The 6 Best Payment Gateways For Merchants 2024

In essence, this is a payer authentication, which is a security feature that addresses issues related to fraud in online card transactions. This type of payment gateway integration uses the gateway’s APIs to collect and process payments directly within the merchant’s app or site. The merchant still uses an external gateway provider, but the data “passes” the merchant’s servers before being sent to the payment processor. Yes, integrating a payment gateway is straightforward with the right tools. Many providers offer APIs or pre-built modules that are compatible with popular e-commerce platforms, making the setup process simple and efficient.

If you decide to go this route, ensure that you are confident in the security of the payment gateway. Large-scale businesses tend to use on-site payments handled on their own servers where the checkout experience and payment processing all work through your system. Authorize.net could be an option if you need a payment gateway that is compatible with your Visa merchant account.

We are continually expanding and striving to improve the readers’ experience. To ensure secure encryption, you will want to work with PCI-compliant companies. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a system of standards crafted to uphold security provisions for the electronic world. Some businesses are considered to work in ‘high-risk’ industries. Examples of such industries include cryptocurrency, gambling, gaming, the adult industry, the travel industry and so on.

Best For Versatile Payment Solutions

Payflow by PayPal is the cheapest ecommerce payment gateway in the market if you need simple payment gateway features. PaymentCloud earned an overall score of 4.16 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.

In fact, while it allows online transactions via computer or cell phone, it also accepts payments by electronic check or even by telephone, thanks to a virtual terminal. ☝️ Ensuring a good customer experience also means taking into account payments from customers all over the world, if you choose to deliver internationally. Before choosing your payment gateway, it’s a good idea to find out whether it’s compatible with your e-commerce site. For example, if you use a platform such as Shopify or Prestashop, check the list of accepted providers in their extension catalog. To help you better understand, we’ll focus on the payment processor and the merchant account, terminologies you’ll come across frequently when considering Prominelis Corp your future payment gateway. Depending on your business, there are different factors to consider when choosing the best payment gateway.

Some gateways come with fraud detection and other such screening tools to protect your business from fraudulent transactions. Each of these different modes of hosting payment gateways has its own pros and cons. One benefit of using hosted gateways is that they reduce the risk of storing sensitive information on your own site. Although this is a huge advantage, the downside is that redirecting your customers to another site adds another step to the payment process, making it longer than usual.

An integrated payment gateway connects to your ecommerce website via the gateway’s API. The biggest advantage of this is that customers never have to leave your store to input payment information and submit orders — it’s a smooth, seamless experience. Knowing this, it’s a no-brainer to make sure the payment gateway you choose offers a mobile-optimized payment page design and user experience. Adyen provides a seamless payment experience for online and in-person sales with a focus on mobile payments. Besides real-time analytics, which offer instant insights into consumer behavior, Adyen employs dynamic card validation, elevating the security of each transaction.

The POS system hooks into a phone line or internet connection to allow it to connect to the payment processing network. On the other hand, online payment gateways offer an application programming interface (API) that allows you to embed a digital shopping cart into your business website. This API lets customers enter their card information directly on your site. We’ve covered their types, how they work, integration capabilities, and the key features to focus on—like security, transaction speed, and customer experience. Payment gateways are one of the most common ways to collect money online. But how many and which payment processors will meet your needs will depend on the type of online business that you have.

Best For Subscription-based Businesses

You don’t need to find third-party software; just toggle the payment gateway on within your Shopify admin. For the majority of businesses, thousands of pounds will be processed through their payment gateway every day. A good payment gateway will offer up a wealth of analytical tools so that you as a business owner can see exactly how and why shoppers are purchasing from your website. Advanced analytics like this are crucial because they allow you to detect potential loopholes in areas that may need improvement. That’s why we offer a whole suite of subscription tools, like tokenisation, scheduler, auto-retries and account updater to ensure our merchants are well-equipped to succeed.

• It creates an added layer of protection for sensitive information.
• You can also accept mobile payments using QR codes and online payments, and the platform provides fraud protection for your business.
• Saving costs is often a priority for businesses, which makes it important to choose a gateway with a pricing model that suits your business needs.
• Stripe is another popular choice for payment processing in Singapore, widely used by online retailers and recognized for its variety of services and cost-effectiveness.
• Of course, if the transaction is denied for any reason, the payment gateway also gets wind of this and lets the eCommerce business know.

By letting customers choose a payment method from a variety of reliable options, you can enhance customer satisfaction, increase conversions, and expand your market reach. Most payment gateways offer data encryption and, later, decryption to protect their customer’s card data in the online payment process. Data encryption takes plain, readable text and converts it into something called ciphertext, which essentially becomes unreadable until it is decrypted. The reason behind this is to protect the data from unauthorised access.

Aspire’s latest features automate workflows, empower your teams to manage budgets, enhance account security, data privacy and make payments with greater ease. Of particular note is our evaluation of complaints for held funds and frozen accounts and fraud prevention tools. Square is the most popular in our list, with merchants giving the software a score of 4.6 out of 5 on G2 from about 150 reviews, and 4.7 out of 5 stars on Capterra from about 2,300 reviews. Users love the easy-to-use and reliable software while some complain of frozen funds and poor customer support. If your customer payment data isn’t portable, it can be very hard for you to leave your payment processor for a competitor. Be sure to inquire about the ease and expense of exporting your customer data if you switch processors before you sign up with one.

On top of that, you’ll have to pay transaction fees that may vary from 2.29% to 3.49% plus $0.09 to $0.49 per transaction. A PCI-compliant payment gateway will have active certification and encryption processes to prove its security. The certifications should be current to confirm ongoing compliance.