Top 5 Adyen alternatives: compare fees, features & benefits

If you run a growing business, you’ll need a payment platform that will allow you to open local accounts in several currencies, seamlessly accept payments from international customers, and send money across borders without excessive fees.

Whilst Adyen may be one of your options, you may like to consider its alternatives to see which one suits your needs best.

What is Adyen? 

Adyen is a Dutch financial technology company that helps businesses accept payments from customers. The platform facilitates online, mobile and point-of-sale (POS) transactions.

Since it was established in 2006, Adyen has evolved into an end-to-end financial platform and now integrates payments, data analytics and funds management services.

It’s used by major global enterprises like Spotify, eBay and Uber, offers global payouts to 190+ countries, and can handle large payment volumes in-store and digitally.

For UK businesses, Adyen offers two options: either interchange++ model or a fixed processing fee + payment method fee. Cost varies by volume, currency and transaction type, but can become less competitive and opaque¹.

The top alternatives to Adyen

Here are the top alternatives to Adyen.

Airwallex is a global financial technology company that offers a range of financial services, including international payments, multi-currency accounts, and Borderless Cards. It aims to empower businesses of all sizes to drive their global growth through easy-to-use transaction solutions.

Braintree is a payment platform that enables businesses to accept, process, and split payments in multiple currencies. It supports a variety of payment methods including a credit or debit card, PayPal, and several digital wallets.

Payoneer is a global fintech company that offers digital payment solutions. It enables businesses and professionals to send and receive funds, manage finances, and operate internationally. With Payoneer, users can handle cross-border payments and access global markets.

PayPal is a leading payment gateway that's been serving customers worldwide for 20 years. It enables eCommerce brands to facilitate payments from credit cards, debit cards, and bank transfers.

Stripe is a technology company that creates the economic infrastructure for the internet. It equips businesses with a comprehensive suite of payment processing tools and APIs to facilitate payment acceptance, payouts, and financial management online.

Compare the top 5 alternatives to Adyen

Why choose Airwallex over Adyen?

What questions should I ask Adyen alternatives?

To find out if Adyen is right for your business, or if there’s a better option out there, use these 10 questions to guide your research.

1. What is your pricing model?

2. Do you offer local acquiring?

3. What are your FX rates?

4. What countries can I payout to?

5. What payment methods do you support?

6. How long does it take for payments to settle?

7. How scalable is your payment solution as my business grows?

8. What integration capabilities do you offer?

9. How do you protect sensitive financial information?

10.  What customer support do you offer?

Final thoughts on alternatives to Adyen

Like Airwallex, Adyen supports companies around the world to move money globally and streamline financial operations.

Both providers offer additional services to help ambitious businesses unlock opportunities, including corporate and employee cards, FX capabilities, expense management and data analytics.

But if you’re a small or medium size business eyeing global expansion, Adyen’s complex pricing model and minimum invoice requirements may not be the best fit for you. Its products are mostly designed for large global enterprises with a high volume of payments.

Airwallex offers more a flexible, transparent and affordable cross-border financial solution.

Our costs are simple and transparent: we use a simple blended pricing model or interchange++ for card acceptance. Our coverage extends to 180+ countries and we charge a flat 1% fee per foreign transaction.

Sources

For more information on Airwallex, visit Airwallex Business Account and Airwallex pricing.

1 https://www.adyen.com/en_GB/pricing

2 https://www.braintreepayments.com/gb/braintree-pricing

3 https://www.braintreepayments.com/gb/braintree-pricing

4 https://wise.com/gb/blog/braintree-vs-stripe-uk

5 https://www.payoneer.com/get-paid-by-clients/#:~:text=Payment%20request%20%E2%80%93%20sent%20payment%20requests,bank%20debit%2C%20direct%20bank%20payment

6 https://www.payoneer.com/about/pricing/#pay-your-supplier

7 https://www.paypal.com/uk/enterprise/payment-methods

8 https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees

9 https://stripe.com/payments/payment-methods

10 https://wise.com/us/blog/stripe-international

11 https://stripe.com/gb/pricing

12 https://www.braintreepayments.com/bg

13 https://www.braintreepayments.com/bg/features/global

Disclaimer:  We wrote this article in Q3 2024. The information was based on our own online research and we were not able to manually test each tool or provider. The information is provided for educational purposes only and a reader should consider the specific requirements of their business when evaluating providers. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [email protected].