List of payment methods for online merchants
This guide breaks down every major payment method — cards, digital wallets, bank transfer, QR payments, point-of-sale, buy now pay later, and crypto — with typical fees, settlement times, and the regions where each method dominates. Every category links to the providers in this directory that support it.
indexed payment method labels are referenced across the provider directory and can be used to guide deeper filtering on the providers page.
Method categories
High-intent payment method paths
These are the payment method categories buyers and operators tend to search first when comparing provider fit.
Credit Card Payments
Discover providers that prioritize card acceptance, checkout coverage, and merchant acquiring support.
Bank Transfer
Explore providers built around bank rails, account-to-account flows, and local transfer methods.
Digital Wallets
Compare providers and products focused on stored value, wallet checkout, and consumer payment experiences.
QR Code Payments
Find providers with QR payment support for in-person commerce and mobile-first checkout scenarios.
Mobile Payments
Browse providers that are strong for app-first checkout, device-led flows, and mobile commerce.
Point-of-Sale
Research in-store payment providers and terminals for merchants operating physical locations.
Money Transfer
Compare providers supporting payouts, remittance, and cross-border movement of funds.
Crypto
Review providers with crypto acceptance or crypto payment capabilities in the broader payment stack.
Comparison
Payment method comparison at a glance
The table below summarizes what merchants typically care about most: cost, how fast funds settle, and dispute exposure. Ranges are indicative — always confirm current pricing with the provider before signing up. Card-style chargebacks apply mainly to cards and POS; wallet, bank transfer, QR, and crypto rails are push-based, so disputes are far less common.
| Payment method | Typical merchant cost | Settlement | Example providers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credit & debit cards | ~1.5–3.5% + small fixed fee; higher for cross-border cards | Usually 1–3 business days | Stripe, Adyen, Worldpay |
| Digital wallets | Often similar to cards; some local wallet schemes are cheaper | 1–2 business days via most PSPs | PayPal, Apple Pay, Skrill |
| Bank transfer / A2A | Low — often a small fixed fee or ~0.5–1.5% | Instant (open banking) to 1–2 days (SEPA/ACH) | Trustly, Dwolla, Mollie |
| QR code payments | Commonly ~0.7–2% in local schemes | Often same-day or T+1 | Alipay, WeChat Pay, TrueMoney |
| Buy now, pay later | Typically a fixed fee + percentage per transaction, merchant-funded | Payout to merchant up front | Klarna |
| Crypto payments | ~0.5–1% processor fee; self-hosted gateways can be near-zero | Minutes on-chain; fiat payout varies by processor | BitPay, Coinbase Commerce, BTCPay Server |
| Point-of-sale | Card-present rates are usually lower than online rates | 1–2 business days | Square, Verifone, Ingenico |
By region
Popular payment methods by region
Payment method preferences are intensely local. Cards dominate some markets while wallets or real-time transfers dominate others — offering the wrong mix quietly lowers checkout conversion.
North America
Credit and debit cards remain the default checkout method, with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal accelerating mobile conversion. ACH bank transfers are the standard for higher-value and recurring B2B payments — see Dwolla and Stripe. Explore the United States market page for the full provider list.
Europe
SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Instant make bank rails cheap and fast, while local methods — iDEAL in the Netherlands, Bancontact in Belgium, and Sofort in the DACH region — often outperform cards in conversion. Providers such as Mollie, Adyen, Checkout.com, and Viva Wallet cover most of the continent. Start from the Germany and United Kingdom market pages.
Asia-Pacific
QR-code wallets lead in China (Alipay, WeChat Pay) and UPI dominates India via Razorpay, Paytm, and PhonePe. In Southeast Asia, local wallets and instant-transfer rails matter most — see 2C2P, TrueMoney, and the Philippines and Singapore market pages.
Latin America, Middle East & Africa
Brazil's Pix has made instant bank payments the country's most used method — PagSeguro is a local leader, and PayU covers multiple markets. Cash-based vouchers (Boleto, OXXO) still matter for unbanked shoppers. In the Gulf, cards and regional gateways dominate; in Africa, mobile money such as M-Pesa is the primary rail. See market pages like Qatar and Mozambique for provider coverage.
Fees and settlement: what to expect
Most providers advertise a headline percentage, but the effective cost of a payment method is the sum of several parts: the transaction fee, a fixed per-transaction charge, cross-border and currency-conversion markups (often 1–2% when the customer's currency differs from your settlement currency), and monthly account or gateway fees at some acquirers. Refunds usually return the percentage fee but not the fixed fee, and chargebacks add dispute penalties on card rails.
Settlement timing also differs by rail: card payouts typically land in 1–3 business days, wallet and QR schemes are often T+1, open-banking transfers can be near-instant, and crypto processors pay out on their own fiat-conversion schedule. If cash flow is tight, compare settlement schedules with the same care as headline rates — see individual provider profiles for listed settlement details.
How to choose payment methods for your checkout
- Start with where your customers are. Check your analytics for buyer geography, then match the top markets with their dominant local methods using the regional guide above.
- Cover a card or wallet rail first. Cards and global wallets give broad coverage while you evaluate local methods with higher conversion upside.
- Add local methods where volume justifies it. Local rails often convert meaningfully better than cards in their home markets, but each one adds onboarding and reconciliation work.
- Pick a provider that bundles them. A single provider that aggregates several methods reduces integration and payout complexity versus stitching together niche gateways.
FAQ
Payment method FAQs
What are the main types of payment methods?
The main types are cards (credit and debit), digital wallets, bank transfers including account-to-account and open-banking payments, QR-code payments, buy-now-pay-later, cash-based vouchers, point-of-sale terminals, and cryptocurrency. Most online checkouts combine two or more of these types.
Which payment method is cheapest for merchants?
Local bank transfers and real-time payment schemes are usually the cheapest rails — often below 1% or a small fixed fee. Cards sit in the middle, and cross-border card acceptance is the most expensive. Crypto processors charge roughly 0.5–1%, but price volatility and fiat payout timing add considerations beyond fees.
Do I need a different provider for each payment method?
No. Aggregators and full-stack PSPs such as Stripe, Adyen, and Checkout.com let you accept dozens of methods through one integration and one payout flow. Niche gateways still make sense when you need deeper coverage of a specific market.
How do I find out which methods are popular in a specific country?
Browse the countries directory and open a market page — each lists the providers mapped to that market and the local payment methods they support, so you can assemble a country-specific checkout mix from verified coverage.
Method index
All payment method labels in the current dataset
Card payment provider
For searches focused on card acceptance, credit card payment provider coverage, and checkout support.
Mobile payment service provider
Useful when the search intent is app-first checkout, mobile commerce, device-led payment flows, or wallet-heavy mobile usage.
Crypto payment provider
Start here for merchants comparing crypto acceptance, crypto checkout, and broader digital asset payment coverage.
Payment initiation service provider context
Bank-transfer and account-to-account paths are the closest fit when the search intent is around payment initiation service provider research.