💳 Save money on credit card processing with one of our top 5 picks for 2024
A payment gateway forms the backbone of an integrated payment system that tracks all of your transactions, including for retail and online sales.
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Expert Contributor
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Lead Staff Writer
A payment gateway for your small business is a necessary service if you want to accept online payments securely. We reviewed several payment gateway providers based on pricing, features such as security measures and in-person sales compatibility, and contract terms to help you find the best payment gateway for your small business.
Learn More About Our Top Picks
| Company | Summary | Next StepsSummary |
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Stripe Payments
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Authorize.Net
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Square
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Amazon Pay
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2Checkout
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Braintree Payment Solutions
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Helcim
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| Show Fewer Options |
Read more below to learn why we chose these options.
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Table of Contents
A payment gateway is a necessary software service that securely uploads a customer’s payment information (credit/debit card numbers, bank account numbers, etc.) after they enter it online, encrypts it for security purposes, and sends it to your payment processor or merchant account for payment approval. If the customer has the funds in their bank account to cover the purchase, the transaction is approved and the customer’s online checkout is a success.
Payment gateways can also process direct transactions using alternate payment methods, including ACH payments, bank-issued debit cards, or even cryptocurrency.
You can set up a payment gateway by signing up with a payment service provider such as Square or by signing up for a full-service merchant account with a provider like Helcim. Both types of payment service providers offer built-in payment gateways.
Note: We generally recommend payment service provider accounts for smaller businesses with lower sales volumes and merchant accounts for midsized and larger businesses because of the different payment processing structures and signup requirements. Merchant accounts are more time-consuming to sign up for but provide volume payment processing discounts to larger businesses.
The best payment gateways offer a wide range of standard features, extensive customization options, and strong transaction security at an affordable price.
The top payment gateways include:
| Provider Type | Ideal For | Payment Processing Rates (Online Sales) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Payment Services | Domestic and international eCommerce | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Authorize.Net | Merchant Account | Integrating with other merchant accounts | Custom |
| Square | Payment Services | Retail, restaurant, service businesses with in-person sales | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Amazon Pay | Payment Services | Amazon sellers | 2.9%-3.9% + $0.30 |
| 2Checkout | Payment Services | International eCommerce | 3.5%-6% + $0.35-$0.60 |
| Braintree | Merchant Account | PayPal and Venmo sales | 2.59%-3.49% + $0.49 |
| Helcim | Merchant Account | Midsize/larger businesses | Custom interchange-plus pricing |
Pros
Cons
If your business does not take many in-person transactions and you don't need a dedicated merchant account, Stripe, a very popular payment services provider, might be the right option for you.
Stripe partners with just about every online store builder, customer relationship manager tool, accounting software, and any other mildly popular software out there to help you build your own custom software ecosystem with integrated payment features. Plus, the company offers low-code and professional developer-level tools for eCommerce payments, including a hosted payment page, UI payments platform builder, recurring billing system builder, and the ability to integrate Stripe with your own website or app to securely accept payments.
Stripe is open to merchants worldwide with numerous currency options and support for many alternative payment methods and local payment options across North America, the EU, and Asia.
Get Started With Stripe Payments
Pros
Cons
Because Authorize.Net (now owned by Visa) is one of the oldest and best-known payment gateways in the payments industry, many merchant services providers offer the company's gateway as part of their services, and many proprietary payment gateways feature an 'Authorize.Net emulator mode' to ensure compatibility. This means you can most likely integrate Authorize.Net with an existing merchant account, including accounts for high-risk businesses.
Note: You can also sign up for a merchant account with Authorize.Net itself, which features flat-rate pricing and includes the gateway. However, we generally don't recommend this option for most businesses, as it's usually less expensive overall to obtain the Authorize.Net gateway from a third-party merchant services provider.
Get Started With Authorize.Net
Get a free card swiper from Square at no cost when you create a free account. Claim your card reader.
Pros
Cons
We love that Square is a well-known payment services provider that offers a highly affordable online store builder (a free plan is available) as well as a free POS system with distinct software features for retail, restaurant, and service-based businesses. Square also offers several card readers and POS registers at an affordable price, making it easy to sell in-store and on the go.
Square is generally one of the best POS systems with eCommerce features and includes lots of third-party integrations so you can add the Square payment gateway to third-party software.
Related: Read our Square Online review to learn more about the company's free customizable online store builder.
Pros
Cons
Amazon Pay is Amazon's payment gateway for Amazon sellers and is the logical choice for people looking to sell on the Amazon Marketplace. You can also integrate Amazon Pay payment services with your website, but you will need to have an Amazon account to use Amazon Pay on your website.
To get an Amazon Pay account, you must sign up as an Amazon merchant because most of the processing is controlled through the Amazon Seller Central dashboard.
Pros
Cons
We believe that 2Checkout offers very strong international processing capabilities, as it can process payments from 234 countries and territories worldwide. 2Checkout accounts come with a large set of services, but it also has higher pricing to match all the extras you’ll get.
Note: 2Checkout (now Verifone) is a payment service provider focused exclusively on online processing. As such, 2Checkout does not support in-person processing.
Pros
Cons
We like that PayPal-owned Braintree Payments is a payment gateway provider offering merchant accounts and flat-rate payment processing, with an easy setup process. Braintree supports all standard forms of payment and directly integrates with PayPal and Venmo.
The company provides lower online payment processing rates than all flat-rate payment processing providers on this list and offers interchange-plus pricing for qualified merchants (read: high-volume businesses.)
Merchants in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and New Zealand can sign up for Braintree’s processing services. Payments can be accepted in over 130 currencies, including Bitcoin.
Get Started With Braintree Payment Solutions
Pros
Cons
Helcim stands out as one of the few full-service merchant account providers to offer interchange-plus pricing to all businesses without charging a monthly account fee. Interchange-plus pricing is typically the most transparent and cost-effective payment processing model, and Helcim's fees are very affordable for businesses processing at least $5,000 per month and with an average ticket size of at least $50.
Every Helcim account includes a free virtual terminal, free access to Helcim's proprietary payment gateway, a free online store builder, and free in-person POS software.
Related: Read our Helcim POS review to help you decide whether this free POS system is right for your store or mobile business.
Merchant Maverick has been researching the payment processing industry since 2009. Our writers have reviewed hundreds of credit card processors, merchant account services, and mobile payment apps, evaluating each provider carefully on several different metrics.
When comparing different payment processing companies and applications to one another, we consider numerous data points. Our experts start by comparing credit card processing rates, the presence of additional fees, contract length, sales practices, and the presence or absence of additional features and services, like point of sale software. Each provider is judged on its own merits and how well it stacks up to industry standards; then it is weighed against the other providers on the list.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure every company or application included meets our internal standards for quality and reputation. Any list of recommended payment processors on our site might contain a mix of standard merchant accounts, third-party payment processors, mobile payment devices, and high-risk payment processors, depending on what our expert feels is the best fit for certain scenarios or business types.
For additional details about Merchant Maverick’s review and rating processes, please refer to any or all of the following methodology pages:
15
Years reviewing payment processors
100+
Providers evaluated
25
Attributes and features assessed per vendor
40+
Years combined experience
There are two ways to add a payment gateway to your credit card processing system. The most common – and easiest – method is to use an integrated approach, where your merchant account and payment gateway are both provided by your merchant services provider. This method eliminates most compatibility issues and often costs less overall. However, your choice of payment gateway will be limited to whatever services your provider offers, and the gateway itself might not have a robust feature set or extensive customization options.
It’s also possible to utilize a non-integrated approach, in which you obtain your gateway and merchant account separately from different providers. This approach was more common during the early days of eCommerce when many traditional merchant account providers didn’t offer a payment gateway. While that’s no longer the case today, a non-integrated approach can still be a good choice if you need specialized gateway features that your merchant account provider doesn’t offer. Be sure to research potential compatibility issues before trying this approach. Also, be aware that getting these two separate services from different companies will usually be more expensive overall.
Regardless of which approach you use, our best advice is to focus primarily on selecting the best payment processor for your business, rather than letting your choice of payment gateway drive your decision on which merchant services provider to sign up with. The exception would be if your business has unique needs in terms of gateway features and you have the technical skills to cobble everything together on your own.
These are the three types of fees you might encounter when using a payment gateway:
Many of these additional fees for using a gateway stem from the fact that eCommerce as we think of it today has only been around for a few decades, and there were many more security concerns back in the early days.
With integrated payment systems processing even in-person transactions over a gateway, there’s little reason today to charge extra for using one. At the same time, gateway providers have to charge you something for using their product, even if that cost is bundled in with your regular merchant services.
Also, card-not-present transactions are always going to incur higher interchange fees due to the limited options available to authenticate the buyer’s identity.
At its core, a payment gateway is not an overly complicated piece of software. All it has to do is securely transmit payment information between your eCommerce website and your payment processor’s network. While you don’t need a gateway if you only process in-person transactions, it’s becoming increasingly common to process all transactions over a gateway as part of an integrated payments system that handles both online and card-present payments.
Most modern gateways come bundled with additional services and features. Below, we list a few that we consider fairly crucial when searching for the best payment gateway for your online business.
One way to determine which payment gateway provider is best for your business is to examine what your business needs are today. Then, consider how those needs might expand as your business grows.
With payment gateways, you might want to find one that offers the flexibility you’ll need at the particular stage your business is at. If you’re still new, consider using a pay-as-you-go service to stay flexible. But if you have an established business, and know which features you’ll need and which features you’ll never use, it makes sense to focus on the payment gateways that provide the features you need for the best price. Always keep data portability in mind, though, so you can take your business elsewhere if that becomes necessary.
If you’d like to learn more about how to save money for your business, check out our article profiling the cheapest credit card processing companies.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
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