The right payment gateway depends on how you sell, what customers want to use, and what you pay across your full payment mix—not just the advertised card rate. For a flexible custom checkout or SaaS product, start with Stripe; for PayPal wallet acceptance, PayPal Checkout; for online and in-person sales, Square; for developer-led PayPal-backed integrations, Braintree; and for a traditional gateway with processor flexibility, Authorize.net.
This comparison focuses on U.S. businesses. Provider fees, eligibility, funding, and feature availability vary by payment method, business, account, and negotiated terms. Published pricing can change, so confirm the applicable U.S. terms before signing up.
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Quick comparison
| Provider | Best fit | Pricing signal | Notable capabilities | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Custom e-commerce, SaaS, platforms, and developer-led businesses | Check the applicable U.S. rates by payment method and product at Stripe pricing. | Hosted checkout, embedded components, APIs, subscriptions, invoicing, and wallets | More technical; optional products can change total cost. |
| PayPal Checkout | Stores seeking PayPal wallet acceptance and familiar checkout | Rates vary by payment method and product; see PayPal merchant fees. | PayPal checkout and, where available, Venmo and card options | Different transaction types carry different fees, and account limitations can affect access to funds. |
| Square Payments | Small businesses selling online and in person | Check current plan and transaction prices at Square pricing. | Online payments alongside point-of-sale and broader commerce tools | May be less suitable for highly customized or complex international setups. |
| Braintree | Developers needing cards, PayPal-related options, and recurring-payment tools | Official U.S. material lists ACH direct debit at 0.75%, capped at $5 per transaction; card rates depend on plan and agreement. See Braintree fees. | APIs, SDKs, vaulting, recurring billing, and platform-style capabilities | Verify card, wallet, dispute, and marketplace terms for your account. |
| Authorize.net | Established SMBs, traditional merchant-account users, and phone or recurring payments | Its published U.S. pricing lists an all-in-one plan at $25 monthly plus 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction; gateway-only is $25 monthly, $0.10 per transaction, and a $0.10 daily batch fee. See Authorize.net pricing. | Gateway-only or all-in-one options, eCheck, recurring billing, virtual terminal, and multiple sales channels | Gateway-only customers also pay their merchant-account provider and processor. |
These are different kinds of offers, not directly interchangeable rate quotes. Some providers combine gateway and processing; Authorize.net makes a gateway-only option explicit. Your actual cost depends on transaction volume, average order value, card and wallet mix, add-ons, disputes, and contract terms.
What a payment gateway does—and what it does not
A payment gateway securely transmits payment information between checkout and the payment system, then returns an authorization result. The processor handles the transaction flow involving the merchant’s acquiring bank, card networks, and issuing bank. A merchant account or acquiring relationship is where card-payment funds are received. A payment facilitator or aggregator enables businesses to begin accepting payments under a shared provider arrangement rather than negotiating an individual traditional merchant account.
#1 Best Overall
- With Square Terminal, you can ring up sales, accept payments, and print receipts, all with one device. Use it at the counter or ring up customers anywhere in your store.
- Accept all major credit and debit cards and pay one low rate with no hidden fees and no long-term contracts.
- Process chip cards in just two seconds.
- Get your money as soon as the next business day.
- Use it cordlessly with the built-in battery, designed to last all day.
In everyday marketing, “gateway” is often used for an entire payment service. Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Braintree generally offer integrated payment ecosystems. Authorize.net also sells a gateway-only plan, which requires a separate merchant account and processor; its all-in-one plan combines those elements. Read the contract and fee schedule to understand what is actually included.
How to choose for your business
Match the provider to the way you sell
- Custom store or SaaS: Compare Stripe and Braintree for APIs, webhooks, tokenized payment methods, subscription workflows, and the effort of maintaining a custom integration.
- PayPal-focused checkout: PayPal Checkout can add a recognizable wallet option. It need not replace standard card acceptance or other checkout methods.
- Online plus physical sales: Square is a natural starting point for a small retailer, service business, restaurant, or event seller that wants an integrated POS and online operation. Authorize.net is also worth evaluating when phone, mobile, or in-person channels matter.
- Existing processor relationship: An established merchant may consider Authorize.net gateway-only if it can use its current acquiring arrangement, but compare the combined gateway, processor, and account charges.
- Marketplace or platform: Confirm connected-account or sub-merchant onboarding, KYC/KYB, split payments, seller payouts, refunds, disputes, taxes, reserves, and country coverage. A standard single-merchant checkout may not meet these needs.
- B2B or high-ticket invoices: Compare ACH/eCheck pricing, authorization and return rules, payment limits, invoice workflows, reconciliation, and card dispute exposure.
Score the operational fit, not just the rate
For a general online business, a useful starting weighting is total cost (20%), integration and ease (15%), payment-method coverage (15%), reliability and payout fit (15%), recurring-billing tools (10%), fraud and dispute controls (10%), omnichannel support (5%), support and documentation (5%), and international capability (5%). Change the weights for your operation: a developer-led subscription product should assign more importance to integration and recurring billing, while a local retailer should weigh omnichannel tools more heavily.
Also check platform compatibility, reporting and reconciliation, customer-data export, account portability, migration difficulty, support escalation, business-category eligibility, and whether custom or interchange-plus pricing may be available at your volume.
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1. Stripe: best for flexible custom businesses
Stripe is a strong fit for online-first companies that want to build around APIs, hosted checkout, embedded payment components, webhooks, and a broad set of payment workflows. Its products cover use cases such as subscriptions and invoicing, making it a frequent shortlist choice for SaaS, platforms, and custom stores. Review Checkout, Billing, and the payments documentation against the implementation you actually need.
There is no single rate that describes every Stripe transaction: method, product, card origin, country, and negotiated plan can change fees. Consult the current U.S. pricing page, including relevant charges for international cards, disputes, and add-on products. A highly customized setup gives flexibility but also means more engineering and operational decisions than a basic plug-in checkout. Review Stripe’s security documentation as part of implementation planning.
Choose it when: customization, developer tooling, or subscription workflows are central. Compare alternatives if you want a simpler POS-led setup or a negotiated traditional acquiring relationship.
2. PayPal Checkout: best for PayPal wallet acceptance
PayPal Checkout lets a business offer PayPal as a checkout choice and may provide other options, including Venmo, depending on eligibility and integration. Its consumer familiarity can make it a useful complement for shoppers who prefer a wallet flow. See PayPal Checkout and its developer documentation.
Rank #2
- With Square Handheld, you can accept payments, take tableside orders, or scan barcodes anywhere. With a slim design and comfortable grip, the POS is easy to carry in your palm or pocket. Square Handheld is designed to withstand water splashes and dust. Add an optional protective case for accidental drops. A long-lasting battery and offline payments let you keep selling.
- Slim, pocketable, and lightweight so you can accept payments wherever your customers are.
- Take tableside orders, bust lines, or use the built-in barcode scanner, all with one sleek device.
- A battery that can power through your shift and offline payments let you keep selling, even if your internet is down.
- Accept all major credit and debit cards and pay one simple rate with no hidden fees and no long-term contracts required.
PayPal’s U.S. merchant fees vary by product and payment type, so do not treat a PayPal transaction, card payment, Venmo payment, and international payment as having one universal rate. Check the current merchant-fee schedule. PayPal operates an aggregated payment model for many merchants rather than giving every seller an individually negotiated traditional merchant account. Account reviews or limitations can affect access to funds.
Choose it when: customers expect PayPal or you want to add a familiar wallet. Consider it alongside, rather than automatically instead of, cards and other payment methods.
3. Square Payments: best for online and in-person selling
Square’s appeal is the connection between online payments and a broader commerce and point-of-sale system. It is a practical candidate for small retailers and service businesses that want orders, payments, and physical sales managed within one ecosystem. Review Square online payments, its online checkout, and developer documentation.
Check the current U.S. pricing for the product and transaction types you plan to use. Online, in-person, software, and other services may not share the same pricing. A business that only sells online may not benefit from the larger POS ecosystem, and a platform with bespoke payment orchestration or international needs should validate the feature fit before committing.
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Choose it when: you need a straightforward way to coordinate online and physical sales rather than a deeply customized payments stack.
4. Braintree: best for PayPal-backed developer integrations
Braintree is a developer-oriented option for businesses that want card payments and PayPal-related acceptance, with APIs and tools for vaulting, recurring payments, and platform use cases. It is related to PayPal Checkout but is not the same product: Braintree is aimed at more integrated payment implementations. Consult the Braintree developer documentation and recurring billing guide.
Braintree’s official fee page lists U.S. ACH direct debit at 0.75% per transaction, capped at $5; custom flat-rate or interchange-plus pricing may be available to established businesses. Card and other fees depend on the plan and merchant agreement. Review Braintree’s fees for the applicable terms, including disputes and international transactions.
Rank #3
- The Clover Compact and Clover Mini /Station sync with each other through the Clover Dashboard and cloud-based network. This allows you to manage transactions, track sales, and access business data across both devices seamlessly. Plug in, not battery/mobile. Requires New Processing account through Powering POS. (US, PR, USVI). CANNOT be used with a different Processor. Rate match guarantee. Contact us for questions
Choose it when: a developer-led business needs PayPal-backed infrastructure and custom or recurring workflows. Compare implementation, support, eligibility, and migration requirements with Stripe rather than choosing on the basis of PayPal acceptance alone.
5. Authorize.net: best for traditional gateway flexibility
Authorize.net supports online, phone, mobile, and in-person payment workflows, as well as recurring billing, eCheck, digital wallets, hosted payment forms, API integration, and a Virtual Terminal. Its payment-solutions overview describes those channels and features.
The published U.S. pricing lists an all-in-one plan at $25 per month plus 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. The gateway-only plan lists $25 per month, $0.10 per transaction, and a $0.10 daily batch fee; the gateway-plus-eCheck option lists 0.75% for eCheck transactions. Confirm the current pricing terms. With gateway-only, add the processor and merchant-account charges before comparing its total with an all-in-one provider. Authorize.net says its plans include fraud-detection tools and describes a customer-data vault that keeps card information off the merchant’s servers; those provider capabilities do not remove the need to assess your own security and compliance responsibilities.
Choose it when: you are an established SMB that values a traditional gateway, recurring or phone-order capability, eCheck, or freedom to arrange processing separately. The monthly fee can be difficult to justify for a very low-volume seller.
Compare payment costs using your own transactions
Use the effective rate rather than a headline percentage:
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Include the fixed fee on each transaction, payment-method surcharges, monthly software or gateway costs, disputes, batch or statement charges, and optional fraud, tax, reporting, or instant-payout products. A gateway-only fee is not comparable to an all-in processing rate until you add the merchant-account and processor costs.
Rank #4
- Effortless payments and printing: Accept card payments and print payment receipts on the spot with the built-in 40 mm thermal printer.
- Faster sales processing: Use pre-set menus and catalogs to make transactions faster and smoother for you and your customers.
- Reliable and portable: Featuring a 6.5" HD touchscreen made from Corning Gorilla Glass and a powerful battery that lasts all day.
- Seamless connectivity: Stay connected with free mobile data and WiFi, ensuring uninterrupted transactions.
- Real-time payment tracking: Monitor payments and issue refunds right from your device, so you're always in control.
Why average order value matters
A fixed fee takes a larger share of a small purchase than a large one. For illustration, a hypothetical $0.49 fixed fee alone equals about 3.27% of a $15 transaction and about 0.33% of a $150 transaction, before any percentage-based charge. This is not a provider quote; it shows why merchants with low-ticket orders should calculate costs using their actual order size.
Model at least three representative cases using each provider’s applicable current U.S. terms: a $25 direct-to-consumer order, a $100 store order, and a $1,000 B2B invoice or subscription payment. Apply the right rate for card, wallet, or ACH, and account for recurring fees and expected disputes. Do not declare a cheapest provider without specifying volume, order value, payment mix, plan, and included fees.
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What to request at higher volume
Public flat rates may not be the best available offer once volume grows. Ask providers or processors for interchange-plus terms, monthly minimums, network and assessment fees, batch and statement fees, PCI fees, chargeback fees, contract and termination terms, reserve provisions, ACH pricing, and the conditions for custom pricing. Compare the complete written schedules, not a verbal headline.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Payment methods, subscriptions, and international sales
Payment methods
Confirm that your exact plan and checkout support the methods your customers use: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, ACH/eCheck, buy now, pay later, accelerated checkout, and card-present payments if you also sell in person. Availability can vary by country, currency, account approval, and integration. Authorize.net says it supports major card brands, Apple Pay, PayPal, and eChecks, alongside online, in-person, mobile, and phone transactions; see its payment-channel information.
Recurring payments and SaaS
For subscriptions, compare more than the ability to charge a card repeatedly. Check stored payment-method tokens, card updater availability, failed-payment retries, dunning, proration, self-service changes, cancellation and refund handling, webhooks, and token migration. Confirm whether billing tools are included or separately priced and whether stored payment credentials can move if you change providers.
ACH and B2B payments
ACH or eCheck can change the economics of high-ticket invoices, but bank payments have different authorization, return, and fraud considerations from cards. Check transaction caps, timing, authorization records, reconciliation, and return handling, not only the percentage fee. Authorize.net markets eCheck for recurring billing and B2B use; Braintree’s published ACH fee is subject to the cap noted above.
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A long currency list does not by itself establish international suitability. Verify that a U.S.-based merchant in your category can be onboarded; identify supported customer countries and local payment methods; and check local acquiring, settlement currency, foreign-exchange conversion, cross-border card fees, tax data, and restricted-country rules. Confirm whether payouts arrive in a currency you can use and what conversion costs apply.
Best Value
- A complete countertop point of sale — Combine dual responsive touchscreens, built-in POS software, and durable hardware for a fast, reliable checkout experience.
- Serve customers faster — Run smoothly through busy shifts, complex menus, and big orders with high-speed processing, memory, and responsive touchscreen displays.
- Accept every way they pay — Take all major cards at one simple rate, with no hidden fees or long-term contracts. Receive funds as soon as the next business day.
- Handle real-world demands — Resist everyday spills, dust, and wear with a durable, IP54-rated design.
- Stay reliable through every rush — Maintain strong connectivity and consistent performance through your busiest hours.
Integration and launch considerations
Most businesses can choose among hosted checkout, embedded payment fields, payment links, platform plugins, or a full API integration. Hosted checkout and links can reduce development work; embedded fields provide more control; a custom integration offers the greatest flexibility but requires engineering, testing, and ongoing maintenance. Check whether your e-commerce platform has a supported integration before building from scratch.
For a quick no-code start, consider Square, PayPal Checkout, or Stripe’s hosted checkout. For custom checkout, compare Stripe and Braintree. If you already have a traditional merchant account, investigate Authorize.net gateway-only. For phone and mail-order workflows, Authorize.net’s Virtual Terminal may be relevant. These are starting points, not guarantees that every feature is available under every plan.
Before launch, verify test or sandbox access, refunds and partial refunds, voids, authorization and capture, reconciliation, tokenization, webhook signatures and event handling, mobile SDK requirements, and customer-data export. A provider migration can involve stored tokens, subscription state, dispute records, and customer consent; ask about portability before you rely on a vault.
Launch checklist
- Confirm that your business, products, sales channels, and countries are eligible, preferably in writing for regulated or higher-risk categories.
- Choose hosted, embedded, platform-plugin, or API checkout based on the required customer experience and development capacity.
- Set up the business profile, bank account, user permissions, and payout settings.
- Configure and verify webhooks, refund handling, reconciliation, and accounting exports.
- Set fraud rules, test declined and failed payments, and determine whether 3-D Secure is appropriate for your customer and risk profile.
- Review the provider’s PCI guidance and complete the applicable merchant self-assessment.
- Confirm payout timing, reserve terms, dispute workflow, and support escalation before depending on the account for payroll or inventory.
- Run test transactions, then begin live processing with appropriate limits while monitoring settlements and exceptions.
Security, disputes, and access to funds
A provider’s PCI compliance does not make the merchant’s PCI DSS responsibilities disappear. Hosted checkout, hosted fields, and tokenization can reduce exposure to card data and may reduce the scope of the merchant’s assessment, depending on implementation and the applicable SAQ. Do not store raw card numbers. Use HTTPS, verify webhook signatures, protect dashboard and API access with appropriate authentication, and restrict refund, capture, and dispute permissions by role.
Fraud controls should be evaluated alongside processing cost. Compare AVS and CVV checks, velocity rules, risk scoring, card-testing protections, 3-D Secure support, account updater tools, dispute evidence workflows, and whether automated dispute responses or premium fraud products cost extra. 3-D Secure may shift liability for qualifying transactions under applicable rules, but it is not a guarantee against fraud or disputes. Keep fulfillment, authorization, cancellation, and customer-communication records for evidence.
Cash-flow reliability also belongs in the comparison. Underwriting review, reserves, delayed payouts, sudden sales spikes, restricted industries, or elevated chargebacks can affect account access. Funding schedules depend on provider, country, account history, payment method, weekends, holidays, risk review, and payout settings; do not assume a universal next-day schedule. Ask how reviews and reserves work and whether the expected settlement timing fits payroll, suppliers, and inventory.
Restricted or higher-risk businesses
Providers’ rules differ, and a category is not necessarily automatically rejected by every provider. Regulated goods, financial services, adult products or services, gambling, firearms, supplements with health claims, travel, ticketing, cryptocurrency, and businesses with high chargeback exposure may face restrictions or additional underwriting. Confirm that the specific products, marketing claims, recurring terms, and sales channels are acceptable before building an integration. Initial approval does not guarantee that every later product or transaction pattern remains approved.
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Quick Recap
Which gateway should you shortlist?
- Custom software, SaaS, or a flexible online checkout: Start with Stripe; compare Braintree if PayPal-backed infrastructure and its specific platform capabilities matter.
- PayPal is important to your customers: Add PayPal Checkout as a wallet option and compare its method-specific fees.
- You sell online and face to face: Evaluate Square’s integrated commerce tools; consider Authorize.net if traditional processing or phone orders are also important.
- You already have a processor or merchant account: Compare Authorize.net gateway-only using the full combined cost, not its gateway fee alone.
- You process substantial volume: Seek written negotiated pricing and compare reserves, dispute costs, service terms, and interchange-plus offers before choosing on a public rate.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
