically
  • Our customers
    • Case studies: Our customers' successes
    • Customers love us: Hear from our customers
    • Customer success: Our customer-first approach
    • Customer Hub: Training resources, documentation, and more
  • For enterprise
    • Overview
    • Reduce churn
    • Reduce international barriers
    • Reduce operational costs
GoCardless makes it easy for businesses to collect payments. Whether these payments are one-off, recurring, domestic or international; GoCardless makes it easy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, selecting the right payment gateway provider is crucial for the success of your business. With numerous options available, it can be overwhelming to make a choice. However, understanding your specific payment processing needs and comparing the features of different providers can help you find the perfect fit. Whether you need a gateway for online transactions, in-person payments, or both, there's a solution out there for you. Don't hesitate to seek advice from a knowledgeable merchant service provider to ensure you never miss out on a sale. By choosing the right payment gateway, you can streamline your payment processes and enhance the overall experience for your customers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which payment gateway provider is right for me?

Choosing the right payment gateway provider depends on your specific business needs. Consider factors such as transaction fees, ease of integration, customer support, and the types of payments you need to process.

Can I use a payment gateway for in-person transactions?

Yes, many payment gateway providers offer solutions for both online and in-person transactions. You can manually input card information to process payments in person.

What are the top payment gateway providers in the US?

Some of the top payment gateway providers in the US include Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, Braintree, Amazon Pay, Cybersource, NMI, USAePay, and GoCardless.

What should I consider when choosing a payment gateway?

When choosing a payment gateway, consider factors such as transaction fees, security features, ease of integration, customer support, and the ability to handle multiple payment methods.

Do payment gateway providers offer additional services?

Yes, many payment gateway providers offer additional services such as point-of-sale systems for in-person transactions, multiple-location support, and fraud detection tools.

How do payment gateways ensure transaction security?

Payment gateways ensure transaction security by encrypting sensitive information, complying with industry standards like PCI-DSS, and using advanced fraud detection tools to protect against unauthorized transactions.

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