Crypto Payment Gateway Comparison: Fees, KYC and Custody

How to choose a crypto payment gateway

A crypto payment gateway gives your customers a way to pay in coins such as Bitcoin or USDT, and gives you a way to receive that money and use it. Every gateway in this comparison does the basics: an invoice, an address to pay, a check that the payment arrived. They differ on who they let in, who holds the money, what they charge, and where the money ends up. Those are the criteria worth comparing.

Fees: the headline rate and everything else

Most gateways publish a percentage per payment. Some add a fixed amount per transaction, some lower the rate as your monthly volume grows, and some charge separately for payouts, bank withdrawals or currency conversion. Network fees (gas) are paid to the blockchain, not the gateway, but someone has to pay them, and gateways handle that differently. Compare what you would pay on a typical month, not only the headline rate.

ID and business checks

Many gateways run know-your-business (KYB) checks before you can take live payments: company registration papers, proof of address, and photo ID for the owners. Others let you start with an email address and only ask for documents in some cases. Checks take time and paperwork, and they can rule out some businesses and countries entirely. Our guide to crypto payments without ID checks covers the trade-offs.

Custody: who holds the keys

A custodial gateway holds the keys to the addresses your customers pay into and keeps a balance for you until you withdraw. A non-custodial gateway sends payments to a wallet only you control. Custodial gateways usually take care of gas, swaps and consolidation for you. Non-custodial setups remove the middleman but make key safety your job. We explain both models in custodial vs non-custodial crypto payments.

Settlement: crypto or a bank account

Some gateways convert payments and send local currency to your bank. Others pay out in crypto, either the coin the customer paid with or a coin you choose, such as a stablecoin. If your rent, salaries and taxes are paid from a bank account, fiat settlement saves you a step. If you want to keep crypto, it adds nothing.

Coins and networks

Count networks as well as coins. USDT on Tron and USDT on Ethereum are different tokens with very different network fees, so a gateway that supports the cheap networks your customers already use matters more than a long list of coins nobody pays with.

Integrations: checkout, API and plugins

If you run a shop on WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento or WHMCS, a ready-made plugin can save days of work. If you have your own site or app, look for a clear REST API and signed webhooks. If you have no website at all, a hosted checkout page and payment links let you get paid from a chat or a social profile.

Track record and licences

Some gateways have operated for more than a decade and publish regulatory licences or registrations. For some businesses, such as those whose bank, auditors or partners require a regulated counterparty, that settles the choice on its own.

Crypto payment gateway comparison table

The table sums up what each provider publishes on its own website, docs or help center. Where a detail was unclear or not published, it says so. Links to every page we used are in the sources at the end.

Crypto payment processor fees beyond the headline rate

Headline rates look similar, but the total cost depends on how you take your money out and how much you process. A few examples from the providers' own pricing pages:

• Volume tiers. BitPay charges 2% + 25¢ per transaction below $500,000 a month, 1.5% + 25¢ from $500,000 to $999,999, and 1% + 25¢ from $1 million. NOWPayments mentions lower fees for higher monthly volume without publishing the thresholds, and CoinGate offers custom Enterprise pricing.
• Withdrawals and payouts. CoinGate's crypto and SEPA withdrawals are free with a 50 EUR minimum, SWIFT withdrawals cost 0.5%, and sending payouts to other people costs 0.50 EUR + 0.5% (0.50 EUR + 1.5% with conversion). CoinPayments charges no withdrawal fee of its own, only the network fee.
• Conversion. Converting between currencies is often priced separately: 1% at CoinGate, a conversion partner fee at CoinPayments, a fee on auto-conversion to USD at Coinbase Business, and a higher rate for converted payments at NOWPayments.
• Network fees. CoinPayments' fee pages show the choice clearly: ASAP mode pays one network fee per payment, while Nightly mode pays one network fee for a whole batch.
• Industry adjustments. CoinPayments notes that its fee may be adjusted for clients in high-risk industries.

For Crypto Merchant, the fee is 1% of each paid invoice. Expired and cancelled invoices cost nothing, setup is free, and there is no payout minimum. To go live you pay $25 once, in any coin, and the full amount becomes your gas balance, which pays the network fees for sweeps and swaps. There is no sweep fee on top of the network fee. Swaps into a holding coin are priced at a rate that includes a service margin, so if you swap, that margin is part of your cost. The pricing section lists every item.

The gateways one by one

Crypto Merchant

Crypto Merchant runs this site, so read this part with that in mind. It is custodial: each invoice gets its own deposit address, confirmed payments are swept into a pool wallet held for your business, and you pay out whenever you like, with no minimum. You can pay out each coin to its own wallet, or have everything swapped into one holding coin. Anyone, in any country, can sign up without ID documents, though the Terms still prohibit things like illegal goods, fraud and sanctions evasion.

It works on 11 networks: Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum One, Tron, Bitcoin, Litecoin, Solana, TON and the XRP Ledger. The coins are BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, BNB, POL, TRX, SOL, LTC, TON and XRP, with USDT and USDC on several networks. The current list is on the coins and networks page. You get a hosted checkout page, payment links, a REST API and webhooks signed with HMAC-SHA256. Team roles (Admin, Manager, Staff) control who can move money, and the portal and checkout are available in 15 languages. There is no fiat settlement and no ready-made plugin for shop platforms. The security page explains how keys are kept and recovered.

BitPay

BitPay is one of the best-known crypto payment processors, with its strength in fiat settlement. It settles daily, to a bank account or in crypto, or a split of both. Its help center lists settlement in 15 cryptocurrencies and bank deposits in 37 countries. Pricing is 1–2% plus 25¢ per transaction, depending on monthly volume. Onboarding is thorough: BitPay asks for a business registration, IDs for everyone who owns 25% or more, and a live website that lists prices, and production accounts go through compliance review, which BitPay says typically takes 5–7 business days. Its terms state that it is a registered money services business with FinCEN and a licensed money transmitter in the US states that require one. It maintains an open-source WooCommerce plugin.

Coinbase Business (formerly Coinbase Commerce)

Coinbase has merged Coinbase Commerce into Coinbase Business. Its help center set March 31, 2026 as the deadline to move, after which the Commerce portal would no longer be accessible, and it says merchants in the United States and Singapore can make the move. It lists a 1% fee for migrating merchants. Payments arrive as USDC in your Coinbase Business account, and you can convert and withdraw to a bank. Coinbase verifies the business and each owner of 25% or more before the account is activated. The Checkouts API currently lists Base as its only network, with more to come. If you are a US or Singapore business that wants stablecoin payments next to a bank account, it is a natural fit.

NOWPayments

NOWPayments supports the widest range of coins here, more than 300. Its help center describes it as non-custodial by default: you enter a payout wallet and payments are forwarded there, with an optional custody mode if you would rather keep a balance. Its pricing page lists a 1% service fee, and its own comparison pages list 1.5% for payments that involve conversion. NOWPayments says it does not run KYC on the initial application but applies risk-based KYC and KYB checks that may be requested based on your business and transaction activity. Fiat is available through partner services, which may run their own KYB. Tools include a WooCommerce plugin, payment links, widgets and buttons, and mass payouts.

CoinPayments

CoinPayments has been operating since 2013, the longest track record in this list. It now supports 40+ cryptocurrencies, and its Coins & Fees page lists a 1% payment fee for each coin shown, though older fee pages on the same site show other rates, so confirm the rate with them before signing up. New business accounts complete KYB verification before they can accept payments. Funds are held in segregated custody, or can be forwarded to your own wallet, and you can withdraw fiat to a bank through SWIFT, ACH, SEPA or Faster Payments. CoinPayments offers pre-built plugins, including one for WooCommerce.

CoinGate

CoinGate is the most clearly regulated provider here. Its operator, UAB Decentralized, is authorized as a crypto-asset service provider under MiCA by the Bank of Lithuania and licensed there as a payment institution. Its pricing page lists a 1% transaction fee with no monthly fee, and it can settle in EUR, GBP or USD, or in stablecoins, with weekly automatic settlements. It supports 10+ crypto assets and has plugins for WooCommerce, WHMCS, Magento 2 and other platforms. Every business account goes through KYC/KYB before taking live payments: registration papers, proof of address, a live ID check, ownership details and recent bank statements. CoinGate says many merchants finish verification and go live the same day, and that it has processed payments since 2014.

BTCPay Server

BTCPay Server is different from everything else here: it is free, open-source software (MIT license) that you run yourself, on your own hardware, a cloud server, or a third-party host. It is non-custodial, and it never needs your private keys to receive payments. There is no fee and no company in the middle. It focuses on Bitcoin, on-chain and over Lightning. Some altcoins are available through community-maintained integrations, and fiat conversion through plugins. It connects to WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, PrestaShop, Wix, OpenCart, Odoo and WHMCS, and includes a point-of-sale app. The trade-off is that you, or the host you choose, are responsible for running the server and keeping it secure.

Looking for a BitPay or Coinbase Commerce alternative?

Coinbase's help center says Commerce merchants in the United States and Singapore can move to Coinbase Business. If you used Coinbase Commerce from anywhere else, you need a new gateway. Commerce was self-custodial, while Coinbase Business holds funds for you, so the closest match depends on what you valued most:

• You want to keep your own keys: BTCPay Server, or NOWPayments in its default mode.
• You need a bank payout and a published licence: CoinGate or BitPay.
• You want a wide coin list: NOWPayments.
• You want to start without business documents and get paid in crypto: NOWPayments or Crypto Merchant.

People looking for a BitPay alternative are often blocked by onboarding or the 25¢ fixed fee on small payments. If you need fiat to a bank, CoinGate and CoinPayments are the closest alternatives, though both also verify your business. If you don't need fiat, gateways without document checks are an option. Our guide on how to accept crypto payments walks through the setup either way.

When Crypto Merchant is a good fit, and when it isn't

A good fit when

• You want to start without sending ID or company documents, from any country.
• You are happy to be paid in crypto or stablecoins and don't need a bank deposit.
• You want to pay out whenever you like, with no minimum, per coin or in one holding coin.
• Your customers pay on low-fee networks such as Tron, Solana, Base, Polygon or BNB Smart Chain.
• You have no website and want a hosted checkout page and payment links, or you have one and want a small REST API with signed webhooks.
• You work as a team and want roles that keep payouts in the hands of Admins.

Payouts are covered in detail on the payouts and swaps page.

Not the right fit when

• You need money in a bank account. BitPay, CoinGate, CoinPayments and Coinbase Business settle to fiat; Crypto Merchant does not.
• You want to hold your own keys. BTCPay Server is self-hosted and non-custodial, and NOWPayments forwards payments to your wallet by default. Crypto Merchant is custodial.
• You want a ready-made plugin for WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento or WHMCS. Several providers here offer one; with Crypto Merchant you integrate through the API.
• Your bank, auditors or partners require a provider with a published regulatory licence. CoinGate (MiCA) and BitPay (FinCEN registration) publish theirs.
• A long operating history matters to you. CoinPayments has operated since 2013 and CoinGate since 2014.
• You need coins outside the 11 networks listed above, or Bitcoin over Lightning. NOWPayments lists 300+ coins, and BitPay and BTCPay Server support Lightning.

Sources

Every fact about another provider comes from that provider's own website, docs or help center, checked in October 2026. Fees and terms change, so confirm the details on the live pages before you sign up.

• BitPay: Pricing, What fees will I pay, Settlement options, Compliance, Account setup, Settlements API, Payment currencies, WooCommerce plugin, Terms of Use
• Coinbase: Transitioning from Coinbase Commerce to Coinbase Business, Crypto payments for businesses, Coinbase Business overview, Checkouts API reference
• NOWPayments: Pricing, Supported coins, Where are my funds stored, Integration options, Fiat payments, Security and KYC, NOWPayments vs CoinPayments
• CoinPayments: Home page and FAQ, Coins & Fees, Fees, V2 fees, Solutions
• CoinGate: Home page, Pricing, Accept crypto payments, Crypto payment gateway without KYC?
• BTCPay Server: Home page, General FAQ, Altcoin FAQ