Picking a payment gateway feels like a backend decision until you realise it directly affects your checkout conversion rate and how much of every sale you actually keep. For stores selling to customers across the USA, UK, Canada, UAE, and Europe, the choice between Stripe, PayPal, and Wise comes down to fees, currency handling, and what your customers already trust. If you're also planning to price in multiple currencies, pair this with our guide on multi-currency eCommerce setup.
Why Payment Gateway Choice Matters More When You Sell Internationally
A domestic-only store can get away with a single payment option. An international store cannot — customers abandon checkout when they don't recognise the payment method, when prices show in the wrong currency, or when card processing fails due to cross-border restrictions. Getting this right can lift checkout conversion by several percentage points, which on meaningful order volume is real revenue.
Stripe: Best for Card Payments & Developer Flexibility
Stripe processes card payments directly and supports 135+ currencies with strong fraud protection built in. Standard pricing is roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction in the US, with similar rates (2.4%–2.9% + a fixed fee) in the UK, EU, and Canada. Stripe integrates cleanly with both Shopify and WooCommerce and gives the cleanest checkout experience for card-first markets like the US, UK, and Canada.
PayPal: Best for Trust & Buyer Familiarity
PayPal remains the most recognised payment brand globally, and many customers — particularly in the UK, Germany, and Australia — specifically look for it at checkout as a trust signal, even if they end up paying by card through it. Fees run similar to Stripe (around 2.9% + fixed fee domestically, higher for cross-border transactions, often 4.4%+ combined with currency conversion). The trade-off: PayPal's dispute and hold policies are stricter, and new stores sometimes experience unexpected reserve holds on early revenue.
Wise: Best for Reducing Currency Conversion Costs
Wise isn't a checkout gateway in the traditional sense — it's most useful on the back end, for receiving international payments or paying overseas suppliers and contractors at the real mid-market exchange rate instead of the 3–5% markup banks typically apply. Stores that invoice B2B clients internationally, or that pay an offshore development or marketing team, often save meaningfully by routing that side of the business through Wise rather than a traditional bank transfer.
| Stripe | PayPal | Wise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Card checkout, developer control | Buyer trust, familiarity | B2B invoicing, paying overseas teams |
| Typical domestic fee | ~2.9% + fixed fee | ~2.9% + fixed fee | 0.4%–2% (real exchange rate) |
| Cross-border fee | +1% typical surcharge | +1.5%–2% typical surcharge | Low, transparent, published rates |
| Currencies supported | 135+ | 25+ at checkout | 50+ |
Offer both Stripe and PayPal at checkout rather than picking one. Shopify and WooCommerce both support multiple gateways simultaneously, and letting customers choose their preferred method consistently improves conversion.
Which Should You Actually Use?
For most international Shopify or WooCommerce stores, the winning combination is Stripe as the primary card processor, PayPal as a secondary option for buyer trust, and Wise on the back end for paying international suppliers, freelancers, or your development team without losing margin to bank conversion fees.
Conclusion: There is no single "best" gateway — the right stack depends on where your customers are and how your money moves after the sale. Getting the combination right removes friction at checkout and protects your margin on the back end.
AppsBrain sets up multi-gateway checkout (Stripe + PayPal) on every international Shopify and WooCommerce build, so your store is ready to convert customers in any market from day one.
Tags