These days, practically anyone can run an online business – all that you need, really, is a website.
The barriers to entry are coming down constantly, making now as good a time as any to break free from your cubicle and brave it on your own.

Are you looking to make the correct payment gateway decision for your business? Then read on!
What is a Payment Gateway? | PayPal Payments | Stripe | Authorize.net | Amazon Pay | Which Payment Gateway Should You Choose?
What is a Payment Gateway?
So before we start the comparisons, what actually is a payment gateway?
Simply put, payment gateways are used by online businesses to authorize and process customer transactions. In other words, without a payment gateway, a business doesn’t get paid.
Now, even if you’ve never set up a payment gateway yourself, we’ve all used them before from a customer’s perspective – if you’ve ever bought anything online, that is, which should be everyone!
Every time you make a purchase with Amazon, your payment goes through Amazon’s payment gateway. PayPal is another instantly recognizable payment gateway that you’ve probably used before.
Today, we’re not looking at payment gateways from a customer’s perspective, though; we’re looking at it from the other side – from a business owner’s perspective, aka the merchant.
Every business needs a payment gateway in order to handle payments from their website . Not all payment gateways are created equally, however. There are a few important things to weigh up when choosing a payment gateway, including:Does the payment gateway integrate with your chosen ecommerce platform?
Is the payment gateway available in your country?
What is the checkout process like for your customers?
How much does the service cost?
How quickly can you access your funds?
Let’s get on with it, here’s the comparison:
PayPal vs Stripe vs Authorize.net vs Amazon Pay
PayPal Payments
A big reason for this: PayPal Payments is perhaps the easiest payment gateway to configure. Regular users will know that customers are redirected to the PayPal website to make their payment. As such, there are no processing, authorization, and security issues for you to worry about at your end – simply add a Pay with PayPal button on your website, and let PayPal handle the rest.
But with no setup costs or monthly fees to worry about, plus a free, seamless integration with WooCommerce, PayPal Payments is ideal for small business owners just starting out.
A few key points to consider:
- PayPal Payments is available in over 200 countries.
- US fees start at 2.29% + $0.09 per transaction for in-person payments.
- Online payments start at 2.59% + $0.49 per transaction for credit cards.
- If a customer wants to pay you online using their PayPal account, the prices start at 3.49% + $0.49 per transaction.
- No startup costs or monthly fees.
- Customers can pay with any major credit card, their PayPal account, digital wallet, via installment payments (or Venmo for US-only).
- PayPal is a well-known, trusted brand. (PayPal wins here vs Authorize.net or vs Sripe)
- Funds transferred to your bank account in 3-4 days.
If you happen to be a WordPress user, you can integrate PayPal Payments with your site by using the Gravity Forms PayPal Checkout Add-On.
Stripe
Why is Stripe so popular? Because it gives you the opportunity to take on-site payments without the monthly fee. If you’re a WooCommerce user wanting to integrate Stripe using the official extension, you are in luck because the extension is free.
Stripe also has an effective anti-fraud team on-hand to deal with any dubious transactions. It supports recurring payments out-the-box, too, and is one of the best solutions for international businesses – you can accept over 135 currencies, which are automatically converted to your default currency.
Here is a summary of the all-important key points:
- Stripe is currently available in 195 countries.
- 2.9% + $0.30 transaction fee – on par vs PayPal.
- Transactions handled on-site giving you complete control of the checkout process.
- No setup costs or monthly fees.
- Customers can pay using any major credit card.
- Money received is transferred into your bank on a two-day rolling basis – no manual withdrawals required.
For WordPress users, you can integrate Stripe with your site by using the following:
Authorize.net
This gets you a high-quality on-site payment gateway, though, allowing you to accept all major credit cards directly from your website (and also PayPal).
Here are Authorize.net’s key points for quick comparison:
- Available in US, Canada, UK, Europe or Australia. (Somewhat limited compared to PayPal and Stripe)
- 2.9% + $0.30 transaction costs.
- $25 recurring monthly charge.
- On-site checkout process.
- Customers can pay using any major credit card, PayPal, Visa Checkout, Apple Pay, electronic check, or via Authorize.net’s mobile app (mPOS).
If your site is powered by WordPress, then you can integrate Authorize.net with the following:
Amazon Pay
During the checkout process, your customers will have the option to Pay with Amazon.
Amazon Pay effectively gives your customers the opportunity to make all their online payments using one account – just like PayPal – but allows you to process payments on-site for a more streamlined checkout experience. The order is processed by Amazon, which also gives you access to their highly regarded fraud protection service.
With no setup costs or monthly fees, plus affordable transaction costs, Amazon Pay is one of the best value payment gateways of all. Plus if you use WordPress, the official WooCommerce Amazon Pay extension is completely free, too.
As with the other options, below are the key points:
- Available in 18 countries (mostly in Europe).
- Charge of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
- Cross-border purchases may be subject to an additional fee of 3.9%.
- No setup, monthly, or WooCommerce costs. (Great, vs Stripe, PayPal, or Authorize.net)
- Customers never leave your website during the checkout process.
- Customers can pay using any method supported by Amazon.
- Amazon is one of the world’s most trusted names.
Which Payment Gateway Should You Choose?
This brings us on to the all-important question: which payment gateway is best?
Of course, this answer is subjective.
What I will say, however, is that payment gateways aren’t mutually exclusive – you can use more than one if you want.
In fact, a restrictive checkout is one of the main reasons for cart abandonment. By giving your customers lots of payment options, you’re more likely to get them over the line.
With this in mind, I recommend choosing multiple payment options for your customers.
Most customers prefer to pay in one place, so I strongly recommend one of the on-site payment gateways, a choice from Stripe or Authorize.net (you select) – you only need one of these as they both provide essentially the same service. On-site payment gateways are harder to set up but make the payment process far more straightforward, so the pros easily outweigh the cons.
Personally, I like to give customers lots of choice. I recommend combining your on-site gateway with at least one of the other two options, PayPal Payments vs Amazon Pay (seems like a good selection) . Both of these services are free to setup and integrate, plus they add a well-respected trust symbol to your checkout in the form of two big-name brands.
Give your customers the option to pay by card or using their PayPal/Amazon account and you’re likely to get more conversions. This makes it more than worth the extra effort of setting up two gateways.
Of course, this is just my opinion, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Which is your favorite payment gateway and why? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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