Payments & acquiring
Merchant acquiring, payment orchestration, and checkout infrastructure for mid-market sellers.
Highest scores
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1
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Stripe
Firms that sell online, SaaS companies and platforms at any scale that want a full payments stack with listed prices and excellent tools for developers.
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2
Open review
Adyen
Enterprises and large platforms selling online and in store in several countries, seeking one acquirer that holds its own licences.
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3
Open review
Braintree
Merchants whose buyers use PayPal or Venmo heavily and who want both cards and wallets via one published-rate integration.
Every review in this category
Stripe
Software and APIs for taking payments online and in person, covering billing, marketplace payouts, screening for fraud and card issuing on one platform. A private company. Headquarters in both San Francisco and Dublin.
Best for: Firms that sell online, SaaS companies and platforms at any scale that want a full payments stack with listed prices and excellent tools for developers.
RecommendAdyen
One payments platform that holds its own banking licences, accepts, processes and settles online and face-to-face payments in many countries, and also offers embedded finance for platforms. The firm is public. Headquartered in Amsterdam.
Best for: Enterprises and large platforms selling online and in store in several countries, seeking one acquirer that holds its own licences.
Conditional recommendBraintree
A PayPal gateway and merchant-account product, offered as PayPal Enterprise Payments, that takes wallets, cards, PayPal and Venmo on websites and in apps from a single integration. It is a PayPal service.
Best for: Merchants whose buyers use PayPal or Venmo heavily and who want both cards and wallets via one published-rate integration.
Conditional recommendCheckout.com
Global payments platform that works as acquirer, processor and gateway. Payouts, identity verification, card issuing and fraud screening run through one API. It is private, with headquarters in London.
Best for: Enterprise merchants in travel, fintech, e-commerce and gaming that want one provider covering global acquiring, payouts and fraud tools.
Conditional recommendHow this category is scored
Four criteria track outcomes that matter to buyers in this category. Another four, the same in all categories, address the company and the commercial terms.
| Payment methods and markets Buyer outcomes | Supported countries and currencies, along with local methods, cards and wallets. |
|---|---|
| Acceptance and reliability Buyer outcomes | Tools for higher approval rates, and the openness of uptime reporting. |
| Developer experience Buyer outcomes | Quality across test environments, documentation, SDKs and APIs. |
| Fraud and risk tools Buyer outcomes | Built-in risk controls, fraud screening and dispute handling. |
| Product depth and roadmap Company and commercial | Coverage of the job by the product, and how active development is. |
| Onboarding and support Company and commercial | Implementation aid, documentation and support channels offered by the company. |
| Pricing transparency Company and commercial | How much pricing a buyer can view before any sales conversation. |
| Contract terms Company and commercial | Exit terms, minimums and commitments, to the extent the company publishes them. |
Research in this category
Online Card Processing Fee Statistics: September 2026
Six online card-payment products, five providers, priced on matching sales of $20, $100 and $500.