The year 2022 witnessed a boom in the eCommerce world with an increasing number of merchants flocking to online business. Among a plethora of eCommerce platforms, Magento (Adobe Commerce) proved itself to be one of the most outstanding shopping carts. Along with powerful Magento features, it’s essential for Magento users to better the UI/UX of their online store in 2023. One good yet simple way to do this is by utilizing a suitable Magento payment gateway.
If you are already running your online business on Magento or intend to migrate to Magento, read on because this article will provide you with useful information regarding the top 10 Magento payment gateways:
- PayPal;
- Stripe;
- Amazon Payment;
- Braintree;
- Authorize.net;
- 2Checkout;
- Square;
- WorldPay;
- CartaSi;
- SagePay.
What is a Payment Gateway?
In short, a payment gateway works as a middleman between the merchant and customers. It connects the processors (the customers’ credit card bank account) and the acquirers (the merchant’s bank account).
When a customer makes a purchase on your eCommerce store, the payment gateway will process the payment request, enabling safe and convenient online transactions. A payment gateway will carry out all the pieces in the payment workflow.
A proper payment gateway can benefit both customers and merchants. It enables customers to quickly check out and guarantees the merchants the customer payments.
Payment gateways also help prevent any disclosure of your customer’s card details, as they will be encrypted during the transaction. This sensitive information should definitely be protected. Otherwise, there will be room for fraudsters to carry out illegal transactions that will lead to losses, chargebacks, or business reputation distortion.
In a nutshell, a payment gateway enables you to keep eCommerce transactions running smoothly and safely. That will not only bring your customers an enhanced shopping experience but also assist your online business on the path to success.
How to Select a Magento Payment Gateway?
Among a reservoir of available gateways, it is an uphill task to choose the one that suits your online business. When it comes to choosing a Magento payment gateway, you should carefully take 2 pillars into account:
- The built-in availability of the gateways in your online store’s installation,
- and gateway’s advantages and drawbacks (such as currency support, transaction fees, and license costs…)
On the whole, to help you clearly compare different Magento payment gateways, these requirements should be kept in view:
- Security: How secure customers’ data details are protected. The highest level of data security protection is PCI-DSS compliance – No fraud.
- Convenience: Simple and user-friendly interface – Quick register payment process.
- Capabilities: How many different Magento payment options are offered? Which types of payments are accepted by the payment gateway?
- Costs: Typically, a payment gateway will charge you an additional fee. Along with a per-transaction percentage, you may have to pay for some other fees, such as monthly account fees, initial setup fees, or PCI compliance fees…
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Top 10 Magento Payment Gateways in 2023
Based mostly on their main pros & cons, we sum up a list of Magento payment gateways that suit a Magento-driven store as follows:
#1. PayPal
Without a doubt, PayPal is the top-tier payment acquirer for eCommerce, with 429 million active consumer and merchant accounts and 40.006 payment transactions per minute (Feb 2022). Therefore, it is definitely a big player in the arena of the Magento payment gateway.
Fee: 3.49% + $0.49 (within the US) | 5.0% (international) per transaction (with no setup or monthly fee).
* PayPal also offers a free shipping refund)
Key features:
- PayPal supports over 25 currencies and is available any time in more than 200 countries and territories;
- Users can use a PayPal account or a credit card (including Amex and Visa) to request a purchase;
- However, users have to temporarily leave your Magento site to complete the transaction, which is quite inconvenient.
PayPal Payment Pro
PayPal Payments Pro serves as a business version with more outstanding capabilities. However, higher quality means a higher price!
Fee: $30 monthly fee + 2.90% + a fixed fee per transaction based on the currency you use (+ $0.35 for the EUR, and +$0.30 for the USD)
Key features:
- Supports 26 leading currencies and is available on over 200 markets;
- Accepts payments from credit cards such as Mastercard, American Express, Venmo…
- Offers phone-based credit card and in-person payment as well as online invoicing;
- Keeps users on your Magento site while they complete the transactions.
In Magento 2, you can configure PayPal checkout out-of-the-box. Just follow the path Stores → Configuration → Sales → Payment methods → PayPal Checkout. Here is a brief guide to Magento PayPal integration. Check it out!
#2. Stripe
Being launched in Australia in 2011, Stripe now gains a deserving position in the payment gateway market. Stripe has a great reputation thanks to its scalability and customizability. This Magento payment gateway supports more than 100 currencies in more than 100 different countries around the world
Fee: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (with no monthly fee or setup fee).
Features:
- Lets e-merchants have access to modify the code to customize the gateway in ways that are especially suitable for their needs;
- Offers users better experiences as it allows them to stay on-site during the payment process;
- Also offers users amazing features such as mobile payments or one-click checkout.
#3. Amazon Payment
Starting its service back in 2007, Amazon Payment provides users a secured and streamlined checkout experience.
Fee: 2.9% + $0.30 (for domestic transactions) | 3.9% (for international transactions).
Features:
- Supports 12 leading currencies and 5 different languages;
- Offers 2 services for business: ASP (Amazon Simple Pay) and CBA (Checkout by Amazon);
- Allows users to carry out online transactions on-site using just one account.
#4. Braintree
Born in Chicago in 2007, Braintree is also a well-known Magento payment gateway that is suitable for businesses of all sizes. This payment gateway specializes in supporting mobile and web payments for eCommerce websites. As it serves as an all-in-one Paypal service, Braintree is definitely a wise choice for Magento store owners.
Fee: 2.59% + $.49 per transaction.
Features:
- Features 130+ currencies and is available to use in 45 countries;
- Delivers a seamless checkout;
- Creates customized experience with the assistance of the Hosted Fields tool that meets SAQ A eligibility for PCI compliance;
- Offers features such as fraud prevention tools or recurring billing…
#5. Authorize.net
Founded in 1996, Authorize.net is trusted by more than 430.000 merchants, making it one of the best payment gateways for Magento. This Magento payment method is especially suitable for small or medium online stores.
Fee: $25 monthly fee + 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (if selecting Authorize.net as an All-in-One payment gateway) | $0.10 per transaction + a daily batch fee of $0.10 (if using a merchant account).
Features:
- Is available in more than 33 countries;
- Has a user-friendly interface;
- Processes payments through both credit and debit cards of American Express, MasterCard, Discover, Visa… as well as Google and Apple Pay, e-checks.
#6. 2Checkout
Another out-of-the-box Magento payment gateway is 2Checkout, with over 50.000 merchants all over the world. The cost per transaction will vary, depending on the location of your business. Besides, if your eCommerce store processes more than 50.000 USD/month, you will get a high-volume discount.
Fee: $10.99 monthly service fee + 3.99% + $0.45 per transaction.
Features:
- Supports 87 currencies with 15 languages and integrates with more than 100 eCommerce platforms.
- Accepts 8 payment methods, including debit, credit cards, and PayPal.
- Ensures high security for any transaction with over 300 fraud rules and several security standards such as GDPR, SSAE 18, PCI DSS level 1, and BBB Accreditation.
#7. Square
If you’re looking for a Magento payment gateway for small businesses, Square is the best-suited option.
Fee: 2.9% + $0.30 (for standard processing rate) | 3.5% + $0.15 (for subscription processing rate) per transaction (with no monthly fee).
Features:
- Supports transactions via a credit card, particularly in-person transactions;
- Manages all business data, from real-time reports to customer contacts, in a single place.
#8. WorldPay
Over 400.000 merchants in over 40 countries worldwide are using WorldPay as their payment gateway. WorldPay is an outstanding Magento payment gateway suitable for businesses of all sizes and types. This payment gateway supports more than 120 currencies.
Fee: from 19 GBP (for the Gateway Standard) | from 45 GBP (for the Gateway Advanced) per month.
* If you want to register for PCI compliance, you will have to pay an additional annual fee of 29.99 GBP.
Features:
- Delivers a smooth checkout with on-site payment processing to your customer’s experience;
- Keep track of your business easily with the WorldPay manager tool (managing information, insights, and key reports).
Magento 2 store owners especially can benefit from other superb payment features. For instance, Worldpay vault for card saving and admin order, WorldPay eWallets payment, or Worldpay local card scheme payment.
#9. CartaSi
With over 17 million customers and a market share of 53%, CartaSi is a popular Magento payment gateway in the Italian market.
Fee: Starts from 1.5% + 0.15 EUR (with no setup cost but a tariff per transaction, depending on the number of transactions that you process per month).
Features:
- Allows businesses to set up the eligibility in the back end, based on the total amount of orders;
- Offers users two packages with their own features to choose from: Professional Account and Business Account.
#10. Opayo (SagePay)
Over 40.000 businesses have recognized SagePay as an optimal Magento payment gateway with a priority on security and fraud reduction.
Fee: from 25 GBP for 350 transactions/month | from 45 GBP for 500 transactions/month.
* The corporate packages will have a bespoke cost. Additionally, if you register for PCI DSS certification, you will have to pay an additional fee of 20 GBP.
Features:
- Has the highest level of security with PCI DSS level 1 compliance;
- Offers additional data protection layers such as CVC, 3D Secure authentication, and AVS that keep your cards’ sensitive details safe.
Specifically, users can choose from 3 Sagepay integration options with different interfaces and payment processes. These include SagePay Direct, SagePay Form, and SagePay Server. These options are respectively suitable for small and medium companies, and large enterprises. Besides, SagePay also offers you two packages: business package, and corporate package.
How Does The Payment Gateway Work?
When a buyer makes a virtual payment through credit cards, the card’s information will be packaged using digital capture files rather than a credit card reader. This is when a payment gateway will help:
- Push the transaction information to the acquiring bank (the merchant bank or acquirer)
- Determine which credit card network (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express) issued the buyer’s card.
- Route the transaction information to the correct payment switch
- The payment switch routes the request to the bank that issued the buyer’s credit card (the issuing bank) and pushes the transaction information onto the correct credit card network.
- The issuing bank applies fraud detection procedures to determine the legitimacy of the transaction and confirms the buyer has sufficient credit in their account to accommodate the purchase.
- The issuing bank approves (or rejects) the transaction and sends this information back through the credit card network to the merchant bank and the payment gateway.
This process may only happen in seconds and mostly takes place in the background of a transaction.
How to Integrate Magento Payment Gateway?
Now, you might have already found the right payment gateway for Magento stores and are wondering about the full steps of Magento payment gateway integration. Take the following high-level steps:
- Configure general payment method module options. Described in the Payment method module configuration topic.
- Configure payment method options. Described in the Payment method configuration.
- Implement and configure payment method facade – the entity allowing the processing of payment actions between Magento sales management and payment processor. Described in the Payment method facade and Payment info rendering in the Admin checkout
- Implement and configure payment actions (like authorize, void, and so on). Described in Add a gateway command.
Your payment method might be available from either storefront, Admin, or both. It can also have a different configuration for each area. The keynotes on how to configure where the method can be used, and how to implement different behaviors, are described in the Configure payment method by area topic.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, it is worth reaffirming that choosing a proper Magento (Adobe Commerce) payment gateway for your stores to reside on is essential in today’s digital age with a booming eCommerce industry. It enables you to deliver frictionless customer journeys that will help you venture further into the increasingly demanding eCommerce world.
There exists an abundance of Magento payment gateway extensions in the market with their own pros and cons. Try as many options as possible to experience and find the optimal one for your Magento stores!
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