Top 8 best Stripe alternatives for payments in 2025

Stripe is an incredible business.

In fact, one of the most profound business philosophies I’ve learned has come from Stripe's Chief Revenue Officer — someone who I had the opportunity to listen to on a panel during New York City’s Tech Week.

I remember him saying, “Every year, we sit down and ask ourselves how can we make our current customers more successful this year than they were last year?”

It’s so simple. And at first, I didn’t think much of it.

But I started to realize it’s at the core of how Stripe has created one of the, if not the most, valuable tech companies Silicon Valley has ever seen.

The core message was about customer retention. If you can make your current clients and customers more money each year, there’s a good chance they will want to stick with you and pay you even more.

The more they win, the more you win.

It’s why Stripe has branched out and acquired companies like Indie Hackers and even launched their own company formation service, Atlas.

But Stipe is one of those “one size fits all” types of companies. At the end of the day, it’s a payment processor at heart.

And sometimes, when you have a specific and special business, you need a specific and special payment gateway. One that understands the type of business you’re running and gives you the exact features your type of business needs. Nothing more, nothing less.

So in this article, we are going to go over all the different Stripe alternatives you can use depending on the type of business you’re running.

I’ll mention what I believe each alternative is best for, and we’ll even dive into potential limitations, reviews from actual customers, and what you should be aware of before you integrate these payment gateways.

Alright, no more rambling. Let’s get into it.

What to look for in a Stripe alternative

When looking for a Stripe alternative, you need to figure out how a payment gateway integrates into your overall workflow and what features you need your payment information to interact with. What I mean by this is that, depending on the type of business you’re running, accepting payments will look different.

For example, if you’re a marketplace, you’ll need a payment processor that can handle a lot of volume while also helping your merchants give their customers refunds, discounts, and more.

Similarly, if you’re a service provider, like an agency, firm, or freelancer, you need a payment gateway that can integrate with some sort of CRM where you can track which clients have paid you (and which ones still haven't).

Here are some things you should consider when choosing a payment gateway:

• Integration into your existing workflow: Whether you’re a marketplace, SaaS, or service-based business, the platform you choose should integrate with your CRM, accounting software, or client management portal. For example, Copilot’s billing app allows you to track invoices, automate reminders, and manage payments in one central place.
• Support multiple payment methods: Your customers should be able to pay with a credit card, debit card, digital wallets (like Apple Pay and Google Pay), and ACH. You should also be able to process these easily.
• Customization options: Ideally, you should be able to make your checkout pages similar to the rest of your brand. If you’re able to create a cohesive and consistent customer experience, people will trust your brand. Especially when it comes to payments — a part of your business people are cautious of.
• Scalability, security, and compliance: Of course, you need a payment gateway that can scale up or down depending on your customer volume — this is a no-brainer. But you also need to make sure you comply with PCI-DSS standards and have fraud detection. If you operate in a highly regulated industry, the provider you use should support features like advanced encryption, two-factor authentication, and compliance with local payment regulations.
• Customer support: Some businesses don’t think about this but this is absolutely crucial when it comes to payments. Fraud, chargebacks, account freezes — all of these can give you headaches and make it necessary to talk to some sort of customer support manager. Large businesses usually have automated customer service operations and a high volume of support tickets coming in, so it can be hard to get your questions and concerns resolved quickly. Smaller to medium-sized payment gateways generally take their customer service seriously. This is not always the case, but something to think about.

There are a slew of other things I could add here, but to be honest, this is the core of it. I’m not going to add extra stuff for content's sake.

Now, let’s go over eight different Stripe alternatives so you can find the one that makes the most sense for what you’re trying to accomplish in your business.

8 best Stripe alternatives & competitors in 2025

Here are my favorite Stripe alternatives in 2025:

1. Copilot (best for service providers)
2. Paddle (best for SaaS companies)
3. Shopify Payments (best for ecommerce)
4. PayPal (best for affiliate programs)
5. Zoho Invoice (best for entrepreneurs)
6. Square (best for local businesses)
7. Kajabi Payments (best for education businesses)
8. Adyen (best for consumer businesses)

Alright, let's go over each one.

1. Copilot

• Best for: Service providers who work with clients
• Pricing: Starts at $39 per month billed annually
• Transaction fees: Yes. These fees can be passed on to clients using the surcharging feature.

Copilot is a platform that helps service providers (agencies, firms, freelancers, and consultants) manage all of their clients in one place. While Stripe is focused primarily on payments, Copilot takes it a step further and gives you an integrated client portal that combines billing, project management, forms, messages, CRM capabilities, and a lot more.

With Copilot’s Billing App, you can create branded invoices, automate recurring billing and subscriptions, create client contracts (with e-signature capabilities), and integrate all the existing tools you’re already using in your business.

Things like automating your customer onboarding, creating white-label client portals, and even integrating with QuickBooks can all be done with Copilot.

Let’s look at some of its popular features.

Top features of Copilot

Here are some of Copilot’s top features:

• Billing and invoicing: Easily generate branded invoices, set up recurring payments, and track all of your outstanding invoices in one place.
• E-signature integration: With Copilot, you can send contracts to your clients and have them digitally sign any documents.
• Client portals: Create branded client portals for all of your clients to customize their experience working with you. Your clients and log into their portal at any time and see any updates, outstanding invoices or documents, messages, and anything that’s important related to your services.
• Integrated messaging: With Copilot’s Message App, you can communicate with your clients directly within their portal. You can also see all of your messages from different clients directly in your admin dashboard — keeping everything organized without having to bounce around different email threads.
• CRM and client tracking: Add clients within your admin dashboard and track everything from outstanding invoices, messages, tasks, and ongoing projects.
• Feature scalability: Copilot was created to be an extensible platform. This means you can access the app marketplace to enhance the functionality of your client portals. You can easily add helpdesks, intake forms, project management, and custom features.

Potential limitations

• Learning curve: Because you can do so much in Copilot, there will naturally be a slight learning curve to figuring out how to get around. Luckily, based on customer feedback, Copilot has created a handful of different YouTube videos and guides to learn the platform.
• Specialized integrations: While Copilot can connect with almost any app in your existing tech stack, if you need very specific features that aren’t available by default, it will take some time to get those features developed. Luckily, Copilot’s support team cares a lot so no feature integration is ever off the table. Just ask!

Pricing & fees

Copilot has a standard pricing structure most software companies have. Here are its pricing tiers (paid annually):

• Starter: $39/month. Gives you one internal user, up to 50 clients, and all the essential features you need to process payments and bill your clients.
• Professional: $149/month. Gives you three internal users, up to 500 clients, everything in Starter + custom domain, Zapier and Make integration, custom apps, custom visibility, and low transaction fees.
• Advanced: $399/month. Gives you five internal users, unlimited clients, everything in Professional + no Copilot branding, HIPAA compliance, and lower payment processing fees.
• Enterprise: Custom tailored pricing. Gives you unlimited internal users, unlimited clients, every feature possible with Copilot, priority support, lowest processing fees, and volume discounts.

In terms of transaction fees when processing payments, here’s what you’re looking at:

• Credit card transactions: 2.9% + $0.30 (Similar to Stripe)
• ACH transactions: 1% (with a max of $5 on higher-tiered plans)
• Invoicing fees: Between 0.3%-0.5% depending on your plan.

You can learn more about how all the fees work here.

You can also choose to either absorb the transaction fees yourself or pass them on to your clients. For context, I use Copilot for my own content marketing agency and I generally pass on the transaction fees to my clients.

Ratings and reviews

Here’s what actual customers of Copilot have to say about the platform on third-party review websites:

• G2: 4.8 out of 5-star rating (from +202 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7 out of 5-star rating (from +22 reviews)

“"Good Experience. Great way of managing clients, invoice and take payments. Love building apps too." — Shahrukh M., Small business CEO

“We needed a solution for a portal that was quick and easy to set up and was able to integrate with our website and payment processor. So far, we've had no issues. Setup went smoothly and each person on our team has been able to access everything without issues. When we did run into one small problem, we reached out to Copilot and they replied quickly and helped us out.” — Verified customer in the real estate business

If you want to play around with Copilot for free (no strings attached) check out the demo portal and see the platform for yourself!

2. Paddle

• Best for: Software startups
• Pricing: Pay-as-you-go with a 5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction fee.
• Transaction fees: Yes, see pricing.

Founded in 2012, Paddle is a popular payment platform designed specifically for SaaS (software as a service) businesses. It’s an all-in-one payment management solution for software companies, helping them handle subscriptions, payments, and taxes.

Paddle also helps you handle things like VAT/GST compliance and other global SaaS billing needs. So if you're a startup that sells to customers internationally, this is a platform you should look into.

Let’s go over some of its top features.

Top features of Paddle:

Here are some notable features of Paddle:

• Subscription billing: At the core of a software business is its recurring revenue. With Paddle, you have all the tools you need to create recurring payments and subscription models.
• Merchant of record: Easily handle fraud prevention, tax compliance, and any chargebacks. You can learn more about this here.
• SaaS analytics: Gain insights into analytics and reporting designed to help you track MRR, ARR, and churn.
• Checkout customization: Give users a branded and localized checkout experience.
• Tax automations: Automate VAT, GST, and sales tax calculations so you can be compliant across different jurisdictions.

Potential limitations

• High transaction fees: While most payment gateways have transaction fees, Paddle’s is on the higher end. This is because you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription fee to use the service. So, because of this, they naturally charge a higher transaction fee.
• Limited business use cases: Paddle is most used for software businesses. So unless you’re one of those, it’s probably not the best platform to use for your payment and billing needs.

Pricing & fees

Paddle has a pretty simple pricing structure. It’s a pay-as-you-go service so you’re only paying when you have a transaction go through. Essentially, you only pay when you get paid.

Paddle’s transaction fees are 5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction. However, they also have custom pricing for businesses that need more tailored solutions. You will need to contact sales if you want to learn more.

Ratings and reviews

Here’s what customers on third-party review sites say about Paddle:

• G2: 4.5 out of 5-star rating (from +171 reviews)
• Capterra: 3.4 out of 5-star rating (from +15 reviews)

Another alternative to Paddle you can also use, which was acquired by Stripe, is Lemon Squeezy. I didn’t include this as its own listing in this article because it is very similar to Paddle and it is pretty much Stripe with a different user interface.

3. Shopify Payments

• Best for: Ecommerce businesses
• Pricing: Starts at $29 per month (billed annually)
• Transaction fees: 2.9% + 30¢ USD

Shopify Payments is Shopify’s billing and payment platform designed for ecommerce stores built on top of Shopify. That’s a whole lot of “Shopify.”

It’s great for businesses that already use Shopify to sell their products because it works seamlessly without having to integrate with a third-party payment processor. It has all the features an ecommerce store needs — from accepting payments, processing refunds, and dealing with annoying chargebacks.

Top features of Shopify Payments

Here are some of Shopify Payments best features:

• Easy integration with Shopify: This gives you a fully integrated payment processor for Shopify without having to worry about third-party payment gateways and their extra processing fees.
• Global payment support: You can accept payments across the globe (within countries that are legal to do business with) so you can take your store international.
• Fraud prevention: There are built-in tools to help you identify fraudulent payments (and help prevent them).
• Multi-channel payment support: You can accept payments online or in person with Shopify’s POS system. In fact, accepting payments in person has a lower transaction fee compared to online payments.
• Great analytics: Shopify has always been known for its great first-party analytics and transparent reporting in the admin dashboard.

Potential limitations

• Limited to Shopify users: Shopify Payments is only available to those who are using Shopify. So if you’re using a different platform for your ecommerce needs, like WooCommerce or Webflow Ecommerce (or really any other platform), you won’t be able to use Shopify Payments.
• Limited to specific regions: While Shopify Payments can work internationally, they don’t work with every country. So you should double-check if Shopify Payments can work in your country or in the countries of your ideal customers.

Pricing & fees

Shopify Payments works similarly to the regular Shopify platform. The pricing includes you paying for a standard monthly Shopify plan, and the payments platform works on a transaction fee basis.

Here’s what the pricing + transaction fee looks like:

• Basic: $39 per month + 2.9% + 30¢ USD online, 2.6% + 10¢ USD in person, 2% 3rd-party payment providers.
• Shopify: $105 per month + 2.7% + 30¢ USD online, 2.5% + 10¢ USD in person, 1% 3rd-party payment providers.
• Advanced: $399 per month + 2.5% + 30¢ USD online, 2.4% + 10¢ USD in person, 0.6% 3rd-party payment providers.

As you can see, the transaction fees get lower the higher tired plan you go. A standard practice across most companies.

Ratings and reviews

Here’s how customers rate Shopify Payments on third-party review sites:

• G2: 4.4 out of 5-star rating (from +320 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6 out of 5-star rating (from +184 reviews)

4. PayPal

• Best for: Affiliate and partner programs
• Pricing: Transaction fee model, see pricing below.
• Transaction fees: Varies based on features and currency, see pricing section below.

PayPal is one of the original payment gateways of the internet. It’s the one I used when I first bought something online and when I accepted my first payment online. If you use Stripe, I’m certain you already know what PayPal is so I don’t have to explain much.

I added PayPal to this list because it’s a great Stripe alternative for businesses that work with a lot of affiliates, partners, and contractors. I’ve seen tons of companies use PayPal to pay out commissions to their partners. So it’s a great solution not just to accept payments but to send them as well. It’s why PayPal acquired Venmo — the popular send/receive money to friends app.

Top features of PayPal

Here are some of PayPal’s features:

• International payments: Similar to other payment processors, PayPal works globally (within supported countries).
• Affiliate payouts: Easily payout affiliates and partners at scale with recurring transfer features.
• Digital wallet: Customers can pay for things with their own PayPal balance — acting like a bank. This way, businesses can send money as quickly as they receive it.
• Mobile app: PayPal has a mobile app that lets you manage your payments and balance on the go.
• Fraud and buyer protection: There are tons of built-in security features to protect both you and your customers from hackers and fraudulent transactions.

Potential limitations

• High international fees: PayPal has a similar structure for transaction fees as other popular payment processors like Stripe, However, you will run into much higher transaction fees based on the different countries you do business with.
• Account holds: Many users report that sometimes PayPal will hold your funds based on transaction behavior. I’ve had this personally happen to me once when a scammer did an unethical chargeback and it froze my account. It took many hours and support calls to get it cleared.

Pricing & fees

PayPal does not have a flat monthly fee like some other platforms on this list. However, they do have different transaction fees. These fees are based on currencies and different PayPal features.

For example, if you’re doing business in USD and you have customers paying through a standard PayPal checkout, it will be 3.49% + $0.49. But if a customer pays via the QR code feature, it will be 2.29% + $0.49.

Long story short, the fees vary a lot. If you want to learn more, check out their fees page.

Ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4 out of 5-star rating (from +2,109 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7 out of 5-star rating (from +25,359 reviews)

If you’re an enterprise business, it also might be worth looking into Braintree (a PayPal company).

5. Zoho Invoice

• Best for: Entrepreneurs & small businesses
• Pricing: Free for invoicing
• Transaction fees: Standard Stripe or PayPal fees

Zoho is a platform that creates a suite of different business tools. Their Zoho Invoice feature is a payment platform designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The platform lets you create invoices, manage payments, and keep your finances simple.

Startups like the platform because it’s free to get started with — so you don’t have to commit to any payment plans to get started. However, you will get the most out of the platform if you decide to also use the other tools in the Zoho ecosystem.

Top features of Zoho Invoice

Here are some popular features of Zoho Invoice:

• Expense tracking: Easily monitor your business expenses alongside your invoicing so you can keep track of cash flow.
• Payment gateway integrations: Zoho Invoice is made for invoices, so you need to integrate it with other payment processors like Stripe or PayPal.
• Invoice maker app: Zoho has a suite of mobile apps you can use, one of those being the “Zoho Invoice Maker App” that lets you create invoices on the go.
• Custom invoices: Create branded invoices tailored to your services.

Potential limitations

• Branding: Zoho keeps its “Powered by Zoho Invoice” logo on your invoices. So if total customization and brand is high priority, you might want to look into an alternative payment processor.
• Inactive account deletion: If you don’t invoice frequently, like within 120 days, your data will be deleted. So you need to be consistently using the platform to retain your user data. It makes sense for a “free” platform.

Pricing & fees

While Zoho Invoicing is free to use, you still have to pay the standard payment gateway fees you would pay with Stripe or PayPal. So if you’re trying to find a way to avoid the Stripe fees, you might want to consider a different tool.

Ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.7 out of 5-star rating (from +352 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7 out of 5-star rating (from +776 reviews)

6. Square

• Best for: Local businesses
• Pricing: Has a free plan + processing fees
• Transaction fees: 2.6%-3.3% + fixed fee (see pricing section below)

Square is a popular POS system for small businesses. It can be used both online or in person. However, it’s best known for being used in person for local businesses — think cafes, mom-and-pop shops, salons, and more.

The payment processor is known for its card readers and the integrated features it has for accepting payments and handling other parts of businesses like booking appointments (like for salons).

You might be thinking, are Square and Stripe competitors? And the answer is: not really. While Stripe is better suited for online payments, Square is better for in-person transactions.

Top features of Square

Here are some of Square’s popular features:

• In-person & online payments: Square shines when trying to process payments in person. But you can also use the platform for online payments as well.
• Integrated ecommerce tools: If you’re a local business with a website that lets your customers also shop online, you can use Square to keep all of your finances in one place.
• Analytics: Square has great reporting and analytics features. You can track sales, see payment trends, and get different customer insights in one dashboard.
• A suite of tools: Square has an all-in-one ecosystem that lets you also handle other things like payroll, appointment scheduling, and managing your employees.

Potential limitations

• Limited to smaller businesses: Square is great for smaller local businesses. However, it may not be the best for ecommerce or software startups.
• Limited regions: Square is not available in as many countries like Stripe or PayPal may be.

Pricing & fees

Square has no fixed monthly fee if you want to use it just for accepting payments. If you want to get advanced features like appointment scheduling, you will need their ‘Plus’ plan which starts at $29 per month. All plans have transaction fees.

Square’s transaction fees are as follows:

• In-person payments: 2.6% + $0.10 per transaction
• Online payments: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
• Keyed-in payments: 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction
• Invoices: 3.35% + $0.30 per transaction

Ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.6 out of 5-star rating (from +154 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7 out of 5-star rating (from +2,557 reviews)

7. Kajabi Payments

• Best for: Online education businesses
• Pricing: Starts at $69 per month
• Transaction fees: 0%

Kajabi is a platform for online education businesses. It’s actually the platform I use for my own course which is why I mentioned it here. I mainly chose the platform because of the 0% transaction fees from the Kajabi Payments feature.

The platform is great for creators, coaches, and education entrepreneurs who need an all-in-one platform to receive payments and deliver on their services. The Kajabi Payment platform is great cause it reduces the need for third-party payment gateways like PayPal or Stripe, and simplifies all the technical aspects of accepting payments for digital products. Their payouts are also on time and easy to deal with.

Top features of Kajabi Payments

Here are Kajabi’s popular features:

• Subscription management: Easily create recurring payments for things like private communities/memberships or workshops.
• Revenue tracking: Get analytics on sales, revenue, and customer payment history.
• Multiple payment options: Let your customer pay via credit card or digital wallets.
• Integrated with other Kajabi features: This makes it great for selling courses, private memberships, or hosting classes — integrating payments so you can see which students are driving your revenue.

Potential limitations

• Limited to Kajabi users: If you’re not using Kajabi, you can use Kajabi Payments.
• Basic reporting tools: While Kajabi gives you decent analytics on payments and student information, much of the nitty gritty analytics are missing. It’s something I wish they would work on more.

Pricing & fees

Kajabi has multiple pricing options for their different plans. The pricing depends on the number of products you have and other small features that help you grow your student base.

Here are their pricing plans:

• Kickstarter: $69 per month
• Basic: $149 per month
• Growth: $199 per month
• Pro: $399 per month

See all of the features and compare plans here.

Ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.3 out of 5-star rating (from +80 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4 out of 5-star rating (from +203 reviews)

8. Adyen

• Best for: Enterprise consumer companies
• Pricing: No monthly fee, only transaction fees
• Transaction fees: Varies based on currencies (see pricing below)

Adyen is a payment platform designed for large-scale enterprise companies. Mostly consumer-focused brands use them — think Uber, McDonalds, Spotify, and more.

Adyen is a great Stripe alternative because it allows large businesses to handle complex payment ecosystems that are both online and offline. In-store, online, and mobile — it handles all types of payments.

The platform also handles over 250 payment options, making it cater to a wide range of currencies and customer preferences across the globe. On top of that, they also have analytics tools, fraud protection, and other security tools enterprises care about.

Top features of Adyen

Here are Adyen’s popular features:

• Global payment options: Accept payments from different countries, different currencies, and different methods (credit cards, digital wallets, local payment options, etc.).
• Dynamic payment routing: Optimize different payment acceptance rates by routing transactions through your most efficient channels.
• Omnichannel support: Easily integrate with online, mobile, or in-store payments across different currencies and payment preferences.
• Scalability & security: Everything is enterprise-grade. This means Adyen can handle all the complex scaling requirements large businesses need. And because of that, the platform is also secure enough that enterprises trust it.

Potential limitations

• Made for enterprises: Most businesses aren’t large enterprises. So the platform only caters to a small percentage of businesses in the market.
• Complex onboarding: Because of all the complexities, it can take a while (and a lot of technical support) to get up and running with Adyen as your payment processor.

Pricing & fees

There are no monthly flat fees for Adyen, however there are transaction fees. These fees are based on the region and currency you are using. For example, for VISA payments you’re looking at $0.13 + Interchange + 0.60% per transaction. And these fees vary depending on the cards used and payment options.

See the full list of transaction fees and types here.

Ratings and reviews

• G2: 3.4 out of 5-star rating (from +25 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7 out of 5-star rating (from +14 reviews)

What is the best alternative for Stripe?

The best alternative for Stripe is going to depend on the type of business you’re running. If you’re a service provider that works with clients and different vendors, Copilot is a highly-rated option. If you’re an ecommerce company, Shopify Payments is the best choice. And if you’re a software company, you might want to consider Paddle or Lemon Squeezy.

It all depends on your use case.

Hopefully, by now, you have a general idea of what tools make the most sense for your business (and budget). As you can see there are a lot of options out there — each with their own pricing models and processing fees.

Now go out and process those payments!