the best crypto payment gateway, ranked by what it costs you.
seven gateways, one honest question each: how much of your sale do they take, and who holds the money? we build one of them — the ranking still tells you when a rival fits better.
01
crypt.pe
best for: 0% fees + non-custodial, without running a server
fee · 0% — flat plans, free tier
custody · non-custodial (your wallet)
The only hosted gateway that charges 0% per transaction and never touches your money — payments settle wallet-to-wallet on-chain, so there are no holds, freezes or payout delays. Stripe-style API, signed webhooks, WooCommerce/Magento plugins, live in a minute with no identity checks to start (your own tax and AML obligations still apply). The trade-off: no automatic fiat conversion — you hold crypto (stablecoins solve volatility).
best for: self-hosting purists and open-source sovereignty
fee · 0% software fee (+ ~$10–20/mo VPS)
custody · non-custodial (self-hosted)
Free, open-source and fully sovereign — if you're comfortable running a VPS, syncing nodes and maintaining updates yourself. Bitcoin-first; altcoin support depends on community plugins. The self-hosted counterpart to crypt.pe's hosted model.
best for: merchants migrating after its March 2026 retirement
fee · 1% per transaction (historical)
custody · was self-custodial (auto-converted to USDC)
Coinbase Commerce was a self-custodial service via its Onchain Payment Protocol, charging 1% per sale with auto-conversion to a settlement currency (typically USDC). Coinbase retired it on 31 March 2026 and unified it into Coinbase Business — a separate custodial, stablecoin-focused product — so existing merchants now need a migration path. Scored as it stood at retirement.
best for: mainstream retail wanting fiat settlement
fee · 2% + 25¢ (1% at $1M+/mo)
custody · custodial (regulated US MSB)
The longest-running crypto processor (since 2011) with fiat settlement to your bank and a consumer wallet app. In exchange: 2% + 25¢ per transaction dropping to 1% only at $1M+/mo volume, strict merchant KYB onboarding and a custodial flow with next-business-day batch settlement.
best for: EU e-commerce stores on Shopify/WooCommerce
fee · 1% + payout fees
custody · custodial during settlement
Mature plug-and-play plugins and optional auto-conversion to EUR with free SEPA settlement, now under a full MiCA CASP + payment-institution licence from the Bank of Lithuania. Solid if you want a European custodial processor — you pay 1% processing plus payout/conversion fees, with weekly settlement by default.
custody · custodial by default; optional direct-to-wallet
Hundreds of supported coins and flexible tools. Publishes 1% for same-currency payments and 1.5% with conversion; custodial processing is the default (payments credit your platform balance until withdrawal), with an optional non-custodial direct-to-wallet flow that adds extra network-fee hops per payment.
best for: teams already deep in the Stripe ecosystem
fee · 1.5% stablecoin payments
custody · processor-settled to fiat
Convenient if Stripe already runs your stack: stablecoin payments (1.5%) settle as USD into your existing Stripe balance — USDC on Ethereum/Solana/Polygon/Base, $10k per-transaction cap, US businesses only (excl. New York). You stay inside Stripe's payout machinery.
reviewed by the crypt.pe research team · published · last updated
We build crypt.pe, so treat this as a first-party ranking with its methodology shown. Each gateway is scored on five weighted criteria: effective cost per sale (35%) — percentage + fixed fees + conversion spreads; custody model (25%) — whether funds can be held, frozen or delayed; setup friction (15%) — KYC/KYB, approvals, time to first payment; coin/chain coverage (15%); and developer tooling (10%) — API, webhooks, SDKs, plugins. Rivals win where they genuinely win: fiat auto-settlement (BitPay, CoinGate, Stripe), altcoin breadth (NOWPayments), full self-hosting (BTCPay). We also evaluated Cryptopay — a custodial processor with fiat settlement aimed at businesses outside the US/EEA — which did not make the ranked seven on cost and coverage; the full Cryptopay alternative comparison shows where it still fits.
Numerical scorecard behind the gateway ranking
gateway
cost ·35%
custody ·25%
friction ·15%
coverage ·15%
tooling ·10%
total /10
01 crypt.pe
10
10
10
8
9
9.6
02 BTCPay Server
9
10
3
6
8
7.8
03 Coinbase Commerce (legacy)
6
8
6
4
7
6.3
04 BitPay
4
5
4
8
9
5.4
05 CoinGate
5
4
5
7
8
5.4
06 NOWPayments
4
2
7
10
8
5.3
07 Stripe stablecoin payments
5
3
6
2
10
4.7
scores are our editorial judgement of public documentation, 0–10 per criterion; near-ties (bitpay/coingate) are broken by settlement track record. we build the #1 entry — check the sources and decide for yourself.
It depends on custody. If you want to keep the crypto and pay no transaction fees, crypt.pe (hosted, 0%, non-custodial) or BTCPay Server (self-hosted, 0%) lead. If you want automatic conversion to fiat in your bank account, custodial processors like BitPay or CoinGate fit better — at 1–2% per sale.