A comparison of the most important Bitcoin payment providers
Comparison of the most important Lightning and Bitcoin payment providers
If you would like to accept Bitcoin and Lightning payments in your webshop, you will find the most important Bitcoin payment providers (Bitcoin Payment Provider, Bitcoin Payment Processor, Bitcoin Payment Service Provider) in this article. We focus on Bitcoin payment providers that support at least Bitcoin and Lightning as a payment method.
In previous articles we have described what to look for when accepting Bitcoin in an online store, how a Bitcoin payment in an online store works and what a Bitcoin payment provider does.
In this article, we present the most important Bitcoin payment providers. We look at the special features of the individual Bitcoin payment providers, which cryptocurrencies are supported and which store modules are offered to simplify the integration of the payment method into the online store. We also list the payment tools provided by the individual Bitcoin payment providers.
Recommended Bitcoin payment providers:
Bitcoin payment providers that we advise against.
Selection criteria according to a Bitcoin payment provider
Technical requirement to accept Bitcoin
What are the technical requirements to accept Bitcoin in the online store?
- a store software such as for example from WooCommerce, Shopware, Drupal, Magento, Shopify or PrestaShop
- a Bitcoin payment provider for crypto payment processing
- a plugin, extension or API connection to establish a connection between store software and Bitcoin payment provider
What do you want as an online store operator?
When it comes to meeting the technical requirements, the store software is already specified by the existing online store. Now, to be able to accept crypto, Bitcoin or Lightning in the online store, it requires selecting for the appropriate Bitcoin payment provider and a suitable extension to link the store software with the payment provider. To do this, you should deal with the following questions for yourself:
- Which store software is used?
- Do you want to receive euros or would you rather keep the bitcoin?
- In addition to Bitcoin and Lightning, which cryptocurrencies would you like to offer to your customers?
Which cryptocurrency to accept?
Should you offer many cryptocurrencies in your online store or focus on the most important cryptocurrencies? In the article “Which cryptocurrency to accept” we shed some light on this question.
What every online store needs to offer is Bitcoin and Lightning. Almost every cryptocurrency owner also has Bitcoin and can pay with it. Bitcoin Lightning is also Bitcoin. Lightning is another layer of Bitcoin, which is specifically designed for payment processing.
Some payment providers have focused on Bitcoin and Lightning payment processing and other payment providers support a few select cryptocurrencies and yet other payment providers have set a goal of offering as many cryptocurrencies as possible.
Choosing the right cryptocurrency can depend on the product, the target audience, or even the region where the products will be sold.
The prerequisite for being listed as a Bitcoin payment provider at Coincharge is the acceptance of Bitcoin and Lightning.
Bitcoin payment processing fees
The fees are almost identical for all providers and amount to 1% of the turnover on average. Thus, the payment processing of cryptocurrencies is much cheaper than for the traditional payment methods. In addition, as a merchant you have the advantage that there are no chargebacks and the sales are credited immediately.
No percentage fees are charged on sales and usually monthly fees are waived and the corresponding store extensions are provided free of charge. Some Bitcoin payment providers charge a fee for converting crypto to euros or for making a withdrawal to your bank account.
The most important Bitcoin payment providers
In alphabetical order. The order does not represent a ranking and says nothing about the quality of the services of the Bitcoin payment service providers listed here.
Aurpay
Aurpay is a global blockchain technology company that enables businesses of all sizes to access cross-border crypto payments via the Aurpay platform or API.
In addition to Bitcoin and Lightning, Aurpay also supports numerous other coins and stablecoins. Numerous payment modules for the most common store systems and an API for individual integration are also available.
It is not clear how customer sales are paid out.
- Fees: 0.8% on turnover, no basic fee, no transaction fee,
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Lightning, Ethereum, Dai, Tether and USDC
- Plugins / Module: BigCommerce, Easy Digital Download, ECWLD, Opencart, Paid Membership pro, Prestashop, Shopify, WooCommerce
- Payment Tools: Invoice, payment link,
- API: https://documenter.getpostman.com/view/26033039/2s93CPsDE3#41a41d95-9a60-4de5-8a60-1425768e2d59
- Dokumentation: https://docs.aurpay.net/product-guides/
- Location: USA
- Website: https://aurpay.net/
BTCPay Server
For Bitcoin payment processing, one can use the services of a Bitcoin payment processor.
However, if you prefer to handle Bitcoin payments on your own technical infrastructure, you can do so with the help of the BTCPay server.
With the BTCPay Server you are your own payment provider. It is a free open source software that you can install and use yourself on your server. Accordingly, no legitimation check is required and no fees are incurred.
The BTCPay server supports Bitcoin and Lightning payment methods. Other payment methods can be added optionally.
Bitcoin payment receipts are credited directly to your own Bitcoin wallet.
You can find more information in our article: BTCPay Server
- Fees: No base fee, No transaction fee, No volume.
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Lightning.
- Plugins / Module: WooCommerce, Shopify, Drupal, Magento, PrestaShop, Shopware
- Payment Tools: Invoice, payment link, Web-PoS, donation
- API: https://docs.btcpayserver.org/API/Greenfield/v1/
- Github: https://github.com/btcpayserver
- Location:
- Website: https://btcpayserver.org/
- Special features:
Own Bitcoin payment processing on your own server,
Everything under your own control,
No KYC,
No fees
Coinsnap
As a Lightning Payment Provider, Coinsnap specializes in payment processing for Bitcoin and Lightning payments.
As a merchant, you only need a Lightning wallet with a Lightning address to receive Bitcoin and Lightning payments from your customers.
By processing Bitcoin and Lightning payments via Coinsnap, merchants do not need to maintain and operate their own technical infrastructure.
Coinsnap does not hold customer funds at any time. All payments are forwarded directly to the merchants’ Lightning wallets, as with a Lightning routing node.
For merchants who prefer a payout to a bank account, incoming Lightning payments are forwarded to a Lightning broker, who makes the exchange from Lightning to Euro and then pays out to the merchant’s bank account.
With the payment plugin, merchants can quickly and easily integrate Bitcoin and Lightning payments into existing store systems.
In the article: Coinsnap – Bitcoin and Lightning payment provider, Coinsnap is presented in more detail.
- Fees: 1% on turnover when using the discount code Coincharge, No basic fee, No transaction fee,
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Lightning
- Plugins / Module: WooCommerce, Shopify, Shopware, Gambio, Wix, Opencart, PrestaShop, Magento, Opencart, BTCpaywall, Easy Digital Downloads, Paid Memberships pro, GetPaid, GiveWP, WPForms, and much more
- Payment tools: Web point of sale, donation form, invoice payment
- API: https://docs.coinsnap.io/
- Github: https://github.com/Coinsnap
- Location: Europe (Germany and Serbia)
- Website: https://coinsnap.io
- Special features:
- Pay-out to your own Lightning Wallet
- No KYC
- Payout to your own bank account possible
With the discount code Coincharge you save 0.25% on fees
For a limited time, Coincharge is offering a free Coinsnap integration service. Apply for the free Coinsnap integration service for all store systems supported by Coinsnap.
Coingate
CoinGate is a Lithuania-based cryptocurrency payment processing platform founded in 2014. The platform provides an easy way for online merchants and retailers to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method without the need for extensive technical knowledge.
CoinGate supports a variety of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple and over 50 different cryptocurrencies. Merchants can convert payments in cryptocurrencies directly into their local currency to minimize the risk of price fluctuations.
It is especially worth mentioning that Coingate supports Lightning payments.
- Fees: No base fee, No transaction fee, 1% on volume. Withdrawals by SEPA bank transfer do not cost any fees (minimum amount €50,-). For international withdrawals (outside EU) a fee of 1% is charged.
- Cryptocurrencies: over 80 cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Lightning, XRP, Stellar, Dogecoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash,
- Plugins / Module: WooCommerce, PrestaShop, VirtueMart, Magento 2, WHMOS, Opencart, OScommerce, blesta, zencart, thirty bees https://coingate.com/plugins
- Payment Tools: Invoice, payment link,
- API: https://developer.coingate.com/
- Github: https://github.com/coingate
- Location: Lithuania
- Website: https://coingate.com/accept
- Special features:
Coinpayments
CoinPayments is a cryptocurrency payment processing company that allows merchants to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method. It was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
CoinPayments offers a variety of features and tools for merchants, including the ability to accept Bitcoin and more than 1,800 other cryptocurrencies. The platform also supports stablecoins that are tied to the value of the US dollar.
Coinpayments is the provider with the most extensive selection of accepted cryptocurrencies. If you want to offer your customers an almost complete selection of all available cryptocurrencies, you will find what you are looking for at Coinpayments.
You can choose which cryptocurrencies you want to offer to your customers. You then specify whether you want to keep this cryptocurrency or have it automatically converted into another cryptocurrency (e.g. Bitcoin).
For those who consider it beneficial to offer as many cryptocurrencies as possible to their customers, Coinpayments is the right solution. With over 1800 different coins, Coinpayments offers a comprehensive selection of coins that can be used as cryptocurrency.
With Coinpayments, the payout is made exclusively to your own crypto wallet. A payout in Euro to the own bank account is not offered.
- Fees: No base fee, No transaction fee, 0.5% on volume.
- Cryptocurrencies: More than 80 Coins. Among others: itcoin and Lightning, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Dash, Dogecoin, Ether, Monero
- Plugins / Module: Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, Opnecart, drupal, PrestaShop, WHMCS, Easy Digital Download, Hikashop, ecwid, Übercart, xcart, zen cart, Virtuemart https://www.coinpayments.net/merchant-tools-plugins
- Payment Tools: Invoice, payment link, Web PoS, PoS app,
- API: https://www.coinpayments.net/apidoc
- Github: https://github.com/CoinPaymentsNet
- Location: Canada
- Website: https://www.coinpayments.net/
- Special features:
The payout is made to crypto wallet of the merchant.
No payout to a bank account.
Even if the payout is made in cryptocurrency, the trader must perform a KYC.
Cointopay
Cointopay is a Czech payment processor that has been on the market since 2014. More than 30,000 merchants use Cointopay’s crypto payment processing. More than 80 different cryptocurrencies are supported, including Bitcoin, Lightning, Monero, Tether and Ethereum.
A variety of payment modules are also offered to enable simple integration into your own store system. Incoming crypto sales can be paid out to the Cointopay wallet, to the merchant’s bank account, Paypal and Payeer.
- Fees: Fee of 1.0102% on each incoming transaction
- Cryptocurrencies: More than 80 Coins. Among others: Bitcoin and Lightning, Litecoin, Dash, Dogecoin, Ether, Monero, Tether
- Plugins / Module: Magento, WooCommerce, Shopify, Opencart, Drupal, PrestaShop, WHMCS, Easy Digital Download, Ecwid, xcart, zen cart, WP-Membership-Pro
- Payment Tools:
- API: https://docs.cointopay.com/
- Github: https://github.com/orgs/Cointopay/repositories
- Location: Czech Republic
- Website: https://cointopay.com/
- Special features:
Payments are made to bank accounts in EUR, USD or GBP as well as to PayPal and Payeer or as cryptocurrency to the Cointopay wallet.
A KYC examination is required.
Flash
- Fees: No information available
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Lightning
- Plugins / modules:: No store modules are offered
- Payment Tools: Payment Widget, Payment Link, Paywall, Video Paywall, Payment Button, Subscription
- API:
- Github:
- Location: Poland
- Website: https://paywithflash.com/
- Special features: Flash Payment is a wallet-to-wallet solution. With the help of Nostr Wallet Connect (NWR), NWR-enabled wallets are connected to each other and payments are made between them. Flash offers numerous functions and services that can be used for a payment and thus for a wallet transfer.
Opennode
OpenNode specializes in payment processing for Bitcoin and Lightning payments. OpenNode was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA.
OpenNode has earned a good reputation, particularly in the area of Lightning payments, and impresses with industry-specific solutions.
Payouts can be made in Bitcoin and, for American merchants, also to a bank account. For European merchants, payout to a bank account is no longer supported.
OpenNode, a KYC must be made even if the payout is in a cryptocurrency.
- Fees: No base fee, No transaction fee, 1% on volume.
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Lightning
- Plugins / Modul:: WooCommerce, Magento, Shopify, Opencart, Prestashop https://www.opennode.com/integrations/
- Payment Tools: Invoice, payment link, Web-PoS,
- API: https://developers.opennode.com/reference
- Github: https://github.com/opennodedev
- Location: USA
- Website: https://www.opennode.com/
- Special Features: Opennode is a Bitcoin Only payment processor and supports Bitcoin and Lightning payment processing only.
Speed
Speed is a Bitcoin payment processor for private individuals and companies. The solutions offered by Speed include the acceptance of Bitcoin payments, the execution of payments and the management of business processes via the Lightning Network.
Speed does not provide a payment plugin for the integration of store systems. However, individual connections can be realized via an API connection.
The comprehensive payment functions provided by Speed for the acceptance of Bitcoin and Lightning payments should be emphasized. In the area of online payments, there is the option of creating invoices and payment links that you can send to your customers so that they can pay with Bitcoin. In the area of personal payment on site (offline payments), there are QR code payments, dynamic QR payments and a point of sale app with which you can accept Bitcoin and Lightning payments in your store.
- Fees: 1% on turnover.
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Lightning
- Plugins / modules:: No plugins are offered
- Payment Tools: Invoice, payment link, Web PoS, PoS app,
- API: https://www.speed.dev/reference/introduction
- Github: https://github.com/opennodedev
- Location: Dubai
- Website: https://www.tryspeed.com/
- Special features: Large selection of payment solutions for online and offline payments with Bitcoin and Lightning
Zaprite
Zaprite enables the processing of Bitcoin and Lightning payments in your own Bitcoin or Lightning wallet. You deposit your own Bitcoin or Lightning wallet and the Bitcoin address or Lightning Invoice of the deposited wallet is displayed directly to the payer during payment processing. Zaprite does not charge a fee per transaction, but a flat fee of $25 per month, regardless of the number of transactions.
- Fees: $25,- per month
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Lightning
- Plugins / modules:: No plugins are offered
- Payment Tools: Invoice, payment link,
- API:
- Github:
- Location: USA (Austin, Texas)
- Website: https://zaprite.com/
- Special features: Zaprite is a payment processor that never comes into contact with customer funds. The payments flow directly into your own Bitcoin wallet. You receive 100% of the payments.
Bitcoin payment providers that we advise against.
The following is a list of Bitcoin payment providers that we do not recommend using.
These are Bitcoin payment providers that do not support the processing of payments via Bitcoin Lightning.
We also advise against payment providers where the payer must first register and verify themselves with the respective payment provider, as is the case with Bitpay, Coinbase and Crypto.com.
The list is sorted alphabetically. The order does not represent a ranking and says nothing about the service quality of the listed Bitcoin payment providers.
B2BinPay
B2BinPay
Report follows
- Fees: 0.5% on turnover, no monthly fee, no transaction fee
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum. Cardano, Litecoin, Monero, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple (XRP), Dash and Stablecoins like Tether, Binance USD, USD Coin and Tokens.
- Plugins / Modul: WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop
- Payment Tools:
- API:
- Github:
- Location: Estonia
- Website: https://b2binpay.eu/
- Special features:
B2BinPay does not support Lightning payments
Blockonomics
Blockonomics is a Bitcoin payment service provider where incoming payments are credited directly to your own Bitcoin wallet. During the registration you have to enter your xPub key.
- Fees: No base fee, No transaction fee, 1% on turnover.
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin & Bitcoin Cash
- Plugins / Module: WooCommerce, WHMCS, EasyDigitalDownload, Opencart, Prestashop
- Payment Tools:
- API: https://www.blockonomics.co/views/api.html
- Github: https://github.com/blockonomics
- Location:
- Website: https://www.blockonomics.co/merchants
- Special features:
- No KYC
- Credit to own Bitcoin Wallet
Bitpay
Bitpay was one of the first Bitcoin payment providers and was for a long period of time the largest and most well-known Bitcoin payment provider and was used by most merchants worldwide.
Bitpay lost this special position because it resisted technical innovations and tried to establish its own standard.
BitPay only accepts payments that support the BIP70 protocol. Since not all Bitcoin wallets support this protocol, payers using other Bitcoin wallets experience payment interruptions.
Technical advancements such as Segwit were not supported.
End customers who make a purchase from a merchant that is greater than $1,000 must create a Bitpay ID. For the Bitpay ID, these customers have to legitimize themselves to Bitpay and carry out a legitimation check including KYC.
If you want to use BitPay, you have to apply and pay a registration fee of $75.
A recommendation can no longer be made for the former market leader.
See also the article: Why you should not use BitPay as a Bitcoin payment provider
- Fees: No base fee, No transaction fee, 1% on volume. No further fee is charged for the withdrawal.
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Lightning, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, Dodge
- Plugins / Module: https://bitpay.com/docs/plugins WooCommerce, Shopify, WHMCS, Magento 1& 2, OpenCart, PrestaShop, Drupa, Easy Digital Downloads, Ubercart, Zen Cert
- Payment Tools: Invoice, payment link, Web PoS, PoS app, donation
- API: https://developer.bitpay.com/docs
- Github: https://github.com/bitpay
- Location: USA
- Website: https://bitpay.com/online-payments
- Special features: Registration and legitimation check of payers with Bitpay before paying with cryptocurrencies at the merchant.
Coinbase commerce
Coinbase Commerce is a cryptocurrency payment processing platform that allows merchants to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method. It was developed and launched by Coinbase, one of the most well-known and largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
Coinbase Commerce allows merchants to accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash as payment methods. The platform also supports stablecoins that are tied to the value of the US dollar.
However, Coinbase Commerce does not support Bitcoin payment processing over the Lightning network (Lightning).
The second disadvantage of Coinbase Commerce is that merchants who process payments via Coinbase Commerce must register their customers with Coinbase. Payments from self-hosted wallets are no longer accepted. This means considerable effort for customers and will lead to abandoned purchases, which must be avoided.
The cryptocurrencies taken are credited to the respective crypto wallet at Coinbase. If one has an account with the Coinbase exchange, the incoming cryptocurrencies can be forwarded directly to the exchange and sold there.
An automated conversion is currently not possible in Euro. This option is available only to American customers and for USD exchange.
- Fees: No base fee, No transaction fee, 1% on volume.
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, USD coin, Litecoin, DAI, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash
- Plugins / Modul: Shopify, WooCommerce, https://commerce.coinbase.com/integrate
- Payment Tools:
- API: https://commerce.coinbase.com/docs/
- Github:
- Location: USA
- Webseite: https://commerce.coinbase.com/?lang=de
- Special features:
Coinbase offers a Self managed solution and a Coinbase managed solution. With the self-managed solution, the collected Bitcoin go directly to the merchant’s own wallet. The merchant is then free to decide when he wants to exchange his bitcoin into euros on the Coinbase exchange.
With the Coinbase managed solution, bitcoin are credited directly to a Coinbase wallet and immediately exchanged into euros.
The use of Coinbase Commerce is not recommended. Lightning payments are not supported and it is unacceptable that buyers have to register with Coinbase Commerce in order to pay you as a merchant.
Crypto.com
Crypto.com Pay supports payment processing for Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Litecoin (LTC) and Crypto.com Coin (CRO).
If a payer wishes to pay a merchant who processes payments via Crypto.com, the customer must have already downloaded the Crypto.com app and successfully created a Crypto.com account.
Only customers with a Crypto.com account can pay.
Then Crypto.com does not support payment processing via Lightning.
NOWPayments
Report follows
- Fees: 0.5% on the volume. Withdrawal fee to bank account between 1.5 to 2.3% depending on volume.
- Cryptocurrencies: Over 50 different cryptocurrencies such as: Bitcoin, Ethereum XRP, Tether, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, Nano, Monero, Dash, Vechain, Cardano, Shiba Inu, Binance USD, DAI, USD Coin,
- Plugins / Modul: Shopify, WooCommerce, opencart, Ecwid, WHMOS, PrestaShop, Magento, zencart und Shopware
- Payment Tools:
- API: https://documenter.getpostman.com/view/7907941/S1a32n38?version=latest
- Github:
- Location: Sychelles with contact in Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Website: https://nowpayments.io/
- Special Features: No Lightning payments
xMoney
Report follows
- Fees: No base fee, No transaction fee, 1% on volume.
- Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, Dash
- Plugins / Module: WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, Gambio, opencart,
- Payment Tools:
- API: https://docs.api.xmoney.com/
- Github: https://github.com/utrustdev
- Location: Switzerland
- Website: https://xmoney.com/
- Special features:
Direct conversion of the turnover into a fiat currency, EUR, USD, pound
xMoney does not offer Lightning payments
Integration service from Coincharge
Coincharge advises and implements Bitcoin and Lightning payments in your online store.
If you run an online store and would like to accept Bitcoin payments, Coincharge can help you with advice and technical implementation. We select the right Bitcoin payment provider for you based on your individual requirements and integrate the right Bitcoin payment module into your online store.
Arrange a no-obligation consultation so we can discuss all possible options and create the right offer for you. If you already know which crypto payment provider you want to work with, you can order integration into your online store directly at a fixed price.
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