In today’s digital economy, having a seamless payment process is crucial for any eCommerce store’s success. Yet, for WordPress site owners using WooCommerce, finding the right payment gateway can be overwhelming as a variety of options are available, each with its own set of fees, features, and compatibility issues. A poorly chosen payment gateway not only risks cart abandonment but can also limit sales by excluding preferred payment options.
Here, we discuss the top WooCommerce payment gateways for WordPress, comparing each to help you choose the best for your business needs. Whether you’re aiming to expand payment options, lower transaction fees, or ensure the highest security for your customers, this blog will help you. Simplify your decision-making process and equip your WooCommerce store with a payment gateway that drives conversions and customer satisfaction.
Why are Easy WooCommerce Payment Methods Consequential for eCommerce?
With the massive hike in online shopping in the past few years and people's affinity to shop online from the comforts of their homes, eCommerce has taken precedence over traditional retail stores. But with busy schedules, governing lives, the customers are more inclined to abandon their shopping cart at checkout if the payment process is too lengthy, complex, or tedious. Having multiple payment options is also significant as customers leave if they can't find a way to pay. This phenomenon, called the abandonment of carts, has stumped many popular eCommerce stores. And this is where having a competent payment gateway integrated into your site becomes pertinent.
What are Payment Gateways?
A payment gateway is an internet-based service commonly incorporated with any eCommerce platform to make a secure channel for transactions. In a nutshell, it is the virtual form of credit or debit card reader. Payment gateways have helped several eCommerce businesses minimize the risk of fraudulent payments. The customer has to fill in basic details like credit or debit card number, expiry date, and CVV to make the payment.
Do you want to understand why payment gateways are essential for your eCommerce?
Why are Payment Gateways Important?
The fundamental role of a payment gateway is to aid an easy peasy transaction process between you and your clients. Merchants need approval from a payment gateway to complete transactions and thereby obtain payments. The gateways act as channels through which funds get transferred among banks and financial institutions, supplementing financial transactions across the US economy.
Then there is the big question of secure transactions. No customer ever wants to buy products from a site that doesn't offer fundamental data and transaction protection. You can instill trust in customers by integrating reputed payment gateways into your online store. Below are reasons that explain why payment gateways are critically essential for your eCommerce business.
1. Protection Against Fraudulent Payments
Online transactions are sometimes also referred to as card-not-present payments. This setup payment model can create an opportunity for credit card fraud. Hackers or anyone with your stolen credit card information and personal data can utilize your card to purchase items. The credit card holder and their bank are often left in debt. Online payment gateways have a unique processor that checks the customer's data via fraud scrubbing technology to prevent cybercrime. Secure payments will ensure customers continue shopping from your site and improve your brand reputation.
2. Accepts All Payment Methods
One of the reasons consumers love shopping from eCommerce businesses is that online stores provide them great flexibility regarding when and how they can buy stuff. Payment gateway plugins enable your favorite online store to give you several alternative payment methods. These payment options range from credit cards to debit cards to UPI and net banking transactions. The wide range of choices makes it easier for business owners to satisfy the distinctive demand of their consumer base.
3. Easy Installation and Low Maintenance
Since payment gateways are fully automatic plugins, they can be installed and maintained at budget-friendly costs. Most business owners can easily install them, requiring minimal or no coding knowledge. Furthermore, these gateways don't require frequent maintenance. These gateways have scheduled updates. In addition to this, business owners receive notifications regarding any upgrades to their payment gateway software.
4. Seamless Checkouts
The primary reason behind unsuccessful transactions or abandoned carts is a lengthy and slow checkout process. Customers desire a quick, hassle-free checkout to save time and effort. Numerous eCommerce businesses streamline their checkout functions by integrating an efficient payment gateway software. Not only does it provide a secure channel for transactions, but it also reduces the time taken for processing payments.
5. International Transactions
You can universally represent your brand through payment gateways. Multiple payment processing plugins allow safe transactions in international currencies. Consequently, customers across the globe gain access to purchase products from your website. This option enables you to grow your eCommerce brand and boost your current sales.
Are you looking to integrate an effective payment gateway into your WooCommerce website?
1. Stripe
Launched in the year 2011, Stripe is an American-Irish best payment plugin that severs more than a million consumers. Their central business is to offer Application Programming Interface (APIs) and payment processing plugins to eCommerce merchants. The extension for WooCommerce is free, and the transaction fee is as low as 2.9%+0.30 per purchase. The Stripe WooCommerce extension charges 1% to your account for instant payments and 1% for international payments. Through Stripe, business owners can send invoices, ask for recurring subscriptions, combat fraud, etc. If a particular payment option isn't available on Stripe, the merchants can utilize the Stripe API to integrate the payment method or customize the code themselves. Stripe makes the checkout process convenient for both business owners and customers.
2. Square
Square is the ultimate WooCommerce payment gateway plugin for WordPress. This all-in-one gateway offers you an online payment portal, an in-person payment service, and a money manager. It also provides benefits like appointment scheduling, social media marketing, and a standard POS (point of sale) for traditional offline stores. Square is incredibly user-friendly as the merchant can set up the payment process in a few minutes without having any prior coding skills. Through Square, your eCommerce business can also accept money as membership fees and donations. You can choose from any subscription plan ranging from free, professional, performance, and premium. The premium plan offers a discounted transaction fee of 2.6%+$0.30, while the other three plans charge the standard transaction fee of 2.9%+$0.30.
3. Braintree
Braintree is now under PayPal, but it still has some independence in design and offering features to its users. It uses a different interface than PayPal and is available for free. Additionally, its parent company is PayPal. So you can trust its security and reliability. It accepts credit card submissions and provides support for WooCommerce pre-orders and subscriptions. Braintree is considered an advanced and competitive version of PayPal. As for pricing, it charges the same standard transactional fee as other payment gateways, but an ACH direct debit payment costs 0.75% per transaction.
4. Authorize.net CIM
Authoroize.net CIM WooCommerce extension is a popularly used payment gateway. Business owners benefit from the various features that this payment processing software offers. It accepts all major debit cards credit cards and efficiently handles tasks such as managing subscriptions, refunds, and pre-orders. Authorize.net CIM permits customers to save their payment details for the next purchase to simplify the transaction process further. Aside from the standard transactional fee, there is a $49 installing fee and a $25 subscription fee.
5. PayPal
Everyone is familiar with how to operate or use PayPal. It is one of the first payment gateways to be introduced online. Although it may not offer your high-tech features like the other payment gateways, it is significantly easy to use and install. This payment processing software comes in two different forms for WooCommerce: Standard PayPal Integration with WooCommerce and PayPal Checkout for WooCommerce. The first option provides a simple, secure channel by merging with the checkout process and adding a PayPal button. The latter offers a convenient opportunity for your consumers by letting them pay directly from the product page.
6. WooCommerce Payments
As the name suggests, this payment gateway solution is developed and offered by WooCommerce. Since it is specifically designed for WooCommerce, it naturally caters to all payment processing needs of the eCommerce platform. WordPress dashboard performs the money management and the payment collection. The extension is free to install and charges the standard transaction fee. However, it charges 1% extra for cards issued outside the US. It comes with a dispute management center in the dashboard, and there is an additional $15 fee if consumers lose disputes, such as a chargeback.
7. RazorPay
Founded in 2014, RazorPay has rapidly grown as one of India's best payment gateway providers. It is a user-friendly software that can be easily integrated with your store and be instantly activated to start the transaction process. It provides instant settlements, in-depth insights, and reporting to help business owners make informed financial decisions. The remarkably designed checkout interface fast-tracks the process and tailors a pleasing shopping experience for the consumers.
8. PayU
PayU is a Netherlands-based financial tech company founded in the year 2002. However, they launched their payment gateway service nine years later, and since then, it has expanded in 50 plus markets. Several eCommerce businesses from different countries use PayU to process payments. Examples of companies that use PayU are Zoho, Tally, and Shopmatic. It offers more than a hundred payment methods to your clients. Features like responsive designs, API reference, no-hassle integration, and more make PayU a desirable payment gateway for WooCommerce.
9. Amazon Pay
This new payment gateway option has opened up many opportunities for enterprises and startups to grow their eCommerce brand. This Woocommerce payment plugin is distinct from others in that it enables consumers to check out from your store by using their Amazon account. It cuts down the unnecessary time taken to complete the checkout process. This ease of shopping will attract new and repeated customers to shop from your store. Moreover, potential customers are more likely to trust your brand if they connect to your store through Amazon. Your store will be safeguarded against any cybercrime under Amazon Pay's fraud protection.
10. PayFast
PayFast extension for WooCommerce enables you to process payments, including deposits, subscriptions, and pre-orders. PayFast stands out amongst its customers because it offers them more flexibility in putting down deposits, placing orders before time, and paying annually, monthly, or weekly. It charges different amounts of transaction fees depending on the amount of the selected payment method. PayFast redirects the consumers to your PayFast merchant account, where they are required to log in and complete the payment process. Once the payment is confirmed, PayFast handles the rest of the process. The consumer then gets redirected to your online store.
11. AfterPay
True to its name, AfterPay lets your consumers buy items and pay for them over four interest-free installments. They charge zero application fees and don't conduct external credit checks to show how much they value the customers. Over 26.7 million customers chose AfterPay as their payment gateway option while shopping online. AfterPay is also available in Europe, but it operates as ClearPay. It protects against fraud and chargebacks, and you can focus on expanding your business. Likewise, as a business owner, you too get paid upfront in a few days for all purchases made using AfterPay.
12. Eway
Eway extension for WooCommerce allows your eCommerce business to directly accept credit card payments without redirecting your customer to a third-party site. The payment process from start to finish takes place on your site without the customer leaving. Eway also supports tokenization, which means it lets customers securely save their credit card details in the event they repurchase from your website. This payment gateway also supports other WooCommerce extensions, for example, WooCommerce Refunds API, WooCommerce subscriptions, WooCommerce Bookings, and WooCommerce Memberships. Besides being completely PCI Compliant, Eway also hosts real-time promotional flash sales for online stores.
13. Affirm
Affirms offers your consumer a Buy Now Pay Later option that helps convert your potential consumers into frequent buyers. It removes the price barrier by allowing the consumers to pay later for their purchased items. It not only increases your order value but significantly helps your business to grow. They have partnered with approximately 102,000 eCommerce retailers and serve more than 8.7 million customers. The users make the payments in installments without additional compound interest or transactional fees.
14. Klarna Checkout
It is a versatile payment gateway app that gives your consumer a top-notch checkout experience and accepts all well-known payment methods like Buy Now Pay Later, Direct Payments, Interest-free installments, and Financing. It has a consumer identification feature that aids in building a loyal client base and increasing your sales. They also offer to protect consumers' sensitive data and take complete fraud or credit risk for eCommerce sellers. Klarna empowers the buyers by managing their purchases and gives them access to 24/7 customer service through the app. Shoppers are actively looking for eCommerce sites that offer Klarna checkout because customers widely trust the plugin. By integrating this extension to your eCommerce store, your business benefits from the same high reputation by getting heavy traffic on your site.
15. Viva Wallet
Viva Wallet offers a robust payment solution. Business owners need to sign up with ViVa wallet to receive a free payment gateway, free debit Mastercard, and an IBAN-enabled local merchant account for their eCommerce business. This extension also streamlines the payment settlement process by settling the amount in your ViVa wallet the very next day. The payment acceptance fees can be set as low as zero percent. There are no hidden or monthly fees. This payment gateway is easy to install and inexpensive. Customers can choose from nine payment method options enabled by the merchants. These options include iDEAL, BitPay, EPS, Giropay, MULTIBANCO, BLIK & PayByLink, WeChat Pay, Sofort, and PayU.
16. Opayo Payment Suite
It is an independent payment service provider that both retailers and consumers trust. It offers many payment solutions and incorporates PCI-DSS security into your eCommerce business. It has several fraud screening tools and permits merchants to customize mobile responsive payment pages to enhance shopper conversion and experience. The pricing plans start from £9.99 per month, excluding VAT, making it affordable for your business. The payment suite offers three impeccable payment gateways for your website: Opayo Form, Opayo Direct, and Opayo Pi. All three of these payment gateways are different in terms of their features. Merchants can decide which one to choose based on their individual business needs.
17. SnapScan
This payment gateway allows your South African customers to quickly check out by scanning or tapping the credit card details stored on their phones. Customers save time during checkout and have a comfortable shopping experience with your online store. The payment app lets your customers scan the code without leaving your eCommerce site. With the help of SnapScan's contemporary mobile-friendly design, your targeted audience is one click away from paying for the desired products.
18. Worldpay
Worldpay is a highly recommended gateway plugin that allows consumers to pay via a secure, hosted credit card channel. It handles all the payment processes without requiring any SSL certificate. The customer is redirected to Worldpay to make the payment. Once the transaction ends, they get diverted to your website to continue shopping. Worldpay payment gateway services are available worldwide to all eCommerce businesses that need a direct, seamless payment processing extension. Another significant benefit is that Worldpay payment services come at comparatively affordable costs.
19. Mercado Pago Checkout
It is one of the most predominant payment gateways in seven Latin American countries: Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and Uruguay. It is designed to be built as the best checkout stage for your online store to fulfill your clients' preferences. From reliable support to avant-garde security abilities, you can count on the Mercado Pago Checkout extension for WooCommerce for any business needs. It offers two types of Checkout:
- Transparent Checkout lets you maintain your store's identity during the process, and the buyer is not redirected to other websites to complete the payment process.
- Checkout Pro offers payments with PayPal (Brazil and Mexico), saved cards, account balance, and offline payment methods (OXXO, Boleto, etc.)
20. Mollie
Mollie payment gateway is Europe's fastest forehand payment processor. The Mollie for WooCommerce extension gives your customers access to many payment options like Apple Pay, Klarna, and PayPal. It furthermore consists of several local payment methods like SOFORT Banking, EPS, Cartes Bancaires, etc. In less than 15 minutes, you can set up Mollie in any language. This payment processor also provides a personalized mobile dashboard to access real-time data insights and generate quick payouts to maintain the business cash flow.
Trying to figure out which payment gateways work best for your business vertical?
How to Evaluate WooCommerce Payment Gateways?
To select a suitable payment gateway for your company, you need to evaluate it on various parameters. Some of them are as below.
1. Payment Methods
How many types of payment methods are supported by your payment gateways? What kind of payment methods does the payment gateway offer? These are essential questions you need to ask before selecting a payment gateway. Consumers need to choose from a wide range of options available to them. Most payment gateways allow renowned credit and debit cards like Visa, MasterCard, Amex, etc. With the technology changes, consumers switch from traditional card payments to other payment methods like Apple Pay and GooglePay. The more payment options your gateway offers, the more suitable it is for your business.
2. Pricing
Every business has a budget constraint. You need to analyze if you are receiving satisfactory benefits for the amount you're paying for the extension. One of the most vital criteria you need to consider is your eCommerce business's total expense. The costs involved in using these payment gateways can be categorized as installing fees, monthly subscription fees, and standard transaction fees. You can choose an affordable payment gateway based on the volume and value of your daily transactions. Most payment gateways have a competitive standard payment transaction fee of 2.9%+$0.30. Please note that higher prices don't always mean better performances. Try to look for cheaper alternatives with powerful features.
3. Security
One thing you cannot compromise while installing your payment gateway is the security factor. Most consumers are hesitant to buy online because they fear online scams. As business owners, it is your responsibility to ensure that your consumer feels safe doing business with you. It is possible by integrating fraud detection and other screening tools into a payment gateway. Ensure that your extension is compliant with PCI-DSS to provide you and consumers with optimal protection against fraudulent payments and sensitive data leaks.
4. Consumer Support
Any technical problems with the extension can cause damage to the buyer-seller relationship. While tech issues can happen sometimes, the payment gateway must offer you the highest level of consumer support to resolve them. 24/7 consumer support for 365 days is an outstanding feature in payment gateways. Monetary matters require immediate attention to ease the anxiety of the consumer and the seller. Popular payment gateway extensions for WooCommerce like Stripe, Braintree, and PayPal have excellent community and technical support to tackle any issues that may occur.
If you feel overwhelmed by the overload of payment gateway choices, we can help customize them
How to Choose the Right WooCommerce Payment Gateway?
A simple payment gateway that accepts and processes payments is a safe bet. However, finding a payment gateway that goes above and beyond to satisfy all your criteria is a grueling task. You need to ensure that your payment gateway caters to your business needs, has robust security, accepts international payments, 24/7 consumers, and so on.
The best WooCommerce payment gateway is the one that suits you and your eCommerce business's needs. The above 20 payment gateways have individualistic advantages that benefit your website differently. Recognize your business needs and conduct meticulous research on each payment gateway to choose a suitable one for your business.
FAQs
Can you use multiple payment gateways for WooCommerce?
There are two types of payment gateways sellers can offer to their consumers. The first option is a single payment gateway, and the second is multiple payment gateways. Integrating your eCommerce business to multiple payment gateways plugins can help you effectively facilitate business operations.
What should I look for in WooCommerce payment gateways?
There are several features you should consider while deciding on WooCommerce payment gateways. However, out of all the other factors, security, merchant onboarding, customer support and experience, international transaction acceptance, and payment methods are critical aspects to consider.
How can Virtina help me?
Professionals at Virtina have years of experience which makes them aware of the potential of different payment gateways. Virtina also provides services to WooCommerce. Therefore, we know what payment gateway extension works for eCommerce businesses. Talk to our experts to learn more.
What are the different payment gateway charges?
All payment gateways charge nominal fees for various transaction processes. Some provide it for free; some cost a little less, while some cost you excessive amounts. The payment gateway charges are software, transaction, maintenance, set up price, features, and services offered by the extension and business model.
Does Amazon Pay offer more advantages than PayPal?
Amazon Pay and PayPal have the same working model, but it offers a set of advantages that PayPal doesn't. For example, during checkout, the customers are taken through PayPal's site in the standard version, giving owners lesser control over the process. Amazon Pay is more streamlined that way. Customers do not leave the site during the checkout process. This option is only available with the PayPal Pro version, which is more expensive.
What payment application does Authorize.Net use?
Authorize.net is in partnership with PaymentCloud as their preferred payment application. The organization has offered Authorize.net's services, scalability, and solutions to your eCommerce business. Curate a secure, seamless, and reliable payment experience for your consumers by using these abilities.
What is PayPal Pro?
It is one of the many versions of payment gateways offered by PayPal. This pro version utilizes the direct payment method and can manage everyday product sales. However, it lacks in processing recurring payments like subscriptions. It has a monthly fee of 35 dollars and the standard transaction fee of 2.9%+$0.30.
What are some of the features of WooCommerce Payments?
WooCommerce built it, so it is highly compatible with the eCommerce platform. Additionally, it perfectly integrates with other WooCommerce extensions like WooCommerce Subscriptions. It can accept payments in international currencies and gives you direct access to all costs through the WordPress Dashboard.
How do I withdraw funds from WooCommerce?
Users can withdraw their balance money by placing a request to the site administrator. Once the administrator approves the withdrawal request, the user gets the requested amount. To create a new withdrawal request, users need to navigate to My account > My Wallet > "Withdrawal" menu.
Does WooCommerce accept a percentage of the sales profit?
WooCommerce Payments does not charge any setup or monthly fees. Users pay 2.9% + $0.30 for each transaction made with credit or debit cards issued in the US. There's an additional 1% fee for cards issued outside the United States.
