10 Best Payment Processing Tools in 2026

Updated: February 2026

Payment gateways and processing

Key Takeaways

  • Stripe is our #1 pick for payment processing in 2026, scoring 94/100.
  • We analyzed 71 payment processing tools to create this ranking.
  • 3 tools offer free plans, perfect for getting started.
  • Average editorial score: 88/100 - high-quality category.
1
Stripe logo

Stripe

Payment infrastructure for the internet

94/100
Paid

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for internet businesses. Accept payments from anyone, anywhere. Billing handles subscriptions and invoicing. Connect powers marketplace payments. Treasury provides banking as a service. The payments infrastructure that powers millions of businesses from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

2
Payoneer logo

Payoneer

Global payment solutions for businesses, freelancers, and marketplaces to pay, get paid, and grow globally.

89/100
Paid

Payoneer provides a multi-currency account and payment platform designed to simplify global business. It enables users to send and receive payments across borders, manage multiple currencies, and comply with local regulations. The platform is ideal for freelancers, businesses, and marketplaces looking to expand internationally, offering solutions for paying talent globally, accepting payments from clients worldwide, and facilitating mass payouts. Key features include effortless onboarding for new hires, simplified multi-currency payroll across 160+ countries, and connections to leading marketplaces. Payoneer aims to uncomplicate cross-border payments by eliminating lengthy and costly international wire transfers, allowing users to keep more of what they earn. It supports transactions in over 70 currencies and covers more than 190 countries and territories. Payoneer also offers advanced risk, compliance, and fraud prevention infrastructure, making it a secure choice for international transactions. Users can connect their Payoneer card with Apple Pay for easy and secure payments. The platform serves millions of customers worldwide, providing a comprehensive global business wallet for managing money and facilitating global expansion in the digital economy.

3
Sift logo

Sift

Stop fraud fast and grow revenue faster with AI-powered digital trust and safety solutions.

89/100
Paid4.3 community score

Sift is a leading digital fraud prevention platform that helps businesses secure the entire customer journey, from account creation to post-transaction activities. Leveraging a global data network of over 1 trillion annual events and AI-powered automation, Sift provides precise, split-second decisioning to detect and prevent various types of fraud, including account takeover, payment fraud, and first-party abuse. It aims to help businesses reduce fraud losses, improve operational efficiency, and enhance customer experiences by minimizing friction for legitimate users. The platform offers solutions for specific fraud vectors like fake account creation prevention, account takeover (ATO) fraud, payment fraud, policy abuse, and content scams. Sift's console allows for comprehensive visibility into user activity, enabling fraud teams to automate risk decisions, accelerate manual reviews, and build custom workflows. By integrating with existing systems and providing real-time risk scores, Sift empowers businesses to scale securely and turn fraud prevention into a measurable growth advantage, protecting revenue and building customer trust.

4
Eventbrite logo

Eventbrite

Event management and ticketing

88/100
Freemium4.1 community score

Eventbrite powers event discovery and ticketing for everything from local workshops to major concerts. Organizers create event pages, sell tickets, and manage check-ins while attendees discover experiences in their area. The platform handles payments, refunds, and analytics so event creators can focus on delivering great experiences.

5
FastSpring logo

FastSpring

All-in-one digital commerce platform for SaaS, software, and digital goods, handling payments, subscriptions, and global tax compliance.

88/100
Paid

FastSpring is a comprehensive digital commerce platform designed specifically for businesses selling SaaS, software, video games, and online content. It acts as a Merchant of Record, managing all aspects of global payments, subscription billing, and sales tax compliance across over 200 regions, 23 currencies, and 21 languages. This allows companies to expand globally with confidence, offloading the complexities of financial operations. The platform offers features like global online payments with high approval rates, robust subscription management and billing, customizable checkout experiences, fraud prevention, affiliate marketing, reporting and analytics, digital invoicing, and interactive quotes. FastSpring aims to accelerate growth by providing tools for upsells, cross-sells, and upgrades, while eliminating the stress of tax collection and remittance, and mitigating risks associated with global sales. It supports both code-based integration via API and no-code solutions with pre-built checkout tools and a JavaScript library. FastSpring's pricing model is a revenue-sharing system based on transaction volume, with no upfront subscription fees or additional charges for individual features. It positions itself as an all-in-one alternative to integrating multiple point solutions, claiming to offer a comparable total cost to other payment processors when considering all services provided. The platform is ideal for companies looking to streamline their digital sales operations, ensure global tax compliance, and focus on product development rather than payment infrastructure.

6
Mercury logo

Mercury

Radically different online business banking for startups & small businesses.

87/100
Freemium

Mercury offers online business banking services tailored for startups and small businesses, providing a comprehensive platform for managing financial operations. It allows users to open free checking and savings accounts, manage cards and expenses with 1.5% cashback on credit spend, and handle payments with no fees on USD transactions. The platform integrates invoicing capabilities, accounting automations for QuickBooks, Xero, or NetSuite, and offers Mercury Treasury for earning yield on high-liquidity portfolios. Mercury aims to simplify and streamline banking tasks, enabling users to create virtual cards instantly, automate bill payments with AI, and manage customer payments and details directly within the account. It provides tools for total visibility of funds, automated transfers, approval flows, and team management with spend controls. The service emphasizes security with up to $5M FDIC insurance, advanced fraud protection, and granular user permissions. Beyond core banking, Mercury offers advanced financial workflows through paid plans, including enhanced invoicing features, NetSuite automations, and expense reimbursement for more users. It caters to a wide range of businesses, from SaaS and e-commerce to agencies, providing a modern, software-driven approach to business finance.

7
Wise logo

Wise

International money transfers and accounts

87/100
Freemium

Wise moves money internationally with transparency. Multi-currency accounts and transfers—international finance without hidden fees. The fees are transparent. The rates are real. The experience is modern. Global businesses and individuals use Wise for transparent international payments.

8
Spendesk logo

Spendesk

Centralized spend management for businesses, offering control, efficiency, and real-time insights.

87/100
Paid

Spendesk is an all-in-one spend management platform designed to help businesses gain complete control and overview of their company expenses. It centralizes procurement, expense management, and payment processes, enabling finance teams to streamline operations, reduce costs, and save time. The platform offers smart corporate cards with customizable limits, automated invoice management, budget tracking, virtual cards for secure online payments, and simplified expense reporting. Spendesk is ideal for finance teams, managers, and employees across various industries, including agencies, education, technology, hospitality, and healthcare. It aims to eliminate manual tasks, reduce errors, and provide real-time visibility into spending, allowing finance professionals to focus on strategic tasks rather than chasing receipts. The platform integrates seamlessly with existing financial and business tools and emphasizes security with ISO27001 certification, end-to-end encryption, and multi-factor authentication. Key benefits include up to 90% savings in invoice processing costs, 7% reduction in subscription costs, and 4 days faster monthly closings. Spendesk also fosters a healthy spending culture by empowering employees with easy payment methods while maintaining control through pre-approvals and budget dashboards. Their support is highly rated, offering quick response times, personalized onboarding, and multilingual assistance.

9
Paddle logo

Paddle

Payments infrastructure for SaaS

86/100
Paid

Paddle is a payments infrastructure for SaaS companies. Merchant of record handles sales tax globally. Subscription billing with dunning management. Checkout optimized for conversion. Analytics show revenue and churn metrics. Payments that handle the complexity so you can focus on your product.

10
Recurly logo

Recurly

Automate exceptional digital subscription experiences to grow recurring revenue and improve retention.

85/100
Paid

Recurly is a comprehensive subscription management and recurring billing platform designed to help businesses launch, acquire, retain, and scale their subscription services. It provides tools for flexible plan creation, optimized checkout flows, automated billing, and advanced churn mitigation strategies like intelligent retries and cancel-save offers. The platform also offers specialized solutions for Shopify merchants, in-app subscriber engagement, and automated revenue recognition (ASC-606 and IFRS-15 compliance). Recurly is ideal for high-volume digital commerce businesses, from startups to large enterprises, looking to maximize recurring revenue and improve subscriber retention. It caters to growth, product, technology, and finance/operations teams by offering features like personalized acquisition and retention offers, secure payment processing, seamless integration with existing tech stacks (ERP, CRM), and real-time analytics. With support for over 140 currencies and 20+ payment gateways, Recurly enables global expansion and ensures compliance with various security and privacy standards.

Best Payment Processing For

What is Payment Processing Software?

Payment gateways and processing

According to our analysis of 10+ tools, the payment processing software market offers solutions for teams of all sizes, from solo professionals to enterprise organizations. The best payment processing tools in 2026 combine powerful features with intuitive interfaces.

Common Features of Payment Processing Software

Automation

Automate repetitive payment processing tasks to save time

Collaboration

Work together with team members in real-time

Analytics & Reporting

Track progress and measure performance

Security

Protect sensitive data with enterprise-grade security

Who Uses Payment Processing Software?

Payment Processing software is used by a wide range of professionals and organizations:

  • Small businesses looking to streamline operations and compete with larger companies
  • Enterprise teams needing scalable solutions for complex payment processing needs
  • Freelancers and consultants managing multiple clients and projects
  • Startups seeking cost-effective tools that can grow with them

How to Choose the Right Payment Processing Software

When evaluating payment processing tools, consider these key factors:

  1. Identify your specific needs. What problems are you trying to solve? List your must-have features versus nice-to-haves.
  2. Consider your budget. 3 tools in our top 10 offer free plans, including Eventbrite and Mercury.
  3. Evaluate ease of use. A powerful tool is useless if your team won't adopt it. Look for intuitive interfaces and good onboarding.
  4. Check integrations. Ensure the tool works with your existing tech stack (CRM, communication tools, etc.).
  5. Read real user reviews. Our community reviews provide honest feedback from actual users.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best payment processing software in 2026?

Based on our analysis of features, user reviews, and overall value, Stripe ranks as the #1 payment processing tool in 2026 with a score of 94/100. Other top-rated options include Payoneer and Sift.

Are there free payment processing tools available?

Yes! Eventbrite, Mercury, Wise offer free plans. In total, 3 of the top 10 payment processing tools have free or freemium pricing options.

How do you rank payment processing tools?

Our rankings are based on multiple factors: editorial analysis of features and usability (40%), community reviews and ratings (30%), pricing value (15%), and integration capabilities (15%). We regularly update rankings as tools evolve and new reviews come in.

What should I look for in payment processing software?

Key factors to consider include: core features that match your workflow, ease of use and learning curve, pricing that fits your budget, quality of customer support, integrations with your existing tools, and scalability as your needs grow.

Our Ranking Methodology

At Toolradar, we combine editorial expertise with community insights to rank payment processing tools:

40%
Editorial Analysis
Features, UX, innovation
30%
User Reviews
Real feedback from verified users
15%
Pricing Value
Cost vs. features offered
15%
Integrations
Ecosystem compatibility

Rankings are updated regularly as we receive new reviews and as tools release updates. Last updated: February 2026.

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