8 Best E-commerce Alternatives to Square or Stripe
When it comes to e-commerce payment processing, one can never have too many choices.
Although Stripe and Square together comprise almost one-fourth (24.14%) of market share in the payments space, the two payment giants may not be ideal for all digital merchants for reasons such as costs, features and functionality.
We’ve therefore rounded up a list of top e-commerce alternatives to Square or Stripe, helping you find the perfect fit of payment processing solution for your online business.
List of e-commerce alternatives to Stripe or Square:
Adyen
Amazon Pay
Choco Payment
GoCardless
PayPal
Shopify Payments
Verifone (formerly 2Checkout)
Wise (formerly TransferWise)
1. Adyen
Dutch-based Adyen is a payment processing services provider with many features rolled into one. Its offerings include, among others, an online payment gateway, point-of-sale (POS) for in-person transactions and merchant accounts for receiving payments.
Once you’ve set up an account with Adyen, you’ll be able to process payments made with various methods, such as ACH direct debit, debit or credit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, to name but a few.
Omni-channel payment processing. The Dutch company sets emphasis on creating a unified commerce experience for merchants. With its omni-channel payments platform. you can process payments from online, mobile and in-store customers, and draw cross-channel insights from where all your transaction data is kept.
Localized solutions for global merchants. Adyen is a global payment processing service provider with highly localized solutions. It’s built to process payment methods used by customers around the world, such as KakaoPay in South Korea, Konbini in Japan and GrabPay in Southeast Asia.
Customizable risk management tools. When it comes to seller protection, Adyen’s own risk management system is helpful for detecting and mitigating frauds and scams. All payments processed by Adyen are assessed for risks of fraud, and any suspicious transaction would be blocked or submitted for manual review. You can also configure your own risk rules tailored for your business.
Cons of Adyen
Available in limited regions. The services of Adyen are accessible by merchants based in most parts of Europe. Other Adyen-supported countries include the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Brazil. Business from other countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas, however, may not avail of their payment solutions.
2. Amazon Pay
Launched in 2007, Amazon Pay is an online payments processing service owned by Amazon, the e-commerce giant.
It allows users to make payments for goods or services, and even make donations on websites and apps other than Amazon.com itself. That is, you can use Amazon’s payment service even though you don’t have an Amazon storefront or aren’t making a sale on Amazon’s marketplace.
By checking out with Amazon Pay at your online store, customers will be able to use any payment method already linked to their Amazon account.
Inline checkout option available. With Amazon Pay, customers don’t necessarily need to leave your app or website in order to complete the purchase. This reduces the chances of cart abandonment and helps improve e-commerce conversion.
Multi-currency capabilities. Because Amazon has a presence in so many places around the world, its payment processing service likewise supports a wide variety of currencies. Whether your customers come from the US, Europe or Hong Kong, Amazon Pay has got you covered, making it ideal for digital merchants engaging in cross-border e-commerce.
No set-up or monthly fees. Amazon Pay fees are transaction-based, which means you have to pay for the services only when a transaction is made.
Ingrained trust element. As e-commerce fraud runs rampant, online shoppers may have hesitations about inputting payment details into an unfamiliar website or payment gateway. Amazon Pay works like a badge of credibility, giving customers the peace of mind that their personal data will be well-protected and securely kept.
Many integration options available. For digital merchants whose online stores are set up on an e-commerce platform, Amazon Pay may just be a few clicks away. BigCommerce and Magento, for example, are platforms with which Amazon Pay can be easily integrated with.
Cons of Amazon Pay
Delayed payouts. Amazon Pay has a reserve policy to mitigate the risks of financial disputes arising from online transactions. Accordingly, funds could be held in reserve for up to 7 days before being transferred to your business account.
No volume discounts. While some e-commerce payment processing solutions offer tiered pricing plans, Amazon Pay charges flat rate transaction fees. Whether you have 10 or 10,000 orders in a month, you’ll be paying the same processing fee per transaction.
3. Choco Payment
Choco Payment is an online payment solution provided by Choco Up, a global technology and financial services platform.
As this solution is designed for all business types, you can avail of Choco Payment no matter you sell tangible items, offer subscription services, or run an online marketplace.
A special feature of Choco Payment is that it’s embedded with revenue-based financing (a type of business funding), the first of its kind in Asia.
With Choco Payment, you can skip the paperwork and excessive credit checks, and get Choco Up’s e-commerce funding in a quick and seamless manner.
Global payment solution. Choco Payment accepts all major credit and debit cards, as well as digital wallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay used by shoppers worldwide. It also supports payments in 135+ currencies, making it an ideal solution for digital merchants serving the global audience.
No-code online payment collection. No worries if you don’t have a team of sophisticated developers in-house. You can easily set up an out-of-the-box, hosted payment page without any technical knowledge, or integrate Choco Payment with your e-commerce platform with the use of API.
Fully customizable. Want to embed the payment gateway into your website, and add your brand logo to the checkout page? You can do all that with Choco Payment! Choco Payment is highly customizable, so you can do whatever you want to create a smooth, seamless, or branded checkout process for online purchasers.
Top-notch security. With Choco Payment, all payment information is encrypted with AES-256, and decryption keys are stored on separate machines. You can therefore be assured that payment details are safely transmitted and processed with top-notch security.
Cons of Choco Payment
Relatively less documentation. Unlike Amazon Pay, which has online support pages available for all to see, Choco Payment is relatively scarce in documentation. That said, the team is always happy to help and answer your questions as they arise.
Interested in knowing more? You can learn more about Choco Payment here.
4. GoCardless
GoCardless is another e-commerce alternative to Stripe or Square that you can use to get paid by your customers. It offers solutions for collecting one-off, instant payments, as well as automated recurring payments.
As its name suggests, making a payment through GoCardless doesn’t involve cards of any kind. Rather, it draws money directly from your customers’ bank accounts (with their permission, of course) and skips the card transaction fees.
Reduces delays in payments. Sometimes you may have to wait for days before your customers gather up the time to make a debit transfer to your business. GoCardless minimizes the waiting time as it utilizes pull payments, giving you greater control over the timing and amount of funds transferred.
Allows recurring payment collection. GoCardless is great for businesses that offer subscription services, or deal with invoices on a regular basis. In each of these cases, customers only have to set up their payment details once, and authorize recurring payments on their end. Funds will then be automatically pulled from their bank accounts when payments fall due.
Accepts payments globally. You can use GoCardless to collect payments in different currencies from different countries and regions.
Cons of GoCardless
Payment methods are limited. Using GoCardless, the only way that you can accept payment from customers is through direct bank debit.
Pricing lies on the expensive side. Although its Basic plan has no monthly fee, users have to pay a fixed fee per month for its Plus and Pro plans to access advanced and customization features of GoCardless. A per-transaction processing fee is charged on top of the monthly fee.
5. PayPal
PayPal was established back in 1998 and currently serves 200+ markets, making it one of the oldest and largest payment services providers in the world. As of 2022, it boasts over 426 million active users, and more than 50% market share in the online payment processing space.
Businesses using PayPal can accept payments made via a variety of methods, such as debit and credit cards, bank accounts, or the account balance in customers’ PayPal accounts.
Trusted payment method. PayPal is a household name widely known among consumers worldwide. Shoppers may feel more secure to pay through PayPal than directly entering their payment details on your e-commerce site.
Instant cash deposit. Cash is immediately deposited into your PayPal account after customers have paid. If your vendors or suppliers accept PayPal as a payment method, you can use the money in your PayPal balance to pay them, minimizing the problem of cash flow gaps caused by payout delays.
Seller protection. In the event that buyers claim they didn’t receive the purchased goods, or payments were made without their authorization, the sellers might be protected under PayPal’s Seller Protection scheme. It entitles sellers to the full amount of eligible payment so long as the requisite requirements are met.
Fraud prevention. The payment services provider monitors all transactions 24/7, and flags any unusual or suspicious activities to protect users from online frauds and scams.
Cons of PayPal
Prone to account freezes. PayPal is known to be aggressive with account freezes. Customer disputes, chargebacks and unusual activities are common reasons for freezing users’ accounts. When that happens, funds in your PayPal account may be held up for 180 days.
6. Shopify Payments
Shopify Payments is a great e-commerce alternative to Square or Stripe, especially for digital merchants who set up their online stores with Shopify, the e-commerce platform.
First launched by Shopify in 2013, Shopify Payments enables merchants to accept payments without the hassle of creating an account with a third-party payment provider.
Using Shopify Payments, customers can pay with major credit or debit cards, such as Visa, Mastercard and American Express.
Quick and easy set-up. The biggest advantage of using Shopify Payments is, as advertised by Shopify itself, that sellers don’t need to go through the hassle of setting up an account with a third-party payment services provider. Instead, Shopify Payments can be activated at the click of a button after keying in some information about your business.
Seamless integration with Shopify store. Shopify Payments is fully integrated with online stores that are set up on Shopify. Digital merchants can therefore view their payouts in Shopify’s admin panel, and track historical payments easily.
e-Commerce fraud protection. Designed for e-commerce sellers, Shopify Payments has various fraud prevention mechanisms in place. One way that merchants are protected from e-commerce fraud is through the address verification system (AVS), which compares the numeric part of customers’ billing addresses and zip or postal code with the information on file with the credit card issuer. Asking for buyers’ card verification value (CVV) is another means through which Shopify protects merchants using its payment solution.
Cons of Shopify Payments
Available in selected regions only. Shopify Payments can be used in a handful of major markets across the globe, such as the US, Canada, the UK, and other European countries, but it isn’t available in places like China and India yet.
7. Verifone (formerly 2Checkout)
Once known as 2Checkout, Verifone is now an “all-in-one monetization platform” for modern commerce. It offers a variety of business solutions not limited to online payment processing, but also subscription billing, e-commerce reporting and others.
Its payment processing solution, called 2Sell, enables sellers to accept mobile and online payments. Both local and global payments are supported. For digital merchants seeking an e-commerce alternative to Square or Stripe, Verifone is an option you can consider.
Subscription tools available. Whether you sell tangible products or digital goods (e.g. software), Verifone has tools that would meet your needs. A SaaS provider, for example, could make use of Verifone’s 2Subscribe to manage subscriptions in addition to simply accepting payments.
Global capabilities. Verifone’s payment processing solution allows e-commerce sellers to accept payments made with major credit cards, as well as local customers’ favorite digital wallets and other payment options, such as Alipay and WeChat Pay in China, and Konbini in Japan. Its payment solution is available in 30+ languages as well.
e-Commerce-adjacent add-ons. For online businesses seeking more than a baseline payment processing solution, Verifone offers a number of add-ons at affordable costs. For instance, 2Partner offers access to a vast network of partners for e-commerce affiliate marketing, whereas Verifone CPQ helps automate the quote-to-cash process for B2B commerce merchants.
Cons of Verifone
Client support can be improved. While the monetization platform offers comprehensive services and solutions for digital merchants, a number of Verifone’s users reflected in online reviews that the customer support crew isn’t satisfactorily responsive or helpful.
8. Wise (formerly TransferWise)
If the goal of your search for a Stripe or Square alternative is to find a solution for accepting payments from overseas customers, Wise might be what you’re looking for.
Wise, formerly known as TransferWise, is a global money transfer platform, where users can make cross-border fund transfers at competitive exchange rates.
As a business, you can set up a Wise Business account to get local bank account details for accepting payments from customers across the globe.
Excellent global capabilities. Wise was established in 2011 as an overseas money transfer platform, and this feature still remains as the company’s core capability today. To illustrate this, funds can be instantly converted into other currencies once it’s in the currency account.
Competitive exchange rates. The money transfer platform has a reputation for enabling global fund transfers at attractive exchange rates. Moving money abroad through Wise could be up to 8X cheaper than doing the same through banks, according to Wise’s website.
Cons of Wise
Limited functionalities. Wise serves primarily as a platform for sending money abroad, often in one-off manners. Accordingly, it may not be suitable for businesses looking to accept recurring payments, such as providers of software or other subscription plans.
Some last words
This article lists 8 alternatives to Square or Stripe for e-commerce businesses, but you probably need only one of them to facilitate payment transactions at your online site.
If you haven’t yet decided which is best for you, consider using our own Choco Payment — Asia’s first online payment solution embedded with revenue-based financing — to address your payment and funding needs.
Getting paid shouldn’t be one of your challenges in running an e-commerce business. At Choco Up, we take care of your payments safely and securely, and give you the support you need to grow your business.
Learn more about Choco Payment here, or explore our e-commerce funding for fuelling your business’s growth today!
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