When it comes to payment processing services, Stripe is one of the most well known names in the industry. But while they’re a leader in their field, they’re far from the only option. As with most areas of business, competition is fierce and there are many players vying for a piece of the payment processing pie.

‍

In this article, we will take an in-depth look at Stripe’s competitors and alternatives. We will compare and contrast the features, pricing, and services offered by each one, so you know the differences.

‍

We’ll also provide you with some key insights into the payment processing industry that you can use to decide which provider is right for you. With our data-driven analysis, you can find out who the real players are in this competitive market and be sure that you’re getting all of the best options out there.

‍

What Is Stripe and What Does It Do?

Stripe is a global technology platform that enables businesses to accept payments online and in-store. It acts as an online payment system, enabling users to send and receive payments using their phones, computers or cards. Stripe allows entrepreneurs and businesses to easily set up digital payment services, such as accepting credit and debit card payments on websites. Stripe's technology also includes fraud prevention, subscription billing and invoicing solutions. In addition to providing payment processing services, Stripe also offers accounting software to track financial transactions, business analytics tools to monitor user engagement, and marketing tools for user acquisition.

‍

Stripe is used by a variety of industries, from traditional businesses like retail stores, hotels and restaurants to startups in the sharing economy such as ride-sharing services and food delivery apps. It's also used by non-profits for fundraising campaigns and ecommerce stores for web stores. Stripe is trusted by leading companies including Amazon, Twitter and Lyft—which proves its reliability as a payment processor.

‍

Well-known Competitors of Stripe

‍

Stripe has several major competitors, each with their own unique advantages and disadvantages.

‍

1. PayPal

Headquarters: San Jose, California, United States

Headcount: 10,001+

Founded: 1998

Company website: paypal.com

LinkedIn: https://www.paypal.com/us/home

‍

Firstly, there is PayPal. While not offering the same payments infrastructure as Stripe, PayPal does offer a successful and long-established payment processing service with a large global customer base. PayPal is used by many ecommerce companies, but also consumers use it for their own personal payments such as oversees transfers. PayPal has about 30,000 employees.

2. Square

Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Headcount: 1,001-5,000

Founded: 2009

Company website: squareup.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinsquare

‍

Secondly, Square provides a mobile payments platform for small businesses similar to Stripe’s offering. It also has the advantage of being able to accept physical payments from customers using its Card Reader hardware product.

‍

3. Braintree

‍Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Headcount: 501-1,000

Founded: 2007

Company website: braintreepayments.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/braintree/

‍

Thirdly, Braintree is another popular alternative that combines Stripe’s API capabilities with the added benefit of being able to accept payments from PayPal and Venmo. It operates in more than 45 countries and accepts payments with over 130 currencies.

‍

4. Adyen

Headquarters: Amsterdam, North Holland

Headcount: 1,001-5,000

Founded: 2006

Company website: www.adyen.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adyen

‍

Fourthly, Adyen is a business focused payment solution with many features such as multi-currency support and fraud detection systems that make it attractive to larger businesses. They provide end-to-end payments capabilities and they work with Facebook, Uber, H&M, eBay and Microsoft. Adyen has about 4,000 employees.

‍

5. Authorize.net

Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Headcount: 501-1,000

Founded: 1996

Company website: authorize.net

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/authorize-net

‍

Finally, Authorize.net is another popular payment processing tool that has been around for longer than many of its competitors and is a great choice for those looking for an established provider with proven security measures in place. It is a subsidiary owned by Visa.

‍

Other Alternatives to Stripe

You may have heard of Stripe, but there are a few other alternatives available. Let's take a look at some of these options now:

6. Paddle

Headquarters: London, England

Headcount: 201-500

Founded: 2012

Company website: paddle.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/paddle

‍

Paddle makes it easy to start selling software online and they offer an integrated checkout experience. They provide a variety of tools and functions such as customer management, analytics, and even fraud protection. With their A/B testing tool you can test out different pricing models to optimize sales.

‍

7. Fastspring

Headquarters: Santa Barbara, California, United States

Headcount: 51-200

Founded: 2005

Company website: fastspring.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fastspring/about/

‍

Fastspring is a powerful ecommerce platform that provides subscription management, order processing, customer segmentation, analytics, and more. It’s designed for software companies who want to sell their product directly to customers instead of relying on third-party stores or marketplaces. It has 100+ employees and is founded in 2005.

‍

8. Chargeover

Headquarters: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Headcount: 2-10

Founded: 2011

Company website: https://chargeover.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chargeover

‍

Chargeover is a billing platform designed for software businesses that helps manage subscriptions and payments in the cloud. It offers real-time reporting and dynamic invoicing capabilities so you can track payments easily and store customer data securely. ChargeOver was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

‍

9. Verifone (previously 2Checkout)

‍Headquarters: Coral Springs, Florida, United States

Headcount: 201-500

Founded: 2006

Company website: https://www.2checkout.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2checkout

‍

Earlier known as 2Checkout, now Verifone, is a payment provider for digital commerce. They offer a wide range of solutions designed to help businesses sell their products and services across multiple channels. Through its platform, businesses can maximize their sales conversion rates and streamline their payment processes. According to their website, Verifone's solutions are trusted by a diverse range of clients from various industries around the world, including ABBYY, Absolute, Bitdefender, FICO, HP Software, Kaspersky Lab, and many others.

‍

10. Payline Data

‍‍Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Headcount: 51-200

Founded: 2009

Company website: https://paylinedata.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/payline-data/

‍

Payline Data is a payments solutions provider dedicated to exceptional customer experiences and empowering businesses with flexible, friendly payment solutions. Named to the Inc. 500 list of the nation's fastest-growing companies for two consecutive years, Payline creates sustainable value while providing opportunities for employees and giving generously to those in need.

‍

11. Payment.Ninja

‍Headquarter: San Francisco, California, United States

Headcount: 11-50

Founded: unknown

Company website: https://payment.ninja/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/payment-ninja/about/

‍

Payment.Ninja aims to simplify the administrative side of running a business with cutting-edge technology. Payment.Ninja's mission is to facilitate the success of independent professionals by giving them more bandwidth to dedicate to their craft. They build a tool for small business owners and freelancers for billing and payments.

‍

12. Billforward

Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Headcount: 11-50

Founded: 2014

Company website:https://billforward.io/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/billforward

‍

‍Billforward is a Y-combinator backed subscription and recurring revenue billing platform that helps businesses manage subscriptions, collect payments, and sign up customers. They support an array of billing use cases, from simple to complex, and believe that the billing platform should adapt to the company's business model. The company is based in San Francisco, United States.

‍

13. MYFUNDBOX

Headquarters: Wolfsburg, Germany

Headcount: 11-50

Founded: 2018

Company website: https://myfundbox.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/myfundbox

‍

MYFUNDBOX is a subscription billing and payments orchestration platform that simplifies online payments for businesses. With its partnership with leading payment gateways, MYFUNDBOX enables businesses to manage and accept payments online easily and securely. With MYFUNDBOX, customers can raise invoices and make recurring and one-time payments globally through its integrated payment gateway partners. 

‍

14. Abowire

Headquarters: Berlin, Germany

Headcount: 11-50

Founded: 2020

Company website: https://abowire.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/abowire

‍

Abowire is a B2B subscription platform designed to help businesses sell and manage worldwide subscriptions, stress-free. With a range of powerful subscription management tools, Abowire simplifies the process of growing your B2B subscriptions. The platform offers features such as invoice customizations, recurring payments, contracts, multiple billing and pricing options and access to API.

‍

15. PayRequest

‍Headquarters: 'S-Gravenhage, Netherlands

Headcount: 1-10

Founded: 2019

Company website: https://payrequest.io/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/payrequest

‍

PayRequest is a comprehensive billing platform designed for payment links, online products, and subscriptions. With PayRequest, businesses can easily customize their online store, payment page, or billing portal to receive payments quickly and efficiently. It was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in the Netherlands.

‍

Fee Comparison Between Stripe and Its Competitors

‍

Stripe charges a processing fee of 2.9% + 30 cents on every successful transaction, in addition to a 1% fee for international transactions (which adds up quickly).

By comparison, the fees charged by Stripe's competitors vary depending on the payment processor:

‍

PayPal vs Stripe

PayPal charges a flat rate of 2.9% + 30 cents on transactions within the US, but other fees can apply depending on payment methods outside the US. PayPal is better suited for businesses focusing on international customers as it provides more payment options than other processors.

‍

Authorize vs Stripe

Authorize.net's fees typically range from 1.5-3%, plus 25-45 cents per transaction depending on businesses and levels of processing volume. The main catch with Authorize.net is that it doesn't always accept international payments (although this may vary by country).

‍

Braintree vs Stripe

Braintree offers some of the lowest processing fees, with charges ranging from 2.2-2.9%, plus 30 cents per transaction - making it one of the more affordable options in terms of processing fees compared to Stripe and its competitors. Braintree also accepts a wide variety of payments anywhere in the world, although there may be currency conversion rates or surcharges associated with certain payment types and countries that you should be aware of before using this processor for international transactions.

‍

2Checkout vs Stripe

2Checkout has payment fees of 3.5% + $0.35 per successful sale for its standard plan, whereas Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per successful sale. Both of them offer custom pricing for larger companies. On the standard pricing, 2Checkout is more expensive than Stripe. But if you have a larger business, you could ask for the custom pricing and the result might be different.

‍

Adyen vs Stripe

Adyen and Stripe are both popular online payment processing platforms that enable businesses to accept payments online. Adyen's pricing varies based on the size and needs of your business, with fees that can range from 0.12% to 0.15% + $0.12 to $0.30 per successful transaction, while Stripe charges a transaction fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per successful sale for its standard plan. Adyen also charges a one-time set up fee and additional fees for some features. So, you should think carefully what are your needs for the payment processor and then decide based on that.

‍

Features Comparison Between Stripe and Its Competitors

‍

Choosing the right payment processor for your business requires a careful comparison of features and capabilities. Stripe and its competitors offer a range of capabilities, from basic payment processing to more advanced features. Let's take a look at some of the features that set these companies apart.

Stripe vs Square

Stripe and Square share many similarities in terms of payment processing services. Both offer a range of products designed to help businesses streamline their payments, such as invoicing, fraud prevention and in-app purchasing.

However, Stripe offers more robust APIs for developers than Square does, along with built-in support for virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. In addition, Stripe is better suited for international businesses due to its global reach and support for multiple currencies.

Stripe vs PayPal

PayPal is one of the oldest and most widely recognized digital payment companies. Its core offering includes basic payment processing services, including debit/credit card payments and PayPal's own digital wallet service called Venmo.

However, Stripe boasts several key advantages over PayPal when it comes to features, including accelerated payments through ACH transfers, dynamic pricing models and subscription services. Moreover, compared to PayPal's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction fee rate, Stripe only charges 2.9% + .30 per successful transaction—making it more cost-effective for businesses with higher volume sales or transaction sizes.

‍

Stripe vs 2Checkout

2Checkout (now Verifone) both offer a wide range of features, such as recurring billing, fraud detection and multi-currency support. Stripe also offers a variety of developer tools, such as APIs and SDKs. This allows businesses to customize their payment processing experience. Both 2Checkout and Stripe are easy to use and implement.

‍

Stripe vs Adyen

Adyen offers a wide range of features, including global payment methods, fraud detection, risk management, and multi-currency support. It also offers advanced reporting and analytics tools. Stripe offers similar features, including recurring billing, fraud prevention, and support for multiple currencies. It also provides a suite of developer tools, such as APIs and SDKs, to allow for customization. Both Adyen and Stripe offer user-friendly interfaces and are easy to set up and integrate with existing business processes. However, Adyen may require more technical knowledge due to its advanced features, while Stripe's documentation and support are widely regarded as being more developer-friendly.

‍

‍

Want to find more Stripe competitors or alternatives?

Inven's intelligent company data platform for M&A professionals can help you quickly and efficiently find competitors, add-on targets, and potential platform companies.

‍

The unique software program quickly scans millions of websites to provide you with a list of companies that offer similar services. Because it searches through websites instead of databases, users can get an updated and accurate view of their industry in a fraction of the time it would take them to do so manually.

‍

Using Inven's intelligent company data platform for M&A professionals is an efficient way to keep up with competitors, discover potential acquisition opportunities, analyze the industry landscape more thoroughly, and ultimately make better decisions.

‍
Get Access to Inven here

‍

Conclusion

At the end of the day, Stripe is quite popular and has a few key advantages that can make it the right fit for certain situations. However, there are plenty of Stripe competitors with their own advantages. Whether or not you’re looking for a Stripe alternative, Inven is the perfect partner to compare and track competitors' or potential acquisition targets' information. By leveraging Inven’s superior technology and data, M&A professionals can get an edge and make better decisions while finding companies and tracking their performance faster and with greater accuracy.