7 Best International Merchant Accounts for Small Businesses

Stripe has excellent international fees compared to the others on our list: 1.5% per transaction. 2Checkout, which is built for international payment processing, charges 2% for international fees. Stripe’s chargeback fee of $15 is on par with those of other payment processors.

Since Stripe offers a free account, merchants don’t need to worry about upfront cost unless they opt for add-on tools and upgraded features. Transaction fees are competitive, and discounts are available upon request.

• Monthly fee: $0
• Transaction processing fees:
  • International payments: + 1% fee, 1% spread for currency conversion
  • Ecommerce: 2.9% + 30 cents
  • Touchless: 2.9% + 30 cents
  • Virtual terminal: 2.9% + 30 cents
  • Card-present: 2.7% + 5 cents
  • Keyed-in: 3.4% plus 30 cents
  • ACH: 0.8%, $5 cap
  • Invoicing: + 0.4%–0.5%, 25 invoices free per month
  • Recurring billing: + 0.5%–0.8%
• Stripe Checkout: $10 per month
• Chargeback fee: $15
• Failed transaction fees: $4–$15
• Deposit speed: 2 business days, or 1%, minimum 50 cents for instant payout

• Versatile payment gateway

Stripe can be used as a payment gateway on any online venue, from chats to online stores, eBay to Facebook, Salesforce to mobile apps. While the other merchant services can handle a few of these venues, Stripe’s versatility is rivaled only by PayPal.

• Real-time native currency

Stripe not only accepts payments in native currencies but lets you display in that denomination so your customers know exactly how much their purchase costs. In addition, Stripe’s hosted payment page automatically detects the customer’s location and displays a translated version of your checkout page so customers can read in their own language. 2Checkout offers a similar service, as does Braintree.

• Robust billing and subscription capabilities

Stripe lets you set up flat rates, multiple pricing, usage rates (such as for electricity), and more. It integrates with websites, mobile apps, and CRM systems, and has a virtual terminal for taking payments via phone or email. However, its invoicing and recurring billing has an additional percentage added for each invoice, but the first 25 invoices are free. If you need free unlimited invoicing, consider Helcim or PayPal.

• Wide integrations

Stripe is the most flexible platform on the list. It works with over 660 partners with integrations in accounting and finance, marketing and sales, operations, payments, and ecommerce. In addition, it has excellent SDK and API functions for creating your own integrations. In fact, Stripe processes over 250 million API requests a day.

Stripe’s offer of no-contract, no-monthly-fee, and no-cancellation-fee merchant account earned it perfect scores in these sub-categories. However, we docked some points because of its cross-border fee, currency conversion fee, and chargeback fee.

Stripe’s wide range of online payment methods helped it earn perfect scores for these aspects. However, its score for this category was pulled down by its virtual terminal, which is not readily available, and its mobile POS, which needs custom integration that can take some time to set up. It also charges additional fees for invoicing and recurring billing.

Stripe earned high scores in this category because of the large number of currencies and categories it supports, only losing points for its slower deposit speed (two business days).

Stripe is one of our most recommended merchant account providers for its pricing, popularity, integrations, and ease of use. These are true even for international payments processing, earning Stripe outstanding scores for this category.

Helcim does not charge a monthly fee and has a chargeback of $15. It offers interchange-plus pricing with a 1% markup for international sales—note that Helcim specified that this fee is imposed by the bank and is not a mark-up on its end. Further, the rates are broken into a tier system that saves you money the more transactions you process each month.

• Excellent customer service

Helcim has one of the highest user review ratings of any provider on this list. Nearly every review praised customer and technical support, saying representatives were friendly and able to help with their issues. Its customer support rating is 4.3 stars on Capterra.

• Free virtual terminal

Helcim is one of only two on our list that gives a free virtual terminal (Authorize.net is the other). This makes it a good choice for MOTO and telemarketing companies, or any business needing to accept invoice payments over the phone.

• Wide payment type options

Among all the providers on this list, only Helcim offers almost all the payment types we considered without any additional fee, with the exception of cryptocurrency payment processing, which Helcim does not support.

Aside from offering the more affordable interchange-plus pricing, Helcim charges one of the lowest cross-border add-on rates of 1%. This earned Helcim perfect scores for monthly, cancellation, currency, and cross-border fees. It lost minor points for its chargeback fee of $15.

If not for the lack of cryptocurrency payment processing, Helcim would have gotten perfect scores across all payment types considered. Aside from offering the widest payment options, Helcim offers these all without any additional fees.

Helcim’s weakest performance is in its deposit speed of one to two days and the very low number of currencies and countries it supports. For merchants in the US and Canada willing to limit currencies to US and Canadian dollars, Helcim could be a top option.

Helcim also did well in this category, only losing some points for popularity and integrations.

Braintree does not have monthly fees and charges $15 for chargebacks, making it competitive with the other merchant services on our list, price-wise. Even with the additional 1% charge on international transaction fees, it’s less expensive than Stripe and would have ranked better had it accepted more payment types. However, Helcim, with its interchange-plus fees, may be cheaper than Braintree.

Custom flat rates and interchange-plus pricing available for established businesses based on business model and processing volume for cards, digital wallets, and Venmo transactions. Discounted ACH debit rates available for enterprise businesses.

Other possible fees include:

• Account updater: Contact Braintree sales
• PayPal payment fees: $0
• Fraud security 3DSecure: Contact Braintree sales
• Integrated third-party fees: Varies
• Overdue account fee: 1.5% per month or the maximum amount permitted by law

• Easy and free PayPal integration

Braintree comes with full PayPal integration at no extra cost—something none of the others on the list can do. Through an activated PayPal account, you can use all the POS and other tools PayPal offers.

• Strong integrations and developer tools

Braintree is a close competitor to Stripe for developer support. You can use Braintree Auth if you want to integrate Braintree into a third-party service, but the software also has a wide range of ready-made integrations. With Braintree Extend, you can share payment data with other platforms, merchants, or service providers.

• Account updater

Braintree can update your customers’ Visa, Mastercard, or Discover Card details—such as numbers, expiration dates, and account status changes. This is excellent for recurring bills and subscriptions, where current information is vital. Stripe also has an account updater.

• Strong fraud prevention tools

Although all the providers in this list offer fraud prevention, Braintree offers a free basic version of this feature to their users plus a premium paid one. The premium service gives merchants more flexibility and control over how they would like to filter and manage their fraud prevention strategy.

Braintree scored high for the lack of monthly and cancellation fees. Although it charges cross-border and currency conversion fees, these are relatively low compared to others on the list.

Although it scored high for online and ecommerce payments, Braintree would have received a higher score if it had native capabilities for invoicing, in-person transactions, and mobile payments. Since a lot of international merchants prioritize online payment capabilities, we think Braintree is an excellent choice for small businesses focusing on online sales.

On this list, Braintree supports among the highest number of currencies and countries, earning it high scores in this category. Aside from its international capabilities, it gives merchants more multicurrency control. The only subcriteria Braintree didn’t do well in is slower deposit times.

Braintree’s earned excellent scores in this category for its popularity and low fees. Because it is not ideal for in-person transactions, Braintree is not as popular as Stripe and Authorize.net, costing it a few minor points in this subcategory.

Authorize.net charges a $25 monthly fee. Only PaymentCloud and PayPal (depending on the service) on this list also have a monthly fee, and PaymentCloud works with high-risk merchants. If this concerns you, look at Stripe (if you want more customization and are comfortable with a bit of coding) and Braintree (if you also want to accept both ACH and PayPal payments), as they also have Level 2 and 3 processing and no monthly fees.

Authnet is unique in that it has two accounts. Its all-in-one solution includes a merchant account and runs 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction across the board. Its gateway-only plan adds 10 cents per transaction to the merchant service’s rate. Regardless of your plan, you’ll add 1.5% to any cross-border transaction. This is average among the providers in our list, with both Braintree and Helcim quoting the lowest rate at 1% cross-border fees. However, with the monthly fees and the slightly higher transaction fees, Authorize.net is on the more costly end of this list.

• B2B sales processing

With Level 2 and Level 3 payment processing, Authorize.net is better suited for business-to-business sales than most of the services on our list. Stripe offers Level 2 and 3, while Braintree has limited support, depending on the processor. Authorize.net also provides invoicing tools, ACH/e-check processing, and recurring payments, plus it integrates with B2B-specific platforms like B2B Commerce Cloud. (Note: For domestic sales, we chose Stripe as our best B2B payment solution.)

• Easy and wide integration

Authorize.net integrates with 145 certified solutions, which is above average for those on our list. It can process transactions from various types of platforms, such as sales, accounting, kiosks, and shopping carts.

• Versatile payment solutions

Authorize.net works with nearly every kind of payment processing, including online and in-person credit cards, mobile wallets, virtual terminals and subscription management, and integrations with other software. It can also serve high-risk businesses through its partners like PaymentCloud (which is also on this list) and has a resellers program, providing other merchant services with its gateway.

The biggest factors that pulled down Authorize.net’s score for this category are its monthly and chargeback fees. Although it offers a month-to-month contract and does not charge any cancellation fees, the monthly fee of $25 is quite hefty for low-volume small business owners.

Authorize.net scored strongly in this category with its wide availability of payment options except for cryptocurrency payment processing, which it does not offer, and mobile POS app, which comes with a fee.

Authorize.net did not do very well in this category. Aside from Helcim and PaymentCloud, it is the only provider on this list that supports fewer than 12 currencies and fewer than four countries. It did score well for customer support and deposit speed, but its international capabilities are quite limited.

When it comes to ease of use, popularity, and integrations, Authorize.net scored excellently. Its pricing pulled down its score slightly. While the pricing may not make too big of a difference for large-volume businesses, small businesses will find it more costly.

PayPal has some of the most complex pricing in this guide, with different rates depending on payment method and country (find details on its pricing page). Online transaction fees are at 2.59% + 49 cents, while in-person payments start at 2.29% + 9 cents per transaction. Monthly fee ranges from $0 to $30 depending on the service.

A 1.5% fee is charged for accepting international payments for all types of transactions (regular, alternative payment methods, and donations). Currency conversion spread is at 4% per transaction; it is the only other provider aside from Stripe that mentions how much it will cost for a business to make international payments (such as chargebacks and declines for cross-border transactions).

• Chargeback fees: $20 for transactions not processed through a buyer’s PayPal account or through guest checkout.
• Dispute fees: $15 Standard or $30 for high volume transactions.
• E-check fees: 3.49% capped at $300
• Instant withdrawal of funds to linked card or bank account: 1.50% of the amount transferred
• Recurring billing service: $10/month optional service available for PayPal Online Card Payment Service and Payment Gateway users
• Recurring payment tool: $30/month optional service available for PayPal Online Card Payment Service users

• Small scale capability

PayPal is designed to accommodate the solopreneur or casual seller, even those that sell across borders. It does not charge for its POS and has reasonable in-person rates. PayPal is also on our list of best mobile credit card processors.

• Easy integration with any checkout page

PayPal’s claim to fame is that you can add it anywhere. The European research PayPal eCommerce Index 2022 study commissioned by PayPal showed a 62% increase in consumer willingness to buy when PayPal is available as a checkout option.

• Same-day deposits

You can get your payout within a day to your PayPal account. It takes two or three days to get to a regular bank account. Most of the services on our list pay out in 24 to 48 hours, but 2Checkout pays weekly.

• Native POS system

Unlike Braintree or 2Checkout, which are primarily online processors, and Stripe, which depends on third-party software, PayPal offers the Zettle POS system for brick-and-mortar stores or in-person sales.

Although PayPal’s cross-border fee is the more common 1.5%, its complicated pricing and fees prevented it from getting higher scores in this category.

PayPal offers all payment options we considered in our evaluation. However, it lost a few points for the additional fees for the virtual terminal and ACH/e-check processing. Some points were also lost for not having cryptocurrency payment processing.

Aside from PayPal’s average performance when it comes to currency support, its slower deposit speed and bad reputation for held funds prevented it from getting higher scores in this category.

PayPal scored well in this category. We gave it perfect scores for its popularity, wide and easy integrations, and transparent pricing.

2Checkout’s pricing is simple but more expensive than the others in this guide. However, it offers multicurrency international payments pricing, making it better than Helcim in that category. Its chargeback fees are calculated by taking your dispute history into account, which is more complicated than most of the other options on this list that charge a flat fee.

It also does not have a monthly fee, which gives it an advantage over Authorize.net and PaymentCloud, but its transaction rates are high. Add to that the 2% cross-border percentage, and it may be worth looking at cheaper options like Stripe. (2Checkout’s highest plan does not have the cross-border fee, however.)

Like Braintree, 2Checkout does not sell hardware. Rather, you get it from the POS system or ecommerce solution you choose.

• More country choices

2Checkout can process payments in 235+ countries and more than 100 currencies—the most of any on our list. You also have the option of choosing to accept domestic payment methods in a country as well. 2Checkout pays out via your choice of wire transfer, ACH, PayPal, or Payoneer in USD, EUR, or GBP.

• Merchant of record

2Checkout is unique in that it can act as your merchant of record. This means it can handle your sales tax, VAT, and remittances, so you can concentrate on sales. No other payment processor on our list offers this; if you sell in multiple nations, it could save you time and money.

• Shopper myAccount

2Checkout’s myAccount works much like PayPal. Customers have their own accounts and can log in to see items they’ve purchased using 2Checkout from your store and elsewhere. They can also edit their personal information and payment methods and contact support.

• Award-winning coding

Like Braintree and Stripe, 2Checkout’s developer tools are excellent. It has multiple awards for its platform and programming, having been a 2021 CODiE and a 2021 Cloud Awards finalist.

2Checkout scored high for not having any monthly fee, cancellation fee, and contract. However, it has the highest cross-border fees among the providers on this list, and it brought down its score for this category.

The variety of payment types offered by 2Checkout is a bit lacking—no mobile POS app, no virtual terminal, no cryptocurrency payment processing, and no B2B level 2 or 3 processing. This is reflected in its score for this category, which is the lowest among the providers on this list.

2Checkout scored really well in this category, mainly because of the large number of currencies and countries it supports. It lost some points for its deposit speed because of its weekly payout.

Despite not having any fees for signing up and maintaining an account, 2Checkout’s pricing pulled down its score in this category. This is due to its more expensive transaction and cross-border fees.

PaymentCloud’s pricing is not readily available on its website. The fees and rates vary depending on the nature of your business and your transaction volume. To get an accurate quote for your business, you will need to get in touch with a PaymentCloud sales representative. We were provided with ranges which seem to be higher than other providers.

• Support for high-risk merchants

PaymentCloud stands out for its acceptance of businesses in the medium- and high-risk industries. No other provider on this list does that. Although approval time can be lengthy and tedious, you can get set up within the day once you’re approved. It works with tobacco, e-cigarettes, topical CBD, electronics, dropshipping, bail bonds, firearms, and more.

• Strong fraud protection

Fraud is an important concern especially for medium- to high-risk merchants and PaymentCloud offers strong fraud protection tools with no additional fees. It is PCI-compliant and uses industry-standard Address Verification System (AVS) technology, tokenization, P2PE data encryption, and 3D Secure technology to validate cardholders at the point of purchase. It also implements temporary payment halts to pause suspicious transactions pending verification.

• Cryptocurrency payment processing

Aside from being the only provider on this list that supports mid- to high-risk businesses, PaymentCloud is also the only provider that offers cryptocurrency payment processing. It allows a bitcoin checkout option. This requires setting up a bitcoin merchant account which is also handled by PaymentCloud. However, fees are different for this feature and available upon request from a sales representative.

PaymentCloud did not get outstanding scores in this category. Aside from charging monthly fees, the translation and cross-border rates are higher than other providers. This is usually typical for high-risk merchant accounts.

With its wide availability of payment types, PaymentCloud scored well in this category. However, it is not capable of stored payments, losing a few points here.

PaymentCloud performed poorly in this category. Aside from its slower deposit times, it is only available in three countries.

PaymentCloud’s popularity as a high-risk merchant services provider and its wide and easy integrations earned it perfect scores in this category. However, its pricing and ease of use could still be improved.