10 best Stripe alternatives for Payment Processing

With the emergence of life-enriching smart technology, the world has entirely gone digital, from banking to shopping and payments. Meanwhile, Fintech continues to evolve with the advent of ground-breaking innovations for automated finance & banking solutions.  

When it comes to digital banking, businesses are inclined towards convenient, secure, & cost-effective modes to make & accept payments regardless of transaction volume. After all, it’s a need of the hour for merchants all over the world, who’re desirous to sell online & broaden their customer reach. 

Like most businesses out there, you must be selling your products or services online & using a platform for payment processing, right? If yes, then you must be familiar with Stripe, a powerful tool for billing and subscription management, customized online checkouts, and plenty more.

Stripe is the most used payment processing platform but it is not a standalone name in the domain of payment processing. With competitors like Square, PayPal, Amazon Pay, National Processing, & more, Stripe continues to grow its clientele from retail to software & diverse industries.  

But what if you’re not well acquainted with any of these popular payment APIs to use with your Fintech product?  

No worries, we’ve got you covered with this must-read blog on the best Stripe alternatives for payment processing that you should know.

Top 10 Stripe alternatives to try for payment processing

#1 Shopify payments

Shopify is a leading eCommerce solution provider powering millions of e-retail websites or platforms for years. And Shopify Payments is an integral part of its payment processing system that enables Shopify sellers to accept hassle-free payments without needing to integrate third-party payment processing providers. 

Shopify payments are available in the US, UK, Australia, & Canada. The clients of Shopify Payments are growing in numbers including PayPal, Stripe, PayFast, AliPay, SagePay, 2checkout, Skrill, WorldPay, & more. From enabling quick & easy payments for local currencies to ensuring secure checkouts with payment data encryption & PCI-compliant servers, Shopify Payments offers excellent payment processing with protection & convenience. 

Shopify payment customers can also track their orders & payment transactions on a live dashboard update. 

Let’s review the key advantages of using Shopify Payments as a stripe alternative for payment processing. 

• The transaction fee of 0.2 – 0.5% commission charged on each sale is waived off for Shopify payment providers eventually increasing profit margins.
• Shopify payments charge a flat-rate fee of 5% and about $0.3 per sale, which is a small amount for low-volume businesses but becomes huge when the volume of business increases. 
• Shopify sellers can get discounted charges with a comprehensive subscription package.
• Shopify payments help businesses operate internationally with diverse payment options like PayPal, along with Shopify payments.
• Fast payment approvals and easy setup allow users to start using Shopify payments with utmost convenience.
• Transaction and payment options help users to track all the transaction details on a single dashboard that further saves them time & keeps them updated on the real-time status of their transactions, limiting the risks of potential frauds. 
• Shopify Pay enables users to view & monitor their billing & shipping information on a centralized platform, so their details are available next time. They don’t need to re-enter their details during checkout.

The pricing of the basic Shopify package is 2%, the Shopify plan cuts 1%, & advanced Shopify charges are 0.5%.  

While Shopify payments charge-free users for each transaction. Shopify payments allow payments through credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal, and other methods. 

#2 Amazon Pay 

Amazon Pay tops in the chart of best Stripe alternatives for payment processing. Amazon sellers are more convenient using Amazon Pay to conduct their online transactions or payments with no long-term contracts & monthly account fees.   

Even merchants outside Amazon’s ecosystem get options to boost their payments via Amazon Pay. It’s easy to integrate but slightly expensive for high-volume merchants. Anyone can easily set up payments on Amazon Pay & also integrate it into their websites.  

One peculiar point about Amazon Pay is its above-average fraud protection, which is free of cost. The predictable flat-rate pricing which is a bit similar to Stripe is one of the featured pros of Amazon Pay

As similar to Stripe, Amazon Pay’s pricing scheme starts at 2.9%+ $0.30 for domestic transactions with no monthly or annual fees. It’s a perfect choice for merchants with businesses that are truly seasonal. 

However, the drawbacks of using Amazon Pay are determined as poor customer service, high pricing for high volume business, & recurring issues of account instability 

#3 Square Payments

Square started as a mobile POS app, but these days, it’s become an entire business ecosystem with support for in-person and online sales.

Square Payments entered the business segment in 2009, only to become the most powerful ecosystem of commerce solutions. Observing the scenario of sellers troubled due to outmoded products & tools that no more work together, the company expanded into the software along with a set of integrated, omnichannel solutions-aiming to help sellers with seamless & advanced inventory management service offerings.

Furthermore, they’ve integrated some financial services tools at the point of sale, so merchants can access a business loan also manage their cash flow in one place.

At present, Square Payments have clients across Australia, Canada, Japan, Ireland, & across all 50 regions of the United States.

Square Payments as one of the best Stripe alternatives for payment processing is trending among sellers of all sizes-including small & large-scale businesses with complex operations. With options for online order management at zero costs, customer database, invoicing, & in-app purchases,  

Similar to Stripe, Square charges at a flat-rate rate i.e 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions & 2.6% + $0.10 for tapped or swiped transactions.

Check out some crucial points to note down the advantages of Square payment:

• Square’s documentation & APIs as Stripe alternatives for payment processing are designed to let you create a system integrated with online and in-person sales, reporting, inventory, and more, using Square’s robust tools. 
• The APIs available with the Square toolkit isn't just meant for payments but also for inventory and catalog management, employee management, and customer database management. 
• Square APIs is a plus point to the payment processing feature of this platform as you don’t need to pay for third-party integration for inventory management, customer engagement, and other peripheral tasks.
• Square brings ample options to fulfill a  wide range of assortments for merchant needs, including eCommerce, healthcare management, marketing, recurring Billings, & more.

Drawbacks

The major disadvantage of Square is its availability which is limited only to the merchants in a few countries. While Stripe on the other hand has clients all across the globe. 

Moreover, Square also uses a third-party processor like Stripe,  which simply means that merchants can set up the payment system easily & quickly besides facing the possibilities of funding holds and account terminations.

And lastly, Stripe does have more integrations as compared to Square.

#4 Payment cloud

Stripe can collaborate with different scales & sizes of businesses, from domestic to international, but unfortunately, the merchants on high risk usually find it difficult to get a Stripe account & maintain it for future use. 

The reason is due to the aggregation of customers into larger merchant accounts as most third-party processors like Stripe & PayPal do. 

In fact, Stripe's policy to blacklist businesses that might record a high number of fraudulent transactions & chargebacks is a factor behind the dismissal of Stripe accounts. 

Here comes the name of PaymentCloud, a processor for high-risk businesses that fall through the cracks. It's highly recommended as a stripe alternative for payment processing by many popular low-risk processors including Dharma Merchant Services which clearly refers their high-risk applicants to PaymentCloud. 

PaymentCloud is a typical high-risk processor that reads your profile & picks an ideal merchant account match regardless of pricing that shall vary from business to business, but it's more beneficial for applicants to opt for interchange-plus pricing 

#5 National Processing

National Processing is the best Stripe alternative for payment processing, particularly among businesses that do a lot of ACH transactions.

The following benefits of National Processing favor its dominance as the best Stripe alternative:

• Full line of Clover terminals and POS systems.
• Excellent market reputation & credibility
• Low-cost check/ACH payment processing.
• Interchange-plus and membership pricing are offered additionally.
• National Processing may not be a known name in the payment processing world, but it’s one of the preferred platforms for businesses of small & medium sizes.
• National Processing shares a complete pricing disclosure on its website, with a descriptive detailing of its interchange-plus and membership pricing models to the prospective business. 
• The pricing plans of National Processing are industry-specific, and each of them has different processing rates (restaurants, in particular, make out well here). If you need ACH processing, National Processing comes up with its featured plan of $15/month & a $0.48 fee per transaction, making it quite affordable for businesses that can only take subscription-based services.

Drawbacks 

The availability of free equipment with a National Processing payment processing plan is only meant for long-term contract obligations, which is a matter of caution. 

Also, an early termination fee is imposed for “free” equipment. 

#6 Helcim merchant services

Now the next Stripe alternative for payment processing is Helcim Merchant services which are best suited for businesses of sellers who deal with global customers and need a reliable processor.

Here are some important benefits of using Helcim Merchant services over Stripe or other payment processing platforms:

• Its fee structure is flexible & scalable, there are no long-term contracts or monthly fee payments.
• The costs of payment processing reduce with business growth. And it also accepts all international payments. 
• It continues offering high-volume savings to big merchants when most processors refer low-volume merchants to the big brands. 
• Helcim's featured integrations may not be as smooth as Stripe's but yes, it's absolutely competitive with it. It serves wide international support along with a set of online store, & powerful developer tools. If you’re involved in offline sales then you can use Helcim’s point of sale features, which can be run off a desktop or mobile device. 
• Helcim's pricing system is worth noticing. Rather than using a single pricing model, it brings three different ones, each tailored to the volume of the customer. Merchants with low volume business will get simple flat-rate pricing (similar to Stripe’s) starting at 0.30% + $0.08 while those with higher-volume merchants will get interchange-plus pricing.

Drawbacks 

• It does not support high-risk industries.
• Helcim Merchant services lag behind companies like Stripe, PayPal, & Square which offer a very convenient way to process payments where many higher-volume processes fail to match.

#7 PayPal 

Paypal is another popular alternative to Stripe that enables companies to scale their payment platform to make and accept payments via merchant accounts without requesting their confidential information and compromising on security.

Being a Stripe alternative, PayPal brings a bundle of exclusive features like online invoicing, online payments, instant checkout, inventory tracking, a Shopping cart, barcode scanning, and a virtual terminal. 

PayPal is trusted by top brands & businesses including Mediaplanet Danmark, Samaritans Purse, Yoga Alliance, Insight performance, Americares Foundation INC, etc.

Below are some notable pros of using PayPal as a Stripe alternative for payment processing: 

• PayPal is powered by the best-known encryption data technology to protect its customers from any potential fraud. 
• Enables customers to register their cards once and for all, thereby reducing the efforts needed for retyping passwords and other details at every transaction. As a result, it enables a hassle-free checkout experience and boosts sales.
• PayPal is ideally used for money transfers & to avail discounts on selected retailers. 
• It provides customization for invoicing, pre-built templates, integrations, and much more without sharing the financial details of customers, making PayPal the most secure & efficient online payment system.
• PayPal facilitates Instant payment across the globe with a mere email address making it one of the best Stripe alternatives for the online payment system.

PayPal is not available for a free trial. If you want to sell through your website along with the invoice & email payments, then the charges would be 4.4% plus $0.30. And if you are selling on eBay, the charges would be 3.9% plus $0.30.

For international sales, currency conversion fees are also applicable. 

#8 Adyen

Adyen is another payment gateway to could be a Stripe alternative for payment processing. It accepts cards for online as well as mobile and in-store payments enabling users to expand their outreach, increase sales, & eliminate fraud. It brings secure & convenient checkout experiences for customers. 

Adyen features global outreach, risk management, Remote store management, card validation, one-click recurring payments, data driving, reporting & analytics. It’s a single payment gateway for third-party payments. 

The best benefits of the Adyen payment gateway are mentioned below:

• Adyen supports all credit and debit card payments making it an all-in-one system for transaction fees depending on the volume of the transfer.
• The single platform for all eCommerce transactions, operable on mobile devices, and an excellent tool to attract customers are some of the benefits of using this stripe alternative.
• The analytics available enables users to have a quick overview of the transactions that are both current and previous, making it an excellent tool to make data-based decisions.
• Adyen also enables users to add an in-store kiosk that helps buyers to check the available product with their choice of description, thereby improving sales and proving to be a cost-effective method of sales.
• The secured payment system counters the risk of fraud and enables users to stay safe from    

There is no fixed pricing plan for Adyen. The processing fees and commission is based on each transaction. However, These charges depend on the selected payment method. It’s better to contact the vendor for any pricing information.

#9 Staxx by FatterMerchant

Staxx by FatterMerchant is best for domestic, high-volume businesses that want a clear & centralized platform. Its developer tools & APIs aren’t as smooth as Stripe’s, but they’ll be more than serviceable for most businesses. The Stax Pay integrated payments platform offers a good, simplest way to centralize your transaction information.

It offers a transparent membership pricing with zero percentage markup for transactions. Apart from being a centralized platform, it supports month-to-month billing but only for US merchants which is a major drawback of this Stripe alternative for payment processing. It’s not an ideal choice for low-volume businesses. 

On the other hand, Stripe’s simple, predictable flat-rate pricing is very good for low-volume businesses, it takes high fee per transaction for high-volume businesses. Those businesses, provided they sell entirely within the US, may want to check out Stax by Fattmerchant for high-volume transactions..

Stax uses wholesale pricing, which means rather than pay a percentage markup on each transaction, you’ll pay a monthly membership fee and only a flat fee per transaction (you still have to pay the interchange rate — that’s inescapable). 

The fees are $99/month for interchange + $0.08 or interchange + $0.15 rates per transaction (card-present and card-not-present fees, respectively) for businesses that do up to $5,000,000 in transactions annually. If you’re processing more than that, you’ll need to contact Stax for a custom quote. Your payment gateway is included at no extra cost.

Stax Pay goes for $49/month, $89/month, or $129/month,  on the basis of the subscription package you select..

#10 Dwolla

Dwolla is ideal for businesses that want a standalone ACH processor. Unlike other Stripe alternatives for payment processing discussed in the list, Dwolla doesn’t accept credit or debit cards. 

The reason why we’re comparing it with Stripe is its feature for processing ACH payments. It’s Dwolla’s powerhouse that brings pay-as-you-go ACH processing with a set of good developer tools. 

If you don’t want to explore the whole Stripe ecosystem for ACH processing then Dwolla deserves your interest. However, it’s true that Dwolla is comparatively more expensive than other payment processing platforms & it’s only active in the United States.  

And if your business involves high-volume transactions then Dwolla’s higher-level plans will cost you $2000/month. The basic Pay-As-You-Go-Plan has no monthly fee and charges a flat 0.5% fee on ACH transactions (minimum $0.05, maximum $5).  It’s lightweight and can work as an add-on to your existing merchant services. Dwolla, like Stripe, also bills itself as developer-friendly.

Why is Hie HQ the right partner for smart payment processing solutions?

Stripe is not the only horse in the race for the best-rated payment processing software. The popularity of Stripe may influence millions of tech minds but the rise of its other alternatives declares the on-set of much-awaited rivalry amongst the prominent Stripe alternatives for payment processing. 

However, Stripe's freemium version availability for startups makes it the first choice of emerging Fintechs. The bundle of payment options & global reach together make it stand out in the presence of market competition. 

Well, besides being preferred by high-tech businesses, we shall go with the fact that Stripe is not a perfect fit for all. Those who're not in favor of the standard fare of the known payment process shall consider other available alternatives mentioned in the blog.   

Need more details on how payment processing works? Hie HQ is there to handle your concerns with exceptional expertise in co-building next-generation software products using the most recent technologies & tools.

Our agile methodologies & startup-centric approach shape our dominion in crafting cutting-edge solutions for various business niches including Fintech & Finance, Fitness & healthcare, gaming, eCommerce, SaaS-based products, & more.

As always, we believe in collaboration & building trust with our clients. At Hie HQ, we strategize to meet your expectations & co-build innovative and top-performing products within the proposed timeline & budget. 

Thanks for staying with us. Have questions? We'd love to get in touch with you! CONTACT US to share your thoughts. See our latest projects on your portfolio for getting a better understanding of our skills.