The world is a small place. If you want your business to unlock new opportunities, you’ve got to expand into new markets.
The global SaaS market alone grew by 14.3% in 2022, hitting a record $242.57 billion. Yet, to create sustainable growth in new markets, companies competing within the SaaS ecosystem must ensure they have the right tools in place to facilitate sales across the globe.
Regional cultural differences, gaps in language, and currency differences can pose significant challenges for SaaS businesses looking to enter new global markets. There are also tax liabilities and regional regulations to bear in mind.
To overcome these challenges, SaaS businesses may consider a number of approaches ranging from a direct entry or acquisition to a reseller partnership or remote entry.
But regardless of the entry method you might be considering, the biggest challenge global subscription companies face when working to expand into new markets is accepting and processing global payments.
That’s why selecting the right international payment gateway is absolutely critical.
When it comes to payment gateways, not all platforms are created equally. Some are designed to support domestic transactions. Others focus solely on a limited number of markets, and still others support a wide range of currencies and languages to facilitate international business.
This guide explains what an international payment gateway is, how you should look for one, 13 of the industry’s top international payment gateways, and the best practices for building a subscription stack that works with and accepts payments from multiple payment gateways.
Table of Contents
- What Are International Payment Gateways?
- What Should You Look for in an International Payment Gateway?
- 13 Best Payment Gateways for International Transactions
- What Are the Best Practices for Accepting International Payments?
- Conclusion
What Are International Payment Gateways?
An international payment gateway helps businesses process payments from multiple countries. It enables merchants to confirm customer payment details and then authorize payments.
International gateways process multi-currency payments, accept local or regional payment methods, and interface in multiple languages.
They are wired to make your business more accessible, ensure you’re following local tax regulations and payment rules, and maximize your revenue by opening your business up to a wider range of customers.
Supporting international transactions is particularly important for SaaS businesses. Why?
Above all else, software companies aren’t bound by any physical border to sell their products, which makes them naturally poised to sell to overseas markets.
But the challenge in selecting a payment gateway isn’t just that your software business needs to provide a great customer experience. You’ve got to consider a variety of other factors including compatibility with your existing tech stack, and how the gateway can hone- in on the localized markets you’d like to enter.
For example, it needs to be able to support the kinds of payment channels the business’ customers are most comfortable using, and it needs multi-lingual support in a very specific set of countries or regions (if there’s a regional variation) to make sure your customers are supported in a language they know and understand.
What Should You Look For in an International Payment Gateway?
This is largely dependent on the markets you’re moving into.
To help you get started on your hunt for the best payment gateway for you, here are some of the top considerations you’ll want to look at.
Supports Multiple Currencies
The first thing you should do when selecting a payment gateway to power your international sales is to find out whether the gateways you’re looking at support multiple currencies. More specifically, do they support currencies that are relevant to the exact geo you are expanding into?
If they do support multiple currencies, how many types of currencies can they process? You have to balance your decision between sustainability (i.e., supporting all your current target markets) and potential growth (i.e., leaving room for future geographical expansions).
That being said, you might not want to sacrifice currency range for expenses. As a decision-maker within your business, you’ll need to evaluate whether the business solves a repeatable problem at a global scale. If that turns out to be the case, that means your business transcends geography — but must prioritize customer-level currency transactions.
Local Payment Methods
While accepting payment in your customers’ native currency is sacrosanct to running a global business, there is also the nuance of preferred payment methods.
Transaction dynamics are different for customers in different geographies.
For example, 90% of all mobile payments in China happen through just two apps – AliPay and WeChat Pay. If you were to sell in China, you need to ensure that your payment gateway enables your customers to pay in their preferred, local payment method..
By contrast, if you have lots of customers in Poland, you should choose a payment gateway that supports a local method, like Przelewy24.
Again, here you should take a look at all your existing markets as well as the markets you’re keen to enter — and then build a list of all the local or regional payment methods within those markets.
From there, you’ll be able to cross-reference that list against the list of payment methods each gateway supports.
Fees
Each payment gateway has unique features, API assitance, integration features, and hence different price points (mostly as a percentage of the transaction value processed). To maximize profit, you need to choose a gateway that offers all your distinct needs without taxing a larger proportion of your transaction value.
The typical charges by a payment gateway include This includes both transaction fees and currency conversion fees. Some also include monthly or annual subscription fees or other service charges.
Comparing fee structures of each payment gateway you’re considering, might help you picture your costs better and help you select the most cost-effective option for your SaaS business.
Multilingual Support
For a customer, the point of payment is the first intimate experience they have with your product/service. It is important, therefore, to get closer to their needs by first – speaking their tongue. Choosing a payment gateway that offers support in all the relevant languages spoken across your business as well as in key markets becomes a crucial customer experience consideration.
For example, if your business has offices in the US and Mexico, you’ll need a gateway that supports both English and Latin. But you might also have customers in France, Germany, and Italy — which means your ideal gateway will also need to support French, German, and Italian.
By selecting an international payment gateway with multilingual support, your software business will be better able to manage your teams. It’ll also help you build customer loyalty and confidence in your brand from a customer point of view. After all, there’s a lot less friction in a customer journey when you can understand the platform you’re looking at.
International Fraud Prevention
The payment gateway that you choose for your SaaS business needs to include effective fraud protection tools that not only safeguard your customers’ payments but also protect your business.
That protection needs to apply to both your revenue and your brand reputation. After all, customers are more likely to be comfortable making secure payments on your website when they see a payment gateway that they know and trust.
Global Tax Compliance
Tax compliance is getting trickier every day. There’s been a whole lot of regulatory divergence lately. From Brexit to global sanctions and big changes like the EU’s shake-up on VAT rules, tax compliance, and reporting rules are getting a lot harder to comply with because they vary from country to country.
Sales tax is different in every country and region, too. As a result, you must make sure that your software business selects a gateway that understands how tax works in all your key markets.
Not all international payment gateways are equipped to effectively manage multiple tax jurisdictions. This is where you need a revenue management partner in conjunction with your payment gateway to really comply with global tax norms. For example, Chargebee connects with a host of payment gateways to support your expansion plans in over 150 countries while also automating invoicing and custom tax rules so you can set compliance on autopilot.
13 Best Payment Gateways for International Transactions
Now that we’ve covered what international payment gateways are and the functions a growing SaaS business needs from its gateway, let’s take a look at some of the best international payment gateways out there.
1. PayPal
PayPal is one of the best-known online payment service providers (PSPs) in the world — and because it’s been around for so long, it’s one of the preferred payment methods in many European markets in particular.
A PayPal business account is a fast and easy way for businesses just getting started selling abroad to accept and process credit card payments, debit card payments, and a number of local payment methods.
Equally important, PayPal supports a wide range of languages — and because so many international customers prefer PayPal, you’ll probably need to select an international gateway that supports PayPal, anyway.
Pricing
PayPal charges a fixed processing fee and a fee determined by the payment method:
- Online payments: 2.99% + a fixed fee (depending on the countries transacting)
- In-store payments: 2.70% + a fixed fee
- QR code transactions: 2.40% (if under $10) or 1.9% (if over $10) + a fixed fee
Currencies supported
- Paypal supports 25 currencies.
Local payment methods
- PayPal supports a wide range of local payment methods, including:
- Giropay
- ACH
- Bancontact
- EPS
- MyBank
- Przelewy24
Multilingual support
- PayPal offers 24/7 support in 17 languages.
2. Worldpay
Worldpay provides merchant accounts to small businesses and startups as well as large corporations across a variety of industries. It’s owned by FIS and is one of the largest payment processors in the world.
Because Worldpay is backed by FIS, it supports more than 120 currencies and a handful of popular languages.
Worldpay is a payment solution that emphasizes customization. As such, its developer tools enable you to process transactions in a range of local and regional payment methods specific to emerging markets like China, India, and South America.
Pricing
WorldPay uses a bespoke pricing structure. To get a quote, you’ll need to complete a form on the WorldPay website.
Currencies supported
- Worldpay supports 120+ currencies.
Local payment methods
- Worldpay supports a wide range of local payment methods, including:
- Alipay
- Bancontact
- BillDesk
- ePay
- iDEAL
- Giropay
- UnionPay
- PayU
- WeChat Pay
Multilingual support
- Worldpay offers 24/7 support in 10 languages.
3. Braintree
Braintree is an increasingly popular international payment gateway provider and billing platform that stores credit card data directly from the merchant’s system on a secure server.
It sits under the same umbrella company as PayPal, which means it has a native integration with PayPal. As a result, Braintree is a smart choice for business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) merchants that do a lot of business in Europe.
Notably, Braintree is a single gateway, which means that it isn’t able to reroute failed payments between multiple payment providers. You must also establish a regional bank account that’s local to the markets and currencies you’re setting up in Braintree — and so you need to make sure you have a presence in the countries you’re selling in.
Pricing
Braintree charges a pay-as-you-go transaction model based on payment type.
This includes:
- Cards and digital wallets: 2.59% + $.49 per transaction
- Venmo: 3.49% + $.49 per transaction
- ACH Direct Debit: 0.75% per transaction
Currencies supported
- Braintree supports 130+ currencies.
Local payment methods
- Braintree supports a wide range of local payment methods, including:
- Giropay
- ACH
- Bancontact
- EPS
- MyBank
- Przelewy24
Multilingual support
- Braintree offers 24/7 customer support in more than 30 languages.
4. Stripe
Stripe is a multinational fintech company and payment gateway that lets companies accept payments from credit and debit cards and processes those payments.
Global businesses can also use Stripe to accept online payments from a user’s mobile wallet in a number of countries. Stripe can support buy now functionality, too — as well as pay later services.
Integrating Stripe with Chargebee provides businesses the added advantage of seamless payment reconciliation and support for multiple other payment gateways along with staple Stripe advantages like ‘Stripe Radar’ to safeguard your business from online fraud.
By plugging your Stripe account into Chargebee, you can reduce developer work by automating your subscription, billing, and invoicing operations while taking advantage of Stripe’s huge range of payment options and currencies.
Pricing
Stripe charges a pay-as-you-go transaction model with flat rates that vary based on payment type.
This includes:
- Cards and digital wallets: 2.9% + $.30
- ACH Direct Debit: 0.8%
Currencies supported
- Stripe supports 135+ currencies.
Local payment methods
- Stripe API supports a wide range of local payment methods, including:
- Alipay
- Bancontact
- Clearpay
- Giropay
- Klarna
- Przelewy24
- SEPA Direct Debit
- SOFORT banking
- WeChat Pay
Multilingual support
- Stripe offers customer support in 34 languages.
5. Adyen
Adyen is an international payment gateway that provides business merchants with multiple ways to accept payments using one platform. It offers a payment gateway for online payments, POS for in-person transactions, and integration abilities for in-app or mobile payments.
Adyen also provides businesses with the merchant accounts necessary to receive payments. It supports 37 currencies and 10 languages, which makes it a smart option for international payment processing if you want to adjust your costs based on your payment volume.
Thanks to Adyen’s interchange plus pricing, this gateway might very well be the cheapest international payment gateway if you’re processing a large volume of transactions.
Like Braintree, Adyen is a single gateway — which means it can’t reroute failing payments between multiple providers where required. If your SaaS business deals with many failed payments, this is important to remember.
Pricing
Adyen uses a fixed processing fee and a fee determined by the payment method:
- Visa and Mastercard transactions: “interchange plus” pricing model.
- Wallet payments and ACH: Fees are specific to each payment method.
- Adyen uses the interchange-plus pricing system — a model that credit card processors use to determine merchant per-transaction costs.
Currencies supported
- Adyen supports 37 currencies.
Local payment methods
- Adyen supports a wide range of local payment methods, including:
- Apple Pay
- WeChat Pay
- iDeal
- Alipay
- PIX
- Klarna
- Girocard
- Amazon Pay
- Cartes Bancaires
- TWINT
Multilingual support
- Adyen offers 24/7 customer support in 10 languages.
6. Checkout.com
Checkout.com is a merchant account provider that specializes in processing international payments. Despite being only a single gateway, like Adyen and Braintree, Checkout.com can now handle payment routing thanks to its recent acquisition of ProcessOut.
Checkout.com is a smart option for a lot of midmarket and enterprise companies doing business overseas because it supports a wide range of currencies and a number of popular regional and local payment methods.
If you are a subscription business, integrating a subscription management tool with Checkout.com can work wonders. While the payment gateway does not natively support subscription billing, you can integrate Checkout.com with Chargebee to get the best of both worlds.
The Chargebee and Checkout.com integration enables you to manage recurring billing and subscriptions in 150+ currencies for customers in almost 50 countries. You can optimize your checkout flow, create bespoke automated invoices, and benefit from automated retries to avoid involuntary churn.
Pricing
Checkout.com uses a tailored pricing structure — which means that each merchant will get their own bespoke, flat rate. To get a quote, you’ll need to complete a form on Checkout.com’s pricing page.
Checkout.com uses the interchange-plus method to decide its rates.
Currencies supported
- Checkout.com supports payments in 159 currencies.
Local payment methods
- Checkout.com supports 18 different payment methods, including:
- SEPA Direct Debit
- Klarna
- Giropay
- EPS
- Sofort
- iDEAL
- Przelewy24
- Fawry
- Multibanco
- ACH Payments
Multilingual support
- Checkout.com offers customer support in seven languages.
7. Authorize.net
Authorize.net is a payment gateway that offers loads of extra products and services that you can integrate with it — but it’s only available if you’re operating in the US, Canada, or Australia.
That means if you’re operating a regional software business with English-speaking customers, Authorize.net could be worth checking out. But if you have customers outside of North America or Australia, you may want to look elsewhere.
While Authorize.net can set you up with a merchant account if you don’t already have one, your new account will be offered through a third-party payment processor, like Payment Depot or CDGcommerce.
Pricing
Authorize.net charges 2.9% + $.30 per transaction and a flat-rate monthly gateway fee of $25.
Currencies supported
- Authorize.net accepts 13 currencies.
Local payment methods
- Authorize.net is available in the US, Canada, and Australia only. It accepts:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- Discover
- American Express
- JCB
- PayPal
- Apple Pay
- eCheck
Multilingual support
- Authorize.net offers 24/7 customer support in English only.
8. GoCardless
GoCardless is a payment gateway designed primarily for recurring payments. GoCardless is all about supporting brands that collect repeat payments like subscriptions, invoices, and installments.
GoCardless is helpful for software businesses because your customers don’t have to view, approve, or action any invoices you send. That means you don’t need to wait around for clients to authorize payment upon receipt of a new bill — the payment is made automatically.
GoCardless supports a limited eight currencies and four languages but is an efficient option if your business activities are only focused around French, German, Spanish, or English-speaking countries.
Pricing
GoCardless uses a pay-per-transaction model. Domestic transactions for US customers are 1% + $0.25 (up to a cap of $2.50). International transactions are 2% + $0.25.
Currency conversion is included for all international transactions and is powered by GoCardless partner Wise.
Currencies supported
- GoCardless supports eight currencies.
Local payment methods
- GoCardless supports a wide range of local payment methods, including:
- Bacs
- SEPA Direct Debit
- Bg Autogiro
- Betalingsservice
- BECS Direct Debit
- Pre-Authorized Debit
- ACH Debit
- PAD
- PayTo
Multilingual support
- GoCardless offers customer support in English, French, German, and Spanish.
9. BlueSnap
BlueSnap is an eCommerce payment gateway that supports integrated payments, online and mobile sales, marketplaces, subscriptions, invoice payments, and manual orders through a virtual terminal.
BlueSnap supports a wide range of currencies and more than 100 local payment methods — which means it’s a good option if your software business is operating in multiple markets simultaneously.
You can also seamlessly integrate Chargebee with BlueSnap. This enables you to utilize Chargebee’s hundreds of recurring billing scenarios alongside BlueSnap’s array of local payment methods and currencies to maximize your reach to a wide range of global customers.
Pricing
BlueSnap uses a pay-per-transaction pricing model. It charges 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card transaction.
Currencies supported
- BlueSnap supports more than 110 currencies.
Local payment methods
- BlueSnap supports 100+ local payment methods, including:
- SEPA
- iDEAL
- UnionPay
- BitPay
- Sofort
Multilingual support
- BlueSnap supports 27 languages.
10. Skrill
Skrill is a UK-based payment gateway that allows you to send international money transfers and payments.
Originally launched as a platform to transfer gambling winnings, it’s now an international payment gateway that supports a wide range of local payment methods to support cross-border transactions in 40 countries.
Skrill also offers many customer support languages, which makes it worth exploring if you’re on the hunt for an international payment gateway that comes equipped to handle alternative payment methods.
Pricing
It’s free to start a business account with Skrill, but transaction rates vary. When you apply for a merchant account, Skrill will offer you a bespoke rate based on your needs and business use cases.
Currencies supported
- Skrill supports 40 currencies.
Local payment methods
- Skrill supports 100+ local payment methods in 40 countries, including:
- iDEAL
- Alipay
- Banorte
- InterBank
- POLi
- PSE
- Rapid Transfer
Multilingual support
- Skrill offers customer service in 17 languages.
11. Amazon Pay
Amazon Pay is a payment and fraud protection service for subscription businesses and other eCommerce companies that lets shoppers log in with their Amazon credentials and make purchases. That means if you’re operating in markets with numerous Amazon customers, selecting Amazon Pay as your international gateway will remove a bit of friction for your customers, too.
However, Amazon Pay is currently only available to merchants in the US, Japan, the UK, and the EU. You must also have an established physical presence in the country in which you are processing transactions to use Amazon Pay.
That means your American SaaS company can’t process Japanese payments through Amazon Pay unless you have an actual presence in Japan.
Pricing
Amazon Pay charges merchants a flat rate per transaction that varies by payment method.
This includes:
- Web and mobile: 2.9% plus $.30 per transaction
- Alexa transactions: 4% plus $.30
- Cross-border transactions: an additional 1%
Currencies supported
- Amazon Pay accepts 12 currencies.
Local payment methods
- Amazon Pay accepts:
- Visa credit and debit
- Mastercard credit and debit
- American Express
- Eurocard
- UK-based Maestro
Multilingual support
- Amazon Pay offers 24/7 customer support in five languages.
12. Mollie
Mollie is a Dutch-based payment gateway designed to integrate all of a merchant’s payment methods into one platform.
At 25 supported currencies, Mollie doesn’t offer the biggest scope in terms of multiple markets. But where Mollie does shine is in its offering of alternate payment methods — particularly in Europe. Mollie also supports a number of European languages, which makes it a smart option if many of your customers are based in the EU.
Mollie also comes with the capacity to manage basic recurring payments.
Pricing
Mollie uses a flat-rate pricing structure per transaction.
This includes:
- Mastercard, American Express, and Visa: €0.25 + 1.8% per transaction
- Maestro: €0.39 per transaction
- SEPA Direct Debit/bank transfer: €0.25 per transaction
- PaySafe: 15% per transaction
- PayPal: €0.10
Currencies supported
- Mollie supports 25 currencies.
Local payment methods
- Mollie supports a number of local payment methods, including:
- Przelewy24
- BigCommerce
- SOFORT banking
- SEPA
- Bancontact
- iDeal
- KBC
- Belfius
Multilingual support
- Mollie offers customer support in German, English, French, and Dutch.
13. Worldline
You might know Worldline better by its old name: Bambora. In September 2021, Bambora became Worldline — while remaining a leading online payment gateway.
Worldline offers more than 150 online payment methods for merchants across the globe in 120 currencies. As a result, Worldline is the best payment gateway for international transactions if you’re running a SaaS company that needs to accept payments in a large range of countries.
Worldline can also support recurring payments and token-based digital payments. However, these are add-on services that cost extra beyond the basic fees you’ll need to spend using Worldline as a simple international payment gateway.
Pricing
Worldline offers bespoke contractual rates that vary by client. To receive unique pricing information, you’ll need to get in touch with Worldline directly.
Currencies supported
- Worldline supports 120+ currencies.
Local payment methods
- Worldline accepts a wide range of local payment methods, including:
- Alipay
- WeChat Pay
- eNets
- SEPA
- SOFORT banking
- AfterPay
- Bolento Bancario
- iDEAL
- WebMoney
- Giropay
Multilingual support
- Worldline offers customer support in seven languages.
What Are the Best Practices for Accepting International Payments?
If you want your subscription business to be successful in terms of international growth and accepting international payments, there are some best practices you should adhere to. Often, these practices will be easily addressable by your payment gateway (or a powerful add-on tool).
Smart Routing
Whenever a customer adds a payment method on checkout or updates their payment details, there needs to be a gateway account linked to this update. All the customer’s future payments made using this payment method will then be processed through this gateway account — which is why it’s important to make sure the right account is always being selected.
With smart routing, you’ll have a higher chance of payment success because your platform can automatically select the bank account and gateway that’s most likely to clear the transaction and get revenue in your business bank account where it belongs.
Partner with Multiple Gateways
To maximize your chances of success trading overseas, you also need to make sure your business partners with multiple payment gateways.
If you take a closer look at a lot of the gateways we’ve covered, each one has unique selling points (USPs). Some offer unique local payment methods, others offer more language support, and still others accept more currencies.
By partnering with more than one of these international payment gateways, you’ll broaden your reach to accept international payments — you just have to ensure you’re able to manage the multiple gateways in an organized and cost-effective way.
Payment Failure Prevention
When you run a software business, your automated recurring payments must be successful.
So, you need to make sure you’re deploying tools with payment failure prevention capabilities, like smart retries and reminders.
By using a platform that can minimize payment disruption at its source, you’ll be able to accept more payments more efficiently.
Using Chargebee to Boost Your International Recurring Payments
If you’re on the hunt for a tool that can help you deliver on these best practices, you’re in luck: Chargebee offers all these abilities and more.
First and foremost, Chargebee supports payment smart routing.
With the Smart Routing feature, you’ll be able to configure rules for automatically picking a gateway account based on the payment method that the customer chooses and the currency of the transaction, so that gateway account can be assigned by Chargebee automatically.
Chargebee also lets you partner with multiple payment gateways to ensure you’re able to use the most popular gateways in all your key markets without having to worry about leaving any regions that are important to your business behind.
Likewise, Chargebee has measures to tackle payment failure via Smart Dunning management. With Smart Dunning, you’ll be able to automate the right times to retry payments and decouple failed payment retries and notification emails to create a more efficient way to avoid and solve failed payments.
Chargebee can also give your business a boost in terms of currency values and foreign exchange. With Chargebee, you can access real-time exchange rates and conversions — which means you’ll always be in the know on where your pricing and payments stand in international markets. In addition to helping you keep tabs on exchange rates, Chargebee supports billing in over 100 currencies.
Armed with these capabilities, your SaaS business will be better poised to experiment with price localization.
Price localization is the process by which a business changes the price for a product or service based on the market it’s being sold in. This can be done cosmetically by simply changing the currency of the sale price, or you can actually change the unit price (known as “true localization”) relative to each particular market.
Your Payments Are a Part of Your Billing Experience
If you’re running a global SaaS business and aren’t sure which payment gateway is the best option for you — or you want to combine the best bits of multiple gateways — your best bet is Chargebee.
Chargebee’s native support for multiple international payment gateways helps maximize your growth potential, all while benefiting from Smart Dunning, routing, and more. After all, a dynamic billing experience forms the fundamental base for any SaaS business looking to drive subscription growth and market expansion.