Top 10 Payment Gateways for International Transactions in 2024

Navigating the complexities of international transactions can be intimidating, especially when dealing with payment gateways that don’t accept multiple currencies or payment methods. As a US-based business with customers around the globe, you’ll run into payment gateways that charge exorbitant fees while restricting the countries from which you can accept payments.

Choosing the wrong payment gateway can affect your operations, making it difficult to offer local payment methods, resolve failed transactions, or manage fraudulent activity and chargebacks. As a result, you might lose out on profit that would otherwise be yours with a great payment gateway.

After researching dozens of payment gateways, I found that Stax stands out for US-based businesses accepting international transactions. This is due to its proprietary gateway and its partnerships with e-commerce platforms like BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Magento, which allow you to accept over 100 currencies in 150 countries.

For extensive reach and the ability to offer your customers a streamlined checkout experience, Stax offers the best payment gateway. Check it out, or keep reading to see all the other top options.

What We Look For in the Best International Payment Gateways

To identify the best payment gateways for international transactions, I focused on the features and benefits US-based businesses require to successfully accept payments overseas.

• Low transaction fees. Higher fees on international transactions can eat into your profits, meaning you need a payment gateway that’ll offer you the best rates without sacrificing features or usability.
• Accepts foreign currency: If your business caters to a global customer base in various countries, you’ll want to accept as many currencies as possible. Most payment gateways accept 50+ currencies, with some even accepting over 150.
• Variety of payment options: Offering your customers local and international payment methods is essential when attempting to meet their varied preferences. Because of this, you need a payment gateway that accepts major credit and debit cards like Visa and Mastercard, digital wallets like Google Pay, cryptocurrency, ACH transfers, and more.
• Customization: The ability to tailor your checkout using APIs allows you to stand out among competitors. Plus, most payment gateways allow you to change the color and branding of your pages and forms, even without coding experience.
• Security: PCI compliance, fraud detection and monitoring, end-to-end encryption, and tokenization are non-negotiable when accepting international transactions. Better yet, some payment gateways offer advanced features like IP detection, AVS, and more.

1. Stax: Subscription-Based Pricing for High-Volume E-Commerce Businesses

Stax offers excellent payment gateways for high-volume e-commerce businesses due to its subscription-based pricing. US-based businesses selling over $8,000/month can save up to 40% on processing costs. Combine that with a flat monthly and transaction fee, Stax ensures zero markup on interchange rates and assessments. It offers three tiers: Growth at $99.00/month, Pro at $159.00/month, and Ultimate at $199.00/month, each with a fee of 0% + 10¢ (in-person) per transaction.

For businesses requiring complete customization, Stax API offers a seamless checkout process that aligns with your website’s aesthetic. Better yet, you can use Stax.js and Stax’s developer-friendly SDKs for iOS and Android to embed a credit card field iframe within your existing payment form and enhance your ability to accept international payments.

Integration capabilities are a standout feature of Stax, giving you access to popular e-commerce platforms like Bigcommerce, WooCommerce, SalesForce, and Magento. Because of this, you can streamline your payment processes and integrate them with existing online stores while gaining access to over 100 currencies in 150 countries. What’s more, integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, Slack, and MSTeams ensure business efficiency all in one place.

Features and Benefits

• Business management software. Stax’s integration with Zapier offers a variety of options for custom integrations, including project management, marketing, and accounting software tailored to your business’s needs.
• Live chat. If you need instant support, you can contact Stax outside regular business hours using its live chat. You can also contact its support team by email, phone, and fax or check out its comprehensive knowledge base with detailed articles on various topics.
• Payment methods. Stax accepts several payment methods, including Visa, Mastercard, ACH transfers, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Venmo. Thus, you’ll have no problem accepting local and international payments, enhancing your potential for profitability.
• Optional same-day payouts. For businesses that handle numerous ACH transactions or prefer quick access to funds, Stax offers same-day payouts for an additional fee.

Check out our expert Stax review to learn more.

2. Leaders Merchant Services: Low Rates for SMEs With a Global Clientele

Leaders Merchant Services (LMS) is the top choice for SMEs processing international transactions due to its industry-low rates, negotiable pricing, and month-to-month plans. It offers two affordable plans ideal for budget-conscious businesses: a swiped card plan with a ~2% + 0¢ per transaction fee and a virtual terminal plan with a ~2.9% + 30¢ per transaction fee. Each plan costs $9.00/month, making it one of the cheapest payment gateways for international transactions.

Fraudulent activity and chargebacks are common for businesses processing international transactions, resulting in hefty chargeback fees and many disputes. Nonetheless, LMS offers dedicated fraud and chargeback teams to support you through the dispute process, increase your chances of winning, and reduce the risk of fraudulent activity.

For QuickBooks users, LMS provides a virtual terminal through Instant Accept, allowing you to create invoices and receipts, set up recurring billing, and accept various payment methods while automatically updating QuickBooks. Instant Accept is a great feature for SMEs processing international transactions as it ensures accurate financial reporting and tracking.

Features and Benefits

• Dedicated account manager. You’ll have a dedicated account manager at LMS who provides specialized support and a consistent point of contact. This means you won’t need to constantly brief new representatives, giving you time to focus on your business.
• Shopping cart. LMS’ shopping cart integration simplifies e-commerce activities, featuring options like an “add to cart” button, automatic tax and shipping calculations, and access to customer statistics.
• Business funding. With LMS, you can access a merchant cash advance to cover the costs of selling overseas. Better yet, it is repaid through a commission on future sales, meaning you won’t have the usual pressures of strict deadlines or putting up collateral.
• High approval rate. Despite the challenges often faced by businesses handling international transactions, LMS boasts a 98% approval rate, increasing your chances of being approved.

To see if LMS is right for you, explore our detailed review.

3. Paysafe: Over 70 International Payment Methods

Paysafe offers over 250 payment methods, including over 70 international payment methods like BACS, EFT, EPS, KHIPU, MACH, PIX, SEPA, SPEI, BLICK, and iDEAL. Because of this, you can cater to your customer’s needs and encourage them to buy.  Plus, it allows you to sell in over 45 countries and 40 currencies, making it a great choice for international transactions.

Paysafe’s pricing is easy to understand, offering a tiered pricing plan and a cash discount plan for $16.00. Its tiered plan includes 4 categories: debit cards, credit cards, specialty/rewards credit cards, and foreign cards, where you’ll pay transaction fees ranging from 0.99% + 25¢ (debit cards) to 2.99% + 25¢ (specialty/rewards credit cards). Unfortunately, its international fees are slightly higher at 3.99% + 25¢ (foreign credit cards), meaning that it’s better suited to low-volume businesses processing international transactions.

Paysafe’s advanced technology is highly beneficial for international transactions, providing real-time fraud detection, device detection, browser sniffing, AVS, BIN/IP checking, and a customizable Risk Rules Engine. Customizable fraud rules, alert capabilities, and a dedicated risk management team also help you reduce fraudulent activity and chargebacks.

Features and Benefits

• Multichannel payments. Paysafe offers several payment channels, including digital invoicing, MOTO transactions, pay-by-link, subscription-based billing, and even QR code payments through its partnership with Applova.
• Comprehensive dashboard. The Merchant Back Office dashboard allows you to view your entire transaction history, take orders through a virtual terminal, generate reports, and process refunds, centralizing the management of your transactions.
• Compliance and security. Paysafe maintains the highest level of PCI compliance and offers end-to-end encryption and tokenization to protect your online transactions. Plus, its GDPR compliance ensures its standards align with current regulations.
• Account manager. After opening a merchant account, you’ll receive an account manager that you can reach via email or phone outside regular business hours.

Take a look at our comprehensive Paysafe review to learn more.

4. Helcim: Transparent Payment Processing for International Transactions

Helcim offers transparent payment processing and a rate comparison tool to give you a clear indication of how much you’ll pay per international transaction. It offers two pricing plans based on monthly sales volume, an up to $25,000/month plan and an over $25,000/month plan. You’ll pay 0.50% +25¢ (online) per transaction if you’re a low-volume business, but you can get discounted markup and transaction fees if you process more than $25,000/month.

With a Helcim account, you can accept payments in almost any currency and country. Your customers pay in their currency, and their bank automatically converts it to USD at that day’s conversion rate. Unfortunately, you’ll pay Visa and Mastercard’s international interchange rates of 1.1% while your customers pay international service and currency conversion fees. These fees can eat into your profits and reduce your customer’s willingness to spend.

Helcim’s fully customizable payment pages are a standout feature, enabling you to add seamless payment functionality to your website without any programming skills. Using Helcim, you can add a basic shopping cart, complex setups for recurring subscriptions, a sign-up page, and even invoice payments. Plus, its theme designer allows you to incorporate your brand’s logo and colors to ensure a consistent and aesthetically pleasing design.

Features and Benefits

• Easy to use software. Helcim’s software is intuitive and simple, allowing you to set up new tax regions and add currencies for international payments. Its design focuses on security, keeping your data well protected.
• Fully hosted website builder. You only need a domain name, and Helcim’s platform does the rest. Plus, it syncs with your main Helcim account, automatically copying products to your online store to save you time and effort.
• Built-in CRM. Offering a customer portal to ensure 24/7 relationship management, Helcim gives your customers access to their transaction history and pending invoices. Better yet, you can securely store all your customers’ payment details in its card vault.
• 3 customer service channels. Helcim provides email, phone, and ticket support from Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. EST, and on weekends from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. However, ticket support is exclusive to Helcim merchant account holders.

Check out our in-depth Helcim review to see if it’s right for you.

5. Pay.com: Reduce Failed International Payments With 3 Resolution Tools

Pay.com reduces the likelihood of failed transactions using multiple resolution tools. If a transaction declines, the system attempts to rectify it with an automatic account updater to fetch updated card information, partial approval for transactions if a customer has insufficient funds, and smart routing to avoid declines due to network traffic or outages. This makes Pay.com an excellent choice for subscription-based businesses processing international transactions.

Pay.com offers a range of payment options, including Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, American Express, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. Unfortunately, Pay.com doesn’t disclose all its payment methods on its website, suggesting it offers less than its competitors. To find out if Pay.com accepts the payment methods your business needs, you’ll need to contact its sales team.

In terms of pricing, Pay.com uses a flat pricing structure with no ongoing monthly or annual fees. You’ll typically pay 2.9% + 29¢ per transaction, with additional fees for ACH transfers (from $1-$5) and a small fee for its card account updater. High-volume businesses processing over $800,000/year can get custom plans with reduced transaction fees.

Features and Benefits

• Dynamic fraud detection and prevention tool. Pay.com utilizes the PSD2 security protocol, 3DS2, to authenticate each transaction and add an extra layer of security depending on their estimated risk level.
• Customizable checkout. You can tailor your checkout page’s text, colors, and overall design with Pay.com. You can also use your domain name and its built-in A/B testing tool to optimize your checkout.
• Powerful analytics. Pay.com provides comprehensive analytics, giving you real-time visualizations of data, transactions, consumer behavior, and more. Plus, you’ll be able to predict trends and handle refunds.
• Compliance and security. Regular audits and tests ensure Pay.com’s Level 1 PCI DSS compliance while tokenization conceals your customer’s financial information.

To learn more, visit our detailed Pay.com review.

6. ProMerchant: Accept International Payments Through BigCommerce and Magento

ProMerchant is a good option for international transactions because it integrates with Authorize.Net. Because of this, you get access to BigCommerce and Magento, e-commerce platforms that accept over 100 currencies in 150 and 25 countries. In addition, you can customize your shopping cart and online store to match your branding and marketing materials.

ProMerchant offers two payment models: a per-transaction plan and a subscription-style plan for cash-handling retail and restaurant businesses. You’ll pay $7.95/month and 3% + 10¢ (credit) per transaction in addition to Visa and MasterCard’s international interchange rates of 1.1%. ProMerchant doesn’t impose setup, application, cancellation, or PCI compliance fees, saving you a considerable amount of money in the long run.

ProMerchant offers tailored accounts for high-risk merchants, including businesses that process international transactions. However, it only accepts debit, credit, Google Pay, Apple Pay, Visa Click to Pay, and ACH transfers, making it difficult for your customers to pay if their preferred payment method isn’t available.

Features and Benefits

• Next-day payouts. ProMerchant offers merchants next-day payouts free of charge, an uncommon feature on this list. Due to limited processing time, you have the money to cover expenses and ensure the smooth running of your business.
• Fraud mitigation tools. ProMerchant provides additional features through Authorize.Net that you can use to reduce the chances of fraudulent activity and chargebacks. Such features include filters, alerts, and IP blocking.
• Over 50 POS systems. You can choose between 50 different POS systems – a boon for businesses accepting national and international transactions. Plus, you get a free Verifone, Payanywhere, Pax, or Ingenico terminal when you open a merchant account.
• Subscription management. Because of Authorize.Net, ProMerchant is a great choice for international transactions as it allows you to set up digital invoicing, create subscription plans, and receive recurring payments.

Visit our expert ProMechant review to see more features.

Other Notable International Payment Gateways

7. Flagship Merchant Services

Flagship Merchant Services equips you with iAccess 3.0, a comprehensive business management portal for international transactions. Using iAccess 3.0, you can analyze critical data like customer visit activity, your business’s reputation, market performance, and competition. It also allows you to generate daily, weekly, or monthly sales summaries and statements to ensure your business meets its goals.

Flagship offers a tiered pricing plan and an interchange-plus pricing plan for $7.95/month, each with differing online transaction fees that you can explore by contacting its support team. However, be aware that Flagship has several additional fees that can impact your profitability, including monthly minimums, ACH fees, gateway fees, PCI compliance fees, PCI non-compliance fees, and a 15-20% restocking fee for returning any POS equipment.

8. CreditCardProcessing.com

CreditCardProcessing.com (CCP.com) partners with Vindicia, a subscription management platform designed to manage recurring international transactions, optimize subscription plans, and enhance customer satisfaction. Additionally, you get access to Vindicia Retain, which automatically addresses and resolves up to 30% of failed international transactions by analyzing and updating your customer’s payment details.

CCP.com has several plans ranging from $15.00/month. CCP.com is a great choice for businesses processing international transactions as it has low- and high-volume business plans. For example, its interchange-plus plan is more cost-effective for low-volume clients. At the same time, its advanced tiers are best for high-volume businesses, offering transaction fees as low as 0% + 0.05¢ (High volume).

9. PAYARC

PAYARC provides a proprietary gateway and access to several international gateways, including RS2, TSYS, and Planet Payment. These partnerships allow you to accept over 150 currencies and 200 payment methods across 70 markets outside the US, enhancing your business’s ability to reach international customers while reducing currency conversion fees.

PAYARC’s pricing is challenging to navigate and not always transparent, but I learned it offers 3 pricing plans: a membership plan based on your business’s monthly sales volume, a flat rate plan, and a cash discount plan. The best plan for US-based international businesses is its membership plan, especially if you sell over $25,000/month. You’ll pay 0% + 15¢ (in-person & online) per transaction and $69.00/month on its $0–25,000 plan.

10. PayPal

Paypal operates in over 200 regions and accepts over 100 currencies, making it a good payment gateway for global businesses. Its partnerships with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Bigcommerce, and Magento facilitate easy acceptance of payments from outside the US. Notably, PayPal’s seller protection offers a layer of security for overseas transactions by reimbursing eligible transactions with the full payment amount.

However, PayPal’s fee structure is complex and expensive compared to other payment gateways, with extra fees based on the country, currency, payment type, and method. For example, standard international credit card payments encounter per-transaction fees of 2.99% plus 1.50%  and a fixed fee based on the currency. Plus, currency conversion fees range between 3-4% depending on the transaction type, further eating into your profits.

These Are the Best Payment Gateways for International Transactions

Every US-based business processing international transactions has unique needs, but certain payment gateways stand out due to their specific features and benefits.

For high-volume businesses processing international transactions, Stax offers the best payment gateway. It can save you up to 40% on your processing fees if you make more than $8,000/month and offers a customized checkout experience through its API.

LMS is the best choice for budget-conscious SMEs processing international transactions, especially if you’re looking for cost efficiency and dedicated support. It offers industry-low rates, negotiable pricing, flexible contracts, and dedicated fraud and chargeback teams.

If you’re a low-volume business aiming to offer your customers various payment methods, Paysafe is an excellent option. It allows you to accept over 250 payment methods in 40 currencies, including 70 international payment methods like BACS, EFT, iDEAL, and more.

FAQ

What is an international payment gateway?

An international payment gateway is an online portal that processes online transactions in various countries and currencies. I recommend Stax for high-volume businesses as it integrates with several e-commerce platforms and business apps and allows you to customize your checkout page using its API. Leaders Merchant Services is the best for SMEs due to its industry-low rates and specialized fraud and chargeback teams.

Which payment method is best for international transactions?

The best payment methods for international transactions include credit and debit cards, digital wallets, and ACH transfers. Stax is a great choice for e-commerce businesses as it allows for up to 40% savings on processing costs if you handle over $8,000/month. Plus, it accepts several payment methods while seamlessly integrating with Magento and Bigcommerce.

Which payment gateway works worldwide?

Payment gateways such as Planet Payment, Authorize.Net, TSYS, and BigCommerce accept transactions from over 100 countries. I recommend Paysafe for global businesses as it accepts up to 250 payment methods, including MasterCard, Visa, and iDEAL. For low-volume businesses, Leaders Merchant Services offers Authorize.net and affordable rates.

How do I get an international payment gateway?

Every payment processor on this list gives you access to a proprietary gateway or a partner like Authorize.Net. For security-focused international businesses, I recommend Paysafe due to its robust security features, including real-time fraud detection, AVS, and BIN/IP checking. Plus, it accepts over 70 international payment methods like BACS, ACH, EFT, EPS, iDEAL, and more.