Payment Gateways in Australia — Compared Honestly.
Stripe, PayPal, Square, Airwallex, Afterpay, Klarna, Zip. What each one costs, who it's built for, and what your customers actually prefer.
Choosing a payment gateway should be a five-minute decision. In practice, it takes most business owners a week of tab-hopping, contradictory advice, and fine-print reading before arriving somewhere. This is the comparison they were looking for at the start.
The decision has two sides: what's best for the business (fees, integration, cash flow, reporting) and what's best for the customer (trust, familiarity, flexibility, fewer steps to complete a purchase). The right answer often involves more than one provider — a primary gateway plus a BNPL option covers most of what Australian customers expect.
Card processing gateways
Stripe
Best overallFees: 1.7% + $0.30 (Australian cards) · 3.5% + $0.30 (international cards) · No monthly fee
Stripe is the developer-preferred gateway and the most versatile option for most Australian businesses. It integrates with virtually every website platform, has excellent recurring billing tools, and handles payouts within two business days. The dashboard and reporting are best-in-class. For businesses selling online — products, services, subscriptions, packages — Stripe is the default starting point.
Best for: E-commerce, service businesses selling online, subscriptions, SaaS, most website builds.
Watch: Customer support is documentation-heavy. If you need to pick up the phone, it's not Stripe's strength.
PayPal
Fees: 2.6% + $0.30 (online) · Higher for international
PayPal is the most recognised payment brand in the world, and that recognition has a real value — particularly for businesses whose customers may be cautious about entering card details on an unfamiliar site. Offering PayPal as a payment option can recover sales that would otherwise drop off at checkout. The fees are higher than Stripe, the checkout experience is less seamless, and the dispute process favours buyers. But customer trust in PayPal is genuine and measurable.
Best for: Secondary option alongside Stripe, marketplaces, businesses with an older or more cautious customer base, international buyers.
Watch: Account holds and disputes can be difficult to resolve. Don't rely on PayPal as your only gateway.
Square
Best in-person + onlineFees: 1.6% (in-person, tap/chip) · 1.9% (online) · Free card reader included
Square is the best option for businesses that take payments both in-person and online. The free card reader, combined with a clean online checkout, means you don't need separate systems for counter and website sales. The POS software is strong for retail and hospitality. Square also includes basic invoicing, appointment booking, and payroll tools — useful if you're looking to consolidate.
Best for: Retail, cafes, salons, trades — any business that takes face-to-face payments and wants the same system online.
Watch: Less flexible for complex e-commerce builds than Stripe. Works best within Square's own ecosystem.
Airwallex
Best for internationalFees: From 0.5–1.5% + FX rates that beat the banks · Multi-currency accounts included
Airwallex is an Australian-founded company that built its product around the problem of international business payments — currency conversion, overseas suppliers, multi-country operations. Its FX rates are significantly better than what the major banks charge, and its multi-currency business accounts let you hold and pay in foreign currencies without conversion fees. For businesses that invoice internationally or pay international suppliers regularly, the savings compound quickly.
Best for: Businesses with international revenue or suppliers, agencies with overseas clients, e-commerce with international customers.
Watch: For a purely domestic business with simple needs, Stripe or Square is simpler. Airwallex earns its value at the international layer.
Buy Now Pay Later
BNPL lets customers split a purchase into instalments — usually four fortnightly payments — at no cost to the customer. The merchant pays a higher fee than card processing (typically 4–6%), but the consistent finding across retail and services is that BNPL increases average transaction value and conversion rate. For businesses with higher-ticket services or products, it is worth offering at least one BNPL option.
“BNPL doesn't make expensive things affordable. It removes the friction of a large upfront number and lets the customer commit now. The psychology matters.”
Afterpay
Dominant in AUFees: ~4–6% per transaction (merchant) · Free for customer · 4 × fortnightly payments
Afterpay is the most recognised BNPL brand in Australia. It has deep penetration in retail, beauty, wellness, and fashion — categories where it is now genuinely expected by customers under 40. Now part of Block (Square's parent company), it integrates directly with Square and most major e-commerce platforms. If you're selling to Australian consumers and your average transaction is $100–$2,000, Afterpay is the BNPL starting point.
Best for: Retail, beauty and wellness, fashion, any consumer-facing business with transaction values in the $100–$2,000 range.
Klarna
Fees: ~3.29–5.99% per transaction · Multiple payment structures (Pay in 4, Pay in 30, longer-term plans)
Klarna is more established internationally than in Australia but has been growing its local presence. Its advantage over Afterpay is flexibility — it offers more payment structures, including a “pay in 30 days” option and longer-term financing. For businesses with a mix of domestic and international customers, or for higher-value purchases where a 30-day delay is meaningful, Klarna offers something Afterpay doesn't.
Best for: Businesses with international customers, higher-ticket e-commerce, businesses that want flexible payment terms rather than a fixed four-part split.
Zip
Fees: ~2–4% per transaction · Higher credit limits than Afterpay · Revolving credit model
Zip operates more like a line of credit than a payment split — customers have an approved Zip account with a credit limit and repay over time. This makes it better suited to higher transaction values than Afterpay typically handles, and it has stronger take-up in professional services, healthcare, and trades. Zip Pay (up to $1,000) and Zip Money (up to $50,000 with merchant approval) give it a range the other BNPL providers don't match.
Best for: Professional services, healthcare, dental, trades, businesses with average transactions above $1,000.
What most businesses should actually do
For most Australian businesses, the practical answer is two layers:
Primary gateway
Stripe for online-first businesses. Square for businesses that also take in-person payments. Airwallex if you invoice internationally with any regularity.
BNPL option
Afterpay for consumer retail and beauty/wellness. Zip for professional services and higher-ticket transactions. Klarna if your customers are internationally distributed or if payment flexibility is important to your product.
PayPal as a secondary option
Offer it alongside your primary gateway for the segment of customers who prefer it — but don't build around it.
The mistake is choosing based on what the platform makes easiest to set up rather than what your customers prefer. Payment friction at checkout is one of the most common and most fixable causes of abandoned carts. The right gateway setup is one fewer reason for a ready customer to leave.
Website strategy first
Payment setup follows the brief.
The payment gateway question is part of the website scoping conversation — it determines platform choice, checkout flow, and what gets built. My Pixel Strategy covers this in website discovery before any build decisions are made.