One challenge I consistently hear about is finding the right payment gateway for their growing digital businesses.
With Africa’s e-commerce market projected to reach $5.3 trillion by 2028 at a nearly 10% annual growth rate, choosing the right payment solution has never been more critical.
McKinsey estimates that the African financial services market could generate a staggering $230 billion in annual revenues by 2025. That’s not surprising when you consider the explosive growth of digital payments across the continent.
But with this opportunity comes confusion: which payment gateway is best for your specific business needs?
In this updated guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about the leading payment gateways in Africa, based on my interactions with hundreds of African entrepreneurs and thorough research of the market landscape.
What is a Payment Gateway?
A payment gateway is essentially the digital equivalent of a physical point-of-sale terminal. It’s an e-commerce service that processes, verifies, and accepts (or declines) online payments on behalf of merchants using secure internet connections.
Think of it as the critical bridge that transfers transaction information between your customer’s payment method (credit card, mobile money, etc.) and your bank account.
In Africa’s unique market, payment gateways must handle everything from traditional card payments to mobile money transfers and even cryptocurrency in some cases.
Why Are Payment Gateways Important for African Businesses?
Having helped numerous African business owners set up their financial infrastructure, I’ve seen firsthand how the right payment gateway can make or break a digital business. Here’s why they’re particularly important in the African context:
- Mobile Money Integration: Sub-Saharan Africa has more mobile money users than any other region worldwide. In countries like Kenya, where 24% of the population shops online, a whopping 90% do so via smartphone. Your payment gateway must seamlessly connect with platforms like M-Pesa, MTN Mobile Money, and Airtel Money.
- Cross-Border Capabilities: As I’ve worked with expanding businesses across the continent, I’ve noticed how critical cross-border functionality has become. These solutions allow customers to pay in their local currency while businesses receive funds in their preferred currency, eliminating the headache of multiple conversions.
- Building Trust: In my conversations with African consumers, security concerns consistently emerge as a top reason for abandoned carts. A reputable payment gateway with strong security features builds customer confidence in your business.
- Combating Cart Abandonment: The data is eye-opening. About 28% of customers abandon shopping carts due to complicated checkout processes, 19% don’t trust sites with their card information, and 8% can’t find their preferred payment option. The right gateway directly addresses these issues.
How to Select the Right Payment Gateway for Your African Business
Before diving into specific providers, let me share the five key questions I always advise African business owners to ask when evaluating payment gateways:
- What are the total costs involved? Look beyond the headline transaction fee to understand setup fees, monthly charges, settlement fees, and currency conversion costs.
- How comprehensive is the integration? Consider your technical resources and whether you need plugins for platforms like WooCommerce or Shopify versus a custom API integration.
- Which payment methods are supported? In Africa’s diverse payment landscape, you need support for credit cards, mobile money, bank transfers, and potentially USSD payments depending on your target market.
- What security standards and compliance certifications are in place? At minimum, look for PCI DSS compliance and advanced fraud detection capabilities.
- How reliable is the customer support? When payment issues arise (and trust me, they will), you need responsive, knowledgeable support to minimize revenue loss.
Now, let’s explore the top payment gateways making waves across Africa in 2025.
Top Payment Gateways in Africa
- Flutterwave
Flutterwave has become a powerhouse in the African payment space since its founding in 2016. In my conversations with business owners using their services, I’ve consistently heard praise for their extensive reach.
Flutterwave processes nearly $2 billion in payments across 33 African countries, making it ideal for businesses with pan-African ambitions.
Their Rave solution allows website owners to accept payments from customers in 154+ countries, supporting Visa, MasterCard, Verve, and direct bank account payments from the US, South Africa, and Nigeria.
Transaction fees: 1.4% for local payments (MasterCard, Visa, Bank Account, USSD) and 3.5% for international payments (MasterCard, Visa, American Express).
What’s good
- Exceptional pan-African coverage with presence in 33+ countries
- Global scalability supporting 150+ currencies
- PCI-DSS certified with 3D Secure authentication (reduces fraud rates by 30% in high-risk markets)
- Innovative tools, including POS systems and invoicing features for SMEs
- Competitive pricing for local transactions at just 1.4%
- Strong brand recognition among African consumers
What’s not so good
- Customer support can be slow with 48-72 hour response times for critical issues.
- Had a security breach in 2022 that exposed API vulnerabilities (though resolved quickly)
- Complex fee structure with hidden charges for cross-border transactions (1.5% currency conversion + 3.5% processing fee)
- Settlement times can stretch longer than advertised during peak periods
- Limited cryptocurrency support despite Africa’s high adoption rates
- Paystack
After being acquired by Stripe, Paystack has significantly enhanced its offerings while maintaining its focus on the African market.
I’ve found their API documentation to be the most comprehensive in the space, which explains why developers report 40% faster integration times compared to competitors.
Paystack shines in local transaction processing, with an impressive 95% success rate for Nigerian payments.
The seamless integration with the Nigerian banking system makes it a favorite for businesses focused primarily on that market. Their automatic payment routing through optimal channels helps achieve these high success rates.
Transaction fees: 1.5% for transactions within Africa and 3.9% + ₦100 for international transactions.
What’s good
- Developer-friendly with exceptional documentation (reduces integration time by 40%)
- Highest success rates for local Nigerian transactions (95%+)
- Seamlessly integrates with Nigerian banking systems
- Post-Stripe acquisition, global payouts have improved with settlements in USD/EUR within 24 hours
- User-friendly dashboard with excellent analytics
- Trusted by over 30,000 businesses
What’s not so good
- Limited cross-border reach compared to competitors (only 8 African countries vs. Flutterwave’s 33+)
- High fees for international transactions (3.9% + ₦100) that SMEs find “prohibitively expensive”
- Inconsistent customer support, with some users reporting unresolved chargeback disputes lasting weeks
- Settlement delays during Nigerian banking system disruptions
- Limited payment method options outside Nigeria
- Interswitch
As one of the pioneers in Africa’s payment industry, Interswitch has established deep banking partnerships that give it unparalleled stability in Nigeria. It processes over 190,000 daily transactions in Nigeria and is expanding its footprint across the continent.
Transaction fees: Variable pricing structure based on merchant size and industry, with custom rates for enterprise clients.
What’s good
- Market dominance in Nigeria, processing 190,000+ daily transactions
- Owns Verve Card network, Africa’s largest domestic card scheme, which is accepted at 90% of Nigerian POS terminals
- Licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, ensuring regulatory compliance
- Deep banking relationships providing exceptional stability
- Reliable settlement process with minimal disruptions
- Strong brand recognition and consumer trust
What’s not so good
- Outdated user interface with a “clunky” dashboard and limited real-time analytics
- Slow to innovate, particularly with mobile money integrations
- Higher fees compared to newer fintech competitors
- A complicated onboarding process for new merchants
- Limited presence outside Nigeria despite expansion efforts
- Poor developer documentation compared to Paystack and Flutterwave
- VoguePay
VoguePay‘s global coverage has made it particularly valuable for businesses that need to accept and make payments in multiple currencies. Based in Nigeria but with international reach, it allows consumers and businesses to safely transact regardless of location.
Transaction fees: Card processing fees start at 3.8% + $0.50, with a 1% fee for wallet transfers.
What’s good:
- Global coverage allowing transactions in all major currencies
- Weekly performance reports providing detailed analytics on sales and revenue
- Free website extensions for over 30 platforms, including WordPress and WooCommerce
- Developer commission program (30% commission on plugins)
- VoguePay wallet serves as a convenient virtual holding account
- Economic setup costs with a $19.99 merchant verification fee
What’s not so good:
- Higher transaction fees compared to local solutions (3.8% + $0.50)
- An additional 1% fee for wallet payment transfers
- Limited mobile money integration capabilities
- Slower processing times for international transactions
- Less robust fraud prevention tools compared to larger competitors
- Smaller support team with limited availability during non-business hours
- Kora
Kora has positioned itself as the specialist in cross-border African payments, and their focus shows in their execution. They guarantee an impressive 98% transaction success rate for intra-African trades by leveraging localized payment rails.
Transaction fees: 1.5% flat fee for multi-currency settlements.
What’s good
- Cross-border specialization with 98% transaction success rates for intra-African trades
- Extremely competitive pricing (1.5% flat fee, undercutting rivals by up to 50%)
- AI-driven risk detection reduces chargebacks by 25%
- Connects to over 500 million wallets across 41 African nations
- 1700 cross-border payment corridors
- Fast settlement times for cross-border transactions
What’s not so good
- Limited documentation with “sparse API guides” increases integration time
- Less effective for purely domestic businesses compared to market-specific solutions
- Smaller merchant network affecting customer familiarity
- Newer platform with a less established track record
- Limited customer support outside business hours
- Fewer integration options for popular e-commerce platforms
- Skrill
Skrill offers digital wallet services in over 40 currencies across more than 100 countries, making it particularly valuable for cross-border transactions in Africa. As part of the global Paysafe platform, it brings international standards to the African market.
Transaction fees: 1.9% transaction fee.
What’s good
- Competitive 1.9% transaction fee (lower than PayPal)
- Wide international acceptance makes it ideal for global businesses
- Prepaid Mastercard option for flexible fund access
- Supports in-app payments and third-party shopping cart integration
- Strong security protocols and multi-language customer support
- No account creation charges for merchants
What’s not so good
- Limited integration with African mobile money services
- A less recognizable brand in Africa compared to local payment providers
- Withdrawal fees can be higher than local alternatives
- Limited physical presence in African markets
- Can face regulatory hurdles in certain African countries
- The setup process is more complicated for African merchants
- PayPal
PayPal Dashboard
Despite limitations in some African markets, PayPal remains an important gateway for international transactions, supporting payments in over 100 currencies. Its global brand recognition creates instant trust with international customers.
Transaction fees: 2.9% per transaction with no monthly fees.
What’s good
- Global brand recognition creates consumer trust
- No setup expenses, gateway fees, or monthly charges
- Easy integration with virtually all e-commerce platforms
- PayPal Pro allows merchants to customize checkout without customers leaving the site
- Accepts multiple payment methods, including credit cards via fax, mail, or phone
- Strong buyer and seller protection policies
What’s not so good
- Withdrawal restrictions in many African countries
- Long settlement times (5-7 days in Nigeria vs. 24-72 hours with local providers)
- Limited access to customer support for African merchants
- Higher fees than some local alternatives
- No mobile money integration
- Account freezes occur more frequently in African markets
- Onafriq (Formerly MFS Africa)
Onafriq describes itself as “Africa’s Largest Digital Payments Gateway,” and the numbers support this claim. They connect businesses to over 500 million mobile money wallets across 41 African nations.
Transaction fees: Variable pricing structure based on transaction volume and corridors.
What’s good
- Unparalleled mobile money reach connecting to 500 million+ wallets
- Single API integration eliminates technical complexity
- Industry-leading cross-border payment capabilities with 1700 corridors
- Perfect for reaching unbanked populations
- Enhanced payment management capabilities after the eyonic acquisition
- Strong compliance with local regulatory requirements
What’s not so good
- Less transparent pricing with variable fees across markets
- Limited card payment processing capabilities
- Fewer integration options for standard e-commerce platforms
- Less focus on user experience compared to consumer-facing gateways
- More challenging for small businesses to access
- Slower settlement for certain payment corridors
- DPO Group (PayGate)
DPO Group operates in 19 countries, including high-growth markets like Kenya and Egypt. Their PayGate solution has become popular with larger merchants due to its omnichannel capabilities.
Transaction fees: 0.25% for high-volume merchants via PayGate Switch, to 3.5% for smaller businesses on PayGate Plus.
What’s good
- Pan-African reach across 19 countries, including key markets like Kenya and Egypt
- Excellent cost efficiency for high-volume merchants (0.25% fees)
- Omnichannel support with 20+ payment methods, including QR codes and BNPL
- Industry-specific solutions for travel, hospitality, and retail
- Sophisticated fraud protection tools
- Strong regulatory compliance across multiple African jurisdictions
What’s not so good
- Complex onboarding requiring a merchant account (2-3 week setup time)
- High fees for SMEs at 3.5% on PayGate Plus
- Less competitive in the mobile money space compared to specialists
- The user interface is not as intuitive as newer platforms
- Limited self-service options for smaller merchants
- Support quality varies by country
- PalmPay
PalmPay has carved out a niche with its mobile-first approach, which aligns perfectly with Africa’s smartphone-driven digital economy.
About 80% of users in Nigeria prefer their app for low-fee P2P transfers.
Transaction fees: 0% for person-to-person transfers, variable merchant rates.
What’s good
- Mobile-first design preferred by 80% of users in Nigeria for P2P transfers
- Massive agent network (500,000+) facilitating rural cash-in/cash-out
- Zero-fee structure for person-to-person transfers
- Integrated savings features attracting a large user base
- Strong presence in Nigeria with growing adoption
- Simple onboarding process for consumers and small merchants
What’s not so good
- Limited B2B features with no invoicing or bulk payment tools
- Primarily focused on Nigeria with limited international capabilities
- Less integration options for e-commerce platforms
- Smaller merchant acceptance network
- Limited reporting and analytics for business users
- Fewer payment method options for international customers
Comparison Table of Top African Payment Gateways
| Gateway | Transaction Fees (Local) | Transaction Fees (Int’l) | Countries Supported | Mobile Money | Cross-Border | Cryptocurrency Support |
| Flutterwave | 1.4% | 3.5% | 33+ | ✓ | ✓ | Limited |
| Paystack | 1.5% | 3.9% + ₦100 | 8 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Interswitch | Varies | Varies | 5+ | Limited | Limited | ✗ |
| VoguePay | 3.8% + $0.50 | 3.8% + $0.50 | Global | Limited | ✓ | ✗ |
| Kora | 1.5% flat | 1.5% flat | 41 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Skrill | 1.9% | 1.9% | 100+ | Limited | ✓ | ✓ |
| PayPal | 2.9% | 2.9% | Most African countries* | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Onafriq | Varies | Varies | 41 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| DPO Group | 0.25%-3.5% | Varies | 19 | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| PalmPay | 0% P2P | Varies | Nigeria focused | ✓ | Limited | ✗ |
*With withdrawal restrictions in some markets
Frequently Asked Questions
Based on my interactions with African business owners and the latest research, here are the most common questions about payment gateways in Africa:
Which payment gateway has the highest transaction success rates in Africa?
Paystack consistently claims the highest transaction success rates, particularly in Nigeria, where they achieve approximately 95% success rates for local transactions. Their system automatically routes payments through the most optimal channels. Kora also reports high success rates (98%) specifically for intra-African cross-border transactions.
What payment methods are essential for African e-commerce businesses?
The most successful African e-commerce businesses offer multiple payment options including:
- Credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Verve)
- Mobile money (M-Pesa, MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money)
- Bank transfers
- USSD payments
- QR code payments
- Digital wallets
Mobile money is particularly crucial, with Sub-Saharan Africa having more mobile money users than any other region worldwide.
How do cross-border payment gateways work in Africa?
Cross-border payment gateways function as digital bridges connecting buyers and sellers across different countries. They allow customers to pay in their local currency using preferred payment methods while the business receives funds in their preferred currency. This eliminates the need for multiple currency conversions and complex banking procedures. Kora specializes in this area, with 1700 cross-border payment corridors across 41 African nations.
What security features should I look for in an African payment gateway?
At minimum, ensure your payment gateway offers:
- PCI DSS compliance (essential for processing card data)
- Strong encryption for all transaction data
- 3D Secure authentication for card payments
- Tokenization to protect sensitive information
- AI-powered fraud detection systems
- Real-time risk assessment
- Clear processes for handling disputes and chargebacks
How long do settlements typically take with African payment gateways?
Settlement timeframes vary significantly:
- Paystack: 24-72 hours for local transactions
- Flutterwave: 1-2 business days for local currencies
- PayPal: 5-7 days in Nigeria, can be longer in other markets
- DPO Group: 3-5 business days standard, faster settlement available for a fee
- VoguePay: 3-5 business days
Some gateways offer faster settlement options for additional fees. Local transactions typically settle faster than international ones.
Are international payment gateways like Stripe available in Africa?
Availability varies by country. Stripe is gradually expanding in Africa but isn’t available in many African countries yet. PayPal operates in most African countries but with restrictions on withdrawals in some markets. Many businesses combine international gateways for global reach with local solutions for better domestic acceptance rates. Slashdot Software provides updated information on international gateway availability.
Which payment gateway is best for high-risk industries in Africa?
Some specialized payment gateways like Elemipay focus on high-risk industries such as gaming, gambling, betting, and forex trading. These gateways offer industry-specific compliance features, higher transaction limits, and specialized fraud prevention. However, they typically charge higher fees to offset the increased risk.
Do African payment gateways support cryptocurrency transactions?
Cryptocurrency adoption is growing rapidly in Africa, with Nigeria ranking as a leading country per capita for Bitcoin adoption. However, regulatory stances vary significantly across countries. Currently, few mainstream payment gateways offer robust cryptocurrency support, though Flutterwave has begun exploring this area. Specialized platforms like Paychant are pioneering fiat-to-stablecoin on/off-ramps, connecting local African payment channels with stablecoins.
How ProfitBooks Simplifies Payment Gateway Management
Running an online business in Africa means juggling multiple payment methods and dealing with the complexities of different payment gateways. That’s where our accounting software at ProfitBooks comes in handy.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that many African business owners struggle with reconciling payments from different sources. Our software simplifies this by integrating with popular payment gateways to automatically record transactions in your accounting system.
Here’s how ProfitBooks helps African businesses manage their payment processes more efficiently:
- Integrated Invoicing with Payment Links: Create and send professional invoices that include payment links, allowing your customers to pay instantly using their preferred payment method.
- Automated Payment Reconciliation: No more manual entry of payment records. When customers pay through integrated gateways, the payment is automatically recorded in your books.
- Multi-Currency Support: Like many African businesses, if you operate across borders, you’ll appreciate our multi-currency features that help you manage transactions in different currencies while maintaining accurate financial records.
- Comprehensive Financial Reports: Generate detailed reports on your sales and payment collections, giving you clear visibility into your cash flow patterns.
I’ve worked with several businesses in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa who have saved countless hours by connecting their payment gateways with ProfitBooks.
The transaction fee with our integrated solution is just 1.9%. This is significantly lower than many standalone options.
Final Thoughts
The payment gateway landscape in Africa is rapidly evolving, with solutions emerging to address the continent’s unique challenges and opportunities.
From mobile money integration to cross-border capabilities, the best payment gateways combine global standards with local expertise.
Having worked with numerous African businesses through ProfitBooks, I’ve seen firsthand how the right payment solution can accelerate growth. Whether you’re a small startup or an established enterprise, understanding the strengths and limitations of different payment gateways is crucial to your success.
As Africa’s digital economy continues to expand, payment gateways will play an increasingly vital role in facilitating commerce, driving financial inclusion, and connecting Africa to the global economy.
The most successful providers will be those that continue to innovate, adapt to local needs, and provide secure, reliable, and cost-effective solutions.
Ready to streamline your business finances along with your payment processing?
Sign up for ProfitBooks today and experience how our integrated accounting solution can save you time and money. The Startup plan is completely free, giving you a risk-free way to see how our system can benefit your business.
What payment gateway are you currently using for your African business? Share your experiences in the comments below!
Also read:
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Ho to create professional invoices
