In the current era, trade has shifted mainly from brick-and-mortar stores to online marketplaces, offering the ability to shop from your mobile device in just a few clicks. online stores are a driving factor in the e-commerce market revenue, which is estimated to be 1.3 trillion US dollars by 2028.
Apart from e-commerce, apps, and websites are constantly being developed to simplify investments and other services that involve monetary transactions. A successful transaction, however, requires a quick payment process, which payment gateway providers can facilitate.
With 274.60 million online buyers in the US, leveraging a payment gateway provider's services that ensure a quick, smooth, and safe transaction is your best bet to tap into the market successfully.
Using payment gateways provides potential customers with a quick and instant payment option, helping drive sales. Therefore, it is vital to select the best payment gateway provider.
Are you wondering how to select the payment gateway provider that best suits your needs? This article will help answer that question, providing details on the factors to consider while choosing your payment gateway provider and the top payment gateway Providers in USA.
What Are Payment Gateways And Their Importance?
A payment gateway refers to a technology platform that allows a seamless transaction of money from the buyer's account to the seller's, ensuring safety and efficiency. A vital tool in e-commerce operations, these payment gateways bridge a customer's shopping cart and their bank accounts.
Generally, a reliable payment gateways with strict security protocols and encryption will have the following payment process:
- The customer adds items to the carts
- Upon checkout, the payment gateways service page loads
- Buyer enters payment information
- The payment gateway provider sends a request to the bank or e-wallet through a secure code
- Payment is confirmed, depicting the completion of the transaction
With their quick results, payment gateways are a vital part of modern daily life, allowing users to perform instant transactions through different payment modes, such as credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts, and e-wallets.
In addition, top payment gateways are available as mobile applications, allowing you to perform transactions with just a few clicks. After saving your payment details, you can also opt for recurring, automatic payments for your monthly bills through the payment gateways.
Payment gateway providers, however, also require a robust security system in addition to an easy-to-use interface. Therefore, the best payment gateways are built with multiple authentication layers to prevent fraud. Through payment gateway providers, you can also access a database on user preferences, helping enhance business strategies.
Therefore, having a reliable, efficient, and secure payment gateway provider is essential to your business growth. To supplement business functioning, it is vital to understand the different intricacies of their functioning and select one that best suits your needs.
Factors To Consider When Choosing Your Payment Gateway Provider
The choice of the payment gateways provider is vital to your business's success, as it helps determine the efficiency, speed, and usability of your payment system. Therefore, it is essential to have a secure and reliable payment gateways integrated into your business.
Various payment gateways providers in the USA can be used on different platforms for payment management, data recording, monitoring, and fraud-free transactions.
These payment gateways also enable you to expand your business worldwide by enabling easy off-shore transactions and conversions. Therefore, the channel you choose for customer fund transfer should be compatible with your business type and platform, providing you with growth and sales.
To select the best payment gateways providers that enable seamless transactions for your business, you must consider the following factors:
Security Is Essential In Online Payments
Online payments come with the risk of payment fraud and data hacking, which can leak your customer database. A study by PWC, Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2022, revealed that 38% of small companies with revenue lower than $100 million experienced online payment fraud, while in more prominent companies, the number was 52%.
Therefore, the payment gateways provider you choose will play a crucial role in providing payment security to your business. A reliable and secure payment gateway can also help ensure the primal security of your business and customer database.
A reliable payment gateways provider will have multiple layers of security, which include:
PCI DSS compliance.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a set of rules and regulations that any company handling credit or debit card purchases must meet. This helps provide a standardized approach to secure transaction processes.
Any company not complying with the PCI rules can face a monthly penalty charge of $5,000-$10,000. Therefore, ensure that the payment gateway provider you choose complies with all 12 key requirements of the PCI DSS.
SSL And TLS Protocols
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) are encryption protocols that help provide a secure channel between the browser and server, ensuring customer data protection.
3D Secure
This security feature is an essential tool in preventing fraud with online card transactions. By offering an extra verification step with the cardholder, 3D Secure allows customers to authenticate their purchases. This can be done through 2-factor authentication, biometric identification, and risk-based authentication.
Tokenization
Using tokenization technology, a payment gateway provider helps replace sensitive data with a string of randomly generated numbers, such as merchant account numbers, relieving the risk of leaking your account details and preventing hacking.
Different payment gateways providers use other methods of ensuring security and data privacy. Therefore, before choosing a provider, it is essential to check their security certifications and compliances, as they are integral to protecting your account and customer data.
The Pricing Of Transactions Matters
Payment gateways providers often charge a transaction fee from customers or merchants. Therefore, considering the transaction cost of your payment gateways provider is essential since a customer is not likely to pay a hefty transaction fee. Similarly, having to pay a high fee with every bill can cut down on your profits.
Providers may charge you in the following ways:
- Transaction Fee is charged to the merchant for every transaction. This is usually in the form of a percentage equivalent.
- Fixed Fee that you must pay for using the payment gateway.
- Fraud transaction fee, wherein in case of a mistaken debit, your customer may apply for a refund with the bank, which is usually processed, on which you will have to pay a small fine.
- Interchange fees will be charged for international transactions and conversions or even with some local banks that use their cards.
- Setup Costs may occur as a one-time fee for integration or a monthly subscription fee.
You must consider these pricing factors and ensure that you choose a payment gateway provider with low overhead costs and fees.
Multiple Payment Method Support
Different people use various payment methods, from cards to online banking, SMS, and crypto payments. A comprehensive payment gateway provider should allow multiple payment methods to cover a wide range of user preferences.
In addition, the payment gateway provider should be compatible with different devices to provide customers with ease of use.
Target Locations Availability
If you are planning to expand your business worldwide, a payment gateway provider is your best investment, as it allows you to receive payments securely without any hassle. However, a payment gateway provider may not be available in every location or be compatible with every currency.
Therefore, it is vital to understand your target market and their preferred payment methods. Upon having this information, you can choose a provider that covers your target location and integrates their preferred methods, giving you the global outreach you desire.
Reliability Of The Provider
As a business, your customers' ease of use and seamless experience with your payment gateway are of prime importance. Therefore, the provider you choose should be highly reliable, have minimum downtime, and offer quick processing speed.
In addition, the provider should have reliable customer support that can help you solve problems and queries quickly and is also available to your business customers in case of any discrepancy. A payment gateway provider should have customer support available 24/7.
To check the provider's reliability, you can also consider the available user reviews. These not only give you an idea of the provider's efficiency but also tell you whether your target customers prefer the payment gateway.
The Ease Of Integration And Scalability
The payment gateway provider you choose should easily integrate with your e-commerce platform, website, or application for ease of use. Many payment gateway providers only service a handful of business types.
Therefore, it is essential to check their website and ensure that the payment gateway provider you are considering supports your business type. According to your business type, you can choose between a low-risk and a high-risk provider.
In addition, the provider should allow room for growth and ensure scalability as your business expands, enabling a higher number of transactions without compromising on security or performance.
User Experience
A payment gateway provider is only profitable to your business if it makes transactions easy for customers to use and helps them complete them quickly. The more satisfied your customers are with the last step during their purchase, the more likely they will become repeat buyers.
Therefore, the payment gateway providers should have an intuitive user interface that helps reduce the steps and simplify the payment process. In addition, the gateway should be mobile-responsive, as most people shop online.
The Top Payment Gateway Providers in the USA
Various payment gateway providers have been developed to support small businesses and large enterprises alike, helping them streamline payments and billing by offering an easy-to-use online mode of payment.
While there are multiple payment gateway providers in the USA, as a growing business, it is vital to focus on providers that can help also you accept international payments. In addition, the best payment gateway provider is compatible with different payment methods and currencies.
When selecting the top payment gateway provider, it is also crucial to keep in mind their security factors, ease of integration, user interface, and scalability. Moreover, their features and tools can play a role in the success of your business.
Considering these factors, we have curated the list of the top payment gateway providers in the USA:
- PayPal
- Authorize.Net
- Stripe
- 2Checkout
- Braintree
- WorldPay by FIS Global
- Afterpay
- BlueSnap
- Skrill
- SecurePay
Discussed below are the different features, pros, cons, and pricing of these payment gateway providers, which can help you select the one that best suits your business needs.
PayPal - An All-In-One Solution
Co-founded by Elon Musk in 1998, PayPal has since become the largest payment gateway provider worldwide, serving over 200 countries. With a large pool of active users, estimated to be around 426 million, it is undoubtedly the top payment gateway provider in the USA, which is evident by the fact that it holds 40.52% of the global market share in the payment service sector.
With multiple features such as split purchase transactions, simple invoicing, and reporting tools, PayPal offers various payment methods that are user-friendly and PCI-compliant. Moreover, it supports over 100 currencies, allowing for easy overseas transactions.
In addition to an intuitive user interface, PayPal offers easy invoicing, express checkout, barcode scanning, card reader, and other features that make it easy for customers to pay their bills and merchants to withdraw funds.
PayPal is a payment gateway provider that supports digital wallets, credit cards, bank payments, loans, deferred payments, and buy now pay later as payment options. Therefore, it is used by small and large businesses alike.
Also available as a mobile app, PayPal offers easy and secure transactions, helping prevent fraud at both the customer and merchant end. PayPal offers easy API integration that can be done through a standard checkout API or installed as express checkout, adaptive payments, or PayFlow API, each having its uses.
Pricing
While creating an account on PayPal and downloading its app is free, businesses must pay 3.49% of every transaction + a fixed fee for domestic payments. When receiving international payments, however, an additional 1.5% fee + a fixed fee according to currency is charged.
Pros
- Available in 200+ countries and processes 100+ currencies
- No separate setup fees
- Quick, easy setup and integration
- High level of security with multiple encryption layers and PCI compliance
- Multiple API integration methods
- Automated payments for subscriptions and monthly bills
- Adaptive to different business modes and tools, including shopping carts and accounting software
Cons
- Charges receiving payment fee on every transaction, of which international charges are on a high-end
- Possible payment delays due to security measures for fraud detection
- Currency conversion unavailable
Developer Help Links
Authorize.Net - Ideal For Small Businesses
Another popular name in the payment gateway sector in the USA, Authorize.net, was founded in 1996 in California. With over 4 million merchants, Authorize.net is one of the largest payment gateway providers for small businesses.
Authorize.net boasts of facilitating over 1 billion transactions annually worldwide, serving countries like the USA, UK, Canada, Europe, and Australia. The currencies include, but are not limited to, USD, CAD, GBP, EUR, and AUD.
A Visa-owned payment gateway provider, Authorize.net accepts all major card providers worldwide and has an inbuilt electronic check processor that makes the transaction process easier and quicker.
You can also use Authorize.net to bill subscriptions, detect fraud, and create a merchant account. It offers multiple integration options through developer-friendly APIs, ensuring a seamless process.
Pricing
With multiple integration options, Authorize.net also offers varying pricing plans. When you choose their All-in-one plan that includes a payment gateway, merchant account, and e-check acceptance, they charge a $25 monthly fee and 2.9% + 30¢ for every transaction.
However, when you opt for the payment gateway only, you have to pay a 10¢ + daily batch fee and a 10¢ processing fee on top of the $25 monthly fee.
Pros
- Accepts all major forms of payments
- Advanced security system and fraud protection system
- Unique account updater and e-check processor
- Automated recurring billing option
- Monthly pricing fee and low per-transaction cost
- Customer information manager for saving customer data
- Can be used for sending custom invoices
- Offers an all-in-one merchant account to help streamline business processes
Cons
- Outdated user interface
- Requires a merchant account setup
- No plug-and-use components
Developer Help Links
Stripe - A Comprehensive Solution
Founded by Patrick and John Collison in 2010, Stripe is a leading payment gateway service provider with over 3.1 million websites using Stripe worldwide. Available in over 100 countries with access to more than 135+ currencies, Stripe is one of the quickest gateways to help process payments and manage funds.
An API-based cloud payment gateway, Stripe offers a range of APIs, enabling merchants to select modes of payment. This is best suited for small businesses and entrepreneurs who can easily use the API to scale the payment methods as the business expands.
Stripe is PCI-compliant and has multiple security features and fraud protection measures in place. In addition, it offers an intuitive mobile interface, a custom UI toolkit, recurring payments, and a consolidated checkout.
The payment methods for Stripe include cards, e-wallets, cash vouchers, buy now, pay later, and bank redirects. Stripe also offers a fraud protection tool to support larger businesses that helps protect merchants from chargebacks and credit card fault liabilities.
Pricing
Stripe charges a 2.9% + 30¢ fee per successful domestic card transaction. For international transfers, however, the charge is 1% extra. For other modes of payment, the percentage cost varies.
Pros
- Accepts 135+ currencies
- Cloud-based API integration with multiple options
- Quick fund withdrawal is available
- Top-notch security with PCI Service Provider Level 1 compliance
- Built-in fraud detection and protection tool
- Plug-and-use UI components available
Cons
- No phone customer support
- Instant withdrawals come with a 1% charge
Developer Help Links
2Checkout - Enterprise Ready
2Checkout, or 2CO, was founded in 2000 and was recently acquired by VeriFone. To provide simple, modern commerce solutions and enable hassle-free payments for online merchants, 2Checkout can help scale your business to international markets quickly.
Ideal for high-volume businesses, 2Checkout offers multiple enterprise-ready features, such as subscription billing, global tax and financial services, partner sales, and risk management. 2Checkout is one of the largest payment gateway providers, serving in 200+ countries and territories.
You can use 2Checkout to process more than 100 currencies and accept payments through approximately 45 offline and online payment methods, including credit cards, digital wallets, and bank debit.
With 20,000+ active clients, 2Checkout serves over 400,000 active customers globally. They also offer multiple tools and merchant support to help scale your business worldwide.
Pricing
Depending on the plan you choose, the processing fee per transaction through 2Checkout varies, starting from 3.5% + $0.35 per successful sale, going up to 6.0% + $0.60 with their premium plan.
Pros
- Accepts payments from 200+ countries in 100+ currencies
- Available in 29 languages
- Has the maximum number of supported payment methods
- Advance security compliance and fraud protection
- Recurrent billing services
- Multiple tools for scalability
- Simple integration process
Cons
- High transaction processing fee
- Incomplete support for proper e-commerce platforms
Developer Help Links
Braintree - A PayPal Subsidiary
A Chicago-based financial services provider, Braintree was acquired by PayPal in 2013. Allowing users to accept payments through its mobile app or website, Braintree is popular amongst merchants and customers in the USA, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, among others.
Braintree provides merchant accounts and payment gateways for e-commerce businesses, allowing customers to pay through cards, digital wallets, local payment options, direct banking, PayPal, and Venmo.
Used by approximately 45,000 websites, Braintree now services 45+ countries and can also accept payments through Bitcoin. Its strict security compliance and measures, such as 3D security, advanced fraud protection, Level 1 PCI compliance, and data encryption, allow users to process payments securely.
Pricing
When paying through different modes, Braintree charges a 2.59% + $.49 fee per transaction to the merchant. However, when using PayPal, PayPal's charges are applicable. The use of Venmo increases the charges to 3.49% + $0.49 per transaction.
Pros
Accepts a wide variety of payment modes, including Bitcoin cryptocurrency
- Serves over 45+ countries
- PCI level 1 compliance and anti-fraud measures
- Recurring billing and subscriptions available
- Generates transaction reports
- Compatible with top e-commerce websites
Cons
- Poor customer service rating
- Setup can be time-consuming
- Not available for offline stores
Developer Help Links
WorldPay by FIS Global - Business And Marketplace-Friendly
WorldPay is one of the biggest names in global payments technology and services. Designed to simplify payment processes, it also supplies different tools, such as inventory management and analytics reports, for business support.
You can use WorldPay for e-commerce stores as well as brick-and-mortar stores through web pages or mobile apps across different channels. Apart from conventional payment methods, WorldPay also enables crypto trading through card-to-crypto services.
This cloud-based online payment processing solution is ideal for businesses of all sizes and can also be used for in-person payments. Apart from its easy-to-use interface, Worldpay offers multiple payment methods, like cards and mobile wallets.
The payment gateway provider operates in 140+ countries and supports around 135 currencies, currently supporting 1 million + merchants worldwide.
Pricing
Worldpay doesn’t have a transparent pricing plan. You can contact the sales team to help develop a payment plan best suited to your business.
Pros
- Multiple POS integrations
- Services 140+ countries and 135 currencies worldwide
- Offers customizable payment solutions through APIs
- Integrated with various e-commerce platforms
- Customer support is available 24/7
Cons
- Payment and pricing details are not available
- Cost of additional services not available
Developer Help Links
Afterpay - Buy Now Pay Later
Based on the idea of buy now pay later, Afterpay provides a pay-in-four plan and other payment plans that enable you to purchase items and pay the amount later in four equal installments without interest.
However, you might be charged a late fee if you delay payments. The payment is due every two weeks, and you must make the first payment during checkout. These payments are billed to the customer's card used to make the purchase.
Offering a unique payment plan with zero interest fee, Afterpay is a popular payment gateway provider in the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, with over 150,000 merchants using its services.
Having served over 5 million customers, Afterpay enables you to expand your high-end or luxury business to customers who cannot pay for your product or service at once.
Pricing
While Afterpay only charges a late fee on payments to customers, merchants pay a 3-7% fee for every transaction.
Pros
- Offers zero-interest small loans that help expand the customer base
- Allows fee payment rescheduling
- Pauses account after missed payments to prevent fraud
- Easy to use and simple setup
- Multiple custom integrations
Cons
- No option to build credit
- Limited loan amount
Developer Help Links
BlueSnap - Best-In-Class System Integration
Offering an all-in-one payment solution, BlueSnap is an easily integrable payment gateway provider suitable for businesses of all sizes. With an intuitive user interface, the Bluesnap payment gateway enables online sales and marketplace transactions.
To facilitate business growth, BlueSnap also offers different tools, such as subscriptions, invoice payments, and automated account receivables. It offers 100+ payment options, including digital wallets, cards, and bank transfers.
It is renowned for its top-notch security layers and fraud protection services. With its features, it services around 47 countries and accepts 110+ currencies. BlueSnap’s comprehensive back-end solutions can also help reduce operation costs by simplifying payments and aiding process management.
Pricing
For card transactions, BlueSnap charges 2.9% + $0.30 per payment from its merchants in the USA.
Pros
- Integrated with top e-commerce platforms
- Accepts over 110+ currencies and multiple payment types
- Top-notch fraud protection system
- Automated recurring billing
- Easy to integrate APIs
- Customer support is available through different modes
- Allows revenue-sharing contracts
Cons
- No proprietary POS
- Poor customer support reviews
Developer Help Links
Skrill - Easy Online Payments
Skrill is an online payment system that was first launched in 2001 under MoneyBookers. Later, in 2007, it was purchased by Investcorp Technology Partners and linked with eBay and the PaySafeCard team in subsequent years.
A dominant global leader in the sector of mobile and international payments and fund transfers, Skrill offers an easy interface for transferring funds to e-commerce sites and trading platforms.
Skrill has captured the European market by acquiring Ukash, serving more than 36 million people worldwide. Currently, Skrill is available in more than 130 countries and supports 40 currencies.
Skrill provides a safe and reliable payment gateway as it complies with industry standards and uses SSL technology with 128-bit encryption protocols. It also uses 2-factor authentication to guarantee client safety.
Pricing
Skrill charges merchants a 0.9% fee on card payments and a 0.5% fee on rapid transfer transactions.
Pros
- Low transaction fee as compared to other payment gateways
- Supports 40 currencies and allows currency conversions
- Offers chargeback protection and enhanced fraud management
- PCI compliant
- One-tap repeat payments
- Easy API integration
Cons
- Limited customer service
- Long verification process
Developer Help Links
SecurePay - Adaptable To All Businesses
An OLB group product, SecurePay, was initially developed as a payment gateway provider for eVance's credit card processing services. However, SecurePay has now become the leading Australia-based payment gateway provider.
Aiding over 40,000 businesses, especially SMEs, SecurePay specializes in e-commerce payment solutions by offering a wide range of payment options. It also benefits business growth by ensuring ease of managing accounts, secure online payments, and scalability.
SecurePay enables fraud protection through SecureGuard enhanced security encryption and is PCI compliant. It helps connect e-commerce payment tools to online stores with optimum security.
Pricing
Pricing details for merchants are not transparent.
Pros
- API support and ease of integration
- Built-in fraud protection system
- 24/7 customer support
- Recurring billing option
- PCI compliance
- Multiple payment options
Cons
- Pricing details not available
- High transaction costs for merchants
Developer Help Links
Conclusion
Payment gateway providers are indeed gateways to successful transactions that can impact your business and customers. The best payment gateway provider provides an easy payment method that enables a seamless customer experience while checking out.
In addition, a compatible payment gateway provider makes it easier for a merchant to maintain business finances and protect himself from fraud and chargebacks. Therefore, choosing the right payment gateway provider is a crucial step when setting up your business website or app.
It is vital to consider the different factors and features of the available payment gateways and weigh their pros and cons against your business requirements. You should also consider the currency, country, and preferred payment mode of your target customer when choosing your payment gateway provider.
By analyzing these factors, you can easily select the best payment gateway and integrate it with your business checkout page for seamless customer experiences and aided growth.
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