Best Companies For Payment Gateways — How to Choose

Why Your Payment Gateway Choice Matters

Your payment gateway is the backbone of your online sales. For UK e-commerce businesses, it needs to support popular payment methods including cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna, and PayPal — while maintaining full GDPR and PCI DSS compliance. A poorly chosen gateway can lead to abandoned carts, security breaches, and lost revenue.

Essential Features to Look For

When evaluating payment gateways for your UK business, prioritise these features.

• Multi-currency support — Essential if you sell internationally. Look for competitive FX rates and support for GBP, EUR, and USD at minimum.
• Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) — Required under PSD2 regulations. Ensure your gateway handles 3D Secure 2.0 seamlessly.
• Recurring billing — If you offer subscriptions, choose a gateway with built-in recurring payment capabilities.
• Mobile optimisation — Over 60% of UK e-commerce transactions now happen on mobile devices.
• GDPR-compliant data handling — Ensure customer payment data is processed and stored in compliance with UK data protection law.

Pricing Models Compared

UK payment gateway pricing typically falls into three models: flat-rate (e.g., 1.4% + 20p per transaction), interchange-plus (e.g., interchange + 0.2% + 5p), and tiered pricing. For most UK businesses processing under £100,000 annually, flat-rate offers simplicity. Above that threshold, interchange-plus usually delivers better value.

Integration and Support

Consider how the gateway integrates with your existing e-commerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento), accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks), and CRM. UK-based customer support with phone and live chat options is important for resolving payment issues quickly during business hours.