The Best Payment Gateway For 2025

We dig into what you need to consider when choosing the best payment gateway for 2025 and how to swing open the doors for your customers 24/7.

With the evolution of the online marketplace, we’ve seen a shift in how transactions are completed. Early on, the sole priority may have been security; now, new considerations emerge.

Payment gateways must provide convenience, streamline processes and pain-free checkouts.

As business owners, we must also examine how they integrate with other parts of our operations.

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First up, what is a payment gateway?

A payment gateway is a system that runs in addition to your website. It allows you to capture and transfer funds in exchange for your products or services, 24/7.

The sheer amount of payment gateways available today can make comparisons a challenge. Each provider has its own take on the most appropriate pricing structures, fraud protection, ease of set up and native integrations.

We focus on two important, yet sometimes overlooked, perspectives that must be considered when choosing your payment gateway for small to medium businesses in Australia:

• Accounting efficiency
• Customer preferences

How your customers like to complete transactions and how those transactions interact with your accounting process will determine how effective your payment gateway is.

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Accounting, invoicing, websites and payment gateways

It is fair to say that any tool that saves time is a worthwhile investment, so assessing how your proposed payment gateway will integrate with your accounting software should be measured accordingly.

‘Native Integration’ describes the way separate pieces of software are able to seamlessly work together. In this context, we use it to understand the ease of communication between your accounting software, website platform and payment gateway.

Diving into your current processes can help us gauge which payment gateway may be most suitable for your business. In most instances, you can split your transaction into 2 parts:

1. Invoicing
2. Remitting

Let’s assume you are using Xero as your accounting software and your website is built using WordPress. We can quickly discover the supported gateways for both Xero and WordPress.

The integration of your accounting software, website and payment gateway can do away with several manual and time consuming steps.

When a customer completes an online purchase, an invoice is generated. The payment gateway ‘talks’ to the accounting software to automatically reconcile the account and funds arrive in your account, clever right?

In addition, Xero now supports PayTo via Stripe’s integration, a New Payments Platform-based scheme that enables customers to pay invoices directly from their bank accounts in one-off or recurring payments. This results in instant settlement and automatic reconciliation within Xero.

Check this out:

The benefits stretch well beyond instant payment data sync. You have an accurate snapshot of your accounts receivable and cash flow.

Today’s software providers give you access to internal support where development teams have spent countless hours getting their integrations just right.

The result is a seamless function between each piece of software. You will often get access to an entire community of customers and industry leaders. If you have a question, chances are someone has already answered it.

What’s the best payment gateway for my customers?

How does the proposed payment gateway look and feel? How likely are my customers to enjoy the transaction process?

By getting a solid feel for what your ideal customer is comfortable with and most likely to use, choosing your payment gateway becomes easier. Trends and patterns in buying behaviour appear when you consider simple things like your customers gender and age. Get comfortable asking around. Aim to find out what they like to use when shopping online. Regardless of the results, your research will help guide your decision. Take care to avoid defaulting to what your own preferences are.

Consider offering your customers additional ways to acquire your product or service. Sometimes it is possible to make your offering more accessible without sacrificing margins. Services like afterpay and Zip offer the ability for customers to split their payments like a lay-by except they take delivery of goods immediately. Although costs are passed on to the vendor, typically as a percentage, the risk stays with the service provider and not you.

When you increase customer convenience your chances of completed checkouts and return purchases increase. Look for options that complement each other and avoid double ups. For example two credit card facilities will just confuse your customers at check out. Studies show this is likely to decrease the chance of them returning.

Test and review the process you expect your customers to go through. How they interact with the payment gateway start to finish is incredibly important. Assuming the position of your customers allows you to get front row seats to any potential headaches and a really clear idea of how simple the process is. If you get frustrated, imagine how they will feel? The more streamlined the checkout process, the greater the chance of a completed checkout.

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Our recommended gateways for 2025

We have used quite a few payment gateways over the years. Here’s our top picks based on your audience and their requirements:

Best credit card option: Stripe

Why? It seamlessly integrates with websites, has amazing reporting features and provides visibility of all transactions (successful and failed ones).

The admin features enable instant refunds and the ability to automatically charge a customer’s credit card for future purchases.

In more recent times, it has also introduced the ability for automatic subscription payments. These are ideal for any business owner looking to generate predictable, recurring revenue in their business.

Best non-credit card option: PayPal

Why? It’s popularity and ease of use (for the customer). Although it’s interface for business owners and ease of setup is lacking, this is still a very popular option.

It reduces checkout friction by only requiring a customer to log in with their email address and password.

Perfect for the ‘couch surfers’ looking to make a quick impulse purchase who don’t have to go hunting for their credit card. They also offer favourable security features for your customers.

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Best ‘pay-later’ option(s): Afterpay and Zip Money

Why? These services let customers receive goods or services immediately and repay over time.

Afterpay offers initial spending caps of around AUD 500, no-payment-upfront rising to about AUD 2,500 with on‑time payments over time.

Zip Money provides credit lines of AUD 1,000–5,000 on direct applications, and up to AUD 50,000 through select retail partners.

Both remit funds immediately and handle repayments, keeping the risk with the provider.

Digital wallets: Apple Pay & Google Pay

Why? One-tap checkout on mobile and desktop reduces friction and speeds up payments.

Apple Pay is now used by almost 4 million Australians (17.7% of the population), making it the third most widely adopted digital payment service, while combined contactless mobile wallets (Apple Pay and Google Pay) reach around 9.8% of Australians.

Card data stays with the wallet provider, simplifying PCI DSS compliance and boosting security.

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What about my bank? It has a payment gateway

Having worked with all the offerings (big four included) we find they are slower to move when it comes to the latest features, smoothest integrations and customer experience.

Third-party payment gateway providers exist in a different market to banks. In a lot of ways they aren’t comparable to traditional financial institutions.

Take Stripe for example, and their account partners, their primary goal can be assumed to be something like “our customers must have access to the biggest range of accounting integrations”.

With a third-party payment gateway like Stripe, you have someone to sit between your website and your bank account. It allows you to give your customers a modern interface that will integrate with a greater volume of third-party systems. When business survival is determined by agility, this is a significant factor. Third-party payment gateways also offer a raft of useful features for business owners. These include reporting, forecasting and the ability to view failed payments in real-time.

Most major Australian banks now partner with third-party gateway services such as NAB Transact, ANZ Worldline, Westpac PayWay and Commonwealth Bank CommWeb rather than maintaining standalone gateways.

These partnerships deliver modern interfaces, extensive plugin ecosystems, real-time reporting, forecasting and same-day settlements, making them agile partners for growing businesses.

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How do I address payment gateway fees?

You will need to decide if the fee is passed on to the customer or not, in the same way you set pricing for any of your products or services. We recommend the ‘absorb it into your price’ approach. It allows you to cover your cost and keep the checkout clean and uncluttered of service fees.

Studies show buyers are likely to exit a transaction where a small shipping fee is present, compared to a transaction where shipping is ‘free’. In all likelihood, the shipping fee has been absorbed into the product. Remember, it is about how it looks and feels to your customers. ‘A perceived saving is favoured over a disclosed cost’.

You may also consider:

• Regulatory compliance: Under ACCC guidelines, you can only pass on your actual processing costs. If you surcharge, ensure it doesn’t exceed the gateway’s per-transaction fees.
• Fee benchmarking: Many gateways now publish their exact card and wallet processing rates online, allowing you to compare and incorporate precise costs into your pricing strategy.

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What next?

By mapping your online transaction, how it comes together and the implications on internal processes and customers, you get a solid feel for how to choose the best payment gateway for 2025.

Reach out to chat about integrating a payment gateway for your business and get a free consultation today.

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