The Best Online Payment Processing Services of 2023

This unified platform provides a suite of products to power payments for online businesses.It applies a tech-first approach to help business owners send invoices, issue virtual cards, reduce checkout friction, manage business spending, and beat fraud.

Stripe offers the best options to tailor your online payment experience for customers. That includes customizing the invoicing and payment processes with your brand elements and tweaking the interface in the dashboard to provide a branded checkout experience. Plus, you can design custom payment forms using Stripe Elements or change a checkout page’s name and customize its domain name.

I liked that Stripe supports processing international payments in more than 135 currencies; you can charge customers in their native currency and receive funds in yours. Its out-of-the-box integrations with top e-commerce platforms help streamline your checkout process and set up customer payments with several options, such as custom payment forms and invoices.

And with Stripe Connect, you can collect payments online and get paid in over 30 countries with a single platform. You can also add payments to your platform for free using Standard Connect and process charges.

Who is Stripe best for?

Stripe works best for online businesses (subscription, software, marketplaces) and large companies wanting more payment options, like recurring payments and subscriptions.

Recent upgrades to Stripe

Updates include adding embedded financial services like lending, financial accounts, cards, and global crypto payouts for Connect that allow a select group of creators to use crypto-based rails to get their earnings via Twitter.

Fast-growing Software as a service (SaaS) businesses can use Stripe’s new Revenue Recognition feature. You won’t need technical expertise to integrate it with Stripe Billing, Stripe Invoicing, and other apps in the payments platform.

Stripe pricing

Stripe offers Integrated and Customized plans. Transaction fees for its Integrated plan are 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful card charge, while the Customized plan is tailored for unique business models, high-value transactions, or large payments volume.

Shopify’s integrated online payment processing service helps businesses host and process customer payments, among other functions. You get competitive processing rates, the ability to sell in 133 currencies, strong security and analytics, and excellent 24/7 customer support.

Shopify is simple to set up and use; you won’t struggle with third-party merchant accounts or payment providers. The platform also offers transparent yet competitive transaction fees. It has a seamless customer checkout experience and organizes your sales and payment information in its ecosystem.

Once you create your Shopify store, you can set up all major payment methods automatically and start accepting payments online. The service isn’t available in all countries, though, and the multiple currency feature is limited to stores using the Shopify platform. An Automatic Dispute Resolution is available in case you get unnecessary chargebacks.

Security is guaranteed as Shopify stores automatically meet PCI DSS compliance standards. It also supports online and recurring payments and integrates with popular marketing and accounting apps and major e-commerce platforms.

Who is Shopify best for?

We recommend Shopify for omnichannel sellers looking for a quick way of accepting online payments. If you’re just starting or are already in business but want to set up an e-commerce store, you won’t go wrong with Shopify Payments.

Recent upgrades to Shopify

Shopify constantly updates its platform by adding new features and payment options, making it accessible to new markets and countries. The company added buy now pay later (BNPL) options; due on fulfillment for B2B orders; custom pricing by market on all plans; branding customization; a Shopify Tax option (within the U.S.), and purchase options to Shopify’s Selling Plan API.

Shopify pricing

If you’re a Shopify store owner, there are no added transaction fees for orders processed via Shopify Payments, Shop Pay Installments, Shop Pay, and PayPal Express. However, you’ll pay transaction fees ranging from 2.4% plus 0 cents to 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. If you use third-party payment processors, an additional fee varies depending on your plan — Shopify Starter (5%), Shopify Basic (2%), Shopify (1%), and Shopify Advanced (0.5%).

Square is best known for its business software suite and point-of-sale (POS) systems but also offers its customers easier ways to collect payments online with no extra fees or long-term contracts. You can access a complete suite of tools to grow your business, including Square Online.

Square’s business tools help you quickly accept payments and get paid. Unlike other services, it also connects with your social media accounts. Square Online Checkout lets you accept payment almost anywhere. A transaction fee applies whenever you make a sale.

You can offer your customers fast and easy checkout through a customized page. The format options can be customized to suit your business and shared with customers via email, text, social media, or your website. Square integrates with marketing, inventory management, business POS systems, and shipping tools, making it easier to track payments and fulfill orders with Square Online Checkout.

Support is available for its customers via email, phone, or chat. The online assistant was helpful, but I couldn’t access a human agent outside support hours. While email support was available 24/7, I waited anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to get a response — sometimes longer. Square’s Seller Community is active but sometimes unreliable when you need a quick answer.

Who is Square best for?

We recommend Square for omnichannel sellers, particularly if you sell through social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Recent upgrades to Square

As a Square Online Checkout merchant, you’re eligible for the built-in BNPL option. Square also accepts payments with Afterpay online, a great way to increase business and boost online sales.

Square Banking is also available for merchants. This service syncs your payments, cash flow, and business banking accounts seamlessly. There’s no opening deposit, minimum balance, overdraft fees, or monthly account fees.

Square pricing

Pricing is fair and transparent. If your business processes less than $250,000 annually, you’ll pay the standard 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction rate, similar to other online payment services.

Since 2014, Stax has provided businesses across the U.S. with payment technology solutions to process payments at scale with minimal costs. The flexible platform provides a simple flat-rate monthly subscription to process payments and cover transaction processing and interchange costs.

This platform is for small and large businesses to accept payments online. You can connect your entire payments experience and manage your business from one unified dashboard. Stax eliminates the need to work with multiple vendors because everything is under one roof, and there are detailed reports about payment methods, sales, and more.

Plus, Stax integrates with customizable tools, which enhance your business. You can also access advanced insights for better decision-making, and, ultimately, increase your profits and maximize revenue. Stax also offers pre-built carts, which you can activate with one click and process online orders. Alternatively, you can use Stax developer tools to build custom shopping carts that integrate into your store. Also, it accepts payments from customers using international credit cards or website payment links.

Who is Stax best for?

Stax works for small but actively growing businesses with steady high-volume sales (at least $20,000 per month) that benefit from a set monthly fee. While the subscription-based pricing structure covers transaction processing, its fees (monthly and chargeback) aren’t cost-effective for small businesses with low-volume sales.

Recent upgrades to Stax

Some updates include: upgraded Level 2 processing, a fully re-envisioned mobile dashboard experience, push notifications for daily deposits, comparison stats for sales and refunds, and reliable credit surcharging.

Stax pricing

Stax’s pricing plans may be quite expensive for low-volume sales businesses compared to top competitors, whose monthly fees range from $0 to $60. Some features, like the Level 2 processing, are only available in higher plans as an add-on. Stax also offers custom pricing for businesses processing over $500,000 per year, making it an excellent choice for large- volume transactions.

Helcim offers a world-class solution that lets you accept payments from more customers. You don’t have to worry about monthly fees, outsourcing, expensive developers, web servers, complicated code, or plug-ins. Plus, you benefit from Helcim’s fast deposits, lower rates, and automatic volume discounts.

Helcim is an all-in-one payment processing service with free tools, including invoicing, online checkout, and others to grow your business. The service syncs your customer data automatically to your merchant account while updating your inventory. Its low, transparent rates and Interchange Plus pricing are a favorite of fast-growing and established businesses. Helcim provides easy-to-read and concise merchant statements, too.

I liked its volume discounts, which lower processing fees as transaction volumes go up, without having to negotiate rates with the company. This feature is ideal for fast-growing and established businesses doing heavy volumes, so startups or small businesses processing under $20,000-$25,000 may find it expensive to start and maintain. And you can use Helcim’s borderless payment processing to accept and receive international credit card payments in your local currency.

Who is Helcim best for?

Helcim works best for fast-growing and established businesses processing at least $25,000 per month. If you’re looking for better ways to accept online payments and get paid faster, at the lowest rate possible, Helcim is worth considering.

Recent upgrades to Helcim

Helcim regularly upgrades its solution. The company created a partnership with Xero, popular accounting software, integrating its credit card payments into Xero invoices. If using Xero you can request and accept payments effortlessly while benefiting from Helcim’s pricing model.

New features, including a sync between Helcim and Xero accounts and the ability to pay invoices via Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments, will also be added to the integration.

Helcimpricing

Helcim prides itself in offering transparent pricing that saves you money — no monthly fees, contracts, or hidden charges. You get free e-commerce, hosting, international credit card processing, and the latest technology and tools to accept payments and grow your business.

Amazon Pay (formerly Amazon Payments) offers quick, friendly, and secure checkouts. Shoppers can pay for orders using the information in their Amazon accounts or use Alexa to pay by voice.

Amazon Pay is a quick and secure option for your customers to check out online. You can add the payment processing platform to your website and pay flat-rate transaction fees without monthly or startup costs. Enable the Amazon Pay button to make payment processing easier for your customers with one click and checkouts.

The platform gives your customers more ways to pay for their purchases with mobile, online, and Alexa devices or voice payment features. You can add it to your store or social selling and other platforms so customers can purchase from you with their Amazon accounts. They’ll also feel more secure purchasing at your store without entering all their credit card details on a separate site.

Its merchant signup is easier and faster than Helcim or Stax, but its long approval process can take weeks before you can put it on your site. Amazon also subjects all accounts to a tiered reserve. This can be frustrating as it eats into your cash flow, especially when you’re not expecting it. But you get analytics reporting tools, security and fraud management, recurring payments, charge-back controls, and risk management processes for free.

Who is Amazon best for?

We recommend Amazon Pay as a supplemental option because it’s designed for shoppers with Amazon accounts. The solution also works best when you want to manage international payments, reduce cart abandonment, and enable voice payments so shoppers can buy from your store through Alexa devices.

Recent upgrades to Amazon

Amazon Pay now lets customers use Venmo at checkout — the company’s partnership with Venmo made it a payment option for Amazon purchases for all its U.S.-based customers. This adds to the platform’s convenience, security, and ease of use over other payment processors with fewer options.

Amazon pricing

For businesses, Amazon Pay’s flat rate is 2.9% plus 30 cents transaction fee, which includes domestic processing fees, authorization fees, and tax (where applicable). The processing fee depends on whether you are accepting cross-border or local payments and only applies to successfully authorized and processed purchases.

Clover is owned by Fiserv — a payments and fintech service provider. The platform offers small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners commerce-enabling solutions and applications for a seamless customer-merchant experience. Clover allows you to accept payments however your customers want to pay — in their native currencies.

Clover is an intuitive, feature-rich, and versatile payment processing service that streamlines your checkout process for your customers. You don’t need to buy Clover’s POS hardware or credit card terminal to use the online payment option. It allows you to process payments for all major credit and debit cards on any device, invoice your customers, and get paid faster via the online portal, or through recurring regular payments.

You can create trending reports on fast-moving items, sales, daily totals, and open orders. Plus, Clover’s integration with best-in-class apps like QuickBooks makes it easier to keep your books up to date. Clover doesn’t limit you to using its partner e-commerce platforms for your business. You can easily integrate it with your existing site, then use its developer tools to further customize.

What I like about using Clover partner platforms like BigCommerce or WooCommerce is the real-time inventory updates and the ability to manage everything from one platform. You can get many Clover features with its basic paid plan, except the website builder function, a paid add-on.

Who is Clover best for?

We recommend Clover for small and growing businesses needing a simple online presence and Interchange Plus pricing. But it might not be the best option for fast-moving inventory or if you’re a casual seller, as the transaction fees may be costly with higher volumes. Shopify or Square offer similar features and lower transaction fees.

Recent upgrades to Clover

Clover updates include an improved App Market layout, new top navigation, improved search functionality, and sorting and filtering options. The company reorganized app categories, which you can update on the Developer Dashboard to suit your customers. Clover also has an updated payments screen for its POS devices with impactful tweaks, but the payment functionality remains the same.

Cloverpricing

You’ll pay monthly software fees and processing rates for each transaction and the following costs vary based on your business. The first 30 days are free, then fees start at $9.95. You’ll pay 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for payments taken virtually.

For instance, retail businesses taking online payments will incur a 3.5% plus 10 cents per transaction fee, which can make Clover costlier than platforms with similar offerings like Square.

PaymentCloud serves businesses in medium and high-risk sectors, offering online payment services, countless integrations, level 1 and 2 processing, and anti-fraud tools, among other features. There’s no application or setup fee to open a PaymentCloud account, but the process is lengthy owing to the high-risk nature of the businesses it supports.

Traditional financial institutions and payment processors don’t know how to handle merchants in high-risk industries, such as credit repair, tech support, guns and firearms, dating sites, tobacco, and cigars. PaymentCloud understands your business and won’t shut you down. Its hands-on, white-glove approach to the application and setup — plus the quick approvals and post-setup process — ensures you get processing immediately.

I found the application process lengthy and detailed, but that’s how PaymentCloud scrutinizes each high-risk merchant. The company’s trained merchant service reps ensure you’re clear about the costs, payment processing systems, and products or services that will help you scale your business.

You can accept payments via mobile, online, or credit cards, and set up ACH and eCheck options for direct deposits. PaymentCloud is PCI DSS compliant, offering fraud and charge-back prevention, which defends your business from uncharted charge-backs and fraudulent activity. Plus, you can integrate your store with the latest shopping cart integrations and access funding through business loans.

Who is PaymentCloud best for?

PaymentCloud serves a host of high-risk merchant service providers, working with firearms, nutraceuticals, electronics, and other products. This list includes online seminar providers, nutrition coaching, tech support, software and e-book providers, and more.

Recent upgrades to PaymentCloud

PaymentCloud partnered with RocketFuel Blockchain, Inc. This global payment and infrastructure solutions provider for cryptocurrencies helps secure payment processing for all types of businesses (low-risk, high-risk, or hard-to-place). Through a results-driven approach, the companies enable vendors and customers to use crypto for e-commerce payments and checkout solutions.

PaymentCloud pricing

PaymentCloud doesn’t publicly disclose its pricing plans or transaction costs because it customizes them based on the business or merchant. It could work with different pricing models; the costs may be high or low based on the tailored plan. But the company strives to secure low rates through multiple backend processors.

Since 1996, Authorize.net has been simplifying transaction processing for merchants to receive payments via electronic, online, or credit card means. The company is trusted by over 440,000 merchants owing to its easy ways of streamlining payment processing that helps optimize their cash flow.

Authorize.net or Authnet offer a payment gateway and payment processing option. As a payment gateway, you can select your own merchant service while the latter option offers a flat-rate pricing structure. Either way, you pay the monthly $25 gateway fee.

Based on our criteria, we gave Authnet high marks because of its robust payment toolkit and security features. While those factors make it a top choice for most businesses with online stores, there are a few concerns about held funds. We’ve also seen this with other tools including PaymentCloud and Amazon Pay — this may not be directly attributed to Authnet.

You can process international payments in any way that works for your business, and customers can pay via credit or debit cards, digital wallets like Apple Pay or PayPal, and eChecks. A modern API helps you integrate Authorize.net with other tools and even add a Buy Now button for one-time payments.

Who is Authorize.net best for?

Authorize.net is suitable for businesses with existing merchant accounts, but you can always set up a new account and start accepting payments online anytime, anywhere.Recent upgrades to Authorize.net

Authorize.net occasionally announces updates to its platforms. A few recent changes include digital invoicing and eChecks for faster payments, a partnership with Chase for customers to take payments seamlessly on your site or phone and get paid faster, and being listed as part of Shopify’s supported U.S. payment gateways.

Authorize.netpricing

Authorize.net offers two pricing plans. An all-in-one option includes a merchant account and payment gateway. If you have an existing merchant account, the payment gateway only plan is good for you, but you’ll still pay the monthly $25 gateway fee, no matter how much you use the service.

And if you sell occasionally, you’re better off adding Amazon Pay to your store. Merchants without existing accounts can settle for the all-in-one option, which also has a $25 monthly gateway fee along with a 2.9% plus 30-cent fee per transaction.

PayPal is one of the most popular online payment services, with about 429 million users worldwide. Business owners readily add PayPal to their websites and online stores because customers trust it. And it offers easy payment options, including crypto and Venmo, and protection for both buyers and sellers while transacting online.

PayPal is trusted by small business users as it lets them accept and process payments online. The service integrates with multiple apps, including e-commerce and accounting, making it a great choice for online transactions.

While it works for domestic and international SMBs, I highly recommend it for freelancers or solopreneurs, and businesses with occasional/seasonal sales. What I like about PayPal is its name recognition and the trust consumers associate with it, which gives businesses higher chances of closing sales online.

Who is PayPal best for?

We recommend PayPal for startups and small businesses handling low-volume transactions. I found its application and setup process, ease of use, and processing fees geared towards such businesses requiring quick setup and reasonable transaction processing fees.

Recent upgrades to PayPal

PayPal proposed a $2,500 fine on merchants for spreading misinformation through its Acceptable Use Policy. But the company had to pull the “erroneously released” update after severe social media backlash.

PayPal pricing

PayPal fees vary based on the payment method. For instance, the online card payment fee for domestic card payments is 3.49% plus 49 cents per transaction while international card payments pay an additional 1.50% per transaction. These fees are added to extra costs like the $20 charge-back, instant transfer fees, and more.