Stripe has almost reached the number one spot in the e-commerce payment space, but there are still a bunch of Stripe alternatives out there that are also disrupting the market.
With merchant services for high-risk industries, scalable payment models, and options for CRM integrations and analytics, the best payment processor really depends on what you require.
Here, we’re going to look at 11 of the best, each boasting its own advantages, so you can streamline payments and enhance your e-commerce sales.
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1. PayPal — The market leader in online payments
PayPal is the most recognized name in e-commerce payment solutions and has the greatest market share of all Stripe alternatives. Available in more than 200 countries and 25 currencies, it’s ideal for international e-commerce operations but is just as good domestically.
PayPal gives you detailed invoicing, secure online payment gateways, and tools for both online and in-person transactions. Businesses can integrate PayPal with their existing platforms
to create hosted checkout pages, link to shopping carts, and offer mobile payment processors.
Extra features such as barcode scanning and inventory tracking make it more useful for e-commerce companies, while customers can register cards for a faster checkout experience. You can apply merchant services such as one-off payments for products, or recurring payments for monthly bills or subscriptions.
When looking at Stripe vs PayPal alternatives, they often differ in the checkout process. Stripe operates within the company’s site, while PayPal redirects customers to a PayPal portal.
2. Square — A low-risk option for small and medium-sized businesses
Square provides user-friendly payment platforms for small businesses at a reasonable price — more expensive than Stripe, but less costly than PayPal. It is one of the best Stripe competitors for brick-and-mortar stores and charges a lower fee for in-person payments than online purchases. In addition, Square is great for smaller businesses that can’t guarantee high transaction volume, as there are no monthly fees so you won’t be paying out huge expenses when little revenue is coming in.
Offering both credit card processing and mobile payments, all your transaction data feeds back to accounting apps with real-time analytics and automatic sales reporting. You can also connect online payment gateways to related business tools such as employee management, marketing automation, and a customer directory.
Square stands out for having a developer-friendly system that uses open APIs for easy customization. However, it doesn’t have as many integrations as other Stripe alternatives.
3. Braintree — Low fees and high customization with PayPal-level customer service
Braintree is a subsidiary of PayPal, which means you get a reliable payment solution and excellent customer support. Every client has a dedicated account manager to help you onboard the processor, adapt it to your needs, and troubleshoot any issues.
In contrast to its parent company, Braintree offers free fraud prevention and recurring billing features, and lower transaction fees. It supports multiple payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, and mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay. To go beyond payments, you can integrate Braintree with business platforms to bring all your sales data into one place.
Like Square, Braintree avoids costly monthly fees and only charges for what you use. It still has ample customizations to help you scale up your operations without any interruptions.
4. Adyen — A Stripe alternative for busy businesses
Adyen is designed for larger businesses processing high transaction volumes and gives you a wide range of payment options and features including advanced fraud protection and detailed analytics. Those analytics cover both sales performance and customer behavior, giving insights into which strategies spark the most revenue and predicting when to make adjustments to your inventory for fluctuations in transaction volume.
Adyen accepts global credit cards and covers a whole host of local currencies, making it ideal for companies eyeing international markets. All of your transactions go through Adyen’s built-in advanced fraud protection to mitigate the risk of bad actors damaging your reputation.
The analytics are just as good, providing sales intelligence insights so you can identify which products most appeal to each of your customer demographics. Sales data can feed back into integrated accounting software to help you check for profitability and predict trends and opportunities moving forward.
5. Authorize.Net — The godfather of online payment processing
Authorize.Net has been around for a long time now and is still one of the most-used Stripe alternatives on the market today. It still supports a few relics from the early days of the internet such as e-checks, which it offers alongside credit cards and digital payment methods like Google Pay and Apple Pay.
Known for its reliability, Authorize.Net has grown with the times, keeping vendors and clients safe from fraud through an address verification service and card code verification (CCV). Similarly, you can integrate it with leading business systems to analyze your sales data against other metrics that are important for your business.
It is among the best payment platforms for small businesses that run on subscription services, with recurring billing options that are secure and simple to set up. For any difficulties you do face, users value the quantity and quality of self-service resources and the reliability of its customer service.
6. 2Checkout (now Verifone) — Flexible billing for international transactions
Verifone is another hyper-global Stripe alternative, serving over 200 countries and operating in over 45 payment methods. Stripe itself offers more than 50 methods, so Verifone certainly holds its own against other merchant services. This flexibility helps you reach businesses and individuals on the platforms they're used to for a better customer experience.
Its e-commerce payment solutions cover recurring building, subscriptions, and one-off payments that you can incorporate into a website or online store as a widget. In addition to online sales, Verifone covers in-person sales, selling countertop devices, unattended machines, integrated POSs, and classic contactless card readers.
Verifone’s versatility is apparent in the analytics too, which allows you to combine sales information and customer behavior for a detailed look at how you’re performing and why. Behind the scenes, Verifone is compliant with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) and has a range of security systems that work together to counter fraud.
7. Helcim — Transparent pricing for growing businesses
Helcim is one of the lesser-known Stripe alternatives, but it is a unique payment processor with a lot of advantages for businesses operating internationally. Like Square, it doesn’t charge monthly fees but instead offers an Interchange Plus model.
The Interchange fluctuates depending on your industry, the card being used, and in-person vs online transactions, while the Plus refers to the cut that Helcim takes. This transparent model can be a great money saver, and the more volume you process, the lower the Plus section becomes.
Helcim’s extra features include subscription and invoicing management, inventory management, and analytics and reporting options. In terms of hardware, you can buy their card reader or smart terminal, or load their software onto your computer, tablet, or smartphone.
8. PaymentCloud — Specialized payments for high-risk industries
PaymentCloud specializes in high-risk industries, offering solutions for businesses that may have difficulty securing services from traditional processors. Industries such as CBD, firearms, and adult entertainment look to PaymentCloud as an app that supports cryptocurrency, credit cards, e-checks, mail and telephone, Apple Pay, and more.
Despite representing controversial businesses, it integrates well with many of the leading names in website building and e-commerce. Dedicated customer support account managers take you through the setup phase, help you establish integrations, and solve any ad-hoc issues you have along the journey. In terms of security, you get quality fraud and chargeback protection, which is a great advantage for high-risk merchants.
You should expect to pay a premium for such services, and PaymentCloud is not transparent about its pricing structure. Its fees depend on the risk profile and transaction volume of each business, so although it may not be the most cost-effective solution for lower-risk merchants, many from high-risk industries can benefit from its reliability.
9. GoCardless — Recurring payments and subscriptions in a shift away from cards
GoCardless may not operate in the same number of countries as some of the other Stripe alternatives on this list, but its focus on recurring payments makes it a top option for businesses that rely on subscriptions or installment payments. Leveraging open banking APIs, it simplifies direct debits and reduces administrative tasks by automating payment scheduling.
You can still use it for one-off payments, of course. Pre-made payment pages get you up and running quickly online, but there is no option to accept in-person payments, which makes GoCardless relatively inflexible.
On the plus side, costs stay low on domestic payments, with fees considerably lower than Stripe. Its mission to use bank payments rather than card networks means GoCardless cuts out steps to make payments more reliable and to keep your cash flowing.
10. Skrill — A customer-focused portal with plenty of local payment methods
Skrill is a digital wallet for internationally minded businesses, opening you up to more than 200 countries and over 40 currencies. Although it mainly markets to customers, businesses can use both its credit card processing tools and bank transfers to sell their products.
Its Quick Checkout manages over 100 local payment methods including Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. Security features include fraud and risk management as well as chargeback protection to avoid unexpected losses.
Skrill is proud of its integrations, which can link to CRMs and website builders, and provides comprehensive customer support materials to help you link apps through APIs. However, Skrill doesn’t seem to have integrations with accounting software, which is quite an oversight when compared to the best Stripe competitors.
11. Amazon Pay — A trusted interface to integrate with your checkout
Amazon Pay is a smart solution that allows customers to use their Amazon account to make purchases on your website. Its main benefit lies in familiarity, which gives customers more faith that your website is legitimate and their payment is backed by Amazon’s security.
You don’t have to pay megabucks for the privilege; Amazon Pay is very much in line with Stripe for domestic sales. This gives some small businesses an easy choice that increases customer confidence and lowers the risk of them backing out of purchases at the last minute.
Amazon makes bold claims about its branded button leading to higher conversion rates, but they’re not transparent about which apps they’re comparing themselves against. Similarly, they don’t include meaningful analytics within the app, so it’s tricky to see how effective the Amazon Pay portal is for your specific situation.
Bitrix24 — Your end-to-end e-commerce solution
Choosing between Stripe alternatives can be a difficult task, but it’s well worth it. Getting the right solution can boost sales and optimize costs. From PayPal’s global reach to Braintree’s advanced customization and PaymentCloud’s high-risk solutions, there’s an option for every organization.
However, to make the most of these payment platforms, you need to link them to a CRM, analytics, and an attractive e-commerce website.
Bitrix24 offers all of these features and much more on one powerful dashboard. Integrations with leading payment solutions like Stripe, Braintree, and so much more, mean you can run your entire sales business from a single hub.
Sign up for Bitrix24 today and start running your e-commerce business like a pro.
Organize your team's workload and collaboration in Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a place where everyone can communicate, collaborate, and manage daily activities. Encourage teamwork now.
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FAQs
What are the most cost-effective Stripe alternatives for small e-commerce businesses?
The most cost-effective Stripe alternatives for small e-commerce businesses include Square and Helcim. Square offers simple, flat-rate pricing with no monthly fees, which is ideal for low-volume businesses. Helcim provides transparent interchange-plus pricing, which can be more economical for higher-volume businesses due to lower overall transaction fees.
Which Stripe alternatives offer the best international payment support?
The Stripe alternatives that offer the best international payment support are PayPal and 2Checkout (Verifone). PayPal operates in over 200 countries, supports multiple currencies, and is internationally recognized, while 2Checkout offers extensive global reach with over 50 local payment methods, making both suitable for businesses with a diverse, international customer base.
How do Stripe alternatives compare in terms of ease of integration and developer tools?
Stripe alternatives vary quite a lot between integration and developer tools. Braintree, Adyen, and Skrill both provide robust APIs, software development kits, and extensive documentation, making it easy for developers to customize payment solutions. These platforms offer flexible integration options for businesses with specific or complex payment processing needs.
