Payment Gateway Fees Calculator — Compare Stripe, PayPal & More

How Payment Gateway Fees Work for WooCommerce

Whether you're running WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, or a custom checkout — every payment processor charges roughly the same five components. Once you know the shape, comparison becomes simple math. This guide helps WooCommerce store owners pick the right payment gateway for their store.

1. Transaction Fee (Percentage + Fixed)

The headline cost. Every gateway charges some percentage of the sale amount plus a small fixed fee per transaction. Stripe famously charges 2.9% + $0.30, Mollie charges around 1.8% + €0.25, Paddle charges 5% + $0.50. The fixed component matters more on small tickets — a $5 sale through PayPal loses 13% to fees, while a $500 sale loses only 3.6%.

2. International / Cross-Border Surcharge

When the buyer's card was issued in a different country than your account, most processors add 1%–2% on top of the headline rate. Stripe charges +1.5%, PayPal adds +1.5% to its standard rate. Merchant-of-record gateways like Paddle and Polar.sh don't surcharge by region — their flat rate already assumes a global mix.

3. Currency Conversion Spread

If the buyer pays in EUR and you settle in USD, the gateway converts the funds and skims a spread. Stripe takes 1% on top of the mid-market rate; PayPal's spread is typically 3%–4% and is the single most expensive component for stores selling globally. SEPA, iDEAL, and other local methods bypass card networks entirely and avoid this cost.

4. Monthly Platform Fee

Most modern processors (Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Polar.sh) are pay-as-you-go with no monthly minimum. Legacy gateways and merchant-account providers (Authorize.net, traditional acquirers) often bundle a $20–$100 monthly fee plus the per-transaction rate. For low-volume merchants this monthly floor can dwarf the percentage.

5. Chargeback and Refund Fees

When a customer disputes a charge, you typically lose the goods, the original transaction fee, plus a $15–$25 chargeback fee that the gateway charges to process the dispute. Stripe, PayPal, and Square all charge for chargebacks separately. Merchant-of-record gateways (Paddle, Polar.sh, Gumroad) absorb chargeback fees into their take rate — they handle the dispute on your behalf.

Payment Gateway Comparison for WooCommerce

Standard published rates for a WooCommerce merchant accepting a $1,000 card payment. Effective rate combines the percentage, the fixed fee, and (for international rows) the cross-border surcharge. MoR = merchant of record, meaning the gateway handles VAT, chargebacks, and tax compliance for you.

Gateway	Domestic rate	International	MoR	Tax included
Stripe	2.9% + $0.30	4.4% + $0.30	No	Your job
PayPal	3.49% + $0.49	4.99% + $0.49	No	Your job
Paddle	5% + $0.50	5% + $0.50	Yes	Included
Mollie	1.8% + $0.25	2.9% + $0.25	No	Your job
Gumroad	10% + $0.00	10% + $0.00	Yes	Included
Polar.sh	4% + $0.40	4% + $0.40	Yes	Included
Square	2.9% + $0.30	3.5% + $0.30	No	Your job
Dodo Payments	2.99% + $0.30	3.99% + $0.30	No	Your job
Razorpay	2% + $0.30	3% + $0.30	No	Your job
Creem	5% + $0.50	5% + $0.50	Yes	Included
Paystack	1.5% + $0.20	3% + $0.30	No	Your job
FastSpring	5% + $0.50	5% + $0.50	Yes	Included

Which Payment Gateway Should You Choose?

The right answer depends on what you're selling, where your customers live, and how much tax and compliance overhead you're willing to take on. Use this matrix as a starting point.

You run WooCommerce and want the cheapest domestic fees

→ Stripe via WP Smart Pay

Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 for domestic US cards — the lowest headline rate on the market for WooCommerce stores. WP Smart Pay connects Stripe to your WooCommerce checkout without adding any extra take rate.

Learn more

You sell SaaS or digital downloads worldwide

→ Paddle or Polar.sh

A merchant of record absorbs sales-tax registration in 200+ jurisdictions, chargeback handling, and the cross-border surcharge into one flat rate. The headline 4–5% is higher than Stripe, but you save weeks of accountant time and avoid building a tax engine.

You sell mostly in your home country

→ Stripe or Mollie

Pay-as-you-go processors have the lowest headline rates for domestic card payments. Stripe in the US, Mollie in the EU (and SEPA / iDEAL where available) keep effective fees under 3%.

You sell to consumers who already use PayPal

→ PayPal as a checkout option, not your only one

PayPal carries the highest effective rate on the list, but a meaningful share of consumer buyers will abandon a checkout without it. Offer it as an alternative — alongside Stripe or Paddle — rather than as your primary processor.

You are an indie creator selling one-off downloads

→ Gumroad or Polar.sh

Gumroad is the fastest path from product to live store. Polar.sh is the indie-developer favorite — modern API, OSS-friendly pricing, GitHub-native subscription tiers.

You sell to customers in India

→ Razorpay

Razorpay supports UPI, Netbanking, and popular Indian wallets at just 2% + ₹0.30 domestic — significantly cheaper than Stripe for Indian customers. Also handles international card payments at 3%.

You sell to customers in Africa

→ Paystack

Paystack handles mobile money, bank transfers, and cards across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. Its 1.5% domestic rate is the lowest of any gateway on this list for African merchants.

You run a brick-and-mortar shop with online too

→ Square

Square unifies in-person card reader hardware with an online checkout under one dashboard. The online rate is identical to Stripe; the hardware ecosystem is the differentiator.

You run a WordPress store and want Paddle

→ WP Smart Pay

WP Smart Pay is the official Paddle integration for WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads — popup or inline checkout, subscriptions, license keys, refund sync, all with no extra take rate from us.

Learn more

Hidden Payment Gateway Fees to Watch For

The advertised rate on a pricing page rarely tells the whole story. These are the costs that quietly add up — review your contracts and statements for each one before you commit.

Chargeback fees

A customer disputes a charge — you lose the goods, the original transaction fee, *and* a $15–$25 chargeback fee. Stripe and PayPal both charge this. MoR gateways absorb it.

Currency conversion spreads

The 1%–4% margin a gateway adds when converting one currency to another. PayPal at ~4% is the most expensive; Stripe at 1% the cheapest of the headline gateways.

Refund fees

Some processors keep the original transaction fee when you refund (Stripe historically refunded fees, then changed this policy in some regions — check your country). PayPal does not refund the fixed fee.

Disputes / arbitration fees

Beyond a chargeback, if a case escalates to card-network arbitration, fees can run $100+. Read the small print.

PCI compliance / monthly minimums

Older merchant-account providers charge $5–$30/mo for PCI compliance, plus monthly minimums if you fall under a volume floor. Modern processors generally do not.

Account reserve holds

High-risk merchants (subscriptions, digital downloads, supplements) may have a percentage of revenue held in reserve for 30–180 days. This is not a fee, but it is real working-capital lost.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a payment gateway fee?

A payment gateway fee is what a processor (Stripe, PayPal, Paddle, etc.) charges you to accept a payment. It almost always combines a percentage of the transaction with a small fixed amount — for example, Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 on US cards. Other costs you may see include international card surcharges, currency-conversion spreads, monthly platform fees, and chargeback fees.

Which payment gateway has the lowest fees?

For domestic US card payments, Mollie (where available) and Stripe tend to be the cheapest at around 1.8–2.9% + a small fixed fee. Merchant-of-record gateways like Paddle and Polar.sh charge more (4–5%) but bundle sales-tax compliance, chargeback handling, and refunds — which often makes them cheaper overall once you account for those services.

What is a merchant of record (MoR)?

A merchant of record sells the product to the customer on your behalf, then pays you a payout net of fees. Because the MoR is the legal seller, it handles VAT, GST, sales-tax registration and remittance, invoicing, fraud, and chargebacks. Paddle, Polar.sh, and Gumroad all operate as MoRs. Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, and Square are pure payment processors — you remain the merchant of record.

How are international card fees calculated?

When a buyer pays with a card issued outside your country, most gateways add a cross-border surcharge of 1.5%–2% on top of the standard rate. If the card currency differs from your payout currency, a separate conversion fee (typically 1%–4%) also applies. MoR gateways like Paddle absorb cross-border fees into a single flat rate.

Are payment gateway fees tax-deductible?

In most jurisdictions, payment processing fees are a deductible business expense. Check with your accountant — the rules differ by country and by whether you are using a merchant-of-record arrangement (where fees come out of the gross payout) or a direct processor (where fees are billed separately).

How can I reduce my payment gateway fees?

Three levers move the needle: (1) raise average order value so the fixed per-transaction fee becomes a smaller share, (2) shift volume to lower-fee methods where you can — SEPA, iDEAL, ACH, and bank transfers are dramatically cheaper than cards, and (3) consolidate on a single MoR if you are selling digital goods globally, since the bundled tax/compliance saves accountant time on top of the fee delta.

Why does PayPal show a higher rate than Stripe?

PayPal's headline rate (3.49% + $0.49 for US consumer card payments) is genuinely higher than Stripe's. PayPal pricing also has a steeper international surcharge and a wider currency-conversion spread (around 4%), which is why the effective rate climbs once you sell across borders. It can still be worth offering as a buyer-trust signal, but as a primary processor it is usually the most expensive option on the list.

Does WP Smart Pay charge its own fees?

No. WP Smart Pay is the WordPress plugin that connects your store to Paddle — we don't take a cut of your transactions. You pay Paddle's published rate, plus our one-time or annual plugin license. That's it.