Compare leading payment gateways platforms by pricing, strengths, trade-offs, and best-fit teams.
#1
1. Stripe
Payments infrastructure for the internet.
4.8
Stripe is a suite of payment APIs that powers commerce for online businesses of all sizes. From startups to large enterprises, Stripe handles everything from global payments to fraud prevention, helping businesses create custom checkout experiences and manage their financial operations efficiently.
Starts at 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card charge.
Best for: Online businesses and platforms needing a robust payment solution.
PayPal is a widely recognized platform for online payments, offering a secure way for individuals and businesses to send and receive money globally. Its features include invoicing, recurring payments, and fraud protection, making it a versatile option for various e-commerce needs and consumer transactions.
Starts at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for online payments.
Best for: Small to medium-sized businesses and individual sellers.
Square offers a comprehensive ecosystem for businesses, encompassing payment processing, point-of-sale systems, and business management tools. It's particularly popular among brick-and-mortar stores and small businesses due to its easy-to-use hardware and integrated software solutions.
Starts at 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions.
Best for: Small businesses, retailers, and restaurants with in-person sales.
Pros
Integrated POS hardware and software
Transparent pricing structure
Ideal for in-person and online sales
Cons
Less customizable for complex online needs
Can be more expensive for high-volume online sales
Adyen is a global payment platform that helps businesses accept payments across various channels and geographies. It offers a single platform for online, in-app, and in-store payments, along with advanced risk management and data insights, catering to enterprise-level clients with complex payment needs.
Custom pricing, often transaction-based with additional fees.
Best for: Large enterprises and global businesses with complex payment requirements.
Braintree, a PayPal service, provides a powerful payment gateway for businesses looking for flexible and customizable payment solutions. It supports various payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, and digital wallets, making it a strong choice for online and mobile commerce.
Starts at 2.59% + $0.49 per transaction.
Best for: E-commerce platforms and mobile applications requiring flexibility.
Authorize.Net is a long-standing payment gateway service that enables merchants to accept credit card and electronic check payments online and in person. It offers robust security features, recurring billing, and a virtual point-of-sale, making it suitable for established businesses.
Starts at $25/month plus transaction fees.
Best for: Established businesses needing a reliable and secure payment gateway.
Worldpay, part of FIS, provides payment processing services for businesses across various industries globally. It offers a comprehensive suite of payment solutions, including online payments, in-store payments, and omnichannel capabilities, focusing on scalability and security for a diverse client base.
Custom pricing based on business needs and volume.
Best for: Large businesses and multinational corporations seeking global payment solutions.
2Checkout, now part of Verifone, is an all-in-one monetization platform that helps businesses accept online payments, manage subscriptions, and optimize global sales. It specializes in cross-border e-commerce, offering localized payment methods, tax management, and intelligent fraud protection.
Starts at 3.5% + $0.35 per successful sale for the 2SELL plan.
Best for: Businesses focused on global e-commerce and subscription-based models.
Pros
Strong focus on international sales and localization
Comprehensive subscription management
Robust fraud prevention
Cons
Higher transaction fees compared to some competitors
Checkout.com offers a cloud-based payment platform designed for enterprises, providing a unified solution for processing payments across various channels and geographies. It focuses on maximizing acceptance rates, reducing fraud, and offering granular data insights to optimize payment performance for large-scale operations.
Custom pricing for enterprise clients.
Best for: Large enterprises requiring a highly performant and flexible payment platform.
платежный шлюз, не зависящий от API, и токенизация
4.6
Spreedly offers a PCI-compliant vault for storing sensitive payment information (tokenization) and a unified API for connecting to multiple payment gateways. This provides flexibility and reduces PCI burden, allowing businesses to switch providers easily or use multiple gateways simultaneously for redundancy and optimization.
Usage-based, contact for quote
Best for: E-commerce platforms, marketplaces, and enterprises seeking payment flexibility and reduced PCI scope.
Pros
Payment orchestration and a single API to connect to 120+ gateways
Reduces PCI compliance scope with secure vaulting (tokenization)
A/B test gateways, intelligent routing, and failover protection
Cons
Can add a layer of complexity for very small businesses
Ingenico, now part of Worldline, provides a comprehensive suite of payment solutions including POS terminals, online payment gateways, and acquiring services. They cater to a wide range of businesses from small merchants to large enterprises, offering secure and reliable transaction processing across various channels and international markets.
Custom pricing, contact sales.
Best for: Large retailers, international businesses, and those requiring integrated omnichannel payment solutions.
Pros
Extensive global reach and multi-currency support
Strong focus on security and fraud prevention
Integrated solutions for both online and in-store payments
Cons
Integration can be more complex than some newer providers
Pricing can be less transparent without direct contact
Razorpay is a full-stack financial solutions company in India, offering payment gateways, banking solutions, and payroll management. Its payment gateway supports various payment methods including UPI, credit/debit cards, and net banking, tailored for the Indian market while expanding its global reach. It simplifies online transactions for businesses.
2% per transaction for Indian cards/UPI, 3% for international cards/EMI.
Best for: Businesses operating within India or targeting the Indian market, seeking a comprehensive payment and financial platform.
Pros
Dominant player in the Indian market with extensive local payment options
User-friendly interface and easy integration
Offers additional financial services like neo-banking for businesses
Cons
Primarily focused on the Indian market, less global presence than competitors
Mollie is a European payment service provider offering an easy-to-integrate payment gateway for online businesses. It supports all major payment methods, provides transparent pricing, and focuses on developer-friendly APIs and excellent customer support. Mollie aims to simplify online payments, allowing businesses to grow efficiently.
Starts at €0.25 - €1.20 + 1.2% per transaction, depending on method.
Best for: European e-commerce businesses and startups looking for a straightforward, reliable, and user-friendly payment gateway.
Pros
Simple and transparent pricing model
Easy integration with clear developer documentation
Strong focus on customer support and user experience
Cons
Primarily focused on the European market
May have fewer advanced features compared to global giants
Stax offers a subscription-based payment processing model, eliminating markups, interchange fees, and hidden costs. It caters to businesses of all sizes, providing a transparent and predictable pricing structure. Features include invoicing, recurring billing, and a comprehensive analytics dashboard.
Subscription-based, starting from $99/month.
Best for: Businesses seeking transparent, predictable payment processing costs.
Pros
Transparent, subscription-based pricing with no markups.
Integrates with popular business software.
Dedicated account management and support.
Cons
Subscription model might not suit very low-volume businesses.
Transaction fees still apply to certain card types.
NMI is a highly customizable payment gateway platform designed for independent software vendors (ISVs) and value-added resellers (VARs). It offers extensive API capabilities, white-label options, and supports a wide range of payment methods and devices, enabling tailored payment solutions.
Varies based on volume and features; contact for custom quote.
Best for: ISVs, VARs, and businesses requiring highly customized payment solutions.
Pros
Highly flexible and customizable for various business models.
Comprehensive API for deep integration.
Supports a wide array of payment types and hardware.
Cons
Can be complex for small businesses without technical expertise.
Pricing structure may not be immediately transparent.
GoCardless specializes in recurring bank payments (Direct Debit and open banking payments), making it ideal for subscriptions, memberships, and invoices. It reduces failed payments and administrative overhead, offering a cost-effective alternative to card-based transactions for recurring revenue.
Percentage per transaction, with caps for larger payments. Custom pricing for high volume.
Best for: Businesses with recurring revenue models and subscription services.
Pros
Excellent for recurring payments and subscriptions.
Lower transaction fees compared to cards for many transactions.
Reduces churn from expired or stolen cards.
Cons
Primarily focused on bank debits, not credit card processing.
Settlement times can be longer than credit card payments.
Everything you need to know before choosing a payment gateways solution — features, pricing, evaluation criteria, and answers to common questions.
01
How we compare Payment Gateways for US teams
This page tracks 16 payment gateways platforms that are actively sold and supported in the United States. Each listing is reviewed for US availability, English-language support during North American business hours, and pricing published in US dollars, so a buyer in New York or San Francisco can shortlist without chasing regional resellers.
The strongest current options are Stripe, PayPal, and Square. We look at what each product actually does day to day, where it fits in a US tech stack, and who it is genuinely a good fit for — rather than ranking purely on marketing spend.
Across the shortlist, the capabilities buyers cite most often are Robust API for developers, Comprehensive feature set, and High brand recognition and trust. Use those as the baseline: if a vendor cannot match them, it usually needs a very specific reason to stay on your list.
02
Payment Gateways pricing in the US
Published pricing across these payment gateways tools falls into 4 broad shapes: Starts at 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card charge., Starts at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for online payments., Starts at 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions., and Custom pricing, often transaction-based with additional fees.. US list prices are normally quoted per user per month in USD, billed annually, with a discount of roughly 10–20% for the annual commitment.
At least one option here has a free or freemium tier, which is the cheapest way to validate the workflow before you involve procurement. Free tiers usually cap seats, history, or integrations — confirm those limits before you build a process on top of them.
Several vendors list quote-only enterprise pricing. Ask for the total first-year cost including implementation, data migration, sandbox environments, and premium support — those line items are where US enterprise deals typically grow 30–50% beyond the seat price.
Also budget for the non-obvious costs: SSO/SAML is often gated behind a higher tier, API rate limits can force an upgrade, and multi-year contracts frequently include automatic uplift clauses. Sales tax treatment for SaaS varies by state, so confirm whether quotes are tax-inclusive.
03
Security, compliance and procurement checks
For US buyers, security review is usually the step that decides the deal. Before you sign for payment gateways, ask each vendor for a current SOC 2 Type II report, their sub-processor list, and their data residency options — many teams require that data stays in US regions.
Layer on the regulations that apply to you: HIPAA and a signed BAA for anything touching patient data, CCPA/CPRA obligations for California consumer data, FERPA in education, GLBA in financial services, and FedRAMP or StateRAMP authorization if you sell to public sector. If you have EU users too, check the vendor's Data Privacy Framework certification.
Practical checklist: SSO and SCIM provisioning, role-based access control, audit logs exportable to your SIEM, documented breach-notification timelines, and a data-deletion path you can actually execute at the end of the contract.
04
Which payment gateways option fits your team
The tools on this page are built for different buyers — Online businesses and platforms needing a robust payment solution., Small to medium-sized businesses and individual sellers., Small businesses, retailers, and restaurants with in-person sales., and Large enterprises and global businesses with complex payment requirements.. Match the tool to your stage rather than to the longest feature list.
Startups and small US teams (1–50 employees): prioritize fast self-serve setup, month-to-month billing, and a free or low-cost tier. You want something running this week, not a three-month rollout.
Mid-market (50–1,000 employees): the deciding factors are usually SSO, granular permissions, an open API, and integrations with the rest of your stack. Expect a security questionnaire and a 4–8 week evaluation.
Enterprise (1,000+): weight the contract, not the demo — uptime SLA with credits, named support with US-hours coverage, sandbox environments, migration assistance, and a clear roadmap commitment.
A practical shortlist method: pick two options from this list — typically Stripe and PayPal — run the same real workflow through both for two weeks, and score them on setup time, support responsiveness, and how much manual work is left over.
FAQ
Payment Gateways — Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions about choosing payment gateways in 2026.
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