Adding payment gateways to digital stores is a necessary step to receive online payments, as it represents the most important step in the purchasing process through your store, and contributes to providing a smooth and comfortable experience for users.
Payment gateways vary based on available payment options, basic account activation requirements, as well as payment fees and integration options with online platforms. Your choice of the appropriate payment gateway depends on your target audience and the requirements of your project.
In this article, we will review the most important payment gateways that can be relied upon for local or country targeting, clarifying the features, fees, and supported countries for each gateway. This comprehensive overview will help you identify the ideal gateway for your online project, ensure your customers’ payment processes run smoothly and efficiently, and provide the best user experience.
What are the criteria for choosing payment gateways?
- Types of accounts : Payment gateways offer two main types of accounts, individual accounts and corporate accounts. The accounts differ in terms of the required authentication files and some restrictions on local and international options for payment, in addition to the maximum limit for receiving payments, etc. Therefore, you must ensure that the required account type is available in the payment gateway.
- Payment options : You should choose a payment gateway that provides payment options that suit your target audience, especially local options, with a focus on providing multiple options that combine international and local options.
- Supported currencies : It is preferable to choose a payment gateway that supports the local or international currency used on your site to avoid additional currency conversion fees.
- Integration with electronic platforms : You must ensure that the payment gateway is integrated with the content management system used on the site, such as WooCommerce, or other via ready-made add-ons, to facilitate the use of the payment gateway on the site.
- Degree of security : Security is one of the most important criteria in choosing a payment gateway, so the most important security standards must be taken into account, including first-class PCI-DSS certification, secure card authentication options, anti-fraud options, and others.
The most important global and local payment gateways
Choosing the right payment gateway is related to the target audience and project requirements. Accordingly, it is not possible to choose one payment gateway to meet the needs of all users, and a certain gateway may suit one store and not another.
So, in the following paragraphs, we will show you a group of the best payment gateways that are compatible with international or local targeting, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries. These portals will also be suitable for individuals or companies.
1- PayPal
The PayPal payment gateway is considered one of the most important, oldest, and most widely used payment gateways in the field of e-commerce. PayPal has more than 426 million users, and this number increases significantly every year. PayPal is the main payment gateway for many international stores, and it provides several features, the most important of which are the following:
- Provides an individuals account for personal or account use.
- Ease and speed of activating accounts with requirements that are the lowest among payment gateways for both individuals and companies.
- Multi-currency, enabling you to receive funds in more than 100 different currencies.
- The PayPal gateway supports receiving funds via personal PayPal accounts, and payment can also be made using Visa or MasterCard credit cards.
- PayPal supports more than 200 countries around the world, including most Arab countries.
- Fees range from 2.9% of the amount paid + $0.30.
You can review the article Linking a PayPal account to a WooCommerce store in 7 steps to learn how to use the payment gateway and link it with your online store.
2- Stripe
The Stripe payment gateway is considered one of the most prominent payment gateways that provides the ability to receive payments on online stores via Visa or MasterCard cards. It features servers and infrastructure that ensure minimal downtime, as well as seamless processing of financial transactions. The payment gateway provides several features, the most important of which are the following:
- Supports more than 135 currencies around the world.
- It is considered an internal payment gateway, where payments are completed directly on the payment page without leaving your site.
- Provides a high level of security.
- Payment is supported by Visa and MasterCard credit cards, in addition to electronic wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and others.
- It supports 46 countries , including only one Arab country, which is the United Arab Emirates.
- The fee for receiving payments on the portal amounts to 2.9% of the amount paid in addition to $0.30.
It should be noted that the Stripe portal does not fully support individual accounts, and requires a tax registration number in one of the supported countries to be able to use it and activate your account. Therefore, in countries of the Arab world, you may usually need to rely on the Stripe Atlas service.
Stripe Atlas costs up to $500 and is a one-time payment upon account creation. To know all the details about subscribing to Stripe Atlas, you can review the article on registering in Stripe Atlas to establish an American company and benefit from Stripe services.
You can review the article explaining the integration of Stripe services with the WooCommerce store to learn about the steps to link the Stripe payment gateway with electronic stores.
3- Checkout
Checkout.com is a British payment gateway founded in 2019. It has more than 50 local headquarters around the world, including Arab countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It provides several features, the most important of which are the following:
Payment is accepted by Visa or MasterCard bank card, PayPal account, Oman Net card, Mada card in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or KNet cards in Kuwait, in addition to electronic wallets such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, Discover, and Alipay, and many other payment methods.
- It is distinguished by its combination of international and local payment options, especially in the Gulf countries.
- Integration with online store platforms with multiple options.
- Cryptocurrencies support, for example, Bitcoin and others.
- It supports 150 countries around the world, and includes most of the Arab countries from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, and others.
- Payment reception fees range between 2-3% of the amount paid, in addition to a fixed amount ranging between $0.20 and $0.30.
You can review the article explaining the Checkout payment gateway and how to link it to WooCommerce to learn about the steps to link the Checkout payment gateway with online stores.
4- Myfatoorah
Myfatoorah payment gateway is a Kuwaiti payment gateway that was established in 2014, with the aim of facilitating the receipt of payments for individuals, companies, and electronic stores over the Internet, in a manner consistent with Arab countries. It is characterized by several features, including the following:
- Provides integration options with e-commerce platforms.
- It enables you to send notifications to your customers regarding payments via text messages, email, or WhatsApp.
- Provides local support options in the supported Arab countries, including local technical support centers and support representatives, with options for local communication.
- It supports 8 Arab countries: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, the Sultanate of Oman, Qatar, Jordan, and Kuwait.
- The average fee is 2.9% of the amount paid, plus a variable amount for each country.
Payment options are available via Visa and MasterCard credit cards, Mada card in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, debit payment cards in the Emirates and Qatar, Meeza card in Egypt, in addition to electronic wallets such as STC Pay, Apple Pay, Vodafone Cash, Orange Pay, and others.
You can review the article explaining the integration of the Myfatoorah payment gateway with WooCommerce stores to learn the detailed steps for linking the Myfatoorah payment gateway with online stores.
5- Paymob
The Paymob payment gateway is an Egyptian payment gateway established in 2015. It provides all financial services that are compatible with local targeting in Egypt, and the number of its users exceeds 12 million users . It provides several features to its users, including the following:
- Providing suitable accounts for individuals and companies.
- Providing installment payment options, supported by most Egyptian banks.
- The possibility of linking and direct withdrawal of funds from Egyptian banks.
- The portal currently supports Egypt only
- The fee for receiving payments is 2.75% of the amount paid, in addition to a fixed amount of 3 pounds/transfer.
Through the payment gateway, you can activate payment via credit cards Visa and MasterCard, Meeza card, bank transfer from Egyptian banks such as Banque du Caire, Banque Misr, CIB Bank, and Saib Bank, Fawry, Possible, Masari, or Aman branches, in addition to electronic wallets such as Vodafone Cash, And Orange Pay, and others.
To learn more details about the payment gateway, you can review the article explaining the use of the Egyptian Paymob payment gateway and linking it with WooCommerce step by step .
6- Paysky
Paysky payment gateway is an Egyptian payment gateway fully supported by Egyptian Post. The Paysky payment gateway is distinguished by providing the ability to receive international payments through individuals’ local accounts, and this is not available in other local payment gateways. It offers several advantages, including the following:
- Providing convenient accounts for individuals without the need for a commercial register.
- Requires minimum key account activation requirements.
- Integration with Egyptian Post cards and services in transferring and receiving profits.
- The payment gateway supports 3 Arab countries: mainly Egypt, in addition to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
- The fee for receiving payments is 2.85% of the amount paid, in addition to a fixed amount of $0.28/transfer.
It supports Visa and MasterCard credit cards locally and internationally, the Yalla Pay application, Egyptian e-wallets Vodafone Cash, Etisalat Pay, and others, in addition to Apple Pay or Samsung Pay wallets, and recently the Paypal payment gateway was also added to the corporate account.
To learn more details about registering in the Paysky payment gateway and linking it with your online store, you can review the article explaining registration in the Paysky payment gateway from the Egyptian Post | And linking with WooCommerce .
7- PayTabsy
PayTabs payment gateway is a Saudi payment gateway established in 2015 AD. It provides most electronic payment services to Arab countries, with the aim of helping small and medium enterprises and the e-commerce market receive payments through electronic stores. Its features include several, including the following:
- Providing suitable accounts for individuals and companies.
- Availability of installment options in local banks.
- PayTabs is PCI-DSS certified to secure payment data and information, in addition to the 3D Secure 2.0 service, which ensures payment completion is encrypted on secured servers.
- The payment gateway supports 10 Arab countries: Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, and Palestine.
- The average fee is 2.5% of the amount paid, plus a variable amount for each country. PayTabs also offers fixed packages for larger projects.
It supports payment by Visa and MasterCard credit cards, PayPal, electronic wallets Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, in addition to local payment options for all supported countries, for example Vodafone Cash, STC Pay, payment cards, mada cards, Oman Net, Meeza card, Aman branches, and others.
To learn more details about the PayTabs payment gateway in terms of the steps for registration, activation, and linking with WooCommerce stores, you can review the article
Choosing the appropriate payment gateway is considered one of the vital aspects that affects the success of the online store activity, as it contributes to providing a smooth purchasing experience that suits the target customer category.
During this article, we have presented to you several payment gateways that suit international or local targeting in Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries. You can rely directly on one of these portals based on the appropriate pricing system and fees, in addition to account requirements whether for individuals or companies, as well as support for local payment options for the targeted countries.
You can also combine more than one different payment gateway on your online store to provide multiple payment options to customers, and all previous payment gateways are fully compatible with the WooCommerce system.
It is worth noting that all of the payment gateways described comply with the criteria for selecting payment gateways referred to in the article. You can follow these same criteria and arrange them based on your project priorities in choosing and comparing other payment gateways with the list presented in the article. In this way we reach the conclusion of the article.
