Payment processing organisations are now available in large numbers, this is as a result of the need for online payments. A payment processor is a company that handles transactions between two parties, such as a merchant and a customer.
It accomplishes the payment by relaying the payment information, like a credit card, from the customer to the merchant’s preferred bank account. If you own an eCommerce store, you know that your website needs a payment processor in order to become a fully-functioning, money-making machine.
But how, exactly, do you decide what service to use? Which ones are the most secure, reliable, and better-performing?
In order to help you decide, we’ve listed our favorite 25 of our favorite payment processing services that impressed us in terms of performance, security, PCI compliance, and distinguishing features. These options allow for a seamless experience, whether you’re an online entrepreneur, freelancer, or a consumer who loves shopping online.
1. Stripe
There isn’t such a thing as a “one-size-fits-all” payment processor for online retailers. However, Stripe gets awfully close, thanks to being a customizable payment solution.
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Stripe was designed for developers who can then tinker with the company’s APIs to create the product that best suits their needs. Stripe allows you to accept credit card, debit card and bitcoin payments from more than 130 different currencies. There’s also flexible billing and a modest 2.9 percent + 30¢ per successful card charge.
2. Square
Wherever you are in the world, Square lets you accept online payments via its innovative products such as the contactless chip reader, magstripe reader, and stand that turns your mobile device into a unique payment processor.
Square features intelligent inventory tools, an intuitive point-of-sale system, and built-in payment processing that accepts payments and deposits the next business day. You may want to check out their employee tools for businesses, which include integrated timecards, smart scheduling, and customizable employee permissions.
3. PayPal
For merchants who are looking for a low-volume payment processor, PayPal has proven to be a solid choice since it debuted in 1998. On top of having budget-friendly prices, PayPal operates in more than 200 countries and in 26 currencies and allows users to integrate PayPal checkout on their websites, process payments through a browser, app or reader and extend credit to customers.
4. Adyen
Adyen allows anyone to accept payments online, in-app, and in store within a single solution almost anywhere in the world.
Adyen is an in-house end to end payments platform that allows you to connect directly to over 250 different payment methods. Both Adyen and Due allow you to process payments online using various methods. Adyen provides point of sale and in-app payments which Due does not yet have.
Adyen charges processing fees based on the number of transactions + commissions charged by the payment method. Due offers the lowest credit card processing rates in the industry at 2.8% flat. Depending on volume, Due offers rates below 2.8% no hidden or monthly fees.
In addition, Due offers features such as invoicing, time tracking, project management, digital wallet, and much more completely free of charge.
5. Authorize.net
Authorize.Net is a United States-based payment gateway service provider, allowing merchants to accept credit card and electronic check payments through their website and over an Internet Protocol (IP) connection.
Founded in 1996, Authorize.Net is now a subsidiary of Visa Inc. Its service permits customers to enter credit card and shipping information directly onto a web page, in contrast to some alternatives that require the customer to sign up for a payment service before performing a transaction.
Authorize.Net processes card and ACH payments for companies from small and medium-sized merchants. It offers fraud protection services, recurring billing subscriptions, and simple checkout options.
For developers, it provides an application programming interface (API) and software development kits for Android and iOS. Its Virtual Terminal and Invoice features can process manual payments. It also offers recurring billing and a plugin for the integration with Authorize.Net, and technical support is available for merchants.
Authorize.Net has the most customers of any payment processor and has been described as one of the more senior players in the payment processing industry, retaining a “decent portion” of the industry’s market share.
6. BitPay
BitPay, which was founded in 2011, is one of the largest bitcoin payment providers in the world. In fact, the company is responsible for more than $1 million in transactions every day.
BitPay gives users the opportunity to convert bitcoin payments into their choice of nine currencies in 38 countries instantly to avoid volatility. The company also has partnered with PayPal and Merchant Acquirers such as Global Payments and Alternet Systems.
7. First Data Corporation
One of the oldest payment processing solutions in existence is First Data, which has been around for an impressive 30 years.
It strives to provide simplified e-commerce solutions to businesses of all types including e-commerce, food, retail, and so much more. Being a versatile solution you don’t want to miss, First Data accepts credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, and many other prepaid card offerings.
Installing First Data Payeezy Gateway, you get the access to an expanding toolkit of payment options and fraud prevention services. The mobile-friendly checkout page can be styled to match your store’s look and feel. The app supports two languages (English and Spanish), CVV, and 3D Secure.
8. Fastcharge
Fastcharge is an ideal alternative if you are a startup and have a strict financial plan. The reason is that it does not require a setup fee. Also, you’d only pay $10 for a monthly gateway fee. Another bonus? It takes only an hour (or less) to set up.
9. CyberSource
CyberSource is an E-commerce credit card payment system management company. Customers process online payments, streamline online fraud management, and simplify payment security.
As of December 2016, CyberSource provides online payment management solutions to over 400,000 merchants globally across multiple industries.
One single connection to CyberSource can enable merchants to conduct global business without the merchant having to integrate to local payment providers/methods one by one, which largely improves merchant’s go-to-market speed.
Meanwhile, with CyberSource’s Decision Manager, the world’s largest fraud detection radar, the merchant can combat fraud effectively. Offering secure and Express Checkout experience is also one of CyberSource’s core capabilities by having developed hosted payment page and Tokenization technology.
In addition to normal direct card payment, popular and innovative payment methods are also supported on CyberSource, such as Visa Checkout (CyberSource is Visa Inc.’s wholly-owned subsidiary since 2010), Apple Pay, Alipay, etc
10. Payoneer
Payoneer is a financial services company that provides online money transfer, digital payment services and provides customers with working capital.
Account-holders can send and receive funds into their bank account, Payoneer e-wallet, or onto a re-loadable prepaid MasterCard debit card that can be used online or at points of sale. The company specializes in facilitating cross-border B2B payments.
It provides cross-border transactions in 200 countries and territories and more than 150 local currencies, with its cross border wire transfers, online payments, and refillable debit card services.
Companies like Airbnb, Amazon, Google and Upwork use Payoneer to send mass payouts around the world. It is also used by eCommerce marketplaces such as Rakuten, Walmart and Wish.com, freelance marketplaces such as Fiverr and Envato, and works with ad networks to connect these firms with publishers based outside of their headquartered country.
In the content creation space, Payoneer works with Getty Images, iStock, Pond5, and others as well as in the freelance marketplace. Payoneer has a customer care team with 320 employees who support 4 million customers in 70 languages, operating in 150 different currencies.
In October 2019, the company launched a service aimed for small and medium-sized businesses to send payments anywhere in the world quickly and cheaply.
11. Skrill
Skrill (formerly Moneybookers) is an e-commerce business that allows payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet, with a focus on low-cost international money transfers.
It is owned and operated by Skrill Limited, a UK-based company registered as a Money Service Business with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and licensed to operate within the European Economic Area.
Since 2015, Skrill belongs to the Paysafe Group, along with former competitor Neteller and prepaid payment method Paysafe card.
Skrill accounts can be created in one of 40 supported currencies; users can then add more currencies to their account. Customers can purchase a Skrill-branded prepaid card, linked to the account in one of the four currencies: USD, EUR, PLN, and GBP.
High-turnover customers are offered premium membership called “Skrill VIP” that includes additional features, such as a security token, multi-currency accounts and the ability to earn loyalty points.
12. WePay
WePay is an online payment service provider based in the United States that provides an integrated and customizable payment solution through its APIs to platform businesses such as crowdfunding sites, marketplaces and small business software companies. It offers partners fraud and risk protection.
WePay is a privately held company that offers payment capabilities to business platforms and makes money by charging service fees when processing funds. WePay enables secure, customized, and frictionless payments to platforms through its APIs.
WePay offers fraud and risk protection as a service through its proprietary risk prevention system and through several third party vendors.
The company detects fraud by using a number of data sources, including social data connections as well as machine learning algorithms. According to Aberman, “[WePay uses] your online identity to verify your identity in the real world.”
13. Dwolla
Dwolla is a United States-only e-commerce company that provides an online payment system and mobile payments network.
Dwolla provides a white-label service consisting of APIs to use the ACH system and white label services expanded from payouts to include instant bank authorization for debiting bank accounts.
14. Worldpay Inc.
Worldpay, Inc. was an American payment processing company and technology provider. In June 2019 it was acquired and merged into FIS Global. Prior to the acquisition, it was headquartered in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio area. Worldpay (formerly Vantiv), was the largest U.S. merchant acquirer ranked by general-purpose transaction volume.
The company provides payment and technology services to merchants and financial institutions in the U.S. and processes more than 20.1 billion payment transactions and approximately $726 billion in volume annually.
As of 2014, the predecessor company, Vantiv, supported approximately 400,000 merchant locations and more than 17,000 automated teller machines (ATMs) in 46 states and eight countries.
The company’s merchant base includes customers in vertical markets such as retail, restaurant, government, e-commerce, supermarket, drug store, business to business and consumer services.
Its financial institution base includes a diverse set of financial institutions, including regional banks, community banks, credit unions and regional personal identification number (PIN) debit networks.
15. Qiwi
Qiwi is a publicly traded Russian payment service provider headquartered in Nicosia, that operates electronic online payment systems primarily in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Belarus, Romania, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates.
Qiwi customers deposit cash in the company’s ATM style machines and use that money to quickly and conveniently make payments online for utilities, mobile phone bills, internet, online shopping purchases, bank loans and much more-or leave it in PayPal-like online accounts for later.
Only 20 to 25 percent of Russian adults have bank accounts. Just 15 percent have credit cards, and 90 percent of those cards are used only for withdrawing cash. In Russian shops, customers pay for 90 percent of their purchases in cash. For big purchases, bringing along a suitcase of rubies is still the norm – although private buyers prefer dollars.
Russians have also traditionally paid bills and made payments of all kinds at banks and supermarkets. But with the rise of a consumer economy, there aren’t enough banks and supermarkets to handle this demand – and Russians hate standing in line, a reminder of Soviet era shortages.
That puts Qiwi in the center of the Russian payments world. Qiwi kiosks turn cash into digital transaction that business systems can accept.
Qiwi has roughly 170,000 kiosks in Russia, more than 40,000 vendors that accept cash payments through the kiosks, and 65 million customers who pay more than 39 billion rubles (about $1.3 billion) each month.
16. Paytm
Paytm is an Indian e-commerce payment system and financial technology company, based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Paytm is currently available in 11 Indian languages and offers online use-cases like mobile recharges, utility bill payments, travel, movies, and events bookings as well as in-store payments at grocery stores, fruits and vegetable shops, restaurants, parking, tolls, pharmacies and educational institutions with the Paytm QR code.
California-based PayPal filed a case against Paytm in the Indian trademark office for using a logo with a similar color combination to its own on 18 November 2016. As of January 2018, Paytm is valued at $10 billion. It is planning to launch its initial public offering (IPO) in 2022.
As per the company, over 7 million merchants across India use this QR code to accept payments directly into their bank account. The company also uses advertisements and paid promotional content to generate revenues.
17. WebMoney
WebMoney is an online payment settlement system established in Russia in 1998. It is one of the largest electronic payments processor in Russia by number of users, with the company reporting 41 million registered accounts and 300,000 active weekly users in early 2020, and 100,000 stores accepting payments via the system. WebMoney is owned and operated by WM Transfer Ltd.
WebMoney users’ funds are stored in a “purse”, which holds electronic money corresponding to an underlying asset, such as a currency. The underlying assets for WebMoney units are held by a global network of companies that act as guarantors for the payment system.
Guarantors accept deposits in the underlying assets and issue the corresponding WebMoney units. WebMoney Transfer can be used for peer-to-peer payments and includes an escrow system. It charges 0.8% of the transacted amount in fees, up to a maximum fee of €50.
WebMoney provides an application called WebMoney Keeper for using their payments services, for Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, Android, iOS, and Blackberry.
In 2006, security researcher Kris Kaspersky criticized WebMoney Keeper Classic for Windows, as it installed a low-level device driver that allowed direct access to the I/O ports and accessed the hard disk directly using ATA commands instead of via the operating system.
18. PayU
PayU is a fintech company that provides payment technology to online merchants. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Hoofddorp, Netherlands.
It allows online businesses to accept and process payments through payment methods that can be integrated with web and mobile applications. As of 2018, the service is available in 17 countries. The firm is owned by the Naspers Group.
PayU is a regulated financial institution. It holds licenses from national banks and local regulators. PayU’s products include a PCI-DSS certified payment gateway, an anti-fraud system and an online Visa/MasterCard acquirer.
19. Ingenico
Ingenico is a France-based company, whose business is to provide the technology involved in secure electronic transactions. Its traditional business is based on the manufacture of point of sale (POS) payment terminals, but it also includes complete payment software and related services, also software for merchants.
On 4 June 2014 Ogone announced that Ogone was becoming Ingenico Payment Services, the Ingenico Group’s flagship brand for digital payment services.[15] All activities were to be structured around three major brands: Ingenico Smart Terminals, Ingenico Mobile Solutions and Ingenico Payment Services.
Ingenico Payment Services groups the activities of acquisitions made by Ingenico over the past years, including Ogone, TUNZ, easycash, easycash Loyalty Solutions and AXIS (not to be confused with India’s AxisBank).
20. SafeCharge
SafeCharge, a Nuvei company, is a global payments technology company that provides omnichannel payment services, fraud prevention solutions and connection to payment methods. The company counts 400+ employees, 54% of them are in development and tech support.
Its headquarters is in Montreal, Canada and it has offices in Israel, UK, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Italy, Austria, China, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Guernsey, Mexico, Singapore and in the US.
SafeCharge has payment processing (gateway) licenses from the main card schemes in Europe: Visa and Mastercard. It connected with 300+ global and region-specific alternative payment methods, such as: WeChat Pay and Alipay (China), Apple Pay (US), iDeal (Holland), POLi (Australia), PayPal (global), and Amex (global).
In 2013, SafeCharge received principal membership status for merchant acquiring by Visa and Mastercard Europe. It is an acquiring bank and licensed as a member of Mastercard as of 2014 and of Visa as of 2015.
In August 2019 SafeCharge was acquired by Nuvei, a privately owned electronic payment processing company, for the amount of US$889 million.
21. VersaPay
VersaPay was founded in 2006 as an electronic payments company and went public in 2010.
VersaPay is a Fintech company and leading provider of cloud-based invoice-to-cash solutions, enabling businesses to provide a superior customer experience, get paid faster, streamline financial operations, and dramatically reduce DSO and costs.
VersaPay ARC is the new standard in accounts receivable and collections management with a customer self-service environment to view invoices online, collaborate on inquiries and disputes, and facilitate secure online payments (EFT/ACH and credit card).
Businesses gain access to a suite of powerful tools that enable efficient collections, cash application and real-time insight into accounts receivable. VersaPay ARC automatically reconciles payments and account information through integrations with a wide range of ERPs and accounting software providers.
22. Red Dot Payment
Red Dot Payment is an online payment company that provides payment solutions for banks, acquirers, and merchants across the Asia Pacific. It enables merchants and financial institutions to provide complete end-to-end payment options for their customers worldwide to pay seamlessly, swiftly, and securely.
Integrate easily via APIs, plug into most major shopping carts and take the business to customers’ mobile devices with its Android and IOS SDKs. Red Dot Payment’s payment gateway is PCI DSS Level 1 certified to handle payment data, and all transactions are overseen by fraud monitoring systems.
Red Dot Payment was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Singapore. It also has offices in Bangkok and Jakarta.
23. BPAY
BPAY is an electronic bill payment system in Australia which enables payments to be made through a financial institution’s online, mobile or telephone banking facility to organisations which are registered BPAY billers.
BPAY is a registered trading name of BPAY Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cardlink Services Limited. Cardlink is owned equally by the four major Australian banks: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac.
Businesses or other organisations in Australia which choose to participate in the BPAY system would register as billers with the BPAY operating company through its bank. A biller must have an ACN or ABN and a banking relationship with an Australian financial institution.
The BPAY operating company would allocate a biller number to the business, which would be printed with the BPAY logo on their bills, as well as an indication of what reference number a customer should use when making a payment.
To make a payment, a customer would visit his or her Australian financial institution’s online, mobile or telephone banking facility, where he or she would enter the biller code, reference number and payment amount as well as an indication of the account to be debited, which may also be a credit card.
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Some billers do not accept credit cards (or accept payment from a limited list of credit cards) in payment through BPAY. The financial institution may limit the accounts which may be used for BPAY payments, and save the biller references information for use by the customer for future payments.
As a security measure, when making a BPAY payment to a new biller, the financial institution will typically send a SMS message with a validation code to the customer’s mobile phone. The customer would need to enter the validation code before the transaction is processed. This may create difficulties if the customer is making the payment while abroad.
The customer does not need to register for the service. The customer would usually not be required to pay a fee for the service, but the biller would usually pay a fee to its bank, and the credit card company if a card was used in payment.
After a customer has made a payment using BPAY, the financial institution where the payment was made would send by electronic funds transfer the payment details to the biller’s bank (if different) and the biller’s bank would credit the biller’s designated bank account with the payment amount, and the biller will be advised of the customer reference number and payment amount, for automatic or manual entry into its accounting system.
Transactions completed before a cut-off time set by the financial institution will normally be processed and paid on the same day, otherwise it will be processed on the next business day. The remitting bank may charge the biller’s bank an interchange fee.
24. PhonePe
PhonePe is a digital payment company headquartered in Bangalore, India. PhonePe was founded in December 2015, by Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari and Burzin Engineer. The PhonePe app went live in August 2016 and was the first payment app built on Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
The PhonePe app is available in over 11 Indian languages. Using PhonePe, users can send and receive money, recharge mobile, DTH, data cards, make utility payments, pay at shops, invest in tax saving funds, liquid Funds, buy insurance and mutual funds and gold.
In addition PhonePe also allows users to book Ola rides, pay for Redbus tickets, order food on Freshmenu, eaf, fit and avail Goibibo Flight and Hotel services through Switch platform.
PhonePe is accepted as a payment option at over 10 million offline and online merchant outlets across 400 cities in India covering food, travel, groceries, medicines, movie tickets etc. The app crossed 100 million user mark in June 2018 and also crossed 5 billion transactions in December 2019.
It currently has over 200 million users. The company launched the PhonePe ATM in January 2020. The PhonePe ATM allows neighbourhood Kirana stores to dispense cash in real-time to customers.
PhonePe is licensed by the Reserve Bank of India for issuance and operation of a Semi-Closed Prepaid Payment system with Authorization Number: 75/2014 dated 22 August 2014.
25. MobiKwik
MobiKwik is an Indian company founded in 2009 that provides a mobile phone based payment system and digital wallet.
Customers add money to an online wallet that can be used for payments. In 2013 the Reserve Bank of India authorized the company’s use of the MobiKwik wallet, and in May 2016 the company began providing small loans to consumers as part of its service.
The company launched its MobiKwik Lite mobile app in November 2016, designed for users of older 2G mobile networks and for those in areas with poor internet connectivity. In November 2016, the company reported having 1.5 million merchants using its service and a user base of 55 million customers.
In November 2016, MobiKwik launched its MobiKwik Lite mobile app aimed at users in poor internet connectivity regions and consumers using older 2G cellular networks.
On 8 November 2017, IDFC Bank entered into a strategic partnership with digital payments solution company MobiKwik to launch a co-branded virtual Visa prepaid card for customers of Mobikwik. On 28th May 2020, Mobikwik was removed from Google Play Store because it had a link to Aarogya Setu.
Conclusion
There are plenty of online payment systems out there that you can use to conduct e-commerce activities. Choose one that’s in line with your business objectives. If you work with an e-commerce marketing agency, ask your account manager what they suggest based on their experiences.
