7 Best Payment Gateways for 2023
Meaghan has provided content and guidance for indie retailers as the editor for a number of retail publications and a speaker at trade shows. She is Fit Small Business’s authority on retail and ecommerce.
Anna is a retail expert writer for Fit Small Business with over six years of evaluating dozens of software for small business. She holds a double degree in Accountancy and Financial Management and is currently pursuing further education in financial and payment technology.
This article is part of a larger series on Payments.
A payment gateway is a customer-facing platform that allows merchants to securely accept credit card payments online or in person. In fact, most popular payment gateways are actually payment processors, and many modern providers already offer free or affordable payment gateway solutions with a merchant account.
The best payment gateway delivers secure and reliable service, easy integration and compatibility with most payment processing platforms, superior support, and competitive transaction processing fees without a long-term contract. But because not all businesses are the same, the challenge is finding the right payment gateway to match every merchant’s needs.
We evaluated over a dozen options to find the seven best payment gateways:
- Best overall: Authorize.net
- Best for large-volume businesses: Helcim
- Best for stores and restaurants wanting POS software: Square
- Best for integrations and programmability: Stripe
- Best add-on for ecommerce: Payflow by PayPal
- Best for small businesses needing business banking: Chase Payment Solutions
- Best for international sales: 2Checkout (Verifone)
Notable Runners Up:
- Best for medical/educational services and nonprofits: Payline
- Best add-on for voice commerce: Amazon Pay
- Best for CBD, tobacco, and other high-risk merchants: PaymentCloud
Top Payment Gateways Compared
Monthly Fee | Card Present Fee | Card Not Present/Online Fee | Chargeback Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | $25 | 2.9% + 30 cents or 10 cents per transaction and 10 cents batch fee | 2.9% + 30 cents or 10 cents per transaction and 10 cents batch fee | $0–$25 |
 | $0 | Interchange plus 0.1% + 5 cents–0.3% + 8 cents | Interchange plus 0.2% + 10 cents–0.5% + 25 cents | $0–$15 |
 | $0–$60 | 2.6% + 10 cents | 2.9% + 30 cents | Waived up to $250 per month |
 | $0 | 2.7% + 5 cents | 2.9% + 30 cents to 3.4% + 30 cents | $15 |
 | $0–$25 | 2.29% + 9 cents | 2.59% + 49 cents | $0–$20 |
 | $0–$15 (business checking account) | 2.6% + 10 cents | 2.9% + 25 cents | From $25 |
 | $0 | 3.5% + 35 cents–6% + 60 cents | 3.5% + 35 cents | Varies |
Comes with a Merchant Account | Account Approval | One-click Online Checkout | Works with High-risk Merchants | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Optional | Instant (for payment gateway only account) | ✕ | ✓ |
| ✓ | Required | ✓ | ✕ |
| Payment Processor | Instant | ✓ | Limited |
| ✓ | Instant | ✓ | ✕ |
| Payment Processor | Instant | ✓ | ✕ |
| ✓ | Required | ✓ | ✓ |
| Payment Processor | Instant | ✓ | ✕ |
Learn more about merchant accounts or explore our guide on the best merchant services—all of which offer payment gateways.
Authorize.net: Best (& Most Versatile) Payment Gateway
Overall Score:
4.56 / 5
Pros
- Most reliable
- Option for standalone or with merchant account
- Easy to use
- Works with high-risk merchants
- Easily connects with most small business software
Cons
- Has a monthly fee
- Does not sell terminals, POS hardware
- Imposes a chargeback fee
- Lacks native one-click payment tools
What we like:
Authorize.net is one of the most popular payment gateways, seamlessly integrating with most of the payment processors, merchant service providers, and point-of-sale (POS) systems in the industry. It supports almost all types of payment methods, including PayPal. Additionally, it has PCI compliance and offers competitive online rates for both small and growing merchants.
You can choose from two plans—Authorize.net can be a pure payment gateway, letting you choose your own merchant service, or you can select the all-in-one plan, which provides payment processing at a flat rate. Both plans have a monthly fee.
Pricing
- Monthly fee: $25
- Card-present processing fee: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction or 10 cents per transaction and 10 cents batch fee
- ACH/e-check processing fee: 0.75% per transaction
- Chargeback fee: $0–$25
- POS system: $0
- Virtual terminal: $0
- Card readers: $65
- Terminals: Third party
Payment Gateway Features
- Robust payment toolkit: Authorize.net can process online and in-person payments, virtual terminals and subscription management, credit card and mobile wallets like Apple Pay, and even PayPal. It has PCI compliance and strong fraud protection.
- Popular & easy to integrate: Authorize.net integrates into more than 140 certified solutions from sales to accounting, kiosks to shopping carts, and even other payment providers like PayPal.
- Pays within 24 hours: Most payment processors take a day or two to pay out, except 2Checkout, which pays out each week. Some, like Square, charge extra for same-day payouts.
- Mobile: Authorize.net’s POS app lets you ring up purchases with sales tax and simple notes and accept credit card payments. Users say—especially recently—that they’ve had problems with logins and glitching.
Helcim: Best for Large-volume Businesses
Overall Score:
4.50 / 5
Pros
- No monthly fee or long-term contracts
- Interchange-plus transaction fees
- 24/7 customer support
- Automated volume discounts
Cons
- Limited business integrations
- Not compatible with high-risk merchants
- Expensive mobile card reader
- Application process geared towards more established businesses
What we like:
Helcim is our all-in-one payment platform of choice for retailers with large-volume sales or inventories. It offers a payment gateway API feature, which allows real-time card payment authorization, data capture, voids and refunds management, and recurring payments, among others. It is easy to set up, so you can add this gateway to any existing website, shopping cart, or accounting system and start accepting payments in no time.
While it’s impossible to accept card payments online for free, Helcim’s rates come closest to ensuring that you always pay the cheapest fees possible. It offers zero monthly fees, low chargeback cost, and inclusive features.
Pricing
- Monthly fee: $0
- In-person processing fee: Interchange plus 0.1% + 5 cents to 0.3% + 8 cents
- Online processing fee: Interchange plus 0.2% + 10 cents to 0.5% + 25 cents
- Chargeback fee: $0–$15
- ACH payments: 0.5% + 25 cents, $5 per return
- Virtual terminal: Included
- Card readers: $109
Payment Gateway Features
- Interchange-plus pricing: Helcim charges a volume-based service fee on top of the actual interchange and card network costs. This pricing model makes it possible to get the lowest rates possible every month automatically, depending on your monthly sales, without having to constantly negotiate for fees.
- International payments: Helcim can process overseas credit card payments. There are no additional fees for currency conversion as the transactions are subject to your customer’s card network rates.
- Data management: Helcim’s full payment gateway API allows you to securely manage your business data all in one place with over 80 API actions available, including accessing and updating product catalogs and retrieving credit card and bank information.
- Dispute management: Helcim comes with a dispute management dashboard that lists chargeback details, statuses of claims, and a link for uploading supporting documents. You can also filter the view depending on dispute status, response due date, and more.
Square: Best for Point of Sale
Overall Score:
4.48 / 5
Pros
- No monthly processing fees
- Free specialized POS software
- Offers a CBD merchant program
- Free website builder
- Prebuilt integrations with many website builders and ecommerce platforms
- No long-term contracts
Cons
- Locked into Square Payments
- Limited customer service hours
- Frequent complaints of payment holds and frozen accounts
- Not compatible with most high-risk merchants
What we like:
Square is a favorite among reviewers at Fit Small Business because it can do so much so well. As a payment gateway, it offers its online payment tools at no extra cost. It supports easy-to-use shareable links and “Buy Now” buttons, and its virtual terminal comes with all the features you would expect from more sophisticated solutions like Stripe. Square’s mobile card reader can also be connected to your computer with a Square dock so you can accept keyed-in, tap, and chip payments.
Pricing
- Monthly fee: $0–$60
- Card-present processing fee: 2.6% + 10 cents per transaction
- Keyed-in processing fee: 3.5% + 15 cents per transaction
- Online/ecommerce rate: 2.9% + 30 cents
- ACH processing fee: 1% with $1 minimum
- Rapid Pay fee: 1%
- Chargeback fee: Waived up to $250
- Virtual terminal: $0
- Card readers: From $49
- Terminals: From $299
- 30-day free trial
Payment Gateway Features
- Priced for solopreneurs and startups: If you are only an occasional seller, such as a hobbyist, the free software and lack of monthly fees make it among the most affordable.
- Versatility: The ease of use and great mobile app means you can use it in-store or on the go. It has a virtual terminal for phone orders, a free website/online store, and invoicing for freelancers and B2B. (Others on this list charge for one or both of these features.)
- Free POS with inventory management: While many payment gateways on this list offer POS systems, Square’s is among the most complete with inventory, reports, and some customer management functions.
- Mobile app and card readers: Square tops our list of the best iPhone credit card readers. Users praise the ease of use and functions. Most complaints are about held funds or frozen accounts rather than the app.
- CBD Merchant Program: Square supports certain types of CBD merchants, allowing some high-risk merchants access to Square’s POS and gateway payment processing tools
Square is our best POS system for small businesses. It is also among the leading credit card readers, best salon POS, and top-recommended POS for restaurants. Square is also our top-ranking merchant service, so it makes sense that it scores high for payment gateways. It works for mobile, desktop, tablet, and POS systems.
Stripe: Best for Integrations & Programmability
Overall Score:
4.42 / 5
Pros
- Extremely customizable
- Multitude of integrations, great API
- 24/7 support
- Top security and fraud management
- Quick, easy sign-up
- No long-term contracts, pay-as-you-go billing
Cons
- No native POS
- Service fee for invoicing and recurring billing payments
- Requires some technical expertise
- Limited hardware options
What we like:
Stripe is a terrific payment gateway for businesses—from startups to Fortune 500 firms. Its vast number of integrations (660+) make it a great choice for online, international, and B2B payment processing. However, it also made our list because of its programmability. Stripe’s API and SDK tools are some of the best on the market, making it a great choice for a business wanting to incorporate Stripe payments into its software or mobile app.
Pricing
- Monthly fee: $0
- In-person processing fee: 2.7% + 5 cents (card-present), 2.9% + 30 cents (touchless)
- Online processing fee: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
- Keyed-in processing fee: 3.4% + 30 cents (effective November 2022)
- Invoicing service fee: 0.4% with 25 free invoice processing per month or 0.5% per invoice, depending on plan
- Recurring billing service fee: 0.5% per month or 0.8% per invoice, depending on plan
- Discounts for volume sales, multi-products
- Chargeback fee: $15
- Virtual terminal: $0
- Card readers: $59
Since our last update:
Effective November 2022, Stripe will charge 3.4% + 30 cents for all keyed-in transactions including first-time card-on-file and recurring payments.
Payment Gateway Features
- Billing and subscriptions: Stripe has a free invoice function for up to 25 payment requests per month. It also makes it easy to design a billing system for one-time or recurring payments. You can set up flat rates, multiple pricing, and usage rates (such as for electricity). It integrates with websites, mobile apps, and CRM systems.
- Integrations: Stripe was designed to be easily integrated and has over 660 partners and interfaces 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 per day.
- International sales: While we like 2Checkout best for international sales, Stripe is no slouch. With Stripe, you can accept payments in over 135 currencies. It charges extra for processing international credit cards in person, however.
Payflow by PayPal: Best Add-on for Ecommerce
Overall Score:
4.39 / 5
Pros
- Supports international payments
- Free invoicing and POS software
- Known and trusted platform by consumers
- Most affordable in-person flat rate fee
- No long-term contracts
Cons
- High add-on fees
- Complicated fees
- Monthly fee required for virtual terminal and ACH processing
- Lacks B2B payments processing
- Potential for frozen funds
What we like:
It’s almost impossible to talk about online payments without PayPal, a household name. In fact, PayPal is highly trusted by shoppers, so much so that adding a PayPal checkout option to your site can help reduce shopping cart abandonment. Its standalone payment gateway, Payflow, can accept 25 currencies in more than 200 countries, so it’s also a good option for international businesses. However, 2Checkout and Stripe can work with more currencies and countries.
Pricing
- Monthly gateway fee: $0–$25
- Monthly recurring billing: $10
- Monthly fraud protection: $10
- Payflow fraud protection per transaction: $0–10 cents
- Payflow transaction fee: 10 cents
- In-person processing fees: 2.29% + 9 cents
- Online card processing fees: 2.59% + 49 cents
- Keyed-in processing: 3.49% + 49 cents
- Chargeback fee: $0–$20
Payment Gateway Features
- International payments processing: PayPal accepts 25 currencies through its payment gateway.
- Hosted checkout: PayPal is one of the most trusted online payment processors that provides hosted prebuilt and highly customized checkout pages. It’s easy to set up and integrate, allowing you to start accepting payments in minutes.
- Social media selling: Create a “Buy Now” or “Pay Now” button with PayPal’s payment button generator. You can paste the link on Facebook, Twitter, and most online marketplaces.
- Chargeback protection: Basic chargeback protection is included with PayPal’s payment gateway, but you can also add advanced fraud protection and seller protection.
- Recurring billing payments: PayPal’s invoicing app allows you to automate recurring invoice management. You can create and send invoices and accept card payments, e-checks, and PayPal-exclusive payment methods.
Chase Payment Solutions: Best for SMBs Needing Banking & Payment Processing
Overall Score:
4.36 / 5
Pros
- Same-day payouts possible
- Negotiable rates in some cases
- Unique business analytics tools
- International bank with a good reputation
Cons
- Some payment methods require a Chase banking account
- Imposes a chargeback fee
- Complaints of cancellation fee
- Mobile POS has login issues
What we like:
Associated with one of the largest banks in the world, Chase Payment Solutions (formerly Chase Merchant Services) is a direct processor that offers merchant services to SMBs. While it is possible to enroll in Chase Payment Solutions, you get the best value (and fastest payouts) when you also enroll in Chase Business Checking.
As such, it’s a great choice for new businesses needing a checking account, a business credit card, and more. It serves companies in the US, Canada, and Europe (but can handle international sales) and has a large number of integrations and partnerships.
Pricing
- Monthly fee: $0–$15 (for business checking account)
- Card-present processing fee: 2.6% plus 10 cents
- Keyed-in processing fee: 3.5% + 10 cents
- Online processing fee: 2.9% + 25 cents
- Rapid pay: $0
- Chargeback fee: $25 to $100 per transaction depending on dispute volume
- Automated clearing house (ACH) processing fee: 1% (up to $25) per transaction
- POS system: $0
- Virtual terminal: $0
- Card readers: From $49.95
Payment Gateway Features
- Same-day deposit free: With the Chase QuickAccept app, you can have transactions sent to your Chase bank account the same day at no extra charge. Most of the payment gateways here take one day or longer, while Square charges 1.5% per transaction for same-day deposits.
- Chase banking: You need a Chase Business Complete account to access faster payouts and the QuickAccept mobile app. This package includes a checking account, a credit card, quick check deposit services, Zelle, and more. Some features are subject to extra fees and conditions. Chase is one of our best checking account for small businesses, leading checking accounts for LLCs, and top-recommended banks for small businesses.
- Mobile: Chase’s mobile checkout includes a simple POS system, which features inventory and reports. The biggest complaint concerned problems logging in. If you need a better mobile application, see if one of our top mobile POS apps integrates with Chase.
Since our last update:
Chase recently launched Customer Insights—a powerful business analytics tool that provides merchants with actionable insights from customer data with the help of Chase’s massive merchant-acquiring and card-issuing data. It comes free with every Chase Payment Solutions merchant account.
2Checkout (Verifone): Best for Global Sales
Overall Score:
4.34 / 5
Pros
- No monthly fees
- 45 payment methods
- Global merchant of record
- Over 120 ecommerce integrations
Cons
- Weekly payout
- Expensive flat-rate fees
- Lacks mobile payment
- Chargeback fees determined by a formula
What we like:
2Checkout (Verifone) made our list of payment gateways because of its international scope (200+ countries and 100 currencies). However, what makes it especially good for global sales is that it can act as the merchant of record, taking care of not only payment processing but also sales tax management and compliance. It’s also highly integratable, with over 120 ecommerce integrations.
In the News:
Verifone acquired 2Checkout in August 2020. According to the 2Checkout website, it continues to provide services and will be incorporating Verifone functionality into its own.
Pricing
- Monthly fee: $0
- Processing fee: 3.5% + 35 cents to 6% + 60 cents
- Online transaction fee: 3.5% + 35 cents
- Chargeback fee: Varies
- Hardware sold by third parties
Payment Gateway Features
- Shopper myAccount: 2Checkout has a unique tool, myAccount, for your customers. It lets them see all the items they’ve purchased using 2Checkout (i.e., from your store and others that use this payment gateway). They can make changes to personal information and payment methods and contact support.
- International sales: You can process sales for 200+ countries and 45 different payment methods in 100 currencies. This includes recurring billing and individual sales. The highest plan has global VAT and sales tax collecting and handling—something you won’t find with the other payment gateways in this guide.
- Award-winning coding: 2Checkout has won multiple awards for its platform and programming, including awards from review sites like G2. It was also a finalist in the 2021 CODiE Awards and 2021 Cloud Awards.
- Add-on tools: Like Square, 2Checkout offers several add-ons to upgrade your plan. However, these are more focused on payment processing than POS. You can get tools for increasing conversion rates and A/B testing, complex subscription management, renewal recovery (like updating expired cards), networking with over 50,000 affiliates, and dedicated customer support.
Notable Runners Up
The following payment gateway providers did not make our list but offer standout, noteworthy features:
Payline: Best for Medical & Educational Services & Nonprofits
Payline Data stands out from other providers in our list with its special pricing, ACH, and HIPAA-compliant tools, making it the best choice for the medical industry. It also provides similar attention to nonprofit and educational services. Payline Data offers interchange-plus pricing and zero chargeback fees.
It earned an overall score of 4.27 out of 5, getting perfect marks for contract and setup. However, it does not support high-risk businesses and can do better with customer support, particularly when handling frozen accounts. Consider Authorize.net as an alternative.
Amazon Pay: Best Add-on for Voice Commerce
We found Amazon Pay to be one of the easiest and most popular ecommerce credit card processing options. It’s an excellent add-on if you want voice commerce options for your customers, with its order with Alexa function making it stand out from competitors. Like PayPal, Amazon Pay accepts international payments, and its streamlined checkout can reduce cart abandonment while improving customer checkout experience.
Amazon Pay scored 4.16 out of 5 for this update. Unlike most providers in our list, it does not have a POS or mobile payment option and takes 20 to 30 days to approve merchant applications. If you need something for online sales now, consider Stripe, Square, and Authorize.net.
PaymentCloud: Best for High-risk merchants
Not every payment gateway will work with high-risk merchants, and those that do often have higher rates and more problematic service. PaymentCloud offers great service and a true focus on this subset of the retail world. It does not disclose rates, which is common for high-risk processors, as the specific fees will vary for each business and the level of risk involved. However, the provider offers competitive setups, especially for its client type.
PaymentCloud earned an overall score of 3.94 out of 5 based on our evaluation criteria and (apart from Authorize.net) stands out for its good reputation of working with high-risk industries. In fact, it continues to rank No. 1 on our list of the best high-risk merchant accounts. PaymentCloud does not charge setup, annual, or cancellation fees—which is a plus.
How We Evaluated the Best Payment Gateways
We examined the extensive lists of merchant services, payment processors, and payment gateways that we’ve researched over the years and narrowed them down to those that provide small businesses reliable and popular gateways at reasonable prices. Then, we evaluated the providers based on quality of features, reputation, and ease of use.
We chose Authorize.net as the best payment gateway. It’s also the only pure payment gateway, meaning it works with a multitude of payment providers and integrations. It’s often mentioned in conjunction with the best credit card readers, virtual terminals, and other software, as it is compatible with most other payment solutions. It has been on our previous lists of best payment gateways, this time earning the top spot.
Click through the tabs below for our full evaluation criteria:
25%
Pricing & fees
20%
Contract & setup
25%
Features
20%
Support & reliability
10%
Expert score
25% of Overall Score
20% of Overall Score
The best payment gateways have a quick application process, easy integration/setup with a merchant services provider, and don’t lock you into a contract. Authorize.net, Square, PayPal, Stripe, and 2Checkout all got perfect scores.
25% of Overall Score
The more places a gateway lets you take payments, the better. We looked for in person and ecommerce, stored card information (for recurring payments), and the ability to serve high-risk businesses. We also looked for the strength of security and fraud protection. Every provider did extremely well here, with 2Checkout scoring the lowest.
20% of Overall Score
We looked for compliance, customer support, and reputation, where Helcim gained a perfect score. Of particular note is our evaluation of complaints for held funds and frozen accounts. PayPal, for example, did not fare well in this category because it had significantly more complaints. Square, too, has many complaints, which put it last in this criterion compared to the rest on this list.
10% of Overall Score
This catch-all value score considers pricing, transparency, ease-of-use, popularity, and integrations. We relied on our experience when researching, testing, and using these products and the feedback of long-term customers through user reviews on third-party sites. Needless to say, all the products did very well here, though Square, Chase, PayPal and Amazon Pay got perfect scores.
*Percentages of overall score
Best Payment Gateway Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Do I need a payment gateway?
You will need a payment gateway if you want to accept payments online. This application lets you send a payment link to your customers where they can securely complete a transaction. A payment gateway is also used for accepting in-person card and digital wallet payments in your POS system.
In both cases, a secure payment gateway ensures that your customer’s payment information is safely transmitted between your merchant account and your customer’s bank account.
What is the cheapest payment gateway?
The cheapest payment gateway for small businesses is Square. It offers competitive flat-rate transaction fees with no add-on service fees for using its payment gateway and virtual terminal. It also provides free use of its invoicing, recurring payment, and ecommerce tools (with option to upgrade for advanced features).
Payflow by PayPal is the cheapest ecommerce payment gateway in the market if you need simple payment gateway features. Square is also an affordable option.
For high-volume businesses, Helcim is the cheapest payment gateway option for both in-person and online payments with its interchange plus fees and zero monthly subscription.
What is the best payment gateway for small businesses?
Based on our evaluation, Authorize.net is the best payment gateway for small businesses. While not the cheapest, Authorize.net provides competitive fees with the widest range of payment features, compatibility with most merchant service providers (including high-risk merchants), and easy account setup.
Bottom Line
Very few merchants, even the hobbyist or solopreneur, can get by without taking credit card payments. Fortunately, there is a wide range of payment gateways that work well with small businesses. Those that made our list are among the best for price, service, and POS or virtual terminals that help make it easy to take credit card payments.
Authorize.net earned top billing in this guide for its popularity, versatility, and integrations. It offers a full-service payment processing plan or can work as a gateway with the merchant provider of your choice. It charges a monthly fee, but if you need a reliable payment gateway, it’s worth considering. Sign up for an Authorize.net subscription today.
