It's no easy task, considering there are hundreds, if not thousands, of payment gateways to choose from. Having said that, WooCommerce also provides support for the vast majority of major payment gateways, whether it's through a built-in feature, a direct extension, or by allowing you to link to a different gateway through the API.
The search for a payment gateway becomes confusing once you start looking at pricing, rates, and interfaces. You may not even know that some payment gateways aren't allowed in some countries and for certain industries.
That's why we've done much of the research for you, testing out the best WooCommerce payment gateway options to decide on which are ideal for specific situations. From gateways with excellent rates to options that allow you to collect payment in different forms, we cover the top contenders to narrow down your search even further.
Best Payment Gateways for WooCommerce
1. Square
Square serves as an online payment portal, money manager, and in-person payment service with all the tools to go with it. From an ecommerce perspective, Square works wonders for selling online and allowing for unique capabilities like social media processing, appointment scheduling, and a standard point of sale if you also run a brick and mortar retail business.
The Square payment gateway offers an extension for WooCommerce and its own dashboard for collecting credit card payments and managing the way your money flows. This allows you to link to your ecommerce shop and sell in more ways than usual, all for free. The setup process is fast and user-friendly, and you can get your ecommerce store set up quickly and accepting payments without having to know how to code.
Square provides several ways to accept money for your business, including options for donations, membership fees, and standard transactions. Many of the features are industry-specific; for example, you may want to activate the online food ordering module or select to have online appointments on your website – with either a fee to book an appointment or not.
Square accepts all kinds of payments such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, as well as the primary credit cards. Also, if you plan on using the point of sale, Square syncs all business data between your online store and the transactions made in the physical shop.
Pricing and Fees 💰
The Square WooCommerce extension costs nothing to install.
There's also no setup fee for Square, and you have the option to run your online store's payment processor for no monthly fees.
The standard per transaction fee for Square is 2.9%+$0.30.
In terms of all plans, here's what you have to choose from:
- Free – $0 per month to sell unlimited products on your store and get interesting features like an Instagram integration and free automatic inventory management.
- Professional – $12 per month for all free features and publishing to your own custom domain. All Square branding is removed.
- Performance – $26 per month for all features in the previous plans, customer reviews, order fulfillment, and abandoned cart emails.
- Premium – $72 for a discounted transactional fee of 2.6%+$0.30, all features from the previous plans, highly discounted shipping rates, and a real-time shipping calculator.
Best Features ✅
- The ability to accept payments online and in-person, with syncing between the two interfaces.
- End-to-end encryption and full PCI compliance.
- Rapid deposits that end up in your account within one to two days.
- Fraud and account takeover protection, along with a dispute management team to help you along the way.
- Quick updates in WooCommerce that get synced with the Square app.
- Direct support for other WooCommerce extensions like WooCommerce Pre-orders and Subscriptions.
👉 For more info check out our Square review and Square pricing guide.
2. WooCommerce Payments
The WooCommerce Payments solution is in fact developed and offered by WooCommerce itself, providing a simple and intuitive payment gateway that's bound to work well with the WooCommerce system. You can accept all major credit cards/debit cards and activate options for recurring payments and subscriptions.
Seeing as how the gateway is so engrained in WooCommerce, all payment collection and money management is done in the WordPress dashboard. You can submit refunds, view payments, and respond to chargebacks right from your dashboard. Pair that with low fees and basic modification settings and you've found yourself an ideal payment solution for collecting payments online.
Pricing 💰
The WooCommerce Payments extension is free to install and use on a regular basis.
The fees stick to the usual 2.9+$0.30 per transaction, with an extra 1% for cards issued outside of the United States.
There's also a $15 fee if you lose a dispute like a chargeback.
Best Features ✅
- The plugin integrates well with many other WooCommerce extensions, including WooCommerce Subscriptions.
- Direct access to all payments and settings in the WordPress dashboard, making it much easier to consolidate your workflow and stick to one area of the internet.
- Options to accept payments from all over the world, with some advantages to being a US merchant.
- A dispute management center in the dashboard.
- A deposit configuration area to ensure you receive all payments in your bank account in a reasonable amount of time.
3. Braintree
Braintree is now a product of PayPal, but it still maintains its independence by offering a different interface and overall features for selling online. Some products include the ability to accept payments online, payment data analysis, and tools to accept payments as an online marketplace.
The Braintree for WooCommerce extension makes it possible to combine your store with the Braintree system. The payment gateway extension accepts PayPal and credit card submissions, along with support for WooCommerce Subscriptions and Pre-orders. You'll even find unique features for supporting Google Pay and Amazon Pay and placing express checkout buttons on your website.
Braintree is known for offering a complete and secure solution to accepting payments online. This is shown with its superior protection services and streamlined checkout page. It's interesting because Braintree is a much better alternative to PayPal in terms of its ease-of-use, so one might say that Braintree has allowed the PayPal brand to bring its technology into a newer age.
Pricing 💰
The Braintree WooCommerce extension is free to install and use. You can also signup for Braintree itself as a free user.
The Braintree pricing mainly sticks to the transactional credit card fee, where it remains on-par with most other major processors, at 2.9%+$0.30 per transaction. Venmo, Google Pay, and Apple Pay transactions have the same fee.
An ACH direct debit costs 0.75% per transaction.
Everything is pretty much free from Braintree, but there are custom plans if you're interested in unique integrations or features.
Best Features ✅
- A top-notch payment checkout experience with a combined merchant account.
- Standard fraud tools for detecting problems with your users.
- Reporting and recurring billing.
- Many third-party integrations for things like social media and point of sale use.
- Enhanced security with the help of data encryption and PCI compliance.
- The ability to collect payments from newer methods like Venmo and Google Pay.
👉 For more info check out our Braintree review.
4. Stripe
The Stripe payment infrastructure rivals that of Square as it powers some of the largest online stores in the world. Stripe provides a fully integrated combination of products, all of which improve the way you do business and keep costs low while making customers happy. You can send invoices, combat fraud, and ask for recurring subscriptions all in one place. The Stripe payment gateway is also ideal if you plan on running a marketplace with multiple vendors.
The Stripe extension for WooCommerce empowers store owners who use WordPress, with data syncing and a sleek interface on WordPress. The security from Stripe matches up well with all competitors, and you're also able to offer payment acceptance from things like Google and Apple Pay. If something isn't accepted through Stripe, all you have to do is tap into the Stripe API to complete an integration with another payment gateway or custom code it yourself.
One of the reasons we like Stripe as one of the best payment gateway options for WooCommerce is because it lets you set preferences for local payment methods or really any type of credit, all without making the payment process too confusing or expensive just because your customer lives in a different country or doesn't have one particular credit card.
In addition, Stripe has a wonderful mobile checkout app that links to your store and can be used for your own in-person interactions, or when a customer comes to your store and needs a mobile experience during the checkout – they won't notice anything different.
Pricing 💰
The Stripe WooCommerce extension is free to install and use.
Stripe doesn't have any hidden, monthly, or setup fees.
The 2.9%+$0.30 per transaction fee is in place for all companies that integrate with Stripe. Customized design packages are available for a quote.
There are a few other fees to consider, but many of these are standard for all payment gateways. For instance, instant payouts to your account cost 1%, and international payments also cost 1%.
Stripe has a wide range of additional tools that could end up costing you, but the basic online payment portal is free.
Best Features ✅
- You receive a hosted payment page or the ability to integrate with your own WooCommerce store.
- Create customizable workflows to optimize your checkout process and make it so that your unique customers don't have to see some standardized interface.
- You can send out invoices and accept payments on the mobile app.
- In-person payments are possible.
- Stripe beats fraud with the help of a constant monitoring system and fraud insights.
- Accept payments from any customer, worldwide.
👉 For more info check out our Stripe review.
5. PayPal
Alas, PayPal comes in handy if you'd like to accept both PayPal transactions and regular credit cards online. PayPal isn't known for its modern checkout interfaces, but it's easy to implement on a store and many people are familiar with PayPal and like using it to make payments online.
PayPal comes in many different forms for ecommerce, including PayPal Checkout for WooCommerce and the standard PayPal integration with WooCommerce. The PayPal Checkout extension is available for implementing on your store and giving customers the chance to pay right from product pages or by going through your checkout process. There's no need for those customers to have a PayPal account, and the gateway accepts payments from hundreds of markets and currencies.
The standard PayPal integration offers simplicity and security by combining with your checkout process and adding a PayPal button. This works just like all PayPal checkout modules, where you can accept payment through credit cards or with PayPal Payments itself. The checkout flexibility is nice for customers and it often cuts down on the usual lengthiness of ecommerce checkout modules, especially if you already have a PayPal Pro account.
Finally, PayPal is great for processing payments elsewhere, seeing as how you can bring along a swiper for in-person payments, configure a POS system at your physical store, and localize your payment methods based on where your customers live. Along with a solid payment app, a Buy Now Pay Later option, and various other features, PayPal is a great standby if you'd like to initiate a payment gateway without having to go through one of the more complicated gateway processes.
Pricing 💰
The PayPal WooCommerce extensions are completely free to use and manage. PayPal doesn't have any monthly fees. The pricing isn't exactly clear when it comes to PayPal, but overall you can expect to pay 2.90+$0.30 per transaction.
However, the fees all depend on where your business is located, where the money is coming from, and which currency is being used. For instance, PayPal is known for tagging its customers with high rates if having to convert currencies.
Best Features ✅
- You can accept all major credit cards and PayPal transactions through one module.
- It's possible to give customers the option to pay through the checkout module or when they land on your product pages.
- You're able to reduce security worries since all PayPal transactions are protected from fraud and other problems.
- PayPal offers checkout button customization tools and embed code to place your buttons anywhere on a website.
- PayPal has incredible support for countries and currencies all over the world. It's not always the cheapest, but PayPal typically beats all other payment gateways in terms of country-based support.
👉 For more info check out our PayPal review.
How to Choose the Best Payment Gateway for WooCommerce
If you still can't land upon the best payment gateway for WooCommerce, consider the following tips to cut down your search.
Keep an eye on the following features to ensure that you're getting the best out of your ecommerce payment gateway:
- Low, transparent fees and support for many currencies and countries.
- A modern checkout interface that's customizable and able to process the most popular payment methods like credit cards, PayPal, and Apple Pay.
- Third-party integrations to WooCommerce and other ecommerce platforms.
- Multiple payment modules for accepting transactions wherever you are, like through a card swipe machine or POS.
- Additional options for more unique billing practices like invoicing, echecks, and recurring billing.
- Security measures like PCI Compliance and fraud detection services.
- Support for development, and potential access to the API.
In Conclusion: The Best Payment Gateway for WooCommerce and Your Own Business
All WooCommerce payment methods have their pros and cons, but the ones highlighted above lead the pack when it comes to lower fees, worldwide support, and additional tools to ensure all customers are able to purchase from your online business.
From Square to PayPal, we recommend you test out all of these gateways to see which ones feel right for your business. Also, keep an eye on fees and unique features that may come into play for your company. Who knows, you may find that something else also grabs your attention, like Authorize.net or 2Checkout, or going a totally different direction and signing up for the Shopify ecommerce platform (which has its own payment gateway called Shopify Payments).
If you have any questions about these WooCommerce payment methods, or would like any more information on how to find the best payment gateway for WooCommerce, let us know in the comment area below.
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