# Best Payment Gateways with Subscriptions Capabilities

  *By [Subhransu Sahu](https://research.g2.com/insights/author/subhransu-sahu)*

   Payment gateways automate the payment transaction process between shoppers and merchants, securely transmitting transaction information to banks. E-commerce businesses depend on [payment gateways](https://www.g2.com/glossary/payment-gateway-definition) to ensure that payment information is passed securely from the customer to the merchant and payment processor. This type of software is used by e-commerce managers to accept payments on multiple channels and by finance professionals to track payment performance.

This type of software should not be confused with [payment processing software](https://www.g2.com/categories/payment-processing), which focuses on business to business (B2B) payments. Payment gateways integrate with [e-commerce platforms](https://www.g2.com/categories/e-commerce-platforms), [shopping cart software](https://www.g2.com/categories/shopping-cart), and [subscription management software](https://www.g2.com/categories/subscription-management) to process payments for the goods and services sold using these solutions.

To qualify for inclusion in the Payment Gateways category, a product must:

- Accept online payments from credit and debit cards, mobile wallets, or BNPL services
- Connect the e-commerce website to a payment processor for online transactions
- Transmit payment information securely from buyers to payment processors
- Support business to consumer (B2C) and B2B payments 
- Integrate with financial systems and retail point of sale (POS) solutions
- Support multiple use cases such as e-commerce, POS, or cross-border transactions





## Category Overview

**Total Products under this Category:** 351


## Trust & Credibility Stats

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## Parent Category

[Payment Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/payment)



## Related Categories

- [Enterprise Payment Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/enterprise-payment)
- [Payment Processing Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/payment-processing)
- [Embedded Payments Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/embedded-payments)



---

## Buyer Guide

### What You Should Know About Payment Gateways

### What are Payment Gateways?

Most major e-commerce platforms and payment gateways have plug-ins and extensions to make integrations easier. Conversely, less popular solutions in this space will require more work to integrate with one another. Fortunately, almost every major e-commerce platform makes it clear which payment gateways can be integrated with their software. Businesses using open source e-commerce platforms can leverage the developer community for specialized extensions and plug-ins for payment gateway integrations.

Often, payment gateways come in two flavors: hosted and integrated. Hosted payment gateways are easy to set up and require little maintenance on the part of the e-commerce store owner. Additionally, PCI compliance and data security become the responsibility of the payment gateway with hosted products, saving e-commerce businesses time and money. However, hosted options redirect customers away from the business’ website and to a payment processing page. This can be confusing for customers and as well as negatively affect conversion rates.

Integrated payment gateways require more time to implement but lead to higher conversion rates, as customers never leave the e-commerce site to complete a purchase. Integrated payment gateways can be limited by which e-commerce tools their API integrates with. Furthermore, integrated payment gateways will often require the e-commerce store to have a merchant account to accept credit card payments.

One major business problem solved is payment collection, a necessary element of an e-commerce website. In addition, payment gateways provide deep insights into granular transaction management, another common business problem.

Key Benefits of Payment Gateways

- Accept online payments through your e-commerce business
- Accept multiple currencies and payment methods
- Process payments securely without risking the security of payment information
- Prevent unauthorized payments with fraud protection mechanisms
- Quickly handle customer returns and refunds

### Why Use Payment Gateways?

“How can I easily and securely collect payments from customers on my e-commerce website?" This is the primary problem that payment gateway software resolves. Many businesses are familiar with the difficulties and cost of setting up custom payment solutions to collect and process credit card information. Payment gateway software resolves those frustrations with easy setup at a relatively low cost. Additionally, some payment gateway products allow users to upload their own branding onto the gateway. This ensures visitors aren’t redirected to a third-party website.

Additionally, an important feature of payment gateway software is its ability to detect, identify, and react to fraudulent activity. Payment gateways help ensure the safety and encryption of their customers’ sensitive information and the compliance of their e-commerce business to payment card industry (PCI) regulations.

Payment gateway software also allows users to rectify any outstanding errors and complete refunds based on the product’s database of transaction information. The database of customer transactions is crucial for users to keep track of invoices, reports, and cash flow, helping e-commerce businesses with forecasting. In addition to the database, some payment gateways also provide analytics and insights about transactions, enhancing business forecasting and improving things like customer profiles and the ability for the e-commerce company to accurately upsell or cross-sell.

**Minimizing fraud —** Payment gateways allow payments to be encrypted to ensure the security of the payer’s information as well as verifying payments to avoid fraud. Unauthorized payments will result in a notification, allowing the user to reject the payment before it goes through. Fraud protection filters may include high-risk countries, email service provider risk, high risk BIN, account number velocity, high item number, shipping/billing mismatch, AVS failure, CSC failure, and others.

**Receiving payments in multiple ways —** Users can set up recurring payments, [subscriptions](https://www.g2.com/categories/payment-gateways/f/subscriptions), split payments, and one-time payments as necessary. Users can also create peer-to-peer payments as needed. This flexibility allows users to fit their payment structure to their business model or customer needs.

**Scalability —** As a business grows, so do its payment needs. Payment gateway software makes it easy to scale by adding features as needed and integration with multiple e-commerce stores.

### Who Uses Payment Gateways?

E-commerce businesses of all sizes depend on easy-to-use payment gateways to seamlessly guide a website visitor from browsing to buying. Businesses turn to payment gateway software to automate payment transactions and ensure the security and encryption of those transactions. In turn, payment gateways integrate with e-commerce platforms and tools like subscription management software.

**E-commerce businesses —** E-commerce businesses are both the most common and most obvious use for payment gateways. These businesses need a way to collect payments online in a way that is convenient for themselves and their customers. With payment gateways, payments are instantaneous and protected for both parties.

**Charities and nonprofits —** The ability to instantaneously make donations online is hugely important for charities and other nonprofits who are held to strict reporting and taxation standards. From a nonregulatory standpoint, donors are also more likely to donate to a charity or nonprofit if it is fast and convenient to do so.

**Individual consumers —** Peer-to-peer features of payment gateways make it easy for individual users to make fast, easy payments to their friends, family, and individual contractors. Using a smartphone, anyone can make a payment to another user of the same software quickly and securely. No need to hound your friends for pizza money, you can simply send a request or single-time invoice with the exact amount they owe you.

### Payment Gateway Features

Payment gateways primarily provide payment processing tools that allow users to send and receive credit card payments as well as online payments directly from a bank account. Given the variety of payment options available, as well as the myriad ways that payments can be structured, there can be a lot of variety among online payment systems. Some may even integrate with a physical credit card terminal, providing businesses that operate both in-person and online with a means to accept payments using one tool. However, payment gateways include a variety of features to help businesses run smoothly both on- and offline.

**Reporting —** Data should be every business’ best friend, and payment gateways provide crucial data on each transaction made through the platform. This can make it easy to track how and where money is entering and leaving the business, helping better predict future performance. This also provides an added security measure of visibility into where money is going and whether it was an authorized transaction.

This data can also provide crucial demographic information so businesses can be more aware of who and where their customer base is.

**Manual payment entry —** Manual payment entry allows a business the option to take down payment information provided over the phone or in person and put it into the payment gateway, creating a larger amount of flexibility. This can also help businesses facilitate returns or refunds requested over the phone.

**PCI compliance —** Payment card industry (PCI) regulations ensure the security of credit card users online by enforcing strict security requirements. These include protecting cardholder data, maintaining a vulnerability management program, implementing strong access control measures, regularly monitoring and testing networks, and maintaining an information security policy. Luckily, most payment gateways have this already baked in, making it easy for users.

**Fraud protection —** Fraud can be a huge concern when buying and selling online, and most payment gateways already have safeguards in place to protect their users. Many payment gateways use a variety of fraud prevention tools, ensuring 360-degree protection for all users.

**Two-factor authentication —** Two-factor authentication is a method that enables users to keep their account extra secure. After signing into the platform using a browser, the second form of authentication will either email or text the user a code that they can then input to ensure that they are the owner of the account. This way, users can prevent unauthorized access to their account.

**Internationalization —** [International support](https://www.g2.com/categories/payment-gateways/f/international) can come in the form of both language and foreign currency support. By supporting multiple languages and currencies, businesses can receive payments from around the world and make their business truly global. By having this built into the payment gateway, businesses can avoid dealing with foreign banks and other entities that they may not be equipped to do business with.

#### Additional Payment Gateway Features

**E-commerce software integration —** Integration with your business’ [e-commerce solution](https://www.g2.com/categories/payment-gateways/f/e-commerce) can make it much easier for both you and your customers. Customers can easily make a purchase without leaving your store, making it less likely that you will lose customers due to inconvenience. But the main advantage is data integration, which makes it easy to process payments and track each transaction. This can help with inventory management, accounting, and more in the long run.

**Accounting software integration —** Integration with your accounting software makes it easy to track incoming and outgoing finances, as well as track invoices and other financial data.

**Recurring billing —** Many payment gateways allow users to set up recurring payments of invoices for ongoing services. By having this information within the payment gateway itself, it gives customers the option to set up automatic payments.

**Accepted credit and debit cards —** Payment gateways often have a variety of credit cards and payment methods they accept. Merchants can often choose from that list of accepted payment options which methods they will accept, giving them control.

Other Features of Payment Gateways: [B2B](https://www.g2.com/categories/payment-gateways/f/b2b), [Mobile](https://www.g2.com/categories/payment-gateways/f/mobile), [Retail](https://www.g2.com/categories/payment-gateways/f/retail)

### Trends Related to Payment Gateways

**Mobile integrations —** More and more consumers are using their phones to shop, so more and more businesses are seeking to integrate mobile technology into their e-commerce strategies. By making it easy for consumers to make secure payments on their phones, it becomes easier to expand into m-commerce.

**Blockchain —** With the rise of blockchain as a secure means of transferring funds and data online, payment gateways are adopting the technology for their own platforms more and more. Some even allow payment in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

### Potential Issues with Payment Gateways

**Integrations —** While your e-commerce platform may be one of the biggest deciding factors when choosing a payment gateway, there are other software integrations to keep in mind as well. Subscription management tools are often paired with payment gateways to manage recurring payments from customers. Additionally, shopping cart tools will need to be considered, as they allow customers to select items for purchase and generate a total amount to be charged through the payment gateway.

**Currencies and payment type —** Payment gateways are limited by the countries and currencies they support. This often requires e-commerce businesses to use more than one payment gateway to cater to more customers. Additionally, tools in this category are limited by the payment methods they accept: credit cards, ACH payments, split payments, etc. It’s important to understand where your customers are and the payment methods they use before integrating a new payment gateway with your e-commerce store.

**Transaction fees —** Most payment gateways will charge a small processing fee for each transaction. This fee can be either a flat rate or a small percentage and is often determined by the number of transactions your e-commerce business processes each month. Small businesses usually pay a lower rate than enterprise-level e-commerce businesses. Monthly and initiation fees are also common for most payment gateways.

### Software and Services Related to Payment Gateways

[**E-commerce platforms**](https://www.g2.com/categories/e-commerce-platforms) **—** E-commerce platforms are one of the main tools used alongside payment gateways, since many payment gateways are already integrated with most e-commerce platforms. This makes it easy for customers to make purchases online right away and makes it much easier for merchants to create an online store. Since online payments must be done with a credit card or other digital payment method, payment gateways are a necessity.

[**Shopping cart software**](https://www.g2.com/categories/shopping-cart) **—** Shopping cart software allows customers to buy multiple items at once in a single online transaction. This cart then interacts with the payment gateway by allowing the customer to pay for all the items at once without having to pay for each item individually.

[**Subscription management**](https://www.g2.com/categories/subscription-management) **—** Subscription management software allows merchants to create subscriptions that customers pay for at regular intervals. By integrating with payment gateway software, subscription management tools allow consumers to pay for their subscriptions online or set up automatic, recurring payments.




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## Frequently Asked Questions

### How do payment gateways differ in terms of international transaction support?

Payment gateways vary significantly in international transaction support. PayPal is widely recognized for its extensive global reach, supporting transactions in over 100 currencies, while Stripe offers robust international capabilities with features like automatic currency conversion. Square, however, has limited international support, primarily focusing on the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, and the U.K. Adyen stands out for its comprehensive international payment solutions, catering to a wide range of currencies and payment methods. Finally, Authorize.Net provides basic international support but is less versatile compared to its competitors.



### How do payment gateways ensure compliance with PCI DSS standards?

Payment gateways ensure compliance with PCI DSS standards by implementing robust security measures such as encryption, tokenization, and secure data storage. They regularly undergo security assessments and audits to maintain compliance. User reviews highlight that top products like Stripe, PayPal, and Square emphasize their commitment to PCI compliance, with features like fraud detection and secure payment processing. Additionally, many users appreciate the ease of integration with existing systems, which helps maintain compliance without extensive overhead.



### How do payment gateways handle chargebacks and disputes?

Payment gateways typically manage chargebacks and disputes by providing tools for merchants to respond to claims, including detailed transaction records and evidence submission features. For instance, platforms like Stripe and PayPal offer automated chargeback management systems that help streamline the process. Users frequently highlight the importance of these features, noting that effective dispute resolution can significantly impact their business operations. Additionally, many gateways provide educational resources to help merchants understand chargeback reasons and prevention strategies, enhancing overall transaction security.



### How do payment gateways handle recurring billing and subscriptions?

Payment gateways typically manage recurring billing and subscriptions by offering automated billing cycles, customizable subscription plans, and integrated invoicing features. For instance, Stripe allows users to set up various billing intervals and provides detailed analytics on subscription metrics. PayPal supports subscription management with options for trial periods and automatic renewals. Square offers tools for managing recurring payments and customer subscriptions, while Authorize.Net provides features for automated billing and customer management. These functionalities enhance user experience and streamline payment processes for businesses.



### How scalable are payment gateways for growing businesses?

Payment gateways are generally scalable for growing businesses, with many solutions offering features that support increased transaction volumes and user bases. For instance, products like Stripe and PayPal are noted for their robust APIs and flexible pricing models, allowing businesses to scale without significant upfront costs. Additionally, Square is praised for its ease of integration and ability to handle varying transaction sizes, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes. Overall, user feedback highlights that these gateways effectively accommodate growth while maintaining performance.



### What are the average transaction fees for payment gateways in this category?

The average transaction fees for payment gateways typically range from 2.9% to 3.5% per transaction, with some providers offering flat fees around $0.30 per transaction. For instance, PayPal charges approximately 2.9% + $0.30, while Stripe has similar rates. Square also follows this model, with fees around 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions. These fees can vary based on transaction volume and specific agreements with the providers.



### What are the most common user experience issues with payment gateways?

Common user experience issues with payment gateways include slow transaction processing times, which can lead to cart abandonment, as noted by users of PayPal and Stripe. Additionally, complex user interfaces and lack of customization options are frequently mentioned pain points, particularly with Square and Authorize.Net. Users also report difficulties with integration into existing systems, especially with gateways like Braintree and Adyen, which can hinder overall user satisfaction.



### What are the typical setup and monthly fees for payment gateways?

Typical setup fees for payment gateways range from $0 to $500, while monthly fees generally vary from $0 to $30. For instance, PayPal offers no monthly fee, whereas Authorize.Net charges around $25 monthly. Square has no setup fee and charges a flat rate per transaction, while Stripe also has no monthly fee but takes a percentage of each transaction. These variations depend on the specific features and services offered by each provider.



### What customer support options are available with payment gateways?

Payment gateways typically offer a variety of customer support options, including 24/7 live chat, email support, and phone support. For instance, PayPal is noted for its extensive customer service availability, while Square provides robust online resources and community forums. Stripe users often highlight the effectiveness of their email support, although response times can vary. Authorize.Net offers dedicated support teams for merchants, ensuring personalized assistance. Overall, the level of support can vary significantly across different providers, with many users emphasizing the importance of responsive and accessible customer service.



### What integrations do payment gateways support with e-commerce platforms?

Payment gateways commonly integrate with various e-commerce platforms to facilitate transactions. For instance, Stripe integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento, while PayPal supports integrations with platforms like BigCommerce and Wix. Square is compatible with platforms such as WooCommerce and Shopify, and Authorize.Net connects with Magento and PrestaShop. These integrations enable seamless payment processing, enhancing user experience and operational efficiency across different e-commerce environments.



### What reporting and analytics features do payment gateways provide?

Payment gateways typically offer a range of reporting and analytics features, including transaction history tracking, sales performance metrics, and customer insights. For instance, PayPal provides detailed transaction reports and analytics dashboards, while Stripe offers real-time reporting and customizable data exports. Square includes sales reports and customer engagement analytics, and Authorize.Net features transaction summaries and fraud detection reports. These tools help businesses monitor performance, optimize sales strategies, and enhance customer experience.



### What security features should I look for in a payment gateway?

When selecting a payment gateway, prioritize security features such as PCI DSS compliance, which is essential for protecting cardholder data. Look for tokenization to replace sensitive data with unique identifiers, and end-to-end encryption to secure transactions. Additionally, features like fraud detection tools and chargeback management can enhance security. User reviews highlight that platforms like Stripe, PayPal, and Square excel in these areas, with Stripe noted for its robust fraud prevention tools and PayPal for its comprehensive security measures.