Payment Processing for E-commerce UK 2026

This page is for UK online retailers, marketplace sellers, and direct-to-consumer brands that need to accept card payments through a website or app. Whether you take £5,000 a month or £500,000, the payment provider you choose will affect your margins, your checkout conversion rate, and how quickly cash lands in your account. Compare Card Fees is a free, independent advisory service that has helped UK businesses find better card payment deals since 2012. We compare real rates from regulated providers so you can make an informed choice without spending hours on hold to sales teams.

What to Look For in an E-commerce Payment Provider

Transaction fees are the most visible cost, but they are not the only one. Every provider charges a percentage of the transaction value, and most add a fixed pence-per-transaction fee on top. Stripe charges 1.5% plus 20p for standard UK cards and 2.5% plus 20p for European cards, for example. Worldpay's rates are negotiated individually and can fall below 0.8% for merchants processing over £100,000 a month. Always ask for the blended rate across all card types, not just the headline rate for UK debit cards.

E-commerce businesses have no hardware costs in the way a physical retailer does, but integration costs matter. A gateway that connects directly to WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, or your custom-built stack via a well-documented API will cost you less in developer time. Some providers, including Stripe and PayPal Braintree, publish detailed integration guides and have large developer communities. Others rely on proprietary plugins that require paid support contracts.

Contract flexibility is increasingly important as businesses scale. A startup processing £8,000 a month has very different needs from the same business at £80,000 a month. Rolling monthly agreements let you switch as your volume grows and better rates become available elsewhere. Some merchant account providers still push 18-month or 24-month contracts. If you sign one, make sure any early termination fee is capped and written into the agreement before you sign.

Settlement speed affects your working capital directly. Stripe settles on a two-business-day rolling basis by default, meaning a payment taken on Monday arrives Wednesday. Worldpay and Barclaycard can offer next-day settlement for established merchants. PayPal holds funds for new accounts and high-risk categories, sometimes for up to 21 days. If cash flow is tight, ask every provider for their exact settlement schedule before you commit.

Fee Comparison Table

Rates correct as of June 2026. Worldpay and Braintree rates are indicative; your actual rate depends on your monthly volume and business type. Always request a written quote.

Best Providers for E-commerce

Stripe

Stripe is the most widely used payment gateway among UK online retailers and technology businesses. Its published rate is 1.5% plus 20p for UK and European personal Visa and Mastercard cards, rising to 2.5% plus 20p for European cards issued outside the UK. There are no setup fees and no monthly fees, which makes it low-risk for new businesses. Volume discounts are available from around £200,000 per month in processing; you need to contact Stripe's sales team directly to negotiate these.

The developer documentation is thorough, and official plugins exist for WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, and Squarespace. Stripe Radar, its built-in fraud detection tool, is included at no extra cost and uses machine learning trained on billions of global transactions. Settlement takes two business days by default, though instant payouts are available for an additional 1% fee.

The honest downside is customer support. Stripe's support is primarily email and chat-based. If you have an urgent dispute or a funds hold, reaching someone with authority to act quickly can be frustrating. Some high-volume UK merchants also find that moving to a traditional merchant account with an acquirer like Worldpay saves money once they pass £50,000 a month. Read the full Stripe review.

Worldpay

Worldpay is the largest payment processor in the UK by volume and handles roughly 40% of all UK card transactions. For e-commerce, it offers a full acquiring and gateway service under one contract. Rates are negotiated individually, but most SMEs processing between £10,000 and £50,000 a month receive blended rates between 1.2% and 1.9%. Businesses above £100,000 a month can often negotiate below 1%.

Next-day settlement is available for most established merchants, with funds typically arriving before 7am. Worldpay's gateway integrates with all major e-commerce platforms and supports 3D Secure 2 as standard, which is required for Strong Customer Authentication compliance under UK FCA rules.

The main criticism of Worldpay is contract length and termination fees. Historically it pushed 18-month contracts with early termination fees that could run to several hundred pounds. Contracts have become more flexible since 2023, but always read the small print before signing. Monthly fees add up too: the online gateway costs £19.95 a month on its standard plan, on top of transaction fees. Read the full Worldpay review.

Opayo (formerly Sage Pay)

Opayo is a UK-based payment gateway owned by Elavon. It is a gateway only, meaning you still need a separate merchant account from a bank or acquirer. This two-part structure suits businesses that already have a merchant account with a competitive rate and simply need a reliable front-end gateway. The entry-level plan costs £25 a month and includes 350 transactions; additional transactions cost 10p each.

Opayo has a strong reputation among UK-based WooCommerce and Magento developers. The integration is well-documented and the gateway supports recurring billing, which is useful for subscription businesses. Its fraud screening tools are solid and PCI DSS compliance tools are included in all plans.

The drawback is that setup is more involved than a single-contract provider like Stripe. You are managing two relationships, two invoices, and potentially two support queues. For a business new to e-commerce payments, the simpler route is usually an all-in-one provider first. Read the full Opayo review.

PayPal Braintree

Braintree is PayPal's developer-focused gateway, aimed at businesses that want PayPal as a checkout option alongside card payments. The published rate for card processing via Braintree is 1.9% plus 30p for most UK merchants, with negotiated rates available above £50,000 a month that can bring this closer to 1.2% plus 30p. One significant advantage is that PayPal wallet payments processed through Braintree attract no additional PayPal fee.

Braintree supports card vaulting, recurring billing, and a wide range of currencies. It integrates with major platforms and has a clean API. Many UK retailers add Braintree specifically because a visible PayPal button at checkout measurably improves conversion rates among buyers who prefer not to enter card details.

The weakness is that PayPal's broader reputation for holding funds and closing accounts without warning applies to Braintree merchants too. If your business is in a higher-risk category, such as travel or digital goods, PayPal's acceptable use policy is restrictive and account suspensions do happen. Read the full PayPal review.

Pros and Cons by Provider Type

Payment Gateways (e.g. Opayo, Stripe)

• Pros: Flexible, platform-agnostic, often developer-friendly with thorough API documentation.
• Pros: Can be paired with a separately negotiated merchant account for better acquiring rates.
• Pros: Typically no long-term contract required.
• Cons: May require a separate merchant account, adding complexity and a second monthly fee.
• Cons: Support quality varies widely; some gateways are self-service only.

All-in-One Processors (e.g. Stripe, Worldpay Online)

• Pros: Single contract, single invoice, single support team.
• Pros: Faster to set up; most businesses can go live within 24 to 48 hours.
• Pros: Fraud tools, reporting, and gateway are bundled at no extra cost in most cases.
• Cons: Rates are less negotiable at lower volumes than a specialist merchant account.
• Cons: Switching away mid-contract can be costly if you have signed a fixed-term agreement.
• Cons: Some all-in-one providers hold funds for new or flagged accounts, disrupting cash flow.

Platform-Native Payments (e.g. Shopify Payments, Wix Payments)

• Pros: Zero integration work; payments, orders, and reporting sit in one dashboard.
• Pros: No additional gateway fee if you use the platform's own payment product.
• Cons: Using a third-party gateway costs an extra 0.5% to 2% on top of your gateway fee.
• Cons: You are locked to the platform. Migrating your store also means migrating your payment setup.
• Cons: Rates do not improve meaningfully at higher volumes; Stripe or a direct acquirer will usually be cheaper above £30,000 a month.

Which is Better For...?

Small or New Online Stores (Under £10,000/Month)

Stripe is the default recommendation here. There are no monthly fees, setup is fast, and the documentation is thorough enough that a non-technical founder can follow it. At £5,000 a month, the 1.5% plus 20p rate works out to around £75 in percentage fees plus roughly £20 in fixed per-transaction fees, assuming 100 orders. That is a total cost of around £95 a month, with no other charges. Shopify Payments is equally good if you are already on Shopify and do not want to manage a separate integration.

Growing Retailers (£20,000 to £100,000/Month)

At this volume, the difference between 1.5% and 1.1% is meaningful. On £50,000 a month, dropping from 1.5% to 1.1% saves £200 a month, or £2,400 a year. Worldpay and Barclaycard both negotiate directly at this tier and can often beat Stripe's standard rate. Opayo paired with a negotiated merchant account is another strong option if you have in-house technical resource to manage the integration.

High-Volume or Enterprise E-commerce (£100,000+/Month)

At this scale, interchange-plus pricing becomes important. Most acquirers will quote interchange-plus at high volumes, meaning you pay the exact card scheme cost plus a fixed margin, rather than a blended rate. This is consistently cheaper for businesses with a good mix of UK debit and credit card transactions. Worldpay, Adyen, and Barclaycard all offer interchange-plus contracts at this tier. Adyen in particular is worth serious consideration for multinational e-commerce businesses.