Top 7 Payment Gateway APIs That Every Developer Must Know (original) (raw)
Last Updated : 12 Jul, 2025
**Developers can easily build a website for someone else and for their purpose of starting a business. Well, running a startup successfully can be difficult if you haven't chosen the right payment gateway service. The right payment gateway service allows customers to make easy transactions on your website. If you ignore the most important part of your website, which is integrating the payment gateway, then you probably won't get the result on your website that you are looking for. It is just like building a swanky store without a proper and efficient billing counter.
Table of Content
As an organization, you need to be careful while choosing a payment gateway option. It should be according to the customer's experience on your websites through to cash flow to online sales. Make sure that you **take care of things mentioned below while choosing a payment gateway.
- **Security should be the topmost priority. Make sure that it is integrated with the 3D security and complies with the **PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
- **Payout Time should be less to credit money in your bank account.
- **Integration needs complies to be easy and simple or it can develop a custom-coded solution for your platform easily.
- **Multiple currencies should be handled by the payment gateway for customers using different currencies across the world.
Top 7 Payment Gateway APIs
Now we are going to discuss the **7 common payment gateway services which are quite popular among developers and a lot of tech companies are using it for various kinds of businesses.
1. Paytm
**Paytm Payment Gateway is one of India’s leading payment gateways. Paytm Payment Gateway offers technology that is trusted by India’s leading unicorns. It is also the payment gateway that powers the Paytm app.
Payment Gateway Paytm offers instant, online onboarding and easy integration options. The payment gateway supports all types of websites and apps and has plugins for all major e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, and 20+ more. Paytm Payment Gateway’s feature-packed mobile SDKs provide the best checkout experience for a business’s customers. It also offers ready-to-use JS snippets and powerful APIs.
Payment Gateway of Paytm is the only payment gateway to not levy a charge on UPI transactions. It offers 0% MDR (merchant discount rate) on UPI and RuPay debit cards. The payment gateway also has the industry-highest success rates, T+1 settlements, and support for 2,500 transactions per second.
Additionally, **Paytm’s International Payment Gateway empowers Indian businesses to accept international payments in all major currencies, from over 200 countries. Indian businesses can sell their products across the globe with Paytm Payment Gateway without any additional API integrations.
**Key Features
- **Domestic Credit Cards supported: Visa, Master, Maestro, Amex, Discover, and Diners
- **Shopping Cart Kits currently available: Opencart, Magento, Zencart, WordPress, Woocommerce, Joomla Virtue Mart, Prestashop, OSCommerce, WordPress Ecommerce, Ubercart, Easy digital, WHMCS, ViArt, Opencart, CScart, Virtuemart, Drupal Commerce, Moodle, Nopcommerce, Gravity forms.
- **Integration kits are available in the following environments: PHP, ASP.NET, Ruby On Rails, JSP, VB.NET OSCommerce
- **Mobile App Integration: Available for both Android and iOS.
**Price
- No setup fee. No recurring fee and No Annual Maintenance Charges
2. Stripe
Stripe was launched in 2010 and it is one of the most industry-standard payment gateways loved by a lot of developers. When you visit the site you will find a **Developer First section over there which is quite impressive and it makes one thing clear that it was designed keeping the developers in mind. Stripe payment API for developers gives access to methods for **accepting payments, managing subscriptions, tracking user accounts, and sending invoices. The payment gateway stripe has the best **user interface in the industry. A lot of good companies are using its services such as **Lyft, Postmates, Doordash, TaskRabbit, Deliveroo, Slack, Kickstarter, and Pinterest. Let's discuss some of its key features.
**Key Features
- **Vivid and detailed documentation for developers to implement the service
- **Best developer and marketplace tools. It allows you to build powerful connections with leading marketplaces and third-party software, reach out to new audiences, and maximize renewal.
- Suitable for international transactions.
- Suitable for large companies who can employ the developers in the house or hire web development companies for their projects.
- Stripe allows you to build and incorporate trial periods in your plans, or give coupons to help you devise and refine your strategies.
**Price
- _Domestic: 2% for most cards issued in India and 3% for cards issued outside of India.
- _International: 4.3% for cards issued anywhere. Additional 2% for currency conversion.
3. PayPal
Paypal is indeed one of the most popular payment gateways and it is well-known in all countries. Paypal is providing services for the last **two decades and now it's providing services in more than **200 markets around the world. Currently, it has more than **237 million active account holders with several platforms including Braintree, Venmo, and Xoom. Paypal is new in India so the **onboarding process is a little bit painful for India. The reason could be the staff who are a little bit undertrained in the verification process. Let's discuss some of its key features.
**Key Features
- Paypal allows their merchant and the consumer to perform a transaction in more than **100 currencies, funds can be withdrawn in 56 currencies, and hold balances in 25 currencies in their Paypal registered account.
- No withdrawal fees, no startup fees, no termination fees, and no monthly fees.
- **Mobile App Payment Gateway Integration: iOS and Android.
- Different plans are available as per the needs.
- You are not required to store credit card or bank account information on your server, it permits high-security payments on low-security websites and makes PCI compliance easier, even on low-cost or free-tier cloud hosting.
**Price
- _Annual maintenance Charge: Free, Zero maintenance charges.
- _Transaction Fee per Transaction: 4.4% + fixed fee based on the currency
4. Razorpay
Razorpay is the only payment gateway in India that allows businesses to accept, process, and disburse payments with its product suite. It allows you to access all the payment modes including credit card, debit card, net banking, UPI, and popular wallets including Airtel Money, FreeCharge, JioMoney, PayUmoney, Ola Money, Mobikwik, and PayZapp. Razorpay also has an **amazing UI interface and the **onboarding process is pretty easy. Razorpay can operate only when you provide a **valid bank account number, even if you only want to test out their UI. Let's discuss some of its key features.
**Key Features
- **Documentation is top-notch in the industry just at the same level as Stripe.
- **Supported eCommerce CMS System: All major ones such as WooCommerce, Magento, CS-Cart, Opencart, Shopify, WHCMS, WordPress, Arastta, and Prestashop.
- **Mobile App Integration: Mobile SDKs for Android and iOS via Cordova/Phonegap.
**Price
- _Annual maintenance Charge: Zero, no one-time setup fee.
- _Transaction fee per transaction: 2% per successful transaction; +1% for Diners and Amex Cards, International Cards, EMI.
5. PayU
Another competition for Razorpay is PayU (formerly known as PayU Money) which is the product of an Indian payment processing corporation. PayU is one of the best and simplest online payment solutions that was designed to fill in the gaps left by complex service providers. They have an easy sign-up and quick onboarding process also it takes minimal development effort. The **user interface is pretty nice. The service offers a single integrated solution that lets users start receiving local payments in all locations where it operates. PayU offers more than **250 local payment methods and **multiple currency options. Let's discuss some of its key features.
**Key Features
- **International Payment / Credit CardSDKs Support: Supported
- **100+ Payment Options including UPI, debit/credit cards, and net banking
- **Documentation is best in the industry as in the same bar as Stripe and Razorpay.
- **Supported eCommerce CMS Systems: All major CMS-supported
- **Mobile App Integration: Android, Windows, and iOS.
- Accept payments in **100+ currencies
**Price
- _Annual maintenance Charge: Zero, no setup charges.
- _Transaction Fee per Transaction: 2% + GST for each transaction. For American Express & Diners Cards, transaction fees = 3% + GST for international transactions & EMI payment options, there is a set-up fee that needs to be paid along with Annual Maintenance Charges (AMC). Also, the transaction rates are 3% + 6Rs for every transaction.
6. Instamojo
Instamojo is another payment gateway option that is getting which is getting a lot of attention these days. They have a **pretty good onboarding process. You can just enter your tax information, and bank details and that's pretty much to set up your account within an hour. Instamojo works with saving accounts, you don't need to have a checking account. The **user interface is also very nice. Let's discuss some of its key features.
**Key Features
- **Documentation is pretty good for Instamojo.
- **Multiple Payment Options are available including UPI, debit/credit cards, net banking, and wallets
- **Supported eCommerce CMS System: All major ones such as Magento, Prestashop, Opencart, etc.
**Price
- Annual maintenance Charge: Zero
- Transaction Fee per Transaction: 2% + Rs 3 per transaction.
7. CCAvenue
CCAvenue is one of the largest payment gateways in India that offers a wide range of payment options. They offer **200+ payment options inclusive of 6 credit cards such as Amex, JCB, Diners Club, Mastercard, Visa, and eZeClick. CCAvenue also allows a Multilingual payment page in 18 major Indian and international languages. Their **onboarding process is complicated for users. They still work on manual or physical paperwork which is a pain for most people. You will have to send the couriers and files and it may take months in the onboarding process. CCAvenue **documentation is amazing, a lot of blogs and articles are there to integrate almost any tech stack. The payment gateway of CCAvenue has a decent **user interface. Let's discuss some of the key features.
**Key Features
- **International Payment / Credit card Support: Supported on CCAvenues. Your eCommerce store can represent your product pricing in any number of currencies. Your customers can check out on the CCAvenue payment options page using their desired currency.
- **Multi-Currency Support: CCAvenue allows the collection of payments in 27 major foreign currencies.
- **Supported eCommerce CMS System: CCAvenue has developed API for most of the shopping carts such as Buildabazaar, Cubecart, Drupal, Interspire, Joomla, Magento, Magento Go, Martjack, Moodle, NopCommerce, Opencart, OsCommerce, PrestaShop, VirtueMart, WHMCS, WordPress, ZenCart.
- **Mobile App Payment Gateway Integration: Android, iOS, and Windows.
**Price
- No setup fee
- Annual maintenance Charge for a Startup account: Rs 1200
- **Transaction Fee per Transaction:
- Domestic Credit & Debit cards on Visa, Mastercard, and Maestro RuPay: Flat fee @ 2%
- Wallets: Freecharge, Mobikwik, OlaMoney, Jiomoney, Paytm, PayZapp, Jana Cash, SBI Budd. y
- Mobile Wallet: Flat fee @ 2%
- IMPS & UPI: Flat fee @ 2%
- International Credit Cards on Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, and Diners Club: Flat fee @ 3%
- Taxes extra as applicable from time to time.
Conclusion
Don't just become a regular developer doing some designing and backend work. As quickly as you get a chance of interacting with any payment gateway, integrating, or coding for that please go ahead and get the experience. It's worth it and it will help you to build your skillset. Choosing one of the powerful APIs allows you to accept payment right on your site. There is no need to redirect your customer to some external website for payment. All the payment gateway services have some pros and cons and being a developer, it's your job to find the best one for your website considering multiple factors and especially customer experience.