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Stripe is a great option for many businesses, but it isn't ideal for everyone. Luckily, there are numerous Stripe alternatives available.
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Although Stripe has developed a reputation for innovation in online and global payments and is one of the best credit card processing companies for small businesses, you might be interested in Stripe competitors and alternatives to Stripe.
In addition to its prowess in eCommerce and international payments, Stripe’s basic account has no monthly fee, and its robust API allows you to integrate Stripe into almost any type of online checkout.
However, Stripe has limited support for in-person payments, its developer tools can be tricky to implement for non-programmers, and it isn’t well suited to high-risk or high-volume businesses.
For these or other reasons, Stripe may not be the best option for your business. Check out some of our favorite Stripe alternatives to see if one of them might be a better fit than Stripe.
Learn More About Our Top Picks
| Company | Best For | Next StepsBest For |
|---|---|---|
PaymentCloud
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Show Deal |
Square
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Show Deal |
Helcim
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Clearly Payments
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Host Merchant Services
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| Show More Options | ||
Authorize.Net
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| Show Fewer Options |
Read more below to learn why we chose these options.
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The best Stripe competitors combine transparency, low processing fees, and excellent support for eCommerce. With the exception of processors catering to high-risk industries, they also offer month-to-month billing.
Here are the top Stripe competitors:
| Account Type | Monthly Fee | Processing Rate Plan(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PaymentCloud | Merchant account | Varies | Varies |
| Square | Aggregated Account | $0+ | Flat-rate |
| Helcim | Merchant Account | $0 | Interchange-plus |
| Clearly Payments | Merchant Account | $21+ | Interchange-plus/Membership |
| Host Merchant Services | Merchant Account | $14.99+ | Interchange-plus |
| Authorize.Net | Payment gateway | $25 (or by payment processor) | Flat-rate |
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Pros
Cons
PaymentCloud is among the best in the business when it comes to placing high-risk businesses with quality merchant accounts. Unlike many other high-risk payment processors, PaymentCloud minimizes unnecessary fees. While pricing can be highly variable depending on the backend processor PaymentCloud pairs you with, most high-risk businesses, including high-risk eCommerce, will pay less with PaymentCloud than they would with most of its competitors.
Stripe is an account aggregator, aka third-party processor, a processing model designed for low-risk businesses that comes with the drawback of being more prone to account holds and freezes. These can be very difficult to resolve. In contrast, PaymentCloud provides high-risk businesses with an account manager who acts as your advocate in dealing with your merchant account provider and bank.
PaymentCloud also integrates with Shopify, allowing high-risk businesses to use the eCommerce platform. Shopify's in-house payment solution, Shopify Payments, uses Stripe as its backend processor, which means high-risk Shopify sellers need to use an alternative processor.
Get a free card swiper from Square at no cost when you create a free account. Claim your card reader.
Pros
Cons
Square offers online transactions at a similar price point to Stripe and is much easier for the average person to set up. Its lack of a monthly fee and flat-rate pricing model makes Square a good bet for new and low-volume businesses, especially those that want to sell in-person with a POS as well as online.
Though Square lacks Stripe's international reach and API set, Square can still easily accommodate online and in-person sales, reporting, invoicing, inventory, and more. Square's free POS functionality also includes employee management, customer database management, and other business management features.
When it comes to Square vs Stripe, Square doesn't match Stripe in the number of available integrations. However, the ease with which non-technical users can set up an online store with Square gives it an edge over Stripe in some circumstances.
Pros
Cons
Helcim is one of the few payment processors to offer a full merchant account with no monthly fee. As mentioned, Stripe does not offer a full-service merchant account and therefore isn't able to offer the account stability and personalized customer service that an MSP such as Helcim can offer.
On top of charging no monthly fee, Helcim offers affordable interchange-plus transaction fees. This makes Helcim a great alternative to a flat-rate processor (such as Stripe) for small businesses that are beginning to scale up their sales volume, as interchange-plus pricing favors higher-volume businesses.
Helcim's feature set may not look quite as polished as Stripe's, but it is certainly competitive with it. You'll get comprehensive international support, an online store, and solid developer tools at no added cost. If you're making sales offline, you'll be able to use Helcim's point-of-sale features, which can be run off a computer, mobile device, or the proprietary Helcim Smart Terminal.
Further, Helcim avoids Stripe's scaling issues by offering interchange-plus pricing from the start.
Pros
Cons
One of the best Canadian merchant account providers, Clearly Payments is a relative newcomer to the payment processing scene, but so far it's borrowing ideas from the right places. It offers transparent pricing in both interchange-plus and membership pricing forms (though membership pricing is available to Canadian businesses only), making it a great option for mid- and high-volume businesses looking to save some money.
Stripe's flat rate pricing system is great for low-volume businesses but can become quite expensive for high-volume businesses. While high-volume businesses can negotiate interchange-plus pricing with Stripe, Clearly Payments offers interchange-plus pricing to all businesses, regardless of sales volume. Clearly also offers volume discounts to businesses processing more than $25,000/month.
Clearly Payments doesn't offer quite the international reach or breadth of features that Stripe does, but with support for 65 currencies, it's no slouch.
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Pros
Cons
While Host Merchant Services provides traditional merchant services with your own, dedicated merchant account, it also offers a wide range of supplemental functionality not too far off from what you'd find with a third-party processing platform like Stripe. Host Merchant Services also features excellent transparency, competitive interchange-plus pricing, and free web hosting.
Additionally, Host Merchant Services has excellent support for brick-and-mortar businesses, and is a terriffic choice for restaurant credit card processing in particular. As far as eCommerce goes, Host Merchant Service's free web hosting is a distinct advantage over Stripe for businesses that need it. In addition to restaurants and eComm, Host also has an industry-specific plan for in-person retail storefronts.
Finally, Host Merchant Services is willing to work with high-risk businesses that Stripe won't touch. Just be aware that you'll be looking at less favorable terms.
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Pros
Cons
Unlike the other entries on this list, Authorize.Net is not a payment processor but rather, it's a payment gateway that is used to add online payment functionality to a merchant account.
As a standalone payment gateway, Authorize.Net can be integrated with various merchant services to expand your account's functionality to include eCommerce, international payments, and alternative payment methods. Authorize.Net can grant businesses that are happy with their merchant account some of the platform functionality associated with Stripe, particularly in international sales and online security.
Authorize.Net even integrates with some of the best high-risk merchant account providers.
Unlike Stripe, however, Authorize.Net is not a standalone payment processor. We usually suggest merchants who want to use Authorize.Net get it through their payment processor, as it's generally much more cost-effective that way. Check out more about the differences between Authorize.Net and Stripe before making your choice.
Get Started With Authorize.Net
Merchant Maverick has been researching the payment processing industry since 2009. Our writers have reviewed hundreds of credit card processors, merchant account services, and mobile payment apps, evaluating each provider carefully on several different metrics.
When comparing different payment processing companies and applications to one another, we consider numerous data points. Our experts start by comparing credit card processing rates, the presence of additional fees, contract length, sales practices, and the presence or absence of additional features and services, like point of sale software. Each provider is judged on its own merits and how well it stacks up to industry standards; then it is weighed against the other providers on the list.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure every company or application included meets our internal standards for quality and reputation. Any list of recommended payment processors on our site might contain a mix of standard merchant accounts, third-party payment processors, mobile payment devices, and high-risk payment processors, depending on what our expert feels is the best fit for certain scenarios or business types.
For additional details about Merchant Maverick’s review and rating processes, please refer to any or all of the following methodology pages:
15
Years reviewing payment processors
100+
Providers evaluated
25
Attributes and features assessed per vendor
40+
Years combined experience
Depending on your company’s needs, Stripe may or not be your best option. So, how does Stripe work? Stripe’s approach to payment processing is to be a “full stack” payment processor — a complete, all-in-one service for online sales. There are similar companies, but none that take Stripe’s exact approach.
If you want a full breakdown of what Stripe offers, read our comprehensive review of Stripe.
Stripe Payments is a great option for many businesses. The fact that there are no monthly minimums makes it great for startups, and the number of supported countries, payment options, and currencies makes it a serious contender for global businesses, in particular.
The available features make Stripe especially well-suited to high-tech businesses that aren’t satisfied with the standard fare in a payments processor. And the company’s developer resources are second to none.
However, Stripe isn’t ideal for everyone, especially if you have concerns about account stability or your technical prowess. You will also pay more to access some of Stripe’s premium features, which isn’t unreasonable — but it does mean you might be able to get more competitive pricing from some of the cheapest credit card processing companies available.
Want a deeper look at Stripe? Check out our complete guide to Stripe pricing.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
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