Top 10 Kenya Payment gateways for small business websites
If you’re running a business online, e-commerce or others, and you want to receive payments via your website, these are the top 10 options, especially if you’re a small and medium-size business owner.
Pesapal
Pesapal ranks number 1 overall based on registration process, onboarding, payment methods, transaction charges, fund settlement, and other factors I look at.
It’s the best for an average Kenyan small business due to its strong local presence, acceptance of different payment methods such as online, M-Pesa, cards, payment links, invoicing and POS.
Also, you don’t need to worry about learning coding or building a complex website, Pesapal offers no-code payment links, and it’s a CBK-authorised payment service provider.
Paystack
Paystack ranks second in my list, perhaps, it’s the best option if your business is online-based.
Its signup process is easy, supports M-Pesa and card payments, and the fee is very competitive.
It charges as low as 1.5% for M-Pesa payment, 2.9% for Kenyan bank cards, and 3.8% for international debit cards like Visa and Mastercard.
IntaSend
IntaSend is a popular payment gateway in Kenya that works for both small businesses and startups in East Africa.
It supports M-Pesa, cards and bank payments, while also being strong for payouts and disbursements.
It ranks 3rd because of its good combination of local payment infrastructure, developer functionality, and popularity in the East African market.
iPay Africa
iPay is another good option for e-commerce sites.
It supports M-Pesa, Airtel Money, international cards, bank transfers, and has integrations/plugins for platforms such as WooCommerce, Magento, OpenCart, PrestaShop and WHMCS.
Flutterwave
Flutterwave is built for the African market, so it’s not just a good option for a Kenyan small business, it helps if you target customers from other African countries.
It supports M-Pesa, African bank cards and payment methods, and also international cards, making it useful for cross-border commerce.
DPO Pay by Network
DPO is another payment gateway that works fine for businesses that need card payments and international/cross-border transactions.
It is used most by travel, hospitality and larger e-commerce businesses.
Some business owners describe it as a multi-country option rather than a first choice for small startups.
Tingg
Tingg is a serious payment infrastructure provider, but I would not make it the first recommendation for a very small business.
It provides checkout, payment links, in-store payments and payment pages, including solutions that can be used by businesses without a website.
Its onboarding and pricing are more enterprise-oriented.
It is best suited for growing SMEs, corporations, organisations with complex payment requirements and businesses expanding across Africa.
Kora
Kora is a less popular payment provider, but it’s becoming a strong alternative to Paystack and Flutterwave for Kenyan small business owners.
I would consider it a secondary option, rather than my first recommendation for a small Kenyan merchant.
It’s a good option for both developers, online businesses and local businesses looking for an alternative African payment infrastructure provider.
Kopo Kopo
Kopo Kopo ranks low because it’s not built for online business websites.
I consider it because it works fine if most of your customers use M-Pesa.
For physical retail shops, and small physical businesses, Kopo Kopo is built for M-Pesa-heavy merchants.
SasaPay
SasaPay is limited to local businesses and transactions, but worth considering if your business is heavily dependent on mobile-money payments.
It ranks in my top 10 because of its low-cost mobile-money payments.
Developed for small retailers and businesses whose customers predominantly pay through mobile money.
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