Payment gateways, payment platforms, and fintech tools
10 Tools Reviewed
Expert Curated
Regularly Updated
#1 Best Overall
Paystack
Modern online and offline payments for Africa
Freemium
Free Tier
Paystack is an Africa-focused payment gateway that lets businesses accept payments through cards, bank transfers, mobile money, USSD, Apple Pay, and POS terminals. It provides well-documented APIs for developers, automated payment routing for high success rates, and built-in fraud detection. It serves over 200,000 businesses across Africa.
Pros
Supports a wide variety of payment methods including mobile money, USSD, and bank transfers common in Africa
Well-documented APIs that allow deep customization of payment flows
Automatic payment routing optimizes for highest transaction success rates
Cons
Primarily focused on African markets — limited utility for businesses outside Africa
Transaction-based fees can add up significantly for high-volume merchants
Detailed pricing not publicly transparent on the homepage — requires account creation or sales contact
Best for:Businesses in Africa needing to accept payments from customers worldwide
Add a shopping cart to any website in minutes with simple HTML/JS
Paid
Snipcart is an embeddable e-commerce solution that lets developers add a shopping cart and checkout to any website using HTML attributes and a JavaScript snippet. It supports physical and digital products, multiple payment gateways, shipping carriers, tax automation, and inventory management. It's designed for web developers who want commerce capabilities without migrating to a full e-commerce platform.
Pros
Works with any tech stack, CMS, or static site generator—no platform lock-in
Checkout stays on your site with no redirects, preserving brand experience and conversion
Full CSS customization and extensive API/webhooks for deep integration
Cons
Requires HTML and CSS knowledge—not suitable for non-technical users
2% transaction fee on top of payment gateway fees can add up for high-volume stores
$20/month minimum charge applies once you go live, regardless of sales volume
Best for:Web developers adding e-commerce to existing sites without platform migration
The all-in-one commerce platform for selling online and in person
From $39/mo
Shopify is a comprehensive commerce platform used by millions of merchants to sell products online, in person, and across multiple channels. It provides store building tools, payment processing, shipping management, inventory tracking, marketing features, and analytics in a single centralized admin. The platform scales from solo entrepreneurs to enterprise brands, with plans ranging from $14/month to $2,300/month for high-volume businesses.
Pros
Checkout converts 15% higher on average than competing commerce platforms
Massive app ecosystem with 13,000+ third-party integrations for specialized needs
Scales from a $14/month solo plan to enterprise-level with B2B and wholesale support
Cons
Transaction fees for third-party payment providers add 0.6%-2% on top of card processing rates
Plus plan at $2,300/month is expensive and requires a 1- or 3-year commitment
Full checkout customization is only available on the most expensive Plus plan
Best for:Businesses of any size needing a complete online and in-person selling platform
Subscription billing and revenue growth management for SaaS and subscriptions
Free / $599/mo
Free Tier
Chargebee is a subscription billing and revenue operations platform that handles recurring payments, invoicing, tax calculation, and revenue recognition for SaaS and subscription businesses. It supports usage-based, subscription, and hybrid billing models with 35+ payment gateway integrations and PCI-compliant hosted checkout. The platform serves businesses from early-stage startups (free tier up to $250K billing) to large enterprises needing custom solutions.
Pros
Free tier covers up to $250K in cumulative billing, making it accessible for startups
Supports multiple billing models (usage-based, subscription, hybrid) in a single platform
35+ payment gateway integrations with PCI-compliant hosted checkout pages
Cons
Performance tier starts at $599/month with annual commitment, which can be steep for small businesses past the free tier
Retention product priced separately starting at $3,750/month, significantly increasing total cost
Overage fee of 0.75% on billing beyond $250K on the Starter plan can add up quickly for growing businesses
Best for:SaaS and subscription businesses needing automated billing and revenue management
Give your audience an easy way to say thanks with one-time and recurring support.
Freemium
Free Tier
Buy Me a Coffee is a monetization platform for creators that facilitates one-time tips, recurring memberships, and digital product sales. It combines payment processing, content publishing, and email marketing into a single creator-focused tool, offering instant payouts and privacy protection without requiring a traditional e-commerce setup.
Pros
Combines tips, memberships, digital shop, and email marketing in one platform — no need for separate tools
Instant payouts to bank accounts instead of the typical 30-day waiting period
Full ownership of supporter data with export capability; platform never emails your supporters
Cons
Platform takes a percentage cut from every transaction, which adds up for high-volume creators
Limited e-commerce features compared to dedicated platforms like Shopify for physical goods
No advanced analytics or business intelligence tools mentioned for tracking supporter behavior
Best for:Independent creators wanting a simple way to accept fan support and sell digital products.
Sell digital products and earn your first dollar online
Freemium
Free Tier
Gumroad is an e-commerce platform that lets creators sell digital products, subscriptions, and memberships with no upfront costs. It charges a 10% flat fee per transaction plus $0.50 per sale. It is primarily used by independent creators, artists, and educators selling digital goods like courses, design assets, ebooks, and software.
Pros
No monthly fees or upfront costs — you only pay when you make a sale
Extremely simple setup: upload a file, set a price, and start selling immediately
Supports diverse payment models including subscriptions, one-time, and pay-what-you-want
Cons
10% transaction fee is significantly higher than competitors like Shopify or Payhip at scale
Limited storefront customization compared to dedicated website builders
No phone or live chat support — primarily self-serve help center
Best for:Independent creators selling digital products like courses, ebooks, and design assets
Power your entire business with payments, POS, and management tools
Freemium
Free Tier
Square is a comprehensive business platform combining payment processing, point-of-sale hardware and software, online ordering, team management, marketing, and banking services. It serves small to mid-sized businesses across food & beverage, retail, beauty, and professional services industries with industry-specific tools and integrations with major delivery platforms.
Pros
Free tier with no monthly fees — only pay processing fees per transaction
Comprehensive ecosystem covering POS, payments, banking, payroll, marketing, and loyalty in one platform
Industry-specific features for restaurants (KDS, kiosk, voice ordering), retail, beauty, and services
Cons
Processing fees on every transaction can add up for high-volume businesses
Pricing details for Plus and Premium tiers are not transparently displayed on the website
Hardware costs are an additional expense on top of software subscription and processing fees
Best for:Small to mid-sized businesses needing an all-in-one POS and payment platform
Stripe is a full-stack financial infrastructure platform that handles payments, billing, lending, card issuance, and money movement for businesses of all sizes. It serves over 135 currencies and processed $1.4 trillion in 2024, supporting companies from early-stage startups to enterprises like Amazon, Shopify, and Instacart.
Pros
Extensive global coverage with 135+ currencies and payment methods across 160+ countries
Highly reliable with 99.999% historical uptime for core services
Comprehensive product suite covering payments, billing, lending, issuing, and fraud prevention in one platform
Cons
Per-transaction pricing can become expensive at very high volumes without negotiating custom rates
Dispute fees (MXN 150 per dispute) are charged regardless of outcome on standard plans
Capital (lending) product is only available to select businesses based on Stripe history and payment volume
Best for:Developers and businesses needing flexible, API-first payment infrastructure
Enabling all companies to build fintech solutions with open banking APIs
Freemium
Free Tier
Plaid is a financial infrastructure platform that provides APIs for connecting consumer bank accounts to fintech applications. It supports account verification, transaction data retrieval, identity verification, fraud detection, payment initiation, and credit underwriting across 12,000+ financial institutions in 20 countries. It's used by over 7,000 fintech companies including Venmo, Robinhood, and Carvana.
Pros
Connects to 12,000+ financial institutions across 20 countries, providing broad coverage
Comprehensive product suite covering auth, transactions, identity, payments, and fraud in one platform
Free Launch tier lets developers start building and testing without upfront costs
Cons
Pricing for advanced products (Signal, Transfer, Layer, Protect) is not transparent and requires contacting sales
Some financial institutions may not be supported or may have limited data compatibility with certain apps
Primarily focused on U.S. and Canadian markets despite claiming 20-country coverage
Best for:Fintech developers needing bank account connectivity and financial data APIs
Online form builder with beautiful design and smart logic for SMBs
Free / $24/mo
Free Tier
Paperform is an online form builder for small and medium businesses that goes beyond basic data collection to include payment processing, appointment booking, quizzes, surveys, and e-commerce capabilities. It features a document-style editor with rich design options, conditional logic, calculations, and AI-assisted form creation. It integrates with over 2,000 apps and supports multiple payment processors including Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Braintree.
Pros
Extremely versatile — handles forms, payments, bookings, quizzes, and e-commerce in one tool
2,000+ integrations via native connections, Zapier, and Make
Multiple payment gateway support (Stripe, PayPal, Square, Braintree) with subscriptions and tax calculations
Cons
Free tier is very limited (30 submissions/month, Paperform branding, no scoring or calculations)
Submission limits are annual rather than monthly on paid plans, which can be confusing
Custom domains cost an extra $20/month on the Essentials plan
Best for:SMBs needing versatile, branded forms with built-in payments and scheduling
