Best Magento 2 Payment Gateways | Recommended List

As the title indicates, this article will discuss everything there’s to know about Magento 2 payment gateways. The article will touch upon several sub-topics, including:

• What is a Magento 2 Payment Gateway?
• Top Factors to Consider When Selecting a Payment Gateway
• Magento 2 Payment Gateway Integration
• What are the Best Payment Gateway Providers?

Payment Gateways and Online Store Success – What’s the Link?

There’s no doubt that a secure and convenient payment system is crucial for an online store’s success. After all, customers prefer payment methods that are safe and hassle-free, while store owners are more concerned about ease of management. Unavailability of preferred payment method is one of the reasons behind cart abandonment as indicated in the below image.

Cart abandonment is a concern for every online store owner. Currently, the global digital cart abandonment rate is more than 70% . This is quite surprising given how much data businesses have nowadays on their customers and users. Additionally, marketing tools have become a lot more advanced than before, allowing for highly personalised targeting.

Despite all this, the high cart abandonment rate confirms that businesses have failed to meet user requirements. Of course, catering to each requirement is neither possible nor feasible. Nevertheless, store owners must take practical steps to offer greater choice when it comes to payment channels. For example, some people prefer cash on delivery as it is safe while others prefer payment with credit or debit cards.

Similarly, if customers find the payment methods on your store to be lengthy or outright complicated, you will witness a considerably higher abandonment rate. Therefore, it is important to provide payment methods that are not only safe but also provide customers with an easy checkout experience. Magento 2 has a wide range of payment methods available.

The problem is that with an abundance of payment gateways at your disposal, it is often a difficult choice as to which payment gateway(s) to use on your Magento 2 store. Each payment gateway presents its pros and cons, and you can choose the one(s) depending upon your target audience and your store’s needs and preferences. We have rounded up the best payment gateways for Magento 2.

What is a Payment Gateway?

The simplest way to define a payment gateway in the context of online stores is that it is a digital cashier. The gateway processes user payments in a secure and convenient manner. Of course, to gain a more in-depth understanding of Magento 2 payment gateways, we must delve into its working.

How Does a Payment Gateway Work?

As a middleman, the payment gateway makes sure the payment is securely transferred from the customer’s bank account to the merchant’s bank account. When a customer places an order by clicking on the checkout option, the website takes the customer to the payment gateway where they can enter information about their payment method.

Now, the payment gateway authorizes the transaction making way for the bank to check for sufficient balance. If the balance is insufficient, the payment gateway displays an error message informing the customer about what went wrong with the transaction. If there is sufficient balance, the transaction proceeds seeking more information about the payment.

Lastly, the bank settles the money with the payment gateway which in turn settles the money with the merchant. Throughout the process, you do not need to worry about your information being compromised. The reason is the data is encrypted by the payment gateway for security purposes. To summarise all this in a concise and easy to understand manner, simply refer to the below picture.

Factors to Consider While Choosing a Payment Gateway

As mentioned earlier, there are various Magento 2 payment gateways. Of course, you don’t need to add every available gateway to your store. After all, integrating gateways in Magento 2 can be a challenge. Here we’ve highlighted the main factors that merchants should consider while choosing the recommended payment gateway for their Magento store.

1. Security

A minor security incident can ruin your store’s reputation. Afterwards, convincing users to trust your store can prove to be an unsurmountable challenge. Therefore, never compromise on the store’s security, be it the payment gateways or any third-party extension. Always opt for the best. Payment gateway should encrypt sensitive information and comply with the PCI Data Security Standard.

2. Seamless Integration

If you require expert help just setting up a payment gateway, we don’t recommend it all. You’ll always be running into trouble, causing you to reach out to the support team or engage an expert. The best Magento 2 payment gateways offer easy and seamless integration. In other words, even an individual with no prior experience in Magento 2 can set up the gateway.

3. Easy Management

Additionally, the payment gateway should be easy to manage.

4. Easy Checkout Experience

It must be fast & accept payment from credit cards, cheques, or other forms of online payment.

5. Dispute Resolution

When selecting a payment gateway, we always recommend our clients to look into the dispute resolution details. Look for a gateway that offers the least time to resolve a dispute and efficiently handles chargebacks.

6. Support

Even the most experienced Magento professionals can run into trouble with the gateways. Hence, always look for a gateway whose customer support is top-notch. Late replies will impact your store’s sales and user satisfaction.

7. Multi-Currency

If your store is global, then make sure your payment gateway providers support multi-currency payments.

8. Settlement Time

Nowadays, everyone is trying their hands at eCommerce. From the customer’s perspective, the additional choice is always welcoming. However, for store owners, each new store means an extra competitor. To ensure that you stay ahead of the curve, look for a payment gateway that offers the money to your account in the least possible time once a transaction is complete. Use the funds to invest in marketing, product quality, and adding new features to the store.

Best Payment Gateways for Magento 2

Magento is flexible enough to support a variety of payment methods and gateways. A payment gateway can be gauged on its security, convenience, and cost. Below are the best payment gateway service providers that we would recommend for Magento store owners.

Magento is flexible enough to support a variety of payment methods and gateways. A payment gateway can be gauged on its security, convenience, and cost. Below are the best payment gateway service providers that we would recommend for Magento store owners.

• Paypal - Best payment gateway for international transactions & subscriptions
• Stripe - Best for marketplaces & subscription services
• Authorize.Net - A flexible & simplified payment process
• Braintree - Best for global online businesses
• Skrill - Best payment gateway for B2B
• Sage Pay - Best payment gateway for small businesses

Let's check each payment gateway in detail:

1. PayPal

PayPal is the leader when it comes to online payments. It is the most preferred choice of online customers & merchants. PayPal also has amongst the highest number of active consumer accounts (420+ million) and thousands of Magento stores are using PayPal. The figure below shows PayPal users worldwide.

Features:

• Super easy to integrate
• Super easy to send and receive payments
• Accepts Credit cards including Visa, American Express, MasterCard etc.
• Supports 26 currencies in 200 countries
• Allows customized recurring & non-recurring invoices
• No setup & monthly fee
• Best payment gateway for recurring billing
• 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (visit here for the latest rates)

Limitations:

• Prone to frauds due to high penetration and ease of use

2. Stripe

Stripe is a fast-expanding online payment gateway that offers a promising payment solution for Magento 2. Currently available in 25 countries, Stripe is preferred by online merchants due to its support for Magento.

Features:

• No setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees
• 2.9% + 30¢ per successful card charge
• Supports 135+ currencies
• Allows recurring payments
• Integration for Android and iOS for in-app payments
• Allows you to create tools to optimize checkout flow
• 24×7 phone, chat, and email support

Limitations:

• Does not provide 3D secure services
• You are charged extra if you try to change the functionality of Stripe

3. Authorize.Net

Authorize.net is trusted by over 430,000 merchants worldwide making it one of the leading online payment gateways. It is most suited for large enterprises’ needs due to its pricing structure. Large enterprises prefer to use Magento platform and authorize.net as a payment gateway.

Features:

• Easier to set up than PayPal and Stripe
• Extremely secure
• Advanced fraud detection suite
• Customers can pay using credit cards, electronic checks or fund deposits
• Accepts mobile payment
• Supports recurring billing
• Mail/Phone payment

Limitations:

• $25 monthly gateway fee
• 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction

4. Braintree

Braintree which was acquired by PayPal in 2013 is one of the heavy weights in online payment gateways processing over 6 billion transactions a year. Braintree currently accepts international payments in 144 local currencies, with settlement payable in 44 different currencies. If you’ve a global online business , then Braintree is one of the recommended payment gateways for Magento 2.

Features:

• No monthly fee
• 2.9% + $.30 per transaction
• Extensive integrations available
• Advanced fraud protection and 3D secure service
• Accepts mobile payment
• Recurring billing
• Customers can pay via PayPal, Credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay etc.

Limitations:

• Not easy to setup
• No credits back on partial refunds

5. Skrill

Skrill has emerged as one of the top online payment processors with some of the top brands as its customers. It started its services in 2001 and now operates in over 131 countries supporting almost 40 currencies. It’s your ultimate payment solution if cost is an issue for you.

Features:

• Free account
• Easy to use
• Credit card transactions
• Free trial
• Email/Phone payment
• No fixed transfer fee when you send money directly to a bank account
• User-friendly mobile app
• 1-2% transaction charges

Limitations:

• Getting fully operational can be tedious
• Complex fee structure
• High currency exchange fees for “Skrill to Skrill” international transfers

6. Sage Pay

Features:

• . Accepts Credit/Sage Pay allows you to select a package that is most suitable for your business requirements. They offer a business package for small and medium businesses and corporate packages for large enterprises. Sage Pay is renowned for its security and fraud detection mechanism and that’s the main reason that Sage Pay is considered as the top payment gateway for Magento.
• . Debit cards & PayPal
• . Provides advanced reporting tool
• . Customization options
• . Face to face and mobile phone payments
• . Supports wide range of payments
• . Point of sale integrations
• . Subscriptions & recurring billing
• . Supports more than 25 currencies

Limitations:

• . No trial period
• . Charges £20.90/month for 350 transactions per month
• . £45/month for 500 transactions per month

Magento 2 Payment Gateway Integration

It is difficult to explain the integration process since it varies for each payment gateway. Nevertheless, the following instructions will provide you with an idea.

1. Select a Gateway

The first step is to select a gateway. You can select one from above or any other of your choice. Once you finalise, sign up.

2. Obtain the API Credentials

After completing the sign-up process, the payment gateway will provide you with API credentials which are unique for every merchant. Never share the credentials with anyone.

3. Backup Your Magento Store

It is always a wise choice to back up your Magento 2 store before making any significant changes, including integrating a payment gateway. You can simply restore a backup in case things go wrong during the integration process. In fact, taking regular backups is a recommended strategy.

4. Enable Maintenance Mode

Before starting the integration process, we highly recommend that you turn on the maintenance mode. It will allow you to make changes without affecting the store’s live version. When a visitor tries to browse your website, they will come across a message that the website is temporarily unavailable.

To enable maintenance mode, use the following command:

php bin/magento maintenance:enable [--ip=<ip address>]

You can disable the maintenance mode for specific IPs by simply adding the IP address in the above command as shown below:

php bin/magento maintenance:enable --ip=192.168.1.10

5. Install the Gateway

After enabling the maintenance mode, follow the below instructions:

• Step 1 ->Login to your Magento 2 Admin Panel.
• Step 2 -> Go to System -> Web Setup Wizard -> Extension Manager
• Step 3 -> Browse the extension provided by the payment gateway and follow the on-screen instructions.

6. Securing the Gateway

To ensure customer information is secure and encrypted throughout the process, you need to install an SSL certificate. We recommend investing in the best possible SSL certificate for the store.

7. Test Transaction

The best Magento 2 payment gateways offer a testing environment, wherein merchants can test a transaction without any real money exchanging hands. Before going live, we recommend conducting at least 5 – 8 test transactions.

8. Go Live

Once the test transactions are successful, it is time to go live. Since the maintenance mode is enabled, you need to disable it first. Follow the below command to do so:

php bin/magento maintenance:disable [--ip=<ip address>]

Afterwards, publish the integration. This sums up everything there’s to know about Magento 2 payment gateway integration. As mentioned earlier, the steps may vary for each gateway. To integrate PayPal, follow this link. If you run into any trouble while integrating a gateway, you can always reach out to the support team. They will share a relevant how-to guide or a detailed video. In some cases, they can integrate the gateway using remote access.

Final Thoughts on Magento 2 Payment Gateway

Users have more choice than before. Therefore, store owners must go the extra mile to attract and retain customers. When it comes to payment gateways, offering convenient and secure payment options is a must. It is imperative that your Magento 2 website integrate one or more of the above payment processors to securely charge your customers online.

Each gateway has its own set of pros and cons and it’s up to you to prioritize your business/customer’s requirements and decide which one will work best for you. You can always look to your competitors to decide which is the best option. If that’s not possible, the alternative is to ask your target audience to provide suggestions. In case of any queries regarding this article, contact our expert Magento team.

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FAQs About Magento 2 Payment Gateways

Does Magento 2 have any default payment gateways?

It is pertinent to mention that Magento 2 offers three payment gateways by default. They are PayPal, BrainTree, and Authorize.net.

What is the cost of setting up a payment gateway in Magento 2?

The exact cost for setting up a payment gateway varies. As discussed in the article, every gateway has a separate transaction fee.

Can I restrict certain payment methods for specific customers?

Yes, it is possible to restrict payment methods based on variables such as individual customer, customer groups, location, and more. For this, you will need an extension such as Magento 2 Payment Restrictions by FME.

What’s the difference between a payment gateway and payment processor?

The gateway simply transfers information between the customer, business, and payment provider. On the other hand, the processor executes the transaction.