In this post, I’m going to discuss the best Payment Gateways for WooCommerce. I’ll also show you how to choose and integrate with a WooCommerce payment gateway based on your store location and ultimately use it to get paid.

This article is part of my Elementor + WooCommerce series where I show you how to create an eCommerce shop using Elementor and WooCommerce. In the previous articles, I shared how you can create a single product template, a products archive, a cart page, and a checkout page using Elementor. Feel free to check them out after this.

Ps: Below is a step-by-step video tutorial you can follow along with.

Video: Top 5 WooCommerce Payment Gateways

What is a Payment Gateway

A payment gateway is a network that your clients can use to pay for goods and services on your website, App or terminal. It reads and transfers payment information from the customer to the merchant’s bank account. 

A payment gateway company helps you integrate with several payment providers whereby your clients can use debit cards, master cards, visa cards, etc.

While some payment gateways only accept card payments and some bank transfers, others let customers pay with mobile money.

In this tutorial, I’ll share with you 5 payment gateways you can choose from and integrate with your WooCommerce shop based on your business location.

#1. Mollie Payment Gateway

If your business is based in Europe, this is the best payment gateway for you. With Mollie, you can collect payments from several payment processors like PayPal, SEPA, Klarna, etc.

Mollie has a WooCommerce plugin that you can easily install on your website.

To install this plugin, go to your WordPress dashboard under Plugins and Add New. Search for Mollie payments then install and activate it.

After installing and activating, go to Mollie settings where you’ll be able to create an account on the Mollie website.

When you create your mollie account and log in, you can generate keys to connect to your website. 

Note that before you can integrate your site with Mollie and start receiving payments, you need to get your account approved by handing in your documentation.

For this tutorial, we’ll just use the test API key for demo purposes.

To generate your API keys go to Developers > API Keys

Copy the Test API key then go to your WooCommerce website under Mollie Settings and paste it into the Test API key box, and click the save changes button.

When your documents have been approved on Mollie you can simply copy and paste your Live API key and start collecting your payments via Mollie.

#2. 2Checkout Payment Gateway

2Checkout’s standout feature is that it enables you to easily collect payments even from payment processors that aren’t supported in your region.

For example, if you’re in a country that is not supported by PayPal, 2Checkout collects your PayPal payments from your clients which go to your 2Checkout account and are later transferred to your bank.

However, if you’re based in another country like Kenya, Burundi, or any other that’s supported by 2Checkout, you can go ahead and create your account.

To check this out:

Go to the 2Checkout website and Sign up for free, when you select for example Uganda from the country dropdown list, you’ll see that you can’t sign up.

Lookup your country, say Kenya.

After creating your account, go to your WooCommerce website, go to Plugins > Add New, search for 2Checkout Payment Gateway for WooCommerce and install and activate it.

After the installation, go to 2Checkout Payment Gateway for WooCommerce > Payment Settings.

Go back to the 2Checkout website and after logging in, go to Integrations > Webhooks & API, and from here you can copy the Merchant Code and API keys to use in your 2Checkout settings.

When you’re done setting up your 2Checkout integrations, click the Save changes button. 

Then go to Payments and enable your 2Checkout gateway. And when you go to your Checkout page and reload, you’ll find a list of payments that can be used, including PayPal.

And now you can be able to receive payments not only from 2Checkout but also from other gateways like PayPal which has over 200 million users. 

So basically with 2Checkout, you can be paid by over 200 million PayPal users without even owning a PayPal account.

Tip: 2Checkout is relatively beneficial to all sellers because it enables you to receive global payments, but before trying to use it, make sure it is supported in your country.

#3. PayPal Payment Gateway

Paypal is one of the most popularly used payment gateways. The PayPal platform can be used to make and receive payments to different merchants globally.

However, it’s worth noting that PayPal also restricts its services in some countries. For example, in Uganda, you can not use PayPal to receive payments, yet in Kenya, you can. You can go to the PayPal website to view a list of countries where payments are supported, as well as a list of withdrawal methods supported in those countries.

Paypal is popular because of the security it provides. For example, they can cancel a payment, request a refund, and you’re guaranteed to get it.

To integrate PayPal with your WooCommerce website, go to Plugins > Add New, search for WooCommerce PayPal Payments; install and activate it.

You’ll now have the WooCommerce PayPal Payments in your installed plugins. Proceed by going to its Settings.

Note that with PayPal you don’t have to go to the Paypal website to look for the API keys or to integrate it manually, the plugin simply does all this for you. 

You will just be prompted to either sign up or to sign into your PayPal account, and then your website and PayPal will be integrated.

And now you’ll have your merchant id, live client id, and other keys you need showing in your settings.

And if you go back to your Checkout and reload, you’ll have PayPal as a payment option.

With your PayPal account, you not only receive payments from PayPal users but also receive payments from other debit or credit card users who are not registered with PayPal.

#4. Flutterwave Payment Gateway

Last but not least on my top 5 WooCommerce payment gateways is Flutterwave. This is a platform that enables you to collect payments from debit cards, credit cards, mobile payments, and barter users on your website or App.

Flutterwave partnered with PayPal to enable merchants in Africa to receive payments from PayPal users. This however unfortunately only works for PayPal users in PayPal-supported countries.

Flutterwave is mostly concentrated in Western Africa, which creates a lot of support issues for other users. So if you’re located in other parts of Africa like Eastern or Southern Africa, you may want to consider the next payment gateway on this list.

However, if you still want to checkout or use Flutterwave, here’s how you go about it.

In your WordPress Plugins search for Flutterwave WooCommerce then install and activate it.

After installing and activating, go to the Flutterwave Settings in your installed plugins.

You’ll need to go to the Flutterwave website to set up your credentials and approval for your business, as well as to get the necessary keys to allow you to integrate your WooCommerce website with Flutterwave.

After doing that, come back to the settings you can check the Live mode option and you’ll be able to receive payments from debit cards, credit cards, mobile money, barter and PayPal payments if you’re from a supported country within Africa.

To get your integration settings:

Go to Webhook instructions and click on the Rave account link.

On the Flutterwave dashboard, you can select your business, then on the API option you can copy your public key, secret key and encryption key and you can paste these back into your Flutterwave settings, then save your changes.

Remember to enable the Rave option under Payments.

And when you reload your checkout page you should now be able to see the different options Flutterwave provides.

#5. Pesapal Payment Gateway

This is our final payment gateway in this list. I highly recommend Pesapal if you are located in the eastern and southern parts of Africa. 

Pesapal enables merchants to collect money from debit cards, credit cards, and mobile money globally.  They have invested resources to ensure that their platform operates very effectively, and they have a highly effective customer support crew.

To set up your Pesapal:

Go to the Pesapal developer portal and download the WooCommerce plugin

Then go to your Plugins area on your WordPress dashboard and Add New, click Upload Plugin then upload the plugin you just downloaded, and install and activate it. 

After installing and activating your plugin, go to WooCommerce > Settings then go to the Payments tab and on the PesaPal option, click Manage.

In the next window is where you can enter your Pesapal Consumer key and Secret key.

You can also just turn on the Demo Mode (Use Demo Gateway) and then follow the demo link to test it out.

When you click on the Demo link it redirects you to the Pesapal Sandbox page, click on Developer Portal and you’ll be taken to the next page where you will be able to get your Pesapal credentials.

Copy and paste the keys then click the Save Changes button.

Back on the Payments tab, make sure Pesapal is enabled then go to your checkout page and reload it.

If you want to go live on Pesapal, go back to the Payments tab and go to Manage, uncheck the Demo option then add your customer keys that you’ll receive from Pesapal after your account is activated.

WooCommerce Payment Gateway FAQs

In Closing

Those are my top 5 recommended payment gateways that you can integrate and use on your WooCommerce shop.

However, feel free to go and test out any other payment gateways you know of that are not included in this post.

It’s worth noting that no payment gateway is entirely flawless, but it is important to at least choose one that provides support when you run into problems.

For any inquiries please use the comments section below. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter and Youtube channel for more tips and tutorials.