The best payment gateway for small businesses in South Africa (2026)
When you sell R20,000 a month, not R2 million, the things that matter in a payment gateway change. Monthly fees, rand fees on small orders, payout charges and whether you can sign up as a sole proprietor decide your real cost. Here is how the main South African gateways compare for small businesses, with the maths.
The short answer
For a small WooCommerce store, Pay@ Gateway is our pick: no setup or monthly fee, 2.85% on cards with no rand fee per payment, 1.95% on EFT and Capitec Pay, and one settlement for everything.
If you sell through WhatsApp or Instagram with no website, use payment links: Yoco Link, Payfast payment requests, or Pay@ Go invoices if you bill customers. On Shopify, PayFast or Yoco. If you also sell in person, Yoco. If your customers prefer paying by bank, Ozow.
This is the small-business view of our wider guide to payment gateways in South Africa. All rates are each provider’s published entry rates, ex VAT, checked on 21 October 2026.
What a small business actually needs from a gateway
- No fixed monthly cost. A R300 monthly fee is nothing at R500,000 a month and 1.5% of turnover at R20,000. Every gateway below has a no-monthly-fee option.
- No rand fee per payment. R2 on a R100 order is an extra 2%. Small businesses usually have smaller baskets, so a flat fee hurts more.
- You can sign up as you are. Not every gateway takes individuals or sole proprietors, and some self-serve plans start at R100,000 a month.
- Fast to go live. Hours to two weeks, depending on the provider and your documents.
- A way to get paid without a full store. Payment links, invoices and QR codes let you sell before you have a website.
The main gateways, compared for small businesses
| Gateway | Who can sign up | Monthly fee | Cards | EFT / bank | Rand fee per payment | No-website option | Go-live |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay@ Gateway / Pay@ Go | Pay@ Go: (Pty) Ltd, CC or sole proprietor | R0 | 2.85% | 1.95% | None (min R1.85) | Pay@ Go invoices and payment requests by email or SMS, with a link or QR code | Plugin from 24 hours, KYC dependent |
| PayFast | Company, sole trader or non-profit; individuals can use payment requests | R0 | 3.2% + R2 | 2.0% (min R2) | R2 on cards; R8.70 per payout | Payment requests by email | About 2 business days |
| Yoco | SA individuals 18+ and SA-registered businesses | R0 | 2.55–2.95% | Not published | None | Yoco Link via WhatsApp, email, social or SMS | “In minutes” |
| Peach Payments | Sole proprietors and registered businesses | R0 (Growth) | 2.95% + R1.50 | 1.5% + R1.50 | R1.50 | Payment Links by email, SMS or WhatsApp | Risk check up to 48 hours |
| Ozow | Registered companies and informal merchants | R0 | 2.85% (min R1) | 1.5% (min R1) | None | SMS payment links and QR codes | 3 hours to 2 working days |
| Stitch Express | SA businesses, including sole proprietors | None listed | 2.95% | 2.0% (Capitec Pay) | R2 per standard payout | Payment links | About 1 business day |
Scroll sideways on a phone. Peach’s self-serve dashboard onboarding is aimed at businesses doing R100,000 to R1 million a month, so very small stores may find PayFast, Yoco or Pay@ quicker to start with.
What it costs at small-business volumes
Take a store doing R20,000 a month at an average order of R250: 80 orders. Here is the monthly card fee at each gateway if every order is paid by card.
R20,000 a month in card sales, R250 per order
Monthly fees, ex VAT, entry-level published rates. Lower is better.
80 card orders at R250. PayFast 3.2% + R2; Peach 2.95% + R1.50; Yoco and Stitch 2.95%; Pay@ and Ozow 2.85%.
The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive is R230 a month, or R2,760 a year, almost all of it from rand fees per payment. Here is the fee on single orders, so you can see where your basket size lands:
| Order value | Pay@ | Ozow | Yoco | Stitch | Peach | PayFast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R100 card | R2.85 | R2.85 | R2.95 | R2.95 | R4.45 | R5.20 |
| R250 card | R7.13 | R7.13 | R7.38 | R7.38 | R8.88 | R10.00 |
| R500 card | R14.25 | R14.25 | R14.75 | R14.75 | R16.25 | R18.00 |
| R250 EFT | R4.88 | R3.75 | – | R5.00 | R5.25 | R5.00 |
| R500 EFT | R9.75 | R7.50 | – | R10.00 | R9.00 | R10.00 |
Ex VAT. Stitch’s EFT figure is Capitec Pay. Yoco does not publish an EFT rate. On EFT, Ozow is cheapest; on cards, Pay@ and Ozow share the lowest published rate.
The costs that matter more when you are small
- Payout fees. PayFast charges R8.70 per payout; weekly payouts add about R38 a month. Stitch charges R2 per standard payout. Pay@, Yoco and Peach settle automatically.
- Minimum fees on tiny orders. Pay@ has a R1.85 minimum, which only applies below about R65. Ozow’s minimum is R1, PayFast’s EFT minimum R2.
- VAT on fees. Every rate here is ex VAT. If you are not VAT-registered, add 15%: 2.85% becomes 3.28%.
- Shopify’s transaction fee. On Shopify Basic you pay Shopify another 2% on top of the gateway, because Shopify Payments is not available in South Africa.
- Your time. Two gateways mean two dashboards and two payouts to reconcile. One gateway that covers card and EFT keeps the admin small.
Our picks by type of small business
Pay@ Gateway
Cards, wallets, instant EFT and Capitec Pay in one plugin with one settlement, no monthly fee and no rand fee per payment. Cash payment at retail tills is coming soon, which suits stores selling to customers without cards. Read our Pay@ Gateway review.
Yoco Link or PayFast
Send a payment link in the chat. Yoco Link is free to create and charges 2.55–2.95% on cards; PayFast payment requests also take EFT. Both accept individuals.
Pay@ Go
Send invoices and payment requests by email or SMS with a link or QR code, bulk-upload month-end statements, and see invoices switch from sent to paid automatically. No monthly subscription; 2.85% online.
PayFast or Yoco
Both have Shopify apps and no monthly fee. PayFast covers more methods, including EFT and BNPL; Yoco is cheaper on cards. Budget for Shopify’s own transaction fee on top.
Yoco
One account and one dashboard for card machines and online payments.
Ozow
The lowest published EFT rate at 1.5% (min R1), and Ozow now takes cards at 2.85% too.
Getting started
Most gateways ask for an ID, proof of address less than three months old and a bank confirmation letter, plus company registration documents if you trade as a company. Your website needs terms and conditions, a refund policy and contact details before some providers will approve it. Once you are live, test one real low-value order and confirm it is marked paid on its own; our WooCommerce payment gateway guide shows how.
To compare costs on your own numbers, use the free Payment Gateway Comparator, and see what you keep after every fee in what you actually keep on a R500 sale.
Want it set up for you? We install and test gateways on small and large stores, including the callback that marks orders paid. See our WooCommerce and Shopify services or get a quote within 24 hours.
Small business payment gateway FAQs
What is the cheapest payment gateway for a small business in South Africa?
On cards, Pay@ and Ozow share the lowest published rate at 2.85% with no rand fee per payment; on R20,000 a month of R250 card orders that is about R570 in fees, against R800 on PayFast. On EFT, Ozow is cheapest at 1.5%.
Can I get a payment gateway as a sole proprietor?
Yes. PayFast (sole trader accounts), Peach, Stitch Express and Pay@ Go all accept sole proprietors, and Yoco accepts South African individuals aged 18 or older. Ozow has an informal-merchant route that does not need a registered company.
Do small business payment gateways charge a monthly fee?
Not on the entry plans covered here. Pay@, PayFast, Yoco, Ozow and Peach’s Growth plan list no monthly fee; Stitch Express lists none. Optional extras, such as Peach’s tokenisation, can carry a monthly charge.
Can I accept payments without a website?
Yes. Yoco Link, PayFast payment requests, Peach Payment Links, Ozow SMS links and QR codes, and Pay@ Go invoices and payment requests all work without a website.
How long does it take to start accepting payments?
Yoco says minutes; Ozow 3 hours to 2 working days; Stitch about one business day; PayFast about two business days once documents are in; Pay@’s WooCommerce plugin from 24 hours, depending on KYC.
Which gateway is best for a small Shopify store?
PayFast or Yoco, both of which have Shopify apps and no monthly fee. Remember Shopify charges its own 2% transaction fee on the Basic plan because Shopify Payments is not available in South Africa.
Sources
We have built 400+ online stores for South African businesses since 2014. Read more about eCommerce development in South Africa.
