Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
The Best Payment Gateways in Canada: Top Picks for 2025
Jan 16, 2025
Image: Freepik
Online payments are about the best thing to happen to monetary exchanges in the 21st century. Especially with the prevalence of e-commerce in regions like Canada, cash payments are rapidly taking the backseat. Owing to rapid growth and constant innovation, many global payment gateways are constantly leveling up to meet up. These changes have kept certain payment providers at the top of the game even in 2025.
Ultimately, we're highlighting some of the best payment channels in Canada that will serve all of your needs in 2025. Read on, get enlightened.
How do payment gateways work for Canada?
Chris Skinner, Financial expert - "The payment gateway is a digital equivalent of a cashier but with added layers of security, speed, and global accessibility."
Essentially, payment gateways are financial technology systems that facilitate online transactions between buyers and sellers. Consider it a bridge between a customer's payment method and the merchant's bank account. When you initiate a purchase online, a payment gateway encrypts your data to secure it during transmission.
Afterward, the gateway sends your encrypted payment information to your bank for verification. Once the bank verifies the transaction details and checks for sufficient funds, the transaction is approved. Provided all is in place, this process takes anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes and is never burdensome.
The 5 best Canadian payment gateways
As promised, we're bringing you some of the best options to align with when it concerns payment gateways in Canada. Being meticulous, we ensured each gateway on this list serves a good range of needs. Whether you are a buyer, seller, or an affiliate, we've covered just the payment gateway for you.
Square
Square is a prominent commercial payment solution adopted by over 4 million users globally. If you run a small or medium-sized enterprise, Square is just the payment solution for you in 2025. The provider facilitates fast mobile payments, a tool that comes in handy for both buyers and sellers. Square also allows for online store integration between in-person and online payment channels.
On the other side, the gateway charges a 2.9% fee on all online store payments but there are no monthly fees attached.
Fun Fact: Square expanded to Canada in 2012, making it the company’s first international market, where it quickly became a favorite among small businesses.
Moneris
Just like Square, Moneris is another giant commercial and mobile payment solution in Canada. Here, users and business owners also get to enjoy in-store, mobile, and online payments. Also strictly for business owners is a Business to Business (B2B) portal that automates transactions, streamlining the process.
Moneris has a 2.85% charge for successful online payments and credit card transactions. Nevertheless, the payment gateway is pretty great for growing startups, small businesses as well as personal mobile payments. In all, the provider stands out for its wide support for many payment options which include:
- Credit cards
- Debit cards
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
PayPal
Peter Thiel, PayPal's Co-founder - "PayPal’s vision was to create a new currency. We failed at that, but we succeeded in building a new payment system."
Image: Freepik
Being one of the most popular payment gateways in the world, PayPal needs no introduction. The channel serves as an digital wallet from which users can make e-commerce payments, mobile transfers, and online payments. PayPal also supports several payment methods, which cover credit cards and debit cards.
Because of its ease of use and its great and wide acceptance, PayPal has become an ideal gateway for the entertainment sector, especially for casino gaming. Many sources provide reviews of top gaming sites that support global payment gateways, including PayPal.
Stripe
Stripe is another prominent commercial payment gateway that is built to cater to startups and large enterprises alike. The provider has an amazing branding customization feature, allowing users to redesign payment pages to fit their brand. Stripe is also perfect for personal payments as it supports a good variety of payment methods from digital wallets to bank transfers.
Elavon
Elavon is a greatly networked merchant payment processor with standard operations in over 30 countries, including Canada. The gateway is great for businesses, especially start-ups looking to save a lot of costs. Its point-of-sale terminals accept almost every card service around, from credits to debits. For businesses, Elavon charges a $270 one-time fee, a $10 monthly fee, and $0.19 transaction fees.
Fun Fact: Elavon has been operating in Canada for over 25 years, offering customized payment solutions to meet the unique needs of Canadian businesses, from retail stores to e-commerce platforms.
How to choose an online payment gateway provider
Whether you are just making purchases online or running a business, there are a couple of standards you should look out for while using payment gateways in Canada. Below, we've listed a couple that are nonnegotiable and should always be considered:
- Security
- Customer experience
- Variety of payment methods
- Processing fees
- Business tools and integrations
Finally
If you wonder what payment provider is best to use in 2025 the truth is there are so many options. However some have stood the test of time. Check out the list of best Canadian payment options above to pick from.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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