The Best Payment Gateway by UK Providers in 2024

If you want to accept payments online – as well as in person via point-of-sale platform – you’re going to need to invest in a payment gateway. The best modern payment gateways integrate with merchant accounts and POS systems to ensure timely, secure transaction processing with minimal fees and usability concerns.

After testing a range of different UK-based providers, we concluded that Worldpay is the best payment gateway overall thanks to its low transaction fees, unbeatable transfer speeds, and the fact it integrates seamlessly with several top POS providers.

But it’s not the only option out there. We’ve compiled a list of six other great payment gateways that allow you to quickly process card payments, transferring sensitive shopper data to payment networks in a secure and compliant manner. Here are our picks:

The Best Payment Gateways for UK Businesses

The table below summarises our top seven ranked payment gateway providers for UK businesses, their basic pricing information, and the scores our expert researchers gave them.

1. Worldpay – Best Payment Gateway Provider

After testing 25 different payment gateway providers across 78 different areas of investigation, one stood above the rest: Worldpay.

Namely, we appreciated its extremely low transaction fees of just 0.6% (depending on processing volume, type of card, etc.), as well as its wide range of help and support options for getting assistance and even interacting with other merchants.

Here’s a summary of its major plus points and its potential downsides depending on your business.

Worldpay’s highlights

Let’s take a look at where Worldpay outshone the competition to get the coveted Expert Market number one slot.

Versatile payments, speedy transfers

Worldpay’s 30-minute fund transfer time (for shoppers’ banks that support its Fast Access ability) blows all other transfer times out of the water. Its regular transfer time beats the majority of the competition too, matching Square’s next-business-day window. This super speedy timeframe makes Worldpay a good fit for business accounts that need predictable cash flow.

You’ll also be able to accept over 120 currencies using Worldpay, with no need for APIs, as is the case with takepayments. This is a feat only beaten by Stripe, which automatically supports 135+ currencies.

Integrations

That leads us to one of Worldpay’s other standout features: the vast number of integrations it offers. Over 100 software integrations are possible with Worldpay, including tools for customer relationship management, accounting, analytics, and e-commerce.

This makes it easy to scale your payments and accounting procedures. You won’t need to change providers as your business grows, instead, you can opt for the integration you need as your business’s needs change and develop.

Worldpay pricing

• Worldpay transaction fees: 0.6% to 2.75% transaction fees
• Worldpay online payment gateway fee: £19.95 per month
• Worldpay device cost: From £17.50 per month (18-month contract)

Depending on whether you want a point-of-sale card reader plan or an online payment gateway plan, and whether it’s a credit card or debit card payment, Worldpay’s transaction fees range between 0.6% (for domestic debit cards) to 2.75% + 20p (for all international cards).

The fee for renting a card machine and in-person POS functionality starts from £17.50 per month, while a payment gateway plan fee is £19.95 per month, taking the total monthly costs to almost £40 if you require both in-person and online payments. You’ll have no setup fees to pay when you sign up.

You’ll need to commit to a minimum 18-month contract length for the card machine plan – and we reckon the same is true for the online payment gateway, although Worldpay’s website is pretty unclear on this – which is longer than all other providers we’ve tested. There are exit fees to pay (variable depending on your contract status) if you leave early, too.

Does Worldpay have free trials or free plans?

Like takepayments, there is no free trial or free plan possible with Worldpay, so you’ll need to purchase its service to test it out, unlike Square (free plan), Zettle (free plan), Shopify (free trial), SumUp (free plan) or Stripe (free plan).

Where could Worldpay improve?

As you may have inferred from the above discussion of pricing, our main gripe with Worldpay is surrounding costs.

While it can offer some of the lowest fees around, Worldpay only offers these on its contracted plans. These contracts have the joint-longest minimum contract lengths of all providers we’ve tested and a whole 17 months longer than any alternative option on this page.

You can sign up for its pay-as-you-go plan to avoid these commitments, however, you’ll have higher max processing fees than all other providers on this page besides Shopify (5%) and Stripe (2.9% + 10p).

It also charges extra for reporting tools (£4.99 per month), and for keeping you PCI compliant (£5 per month), potentially racking up your monthly overheads.

What type of business is Worldpay suitable for?

Worldpay is well-suited for merchants who prefer to stick with one provider over the long term, especially businesses that handle less frequent but higher-value transactions due to its fee structure.

Given Worldpay typically offers longer contracts than most providers, merchants that want more flexible agreements will want to look elsewhere.

Its wide hardware compatibility with multiple POS systems means you are unlikely to need to invest in a new POS system, however. Meanwhile, it also offers a large network of integrations potentially allowing businesses to grow and expand their suite of software when required.

2. takepayments – Best Flexible Payment Solutions

takepayments is the second-best payment gateway provider we’ve tested, narrowly missing out on the top spot by just half a percentage point.

While Worldpay earned its 1st place finish with marginally improved hardware, software, and support options, takepayments’ negotiable fees can make it a more cost-effective choice for your business. It also stood out because of its wide range of payment options and reporting features.

Here’s a quick rundown before we get into the specifics of why takepayments could be for you.

takepayment’s highlights

Many payment options

One of the big plus points of takepayments is that you can access numerous ways to take payments, from card machines with 4G connectivity, to online solutions, such as pay-links, phone payments, and QR codes. It integrates with over 50 online shopping carts, too (although Square can build you a full-blown online store, making it the easiest option to take payments online).

Reporting tools

takepayments also has great reporting and management capabilities, allowing for customised product categorisation, real-time inventory tracking, and employee sales tracking. Worldpay charges extra for these types of features but with takepayments, they’re included in your package.

Easy-use hardware

And when testing the takepayments Plus device, we found it incredibly ergonomic and easy to handle, even for extended periods, and notably lighter than many other devices. Its extensive dashboard allows us to explore detailed reports of all previous transactions and functions like a handheld POS system – with a clean, colourful interface – thereby eliminating the need to access the back end to add new products or make adjustments. 

We could offer various types of receipts to our customers, easily process both card and cash payments, and process refunds simply by finding the item in our transaction history. 

takepayments pricing

• takepayments transaction fees: Quote-based
• takepayments device cost: £25 per month
• takepayments minimum account fee: £20 per month

takepayments’ monthly hardware costs are middle-of-the-road at around £25 per month + VAT for the average business, with a minimum monthly account fee is £20.

Also, takepayments allows you to negotiate your transaction fees — one of the biggest ongoing costs you have when taking payments. This is one of the reasons our researchers found it one of the cheapest way to take card payments in the UK.

If you want a cheaper option, Worldpay’s payment gateway fees start at £19.95 per month. Square’s mobile reader starts from £19, although its in-person transaction fees are 1.75% per transaction, which could cost your business more in the long-run.

Where could takepayments improve?

The provider isn’t without its faults, however. While you can negotiate your transaction fees, this quote-based approach results in an obscure pricing structure. That can be off-putting since you won’t know how much to budget for takepayments’ service before getting a quote.

Not helping matters is that takepayments charges high fees for early termination – a £30 per month non-use charge and a £40 early termination charge. This isn’t something you have to worry about with zero-contract payment gateway providers like Square or SumUp, who are also very upfront about their pricing.

Lastly, although takepayments can support over 170 currencies, this is only available via APIs and not built into the platform. If you want less fuss, you could go with Stripe, which supports 135 currencies with no need for coding.

What type of business is takepayments suitable for?

We recommend takepayments to small businesses that process over £2,000 in card payments a month, and have multiple employees. This is mainly because, when it comes to bespoke pricing, businesses with a higher transaction volume tend to get a better deal.

Ideal candidates are restaurants and cafes, or retail stores with an online storefront.

3. Square – Most User-Friendly Platform

During our usability testing, Square was the clear favourite amongst our participants thanks to its modern, user-friendly approach to taking payments across all of its hardware.

Here’s everything you need to know about it before we get into the exact details as to why Square scored third highest in our payment gateway provider testing.

Square highlights

User-friendly interface

As mentioned, the thing that stands out about Square is its intuitive, fully functional ecosystem for taking payments.

Square’s terminal offers a large display making it easy for customers to see their totals, and it allowed us to operate efficiently and serve customers faster than with smaller devices. We especially loved how you could easily switch between the product and price input screen, and it’s no surprise it is our top-rated platform for usability as a result.

Fast payouts, zero monthly fees, full payment ecosystem

Square also offers the fastest payouts of any zero-contract payment gateway provider we’ve researched and can get your money to you the next day. It’s only beaten by Worldpay, which can transfer funds in 30 minutes but is a contract-based provider.

For zero monthly fees, you can accept payments in-person and online, build an online e-commerce store with Square, and access its EPOS app, too. All you’ll be paying are transaction fees at 1.75% (in line with the average rate for UK providers), and in return, you’ll get an entire ecosystem with POS, payments and e-commerce.

Square pricing

• Square transaction fees: 1.75% (in-person); 1.4% + 25p for UK cards/2.5% + 25p for non-UK cards (online); 2.5% (invoices, keyed-in, and over-the-phone)
• Square device cost: From £19 + VAT (purchase)
• Square monthly fees: None required (free plan)

Square’s pricing is straightforward, employing a pay-as-you-go model without any hidden costs. In-person transaction fees are 1.75%, and online ones are 1.4% + 25p for UK cards and 2.5% + 25p for non-UK cards. Invoices, keyed-in payments, and over-the-phone payments have a 2.5% transaction fee.

Square’s in-person fee is quite high, and you’ll pay less per transaction with Revolut, SumUp, or Stripe. However, its online transaction fees are decently low, with only Revolut offering a better deal with fees of 1% + 20p.

Like its zero-contract competitors, Square doesn’t charge monthly fees for its basic payment gateway service and sells hardware outright. Its starting price for card machines is £19 + VAT, the cheapest out of all its competitors.

Also, if you plan on expanding into a physical location in the future, Square lets you easily upgrade to an advanced EPOS solution and sells all the hardware you need, from terminal stands to cash drawers.

If you’re curious about EPOS systems costs, see our full breakdown.

Where could Square improve?

While, Square’s free software offers great value for money, if you want access to more advanced features, such as in-depth reporting and analytics, whether that be for Square’s online store or EPOS software, you’ll need to upgrade to one of its paid plans. Unfortunately, doing this doesn’t lower your transaction fees, which at 1.75%, are quite high for in-person payments.

Square also doesn’t support multiple currencies for in-person sales, which can be limiting if you’re a business that has international customers that travel to visit your brick-and-mortar store.

What type of business is Square suitable for?

We recommend Square to small businesses that sell in-person and online and plan on rapid growth.

Because Square has solutions for payment processing, EPOS, and ecommerce, it’s a catch-all provider suited to a large variety of sellers. Its zero-contract model also makes it easy to upgrade to one of its paid solutions exactly when you need it.

4. Stripe – Best For Security

During our research and testing, Stripe not only was the fourth-highest scoring payment system overall but was particularly strong on the security front.

And there’s much more to it than that, offering a free plan with weekend payouts. Here’s what you need to know about Stripe before we get into how it tops the scales on security.

Stripe highlights

Secure transactions

Stripe’s security is top-notch, largely down to its Radar for Fraud Teams. This fraud detection system is built directly into the payment flow and combines a customisable rules engine with machine learning algorithms. Simply put, it can detect patterns across payments from every business processing payment via Stripe. And this gave us peace of mind that any transaction taken was closely monitored.

The likes of Shopify and Worldpay also have fraud analysis systems, while all our picks are PCI compliant (with most holding an ISO 27001 certificate, too). However, by implementing their security measures within the payment flow, Stripe comes out on top in this category.

Free plan with wide currency and integration support

We also loved the ability to use Stripe’s completely free plan to get set up for a minimal cost. We were able to easily integrate the hardware with our current POS systems and thereby avoided purchasing a new POS system entirely or a lengthy connection process.

When testing it, we found Stripe to have some of the best reporting capabilities of all of the zero-contract payment gateway providers we analysed, too. This includes reporting on real-time charges, fees, and refunds, as well as payment methods and currencies.

And, with pre-built API integrations for just about any ecommerce apps you work with (Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce all come to mind), Stripe should slot seamlessly into your online business’ current setup.

Importantly, Stripe has zero monthly fees and it doesn’t perform a credit check, allowing customers who might have a poor credit score to use its payment solution.

It also supports 135+ currencies and can display pricing in the customer’s currency during online checkout, for an additional 2% fee per successful transaction.

Stripe pricing

• Stripe transaction fees: 1.4% + 10p (UK in-person); 1.5% + 20p (UK online); 2.9% + 10p (non-UK/EU in-person), 2.5% + 20p (for EU online), 3.25% + 20p (international cards online)
• Stripe device cost: From £49 + VAT
• Stripe monthly fees: None required (free plan)

Stripe’s transaction fees are lower than competitors Zettle, SumUp, and Square’s fees, at 1.4% + 10p for in-person transactions and 1.5% +20p for online ones.

It will cost you more to accept international cards, however. In-person fees jump to 2.9% + 10p for non-UK and EU cards, and online fees jump to 2.5% + 20p for EU cards, and 3.25% + 20p for all other international cards.

Stripe’s hardware is a tad more expensive than Square and SumUp, offering three readers at £49 + VAT, £179 + VAT, £279 + VAT each. While these fees are one-off, they can add up, especially if you want to purchase more than one reader. However, your recurring fee is the transaction fee which, for a mobile reader, is fairly low.

Where could Stripe improve?

On the downside, Stripe has the slowest payout time of any provider we tested, taking 3-7 business days to transfer funds. You can pay for a next-day payout, but you’ll incur a 1% cut to your payout volume.

While Stripe’s hardware supports WiFi, Ethernet and Bluetooth connections, they cannot use mobile data. For those who are looking to make payments on the move, or otherwise in areas without reliable wifi access, this could be an issue.

Stripe card machines are also some of the more expensive on the market, with the cheapest one costing £49 + VAT, and the most expensive one costing £279 + VAT. Given that none of these card, readers have 4G connectivity, that’s a steep price to pay, although we should note that Stripe’s most expensive card reader is a mini EPOS device, so the price could be worth it for some retail stores or restaurant owners.

What type of business is Stripe suitable for?

We recommend Stripe to businesses with complex transactions that serve an international clientele since Stripe’s in-depth reporting features will help you better keep track of your revenue.

Should you have data that you need to keep completely private, it is in good hands with Stripe through its strong security measures.

Businesses that need next-day payouts, devices with an in-built printer or are mobile-connected (for on-the-go operations), should consider Square, Worldpay or takepayments.

5. SumUp – Best for On-the-Go Businesses Seeking Effortless Payments

While Stripe may not be best suited to selling out and about, SumUp is a superb pick for any mobile merchant that needs to set up fast and take payment immediately. In other words, any on-the-go business such as food trucks or coffee carts that likes to set up stalls and get to selling without any fuss.

SumUp is perfect for this because of its easy-to-use hardware. We tested the SumUp Air card reader via its app on our smartphone and were impressed with the entire process. The device charged in under an hour, allowing us to start taking payments almost immediately, and the whole setup was straightforward, connecting via Bluetooth to our phone. That’s the simple setup on-the-go businesses need – and there’s more to it than that. Read this summary before we dive into the other highlights of SumUp.

SumUp highlights

On-the-go payment-friendly provider

SumUp’s card machines are some of the few mobile card machines on the market to come with a built-in SIM and free unlimited data, making SumUp a great payment gateway choice for businesses that sell on the go.

Connecting via a smartphone for its most basic hardware is incredibly simple, too. Downloading the app and creating an account was easy, and once on the app, we synced to the reader, went to the sale tab, input the price, and clicked “pay by reader.” The interface was clean and modern, avoiding the clutter seen with some other payment providers, and we could easily access a report showing our total sales and transaction fees.

No hardware required

Using a smartphone eliminates the need for additional hardware purchases, making SumUp a low-risk option for startups and small businesses. And, in any case, there are no ongoing fees with SumUp hardware since you can buy a card machine for a one-off price that is comparatively cheap from £19 + VAT.

With SumUp, you’ll be able to accept payments through a variety of channels, including by card, payment link, QR code, or via an online store. SumUp integrates with popular online stores like Wix and WooCommerce, and it also has a free online store builder. We do, however, think that Square’s online store builder offers more functionality than SumUp’s.

SumUp also supports a wide variety of payment methods, from popular ones like Visa and Apple Pay, to more uncommon ones like Discover and JCB. This allows you to serve a wide variety of customers.

SumUp pricing

• SumUp pay-as-you-go cost: 1.69% (online) and 2.5% (in-person)
• SumUp pay-as-you-go Business account cost: No monthly costs with transaction fees at 1.69% (online) and 1.49% in-person.
• SumUp One subscription cost: £19 per month with transaction fees starting at 0.99% (online and in-person)
• SumUp device cost: From £39 + VAT (outright purchase)

Although SumUp doesn’t charge monthly fees on its most basic plan, for £19 per month, you can sign up to its SumUp One plan, and get transaction fees reduced to 0.99% for both online and in-person sales, down from 1.69% and 2.5%.

If you don’t want monthly fees, you can also sign up for a free SumUp Business Account (with no monthly costs), to lower in-person transaction fees to 1.49%.

Transaction fees, without a SumUp Business Account or SumUp One subscription are quite high, and may not be suitable for high-volume sellers.

Lastly, if you’re a new merchant, you should be aware that SumUp will perform a credit check on you (it doesn’t do this if you’re established), so it’s not a good option for those with poor credit scores.

Where could SumUp improve?

On the downside, SumUp has the slowest payout time of any provider we tested, taking 3-7 business days to transfer funds. You can pay for a next-day payout, but you’ll incur a 1% cut to your payout volume.

SumUp’s hardware is also some of the more expensive on the market. Even though its cheapest card reader undercuts Stripe at £39 + VAT, its most expensive hardware – the Point of Sale Lite system – costs between £279 + VAT and £349 + VAT. Given that none of the hardware has 4G connectivity, that’s a steep price to pay, although we should note that SumUp’s most expensive card reader is a mini EPOS device, so the price could be worth it for some retail stores or restaurant owners.

What type of business is SumUp suitable for?

Thanks to its affordable 4G card reader, SumUp is a good choice for market traders, food trucks or businesses located in areas with poor connectivity.

If you’re an established small business with a high sales volume, the £19 per month SumUp One plan, offers decent value for money, and since it’s zero-contract, you can cancel whenever.

6. Zettle – Best For Portable Businesses

Using Zettle by PayPal is one of the most convenient ways to set up a payment gateway, since it’s a zero-contract provider, and allows you to use your phone to take payments. That makes it ideal for portable businesses that frequently change location, such as event-based vendors at fairs and markets or pop-up shops.

Here’s a brief summary of what Zettle offers before we get into the details.

Zettle highlights

No commitments

A main draw to Zettle is that it has no long-term contracts or monthly fees, and is very upfront about its pricing, while traditional payment gateway providers like takepayments have a minimum contract of 18 months with variable fees.

All you need is your phone to get started, and through the Zettle app, you’ll be able to accept in-person card payments, and send payment links and invoices. You also have the option to purchase card machines outright from Zettle (no monthly rental fees), with Zettle’s Card Reader 2 earning a spot in our list of best card machines for small businesses.

User-friendly, adaptable and secure iPad system

We thought its iPad POS app was extremely easy to use and allowed us to charge for different items or add a discount without fiddling around. Our usability testers felt that the interface was modern and well-suited to businesses of all types. 

Zettle also impressed us with its range of 35 integrations: far more than zero-contract competitors SumUp, Stripe, Revolut or Tyl. These make it convenient for entrepreneurs to plug in payment processing to accounting, banking and ecommerce software.

You shouldn’t be worried about security with Zettle, since it’s fully PCI compliant, encrypts all card data, and even offers transaction protection of up to £250 in eligible chargebacks per month.

Zettle pricing

• Zettle pay-as-you-go fees: 1.75% (in-person) and 2.5% (online)
• Zettle monthly fees: None
• Zettle device cost: From £29 + VAT (outright purchase)

Overall, Zettle’s fees are mainly transaction-based, since it doesn’t charge monthly fees for using its payment gateway service.

You’ll pay 1.75% per in-person transaction, which is on the pricier end of the scale, and 2.5% per online transaction, which is quite standard across the industry. “Card-not-present transactions”, as they’re called, typically cost more because they’re considered riskier.

Zettle’s card machines start at £29 + VAT. After that, you own the card machine and don’t need to pay monthly rental fees. Zettle’s card machines are on the cheaper end of the scale. Square’s starting price is a little less costly, at £19 + VAT, but SumUp and Stripe’s card readers all cost more than Zettle’s.

The hardware you’re getting is effective, with good security features such as a tamper-proof card machine. We loved using its small handheld reader device, which could easily link to our PayPal account and to its app, which meant we could easily charge people what we wanted directly from there or we could manually add the price ourselves on the reader. 

Where could Zettle improve?

Zettle isn’t the perfect payment gateway provider, however. It does perform a credit check, which does slow down the setup process – competitor Square doesn’t –, and the price you pay for having zero monthly fees is higher transaction fees. While those transaction fees are transparent, they are static meaning you can’t negotiate a rate for your specific business needs, unlike quote-based providers Worldpay and takepayments.

Zettle doesn’t support offline payments. It also doesn’t offer a virtual terminal, for taking payments over the phone either. However, you can work around this by sending payment links and invoices to customers.

And its hardware could be improved, too. We had no problems in taking a payment however, Zettle’s card reader is smaller than average, which may put off some older customers due to the lack of a “secure feeling”, according to our research, since it lacks privacy for inputting a pin. Meanwhile, given the iPad-based POS system, those who need a receipt printer built-in to their hardware will need to look elsewhere.  

What type of business is Zettle suitable for?

Since Zettle is a zero-contract payment gateway provider, with on monthly fees and low setup costs, it’s a great option for running a flexible, nimble business, such as a pop-up, market stall, or startup.

7. Shopify – Best For Retail Businesses

You may already be familiar with Shopify’s POS system or Shopify’s ecommerce platform – either of which you can use as a stand-alone. But, Shopify also has its own payment gateway, which remains a popular choice, used by more than 90,000 British web shops.

The benefit of Shopify Payments is it saves you from having to set up an individual merchant account and connect a separate payment gateway for those with a Shopify online store. For more details on these features, you can check out our full guide to what Shopify is. For a rundown on how it acts as a payment gateway provider, read our discussion below.

Shopify highlights

Ready for retail

Shopify is a perfect POS option for retailers who are looking to sell both in-person and online. Setting up an online store is extremely quick and its range of e-commerce tools filled us with confidence.

It can handle a vast amount of products when required, and when used via its iPad POS system it links to Shopify hardware to sell efficiently in person without needing to manually input prices.

Wide support options

We were impressed by the amount of help & support options available too and particularly loved their AI chatbot which gave us answers quickly. Its user forum allowed us to chat with other business owners and get advice on more complex issues, too.

Shopify pricing

• Shopify pay monthly costs: From £5 per month (with 5% transaction fees)
• Shopify transaction fees: Between 1.5% + 25p and 5%
• Shopify device cost: From £49 (Wisepad 3 card reader)

If you have a Shopify online store and use Shopify Payments, you won’t pay third-party transaction fees, which Shopify charges if you use another payment gateway over theirs. You’ll only pay Shopify card rates for online sales: 5% with the Starter plan, 2% + 25p on the Basic plan, 1.7% + 25p on the Shopify plan, and 1.5% + 25p on the Advanced plan.

Plan fees range from a £5 per month starter plan (to sell through social media, messaging apps or a simple online store) to £344 advanced plan per month, depending on your billing cycle (monthly or yearly).

Chargebacks are deducted from your Shopify payouts, rather than directly from your bank account. That keeps business funds a bit neater. However, Shopify Payments doesn’t include the same £250 monthly chargeback protection of Zettle, so you’ll get less protection.

Where could Shopify improve?

Shopify’s business payouts are between 2 and 5 business days which is far longer than other providers like Worldpay and Square that send payment within 1 day. They also don’t allow for weekend payouts, which won’t suit all business operations.

At £199 for its cheapest receipt printer, it has some of the most expensive receipt printers in the UK according to our research. And there’s no offline mode functionality, unlike Square, Worldpay and takepayments. Its merchant account and card readers don’t integrate with other POS systems either, so you’ll need to be all-in on Shopify.

What type of business is Shopify suitable for?

We recommend Shopify to businesses that primarily sell online, or to single-location store owners who don’t want to be tied up in a contract, but still want to benefit from fairly low transaction fees.

Businesses that sell high volume in-person, and require the offline running of their systems or specific tools for the food & beverage industry rather than e-commerce should look elsewhere in our view.

How Does a Payment Gateway Work?

A useful way to think of this technology is that it’s like… a gateway! It’s a place one thing (the customer’s card details) needs to go through to get somewhere else (authorisation of the card by the bank involved).

Let’s take a look at where a payment gateway sits in a typical online card transaction:

There is one more detail to note: you’ll need a merchant account before you can start taking payments. A payment gateway makes the transaction happen, but you still need somewhere for the money to go.

Payment gateways commonly come as part of a package when you set up a merchant account, like with takepayments or Retail Merchant Services. Some providers may charge an additional fee for this service. Other payment services, such as a virtual terminal, pay-by-link feature, and invoicing tool, are also often included as standard with this type of package.

However, other payment gateway services offer a service that can work alongside a merchant account from a different provider, such as Braintree, CyberSource, and Adyen. This does offer more flexibility and customisability, but it typically comes at a greater cost – and with more hassle.

How To Switch to a New Payment Gateway Provider

If you’re unsatisfied with your current payment gateway, it may be time to consider switching to a new provider. Here’s a rough guide to doing so:

• Check your current contract to find out whether it’s possible to switch without paying a fee – or, if there is a fee, how much you’ll need to budget for it.
• Research and select a new provider that meets your needs, integrates well with your existing structure, and offers fair fees and terms that suit your needs. Once you’re happy with your selection, notify your current provider that you’re switching as per the conditions of your contract.
• Follow your new provider’s onboarding process to set up and thoroughly test account integration, and perform test transactions. It can be helpful to plan a transition date and time in advance to ensure it goes smoothly.
• Execute the transition to your new provider – update your website, cart, and customer payment profiles to your new system. Monitor the new system closely when it is live, and run reports to validate the success of the switch.

The main things to focus on are choosing a suitable new provider that fulfils the criteria that your current gateway does not, testing the integration completely before going live, planning the timing of the switchover, updating all payment links and profiles, and verifying transactions post-switch. With the correct preparation, it can be a smooth transition.

We recommend considering all of the available options on the market when switching to a new provider. Since there are a lot of providers to choose from, you can make life simpler by using our free comparison tool, which will match you with providers that best suit your needs. They’ll then be in touch directly with tailored quotes, so you can compare the best, most accurate prices for you.

Top 7 Things To Consider When Choosing a Payment Gateway Provider

Whether you’re just starting out or switching providers, when shopping for your payment gateway provider, be sure to bear the following factors in mind.

1. International support

In today’s world, you can’t afford to lose business from abroad – or because a buyer didn’t have the right credit card. Make sure your payment gateway supports different card types and currencies. This will help keep your business blossoming beyond borders.

2. Transaction volume

Payment gateway fees are fickle things; transaction rates often go up and down depending on your turnover. Review how much you’re selling using your current gateway — or, if you haven’t started yet, how much you expect to sell. It’s important when it comes to selecting the cheapest supplier for your business.

3. Customer support

Time is money. If there’s an issue with your payment gateway, you’ll need it sorted as quickly as possible. That, or risk missing out on sales.

What kind of customer support does your provider offer? Is it just a web-based service like a chatbot, or can you call up and speak to a real person? Is it available 24/7, or just during business hours?

4. Hosted or API?

If you have an online store, at some stage, you’ll also need to think about how you want to add a payment gateway to your website.

The easiest option is to host it on the payment provider’s site. This is also ideal because it means you don’t have to worry about tricky PCI compliance. However, your customers get redirected away from your site to pay – not great for brand-building, or the customer journey at large.

The other option is to use an API integration to slot your payment gateway straight into your website. It makes for a smoother payment experience for the customer, although you’ll need some technical knowledge to implement this.

5. PCI DSS compliance

This is the Payment Card Industry’s (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS). It’s designed to help protect cardholder data and reduce fraud. No matter how big your business is, you’ll need to stay compliant – if you’re taking card payments, that is.

Make sure your payment gateway provider is PCI DSS compliant before you go anywhere near a contract!

6. Online cart compatibility

A payment gateway processes the transaction, but if you’re selling via a website, it still needs a shopping cart system in place. That’s where your customers browse your products, add stuff to their carts, and eventually hit ‘checkout’.

Your payment gateway and your shopping cart system need to talk to each other, to ensure your buyer’s journey is a smooth one. This is why you need to make sure your payment gateway provider offers integration with whatever current shopping cart you’re using, or are planning to adopt.

7. Hardware compatibility

If you want to keep some of your existing hardware, make sure the payment gateway provider you choose supports it. This will make it easier to keep track of all your transactions.

This could mean anything from receipt printers to cash drawers and kiosks.

How We Test Payment Gateway Providers