Digital payments have taken over globally, as more people embrace the flexibility offered by mobile money, online wallets, and payment cards. Unlike in the past, most companies today have the capability to accept and process payments.
To achieve this, companies don’t need to build their payment infrastructure, which can be costly, inefficient, and time-consuming. Instead, they rely on online payment processing companies, which handle the system and take a small commission. Here are some of the top payment processing companies.
Block
Block, formerly known as Square, is a leading company that provides payment services to companies in all industries. It is a giant company valued at about $40 billion. The company’s primary product is a point of sale (PoS) product that helps retailers process payments in stores.
With the number of companies using e-commerce rising, the company introduced tools to help them receive payments easily. These firms implement this by just adding a customized code in their back-end.
Block has also expanded to other areas. For example, the company acquired AfterPay, an Australian company that provides Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) solutions. The company also owns Square Capital, which provides loans to merchants using its solutions. It also owns Cash App, a peer-to-peer payment company used by millions of Americans.
Stripe
Stripe is a leading venture-backed company that provides payment processing solutions to companies of all sizes. The firm, which was recently valued at over $50 billion, provides its payment solutions to some of the best-known brands in the world like Amazon, Instacart, Slack, Shopify, and Zoom among others.
Stripe’s platform enables these companies to accept payments through cards in an easy process. It makes money by taking a small commission for every payment it processes. In addition to this, the company provides other services like checkout pages, fraud and risk management, billing, and invoicing among others.
GoCardless
GoCardless is a fintech company headquartered in London. The firm, which is valued at over $2.1 billion, provides payment infrastructure solutions to companies of all sizes. It makes it possible for these firms to collect one-off and recurring payments. It is used by some of the best-known companies in the industry like TripAdvisor, DocuSign, and The Guardian among others. Its total client count stands at over 75k.
Like other companies in the industry, GoCardless provides other advanced features like invoicing, lending solutions, and fraud protection. It uses a freemium model, where companies can use its service for free and a premium version that starts at about 50 pounds per month.
PayPal
PayPal is a popular payment company valued at more than $80 billion. The company is best known for its payments solution that allows people to send money to each other. But PayPal is much bigger than that.
For one, PayPal provides an end-to-end payment processing service that makes it possible for companies to handle payments. It also owns Braintree, a company that simplifies how companies accept payments from around the world. It handles credit and debit cards and payment platforms like Apple Pay and Google Pay among others.
Braintree charges customers a 2.59% commission plus 50 cents per transaction. Some of the companies using its platform are Stubhub, Uber, Dropbox, and Yelp among others.
Summary
The market size of payment processing solutions is enormous and is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. As a result, the number of companies offering the solution is constantly growing. In addition to those mentioned, other well-known firms in the sector are Noda, Shift4 Payments, Gumroaad, and Adyen among others.
As a company, you need to consider several factors when selecting a payment processor. Some of the most important things to consider are its capabilities, commissions, and security.
