When comparing woocommerce payment gateways, the most important fact to start with is that WooCommerce itself does not charge platform transaction fees. Every payment cost you pay comes from the gateway you choose and the card network behind it. That single fact makes gateway selection more consequential on WooCommerce than on Shopify, where the platform fee partially obscures the processor cost. Choosing the wrong gateway on WooCommerce costs nothing upfront and everything at scale.
This guide covers which woocommerce payment gateways are natively supported versus which require plugins, a verified fee comparison across the major options, and which gateway works best for standard stores, subscription businesses, international selling, and high-volume operations.
✓ Pros
- ✓ Open-source and free to use
- ✓ Highly customizable with thousands of plugins and themes
- ✓ Seamless integration with WordPress
- ✓ Extensive payment and shipping options
- ✓ Strong community support and frequent updates
✗ Cons
- ✗ Requires self-managed hosting and security
- ✗ Plugin conflicts can break functionality
- ✗ No central customer support team
- ✗ Steeper learning curve for non-technical users
- ✗ Hidden costs (hosting, premium extensions)
- ✗ Maintenance updates are your responsibility
How WooCommerce Payment Gateways Work: The Basics
WooCommerce ships with several default payment methods built into the plugin: bank transfer (BACS), cheque payments, and cash on delivery. These require no plugin and charge no transaction fee, but they are only suitable for offline or manual payment workflows.
For card payments, digital wallets, and any automated payment processing, you need a payment gateway plugin. WooCommerce supports hundreds of gateways through its extension marketplace and the broader WordPress plugin ecosystem. You can run multiple gateways simultaneously. WooCommerce displays all enabled gateways at checkout and lets customers choose their preferred method.
There are no platform-level transaction fees on WooCommerce regardless of which gateway you use. This is confirmed in WooCommerce’s official payment documentation. The only fees you pay are the processor’s own transaction rates, any plugin subscription costs, and card network fees passed through by the processor.
The Three WooCommerce Payment Gateways Most Stores Use
WooPayments
WooPayments is WooCommerce’s own native payment solution, built on Stripe’s infrastructure and maintained by Automattic, the company that owns WooCommerce. It is the only gateway that manages transactions, refunds, disputes, payouts, and reporting inside the WordPress dashboard without requiring a separate processor login.
Fees (US): 2.9% + $0.30 per domestic online transaction. International cards add 1.5%. Currency conversion adds 1%. No monthly fee, no setup fee.
What it accepts: Major credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and local payment methods depending on country.
Countries supported: 39 countries as of the most recent WooCommerce documentation. This is meaningfully fewer than Stripe’s direct 46+ country coverage, per the WooPayments vs Stripe comparison in WooCommerce’s official documentation.
Best for: First stores and merchants who want the simplest setup. WooPayments connects to a Stripe Express account automatically during onboarding without requiring you to manage API keys. As noted by the WooCommerce team in the official comparison document, the trade-off is that WooPayments does not expose Stripe API keys, which can matter if you need to connect third-party accounting or ERP tools that require direct Stripe access.
Subscriptions: WooPayments does not include recurring billing natively. To accept subscription payments, you need the separate WooCommerce Subscriptions extension, which costs $19.92 per month, according to current Hostinger pricing research.
Stripe for WooCommerce
The direct Stripe plugin connects to a standard Stripe account rather than a Stripe Express account, giving you full access to Stripe’s API keys, the complete Stripe dashboard, and the full range of Stripe’s features. This matters for stores that need advanced fraud controls, multi-site payment management, or integrations with accounting and ERP tools that require Stripe API access directly.
Fees (US): 2.9% + $0.30 per domestic online transaction. International cards: 3.9% + $0.30 plus 1% currency conversion, per Stripe’s official pricing page. No monthly fee, no setup fee. Volume discounts are available through negotiation for high-revenue merchants.
What it accepts: Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link (Stripe’s accelerated checkout with 100M+ saved users), local payment methods including iDEAL, Bancontact, SEPA Direct Debit, and more than 100 additional methods depending on configuration.
Countries supported: 46+ countries with direct settlement, covering more markets than WooPayments.
Subscriptions: Stripe handles recurring billing natively when used with WooCommerce Subscriptions or Stripe’s own Billing API. It supports saved payment methods, automatic renewal retries, and dunning management.
Best for: Stores that need more flexibility than WooPayments provides, merchants outside WooPayments-supported countries, stores with third-party accounting integrations that require API key access, or subscription businesses that need the full Stripe Billing feature set.
On the fee question, WooPayments and Stripe charge the same headline rate of 2.9% + $0.30 for US domestic transactions, per WooCommerce’s own comparison documentation. The practical difference is dashboard integration versus API flexibility.
PayPal
PayPal functions differently from Stripe and WooPayments in one key respect: it is a consumer wallet as much as a payment processor. Customers who have a PayPal account can pay without entering card details on your store, which lifts conversion for that segment of buyers.
Fees (US): 3.49% + $0.49 per standard online transaction for PayPal Checkout, per PayPal’s merchant fees page. Standard card processing through PayPal runs 2.99% + $0.49. Both rates are higher than Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30.
On a $100 sale, Stripe costs $3.20 while PayPal Checkout costs $3.98, a $0.78 difference per transaction, per the Navfuse Stripe vs PayPal fee comparison. At 1,000 transactions per month, that gap becomes $780 per month or $9,360 per year.
Best for: A secondary gateway alongside Stripe or WooPayments. PayPal has over 430 million active accounts globally, per Statista data cited by WPForms. Many customers, particularly in the US, prefer PayPal specifically because it avoids entering card details on an unfamiliar store. The consensus recommendation across experienced WooCommerce operators, as documented by Barn2’s gateway comparison, is to run Stripe or WooPayments as the primary card processor and PayPal as the secondary wallet option.
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WooCommerce Payment Gateways Fee Comparison
| Gateway | US domestic rate | International surcharge | Monthly fee | Plugin cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WooPayments | 2.9% + $0.30 | +1.5% (card) + 1% (FX) | None | Free |
| Stripe | 2.9% + $0.30 | +1.5% + 1% FX | None | Free |
| PayPal Checkout | 3.49% + $0.49 | +1.5% | None | Free |
| PayPal standard cards | 2.99% + $0.49 | +1.5% | None | Free |
| Square | 2.9% + $0.30 (online) | Varies | None | Free |
| Authorize.net | 2.9% + $0.30 + $0.10 | Varies | $25/month | Free |
Sources: Stripe pricing and PayPal’s merchant fees page.
The $0.19 per-transaction fixed fee difference between Stripe and PayPal may appear small. At 500 transactions per month at $30 average order value, the difference compounds to $95 per month or $1,140 per year. For a store doing $10,000 per month in revenue, switching from PayPal as primary to Stripe as primary saves approximately $780 per year on headline rates alone, without accounting for the higher fixed fee on PayPal’s lower-AOV transactions.
WooCommerce Payment Gateways for Specific Use Cases
Subscription businesses
Not all WooCommerce payment gateways support recurring billing. Before setting up a subscription product, confirm your gateway handles saved payment methods, automatic renewal retries, and failed payment dunning.
Stripe handles subscriptions natively through Stripe Billing. When paired with WooCommerce Subscriptions, it supports saved cards, automatic retries on failed renewals, and dunning email sequences. Stripe’s 0.5% surcharge on recurring payments (noted in Stripe’s billing documentation) applies when using Stripe Billing directly, but not when processing renewals through WooCommerce Subscriptions with the Stripe plugin.
WooPayments requires the WooCommerce Subscriptions extension for recurring billing. The extension costs $19.92 per month.
PayPal supports recurring payments through its Reference Transactions feature, but setup requires PayPal business account approval and manual configuration. For subscription stores, Stripe is the cleaner option.
International stores
For stores with customers in multiple countries, gateway fees compound through three layers: the base transaction rate, a cross-border surcharge, and a currency conversion fee.
Stripe adds 1.5% for international cards and 1% for currency conversion, per Stripe’s published pricing. On an international $100 transaction, total Stripe fees in the US are approximately $4.80 (2.9% + $0.30 base plus 1.5% cross-border plus 1% FX).
PayPal adds 1.5% for cross-border transactions but applies a 3% to 4% currency conversion spread on top of this, as Navfuse’s fee comparison documents. For stores with significant international revenue, this spread makes PayPal noticeably more expensive than Stripe on cross-border transactions.
Regional gateways outperform both for high-volume international stores selling in specific markets:
- Mollie covers European local payment methods including iDEAL (Netherlands), Bancontact (Belgium), and SEPA Direct Debit. Available as a WooCommerce plugin, it is the standard recommendation for European stores needing local method coverage.
- Razorpay covers India with UPI, net banking, and local card networks. Required for meaningful conversion with Indian customers.
- Paystack covers Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa.
High-volume stores
At higher revenue levels, a 0.5% to 1% fee difference stops being theoretical. At $100,000 per month, a 0.59% fee gap is $590 per month.
Both Stripe and PayPal offer volume-negotiated rates for high-volume merchants, but neither publishes thresholds or rates publicly. According to Stripe’s documentation, custom pricing is available for merchants with high transaction volumes. Contact your account representative directly once monthly volume consistently exceeds $50,000 to $100,000.
Square is worth considering for stores with both a physical retail presence and online sales. Square charges 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions, matching Stripe’s headline rate, while its in-person rate of 2.6% + $0.10 can reduce blended processing costs for omnichannel stores.
For a full comparison of how WooCommerce total platform costs stack up against Shopify at different revenue levels, including payment gateway fees, see Shopify vs WooCommerce.
How to Set Up WooCommerce Payment Gateways
For WooPayments and Stripe, installation follows the same pattern. The full steps are in the WooCommerce Setup Guide, but the sequence is:
- Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress dashboard
- Search for the gateway plugin (WooPayments or Stripe for WooCommerce)
- Install and activate
- Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments
- Enable the gateway and click Set Up or Manage
- Complete the onboarding flow, which connects your bank account for payouts and verifies your identity
- Enable test mode and place a test order using the gateway’s test card numbers
- Disable test mode when you are satisfied the flow works end to end
For PayPal, the PayPal Payments for WooCommerce plugin is available from the WooCommerce marketplace. Installation follows the same sequence, connecting to your PayPal business account during setup.
You can run multiple gateways simultaneously. WooCommerce shows all enabled gateways at checkout. The display order is configurable from WooCommerce > Settings > Payments by dragging gateways into your preferred order.
Which WooCommerce Payment Gateways to Use: The Decision Matrix
The decision matrix for woocommerce payment gateways is straightforward when you apply it to your situation:
New US or UK store, want the simplest setup: WooPayments. It sets up in minutes without API key management and keeps everything inside your WordPress dashboard.
Need more flexibility, third-party integrations, or your country is outside WooPayments’ 39-country coverage: Stripe directly. Same fees, more control, broader country support.
Want to add a wallet option alongside your primary card processor: PayPal as a secondary gateway. Adds the option for the significant share of customers who prefer PayPal without replacing your primary card processor.
European store needing local payment methods: Stripe as primary, Mollie for local method coverage.
Subscription business: Stripe with WooCommerce Subscriptions.
Brick-and-mortar store moving online: Square, to keep online and in-person payments in one account.
India, Turkey, Brazil, or other markets with strong local payment method preferences: Use a regional gateway (Razorpay, Iyzico, PagSeguro) alongside Stripe for card payments.
Startups
Perfect for early stage businesses looking for an affordable, customizable, and scalable eCommerce platform to quickly launch their online store with minimal setup.
Enterprise
Scalable solution for large businesses requiring robust features, extensive integrations, and high performance to handle complex product catalogs and heavy traffic.
Agencies
Manage multiple clients’ eCommerce websites efficiently with WooCommerce’s flexible architecture, allowing for custom development and seamless client onboarding.
Developers
API-first approach and extensive documentation empower developers to build custom extensions, integrate with third-party services, and tailor WooCommerce to unique business needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do woocommerce payment gateways have hidden platform fees?
No. WooCommerce itself charges no platform transaction fee on any of its woocommerce payment gateways, as confirmed in WooCommerce’s official documentation. All fees come from the gateway and card network. This is a material difference from Shopify, which charges 0.6% to 2% additional on any gateway other than Shopify Payments.
What is the cheapest payment gateway for WooCommerce?
For US domestic card transactions, WooPayments and Stripe are tied at 2.9% + $0.30 with no monthly fee and no plugin cost. PayPal’s standard checkout rate of 3.49% + $0.49 is higher per transaction. Authorize.net adds a $25 per month gateway fee on top of processing. For most stores, WooPayments or Stripe is the lowest-cost starting point for card processing.
Can I use multiple payment gateways on WooCommerce at the same time?
Yes. WooCommerce supports multiple simultaneous gateways and displays them all at checkout. The most common setup among experienced WooCommerce store owners is Stripe or WooPayments as the primary card processor, with PayPal as a secondary wallet option. You configure display order and enable or disable each gateway from WooCommerce > Settings > Payments.
Is WooPayments the same as Stripe?
WooPayments is built on Stripe’s infrastructure but is not the same product. WooPayments creates a Stripe Express account on your behalf and manages it from inside the WordPress dashboard. Stripe directly uses a standard Stripe account with full API key access and the complete Stripe dashboard. WooCommerce’s official comparison document lists the key differences: WooPayments integrates more tightly with WordPress but does not expose API keys, while Stripe directly offers more flexibility for advanced integrations and multi-site payment management.
Which gateway works best for WooCommerce subscriptions?
Stripe is the strongest choice for subscription businesses on WooCommerce. It handles saved payment methods, automatic renewal retries, failed payment dunning, and the full subscription billing lifecycle when used with WooCommerce Subscriptions. WooPayments also supports subscriptions but requires the paid WooCommerce Subscriptions extension, and its subscription features are more limited than Stripe’s native Billing tools.
What payment gateways work in countries not covered by WooPayments?
Stripe covers 46+ countries directly and is available in most markets where WooPayments is not. Beyond Stripe, regional options include Mollie for Europe, Razorpay for India, Paystack for Nigeria and Ghana, Iyzico for Turkey, and PagSeguro for Brazil. WooCommerce’s extension marketplace lists officially supported gateways by country.
What to Read Next
For the complete WooCommerce setup process including how to configure payments from scratch, see the WooCommerce Setup Guide.
For the cost comparison between WooCommerce and Shopify at each revenue level, including how gateway fees factor into the total platform cost, see Shopify vs WooCommerce.
For Shopify’s equivalent payment gateway options and how its transaction fee structure differs from WooCommerce, see the Shopify Transaction Fees breakdown.
For official WooPayments documentation including supported countries, fees, and the full feature comparison against the Stripe plugin, visit WooCommerce’s WooPayments documentation linked earlier in this post.