Top payment gateways for WooCommerce and how to add them

Are you looking for the best payment gateway for your WooCommerce store? Providing secure and easy-to-use payment gateways for your customers is one of the crucial aspects of making your store secure and trustworthy.

A payment gateway is the final step of any store’s purchase journey. Every customer that makes an online purchase on your website ends up on the payment page you have integrated into your website. Your customers will complete the purchase if you have a reliable and secure gateway. But if the customers land on a payment gateway they don’t know about or sense something unusual, they might abandon the purchase on the last step. I am sure you don’t want that to happen on your eCommerce website.

In this guide, we will go through the best payment gateways for WooCommerce while giving you a detailed overview of each payment gateway, including their features, fee/charges, and integration process with WooCommerce.

We'll also look at how to let customers complete their order and pay in an on-page popup checkout. This maximizes conversions by reducing friction and letting customers pay without ever leaving the page. We'll do it using the WooCommerce Fast Cart plugin:

By the end of this guide, you’ll have a clear understanding of the payment gateways available for your online store and be able to choose the one for your online business needs.

What is a payment gateway?

If you are new to eCommerce or want to go over what a payment gateway means, here’s a simple answer to this question. A website payment gateway enables you and your store to accept digital payments securely. It acts as a secure bridge between your eCommerce platform and the bank or the payment solution that processes the transaction.

It executes the transaction by securely transmitting sensitive payment information between the customer’s browser and the bank/payment processor. In addition to facilitating secure transitions, a payment processor also comes with other useful features for store owners. For example, you get fraud detection tools, WooCommerce subscription options, and the ability to accept international payments in different currencies. So it’s a no-brainer that every WooCommerce store needs a reliable payment gateway; let’s check out some notable benefits of payment gateways.

Benefits of payment gateways

Apart from processing payments, payment gateways offer store owners many more benefits. Here are some notable benefits of using a reliable and feature-rich payment gateway:

🔓Secure payments and protection for businesses

Security is of the highest importance when it comes to payment gateways. Since these providers deal in real-time financial transactions, they are more likely to be targeted by malicious groups. All reliable payment gateways use powerful encryption and other advanced security measures to protect customer payment details and prevent any chances of fraud. With PCI-DSS guideline compliance gateways, you get more robust security. Since all the processing and verification is done by the gateways, you don’t need to worry about storing customers’ payment information, even if they are subscribing to a payment plan.

👍🏻Increased customer trust and loyalty

For end customers, it’s important for them to know if a reliable company is handling their money and payment information. This is where a trusted and popular brand can positively affect the customers' overall experience. If customers see a brand name they trust, they will also build loyalty with your brand and confidently complete the purchase. In addition to brand loyalty, payment gateways offer a range of payment options, such as debit cards, major credit cards, and e-wallets, which can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

⌚Time and cost saving for businesses

Since most of the heaving lifting is done by payment processors, you can save time and resources on your end. In addition, every popular payment gateway can automate the transaction process and manage many more things, such as subscriptions, chargebacks, refunds, and automatic payment reconciliation. All these additional features can help you save more time and cost as you’ll be able to focus on the core functioning of your business rather than handling payments, etc.

Considering everything, payment gateways can be a great tool for your WooCommerce store and help you automate most payment-related tasks. In addition, they come with loads of benefits such as security, brand value, and even time-saving features that fit small as well as big WooCommerce stores.

Now that we know the benefits of using a payment gateway let’s check out the top WooCommerce gateways you can get for your store.

What are the top payment gateways for WooCommerce?

When it comes to a reliable and popular payment gateway for WooCommerce, two of the most popular names are PayPal and Stripe. Let’s take a closer look at each of these gateways and their features.

PayPal

PayPal is one of the leading payment gateways worldwide and is very popular and well-known in most countries. It has over 400 million users worldwide and is highly trusted. Their service is present in more than 200 countries in continents such as Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Once you set up PayPal with your website, you can offer your customers to choose from different payment services such as credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts, e-wallets, and PayPal balances. This gives you the power to reach different countries and currencies without the need to make any changes to your store’s core. This gives your customers flexibility and freedom to choose their preferred payment method and thus increases their likelihood of completing their purchase.

Paypal for WooCommerce features

PayPal pricing

The fee and pricing of PayPal Pro depend on the region of your business and the transaction type. The basic transaction fee on the seller’s end starts at 2.4% of the order value in addition to the fixed fee.

Stripe

Another popular and reliable name in the eCommerce payment industry is Stripe. Stripe is known for its simplicity and ease of usage. No matter if you have a small website or a six-figure business, Stripe can handle your payments with all security measures in place.

Stripe also comes built-in with the WooCommerce plugin, and you can set it up on your website quickly. In addition, with Stripe being available in 45+ countries and supporting nearly 150 currencies, Stripe makes it easier to target international customers for your business and charge them in their native currency.

Stripe for WooCommerce features

Stripe fees and pricing

With Stripe, there is no setup or monthly fees for sellers. Stripe charges a 2.9% transaction fee plus $0.30 per successful card charge. If the sale is international, it costs 1% extra; if currency conversion is also required, it costs 1% extra. There are many other features, such as revenue recognition and tax calculation which you can opt for by paying extra.

Our recommendation: Use PayPal and Stripe together

WooCommerce allows you to use PayPal with Stripe simultaneously, and using them together is the best combination for your website. By using both payment gateway plugins together, businesses can offer customers the flexibility to pay with a range of payment methods such as credit cards, debit cards, wallets, PayPal balance, Stripe buy now pay later, etc. This also helps your business as you'll be able to accept multiple currencies and take advantage of the unique features of both gateways.

Other popular WooCommerce payment gateways

Apple Pay

Apple Pay is a popular payment gateway that lets customers make payments using their Apple devices, such as iPhones, iPads, and Macs. With Apple Pay, customers can securely store their credit and debit card information on their Apple devices and use it to make quick purchases without the need to add card or payment details.

One of the benefits of using Apple Pay is that it provides a seamless and convenient checkout experience for customers. Customers can complete their purchases with just a few taps on their devices without manually entering their payment and shipping information. This saves time and reduces the likelihood of errors during the checkout process.

You can get Apple Pay with Stripe, WooCommerce Payments, or Square, so you don’t need to install any other addon plugin.

Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay is another popular payment gateway that you integrate into your website. With this, your customers will be able to make payments using their Amazon balance in addition to other payment options available with Amazon Pay.

The plugin comes with multiple benefits for store owners, such as fraud detection and prevention. It is also a trusted payment gateway, offering a very easy checkout experience. It also has seamless compatibility with WooCommerce and has a free plugin to facilitate transactions. Additionally, Amazon Pay shoppers can use their existing Amazon account to place orders on external stores like your WooCommerce store.

Regarding charges, there’s no monthly charge for Amazon Pay, and Amazon Pay will charge 2.9% of the order value plus an authorization fee of $0.30.

Square

Square is a fast-growing payment processor with multiple unique features for small and large business owners. With Square, you can accept online payments via debit cards, credit cards, mobile wallets, and much more. With ease of usage at its core, you and your customers will get an unparalleled user experience.

Even to small businesses, Square offers other useful features, such as inventory management tools, activity dashboards, advanced reporting, fraud prevention, auth and delay capture, etc.

The transaction fee and charges vary from country to country. For US online stores, there is no joining or set-up fee with the free plan, and Square will only charge 2.9% + $0.30 on the transaction amount.

Google Pay

Developed by Google, Google Pay is a payment system you can add as a payment gateway to your WooCommerce store. You can use it to process payments via credit card payments, wallets, debit cards, etc. One of the benefits of integrating Google Pay is its speed and convenience. With just a few clicks, customers can process a transaction without the need to enter their card or payment details every time. While there is no separate plugin for Google Pay, you can enable Google Pay processing on other payment gateways, such as Stripe.

Manual payments

Simply put, Manual Payments do not involve a digital or automated payment process. They are executed manually, for example, any payment made by e-check, money order, or direct bank transfer. This is common for custom orders where the price is ascertained after discussing the order. You can enable manual payments on your store simply by enabling it on the WooCommerce payment settings page. However, you need to process and record the payments manually, which adds a bit of operational overhead.

Offline payments

Simply put, any payment that does not involve an online transaction is considered offline. This includes cash payments, over-the-phone payments, check payments, local payments, etc. This method is ideal for customers who prefer paying offline or do not have access to online processing mediums. On the other hand, it’s also slightly risky as there is a slightly higher chance of fraud and disputes, and tracking those transactions can be tedious.

In-person payments

If your customers collect their orders from a walk-in store or a popup shop, in-person payments are a good alternative to online payments. In-person payments can be made using various methods, including cash, credit and debit cards, or mobile payments. You can process in-person payments with WooCommerce using a payment terminal or POS system compatible with WooCommerce. Payment gateways for WooCommerce, like Square, have a mobile app to facilitate in-person payments. If you want to accept card payments such as debit or credit cards, you can also use WooCommerce In-Person Payments M2 to process transactions.

How do I add a payment gateway to WooCommerce?

Now let’s see how you can set up each payment gateway. We’ll go through the setup process of both PayPal and Stripe.

How to integrate PayPal with WooCommerce

To integrate PayPal with WooCommerce, you first need to install the WooCommere PayPal Payments plugin. For this, go to WP admin → Plugins → Add New. Now look for the WooCommerce PayPal Payments plugin and install and activate it.

Now you need to connect your account with the plugin. Go to plugin settings and click on Connect account button. You can also set up a test/sandbox environment on your site before making changes live. You can get sandbox account login details from PayPal Sandbox → Accounts → View/Edit account.

Enter the login details in the PayPal Connect setup wizard and finish setting up the account. Finally, go back to WooCommerce → Payments and enable PayPal payments from the list of payment options. You have successfully set up PayPal with WooCommerce.

How to integrate Stripe with WooCommerce

Integrating Stripe with WooCommerce is similar to PayPal. Firstly, you need to download and install Stripe for WooCommerce. You can download it for free here. Then, follow the same steps and install the plugin on your website.

For configuration and setup, you need to connect your account with Stripe. For this, go to WooCommerce → Settings → Payments and click Finish set up for Stripe payment option. If you do not have an account with Stripe, you can create it or log in with your existing account.

Alternatively, you can enter the Stripe account’s API keys by selecting “Enter account keys” and copy-paste them from your Stripe dashboard.

You can go through other settings, and once you are done, click on Save Changes.

To ensure all your payment gateways are running perfectly, you need to regularly update them and also update WordPress, WooCommerce, and other plugins to keep up with the latest security standards. This will help prevent any issues with the payment gateways. Still, if you face any problems such as payment fraud, chargebacks, or security issues, we recommend contacting the plugin support team, as they will be able to help you troubleshoot it the right way.

Can I use multiple payment gateways on WooCommerce?

Yes! You can use more than one payment gateway on your website, such as PayPal and Stripe, on your WooCommerce store. We recommend using multiple payment gateways on your store as it can increase conversion rates and provide more convenience for shoppers. To enable multiple payment gateways, go to the Payments tab in your WooCommerce settings. You can enable or disable multiple gateways, such as Stripe and PayPal. You may need to configure both separately, but you can have both gateways running simultaneously without any issues.

Simplify payment for your customers: Add an on-page popup!

Any eCommerce store can benefit from having a seamless checkout experience. If your customers go through a frictionless checkout process, they’ll more likely complete the purchase. You can add an on-page checkout popup mechanism to facilitate faster checkouts. Here, customers can place orders quickly by clicking a Buy Now button on your store.

Benefits of adding an on-page popup

• An on-page popup allows customers to place orders without navigating away from the single product page or shopping cart, making the process smooth and more convenient.
• Allowing customers to make payments in an on-page popup could help increase conversion rates, eliminating friction in the checkout process.
• By making the checkout process more convenient and less time-consuming, an on-page popup payment option can help reduce cart abandonment.
• On-page popups are more mobile-friendly than traditional checkout pages, allowing customers to complete their purchases easily on their mobile devices.
• Keeping the customer on the same page during checkout decreases the risk of data breaches and hacking attempts from malicious groups.
• On-page popups are more flexible and customizable, allowing you to tailor the payment process to your specific needs, and they can be designed to match your site branding and style.
• An on-page popup allows for better tracking and analytics of the checkout process, making it easier to identify potential issues and optimize the process.

To add an on-page popup checkout on your WooCommerce store, you can use the WooCommerce Fast Cart plugin. It comes with intuitive features to make the checkout experience on your store more seamless. The plugin supports most payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, Amazon Pay, Braintree, Authorize.net, check payments, direct bank transfers, and cash on delivery.

With the WooCommerce Fast Cart plugin, your customers will be able to make payments with their preferred method right from the popup checkout without being redirected to another page.

Which is the best WooCommerce payment gateway?

Your store’s payment gateway is the last step of a typical checkout process, and ideally, it should be designed to facilitate faster checkouts. You can pick the payment gateway that fits your store’s requirements. Each payment gateway WooCommerce extension has some unique factors that set them apart.

PayPal is well known and is highly recognizable and trusted by online shoppers. Stripe lets you take your operation global and start accepting payments in different currencies. We recommend combining PayPal and Stripe to get the best results. Of course, this varies business by business, so you need to pick the one that fits your business, budget, location, and type of customers.

You can also add a pop-up cart on your website using the WooCommerce Fast Cart plugin. With WooCommerce Fast Cart, you can add a Buy Now button to every product on your WordPress site to let customers initiate instant checkouts. This can instantly boost conversions by providing a faster checkout mechanism with fewer distractions. If you want to give WooCommerce Fast Cart a try, you can get it here.

Which payment gateway did you choose for your WordPress website? Let us know in the comment section below!