Stripe 2.9% + $0.30, PayPal Checkout 3.49% + $0.49, Braintree 2.89% + $0.29: what payment providers for Shopware 6 cost US merchants, which payment methods US shoppers expect and which setup fits your store.
Shopware Payments, the payment solution built into Shopware 6, is not available to US merchants yet. Shopware currently offers it only to merchants based in Germany or Austria and says an expansion to the United States is planned. Until then, US stores on Shopware connect a payment provider through an extension: Stripe, PayPal or Braintree, Authorize.net, Adyen, or US gateways like BlueSnap, Cybersource, NMI and PayTrace.
The list prices are closer than they look. Online card payments cost 2.9% + $0.30 at Stripe, 2.89% + $0.29 at Braintree and 2.9% + $0.30 plus $25.00 a month on Authorize.net’s All-in-One plan. In our example at $50,000.00 in monthly revenue, three common setups land between $1,805.00 and $1,852.00 in fees per month. The biggest swing factors are PayPal and buy now, pay later (BNPL).
Your payment mix matters more than the provider. Credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal belong in every US B2C store, and BNPL helps with higher order values. B2B stores also need ACH and invoicing on net terms. If one of these is missing, you lose more revenue than any fee difference will ever cost you.
For a growing store, payment fees are often the largest recurring cost, and a missing payment method costs you sales at checkout. This guide is for store owners and ecommerce managers running a Shopware 6 store in the United States who are choosing a payment provider or renegotiating their setup.
After reading, you can compare Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Authorize.net, Adyen, BlueSnap, Cybersource, NMI and PayTrace based on their official US fees, run the numbers with your own payment mix and pick the right combination for a small, mid-sized or B2B store. All prices are in USD for US merchants, taken from the providers’ official pricing pages as of November 2026.
All providers charge per successful transaction: a percentage of the amount plus a fixed fee. Some add a monthly fee or price on interchange-plus. The table shows published standard rates for US merchants accepting domestic consumer cards in USD. International cards, currency conversion and American Express can cost extra.
| Provider | Online cards (US) | PayPal | BNPL | ACH | Monthly fee and contract | Shopware 6 integration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | 2.9% + $0.30, Apple Pay and Google Pay at the same rate | not listed | Klarna 5.99% + $0.30, Affirm and Afterpay 6% + $0.30 | 0.8%, capped at $5.00 | none, custom pricing at high volume | official plugin |
| PayPal (direct) | Advanced Credit and Debit Card Payments 2.89% + $0.29 | PayPal Checkout 3.49% + $0.49 | PayPal Pay Later 4.99% + $0.49 | no | none | PayPal extension |
| Braintree (PayPal) | 2.89% + $0.29, wallets included | per your PayPal account terms | via PayPal | 0.75%, capped at $5.00 | no monthly fee listed, interchange-plus for established businesses | extension or custom integration |
| Authorize.net | All-in-One: 2.9% + $0.30; Gateway Only: $0.10 per transaction plus your merchant account fees | no | no | eCheck 0.75% (Gateway + eCheck plan) | $25.00 per month, no setup fee | extension or custom integration |
| Adyen | Interchange++ + 0.60% + $0.13 (Visa, Mastercard) | only with a direct PayPal contract | Klarna 4.29% + $0.30 (+ $0.13) | $0.27 + $0.13 | none, but a minimum invoice depending on industry | official plugin |
| BlueSnap | Quick Start pricing 2.9% + $0.30 (US Visa and Mastercard consumer cards) | on request | on request | on request | pay as you go, custom pricing available | solution25 plugin |
| Cybersource (Visa) | on request | on request | on request | on request | quote from sales or a partner | solution25 plugin |
| NMI | through your reseller or ISO | no | no | through your reseller | set by the reseller | solution25 plugin |
| PayTrace | on request, focus on Level II and Level III B2B rates | no | no | Trace ACH | quote from sales or a reseller | solution25 plugin |
Sources: the official pricing pages of Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Authorize.net, Adyen and BlueSnap, accessed November 2026. Cybersource, NMI and PayTrace do not publish standard rates. For our Shopware integrations, see the BlueSnap, Cybersource, NMI and PayTrace plugin pages.
Not yet. Shopware Payments is the platform’s own payment solution, built into Shopware 6. PayPal handles the payment processing, and Shopware provides the technical integration, onboarding in the Administration and support. Shopware itself is not a payment provider and does not hold customer funds.
The background: PayPal has been an investor in Shopware since 2022 and raised its stake to around 41% in October 2025, as Ecommerce News reported.
According to the Shopware Payments pricing page, the solution is currently available only to merchants with their registered office in Germany or Austria. Shopware states that a phased expansion across key EU markets and the United States is planned, but gives no date. The published rates are in euros and apply only to those two countries, so they are not a useful benchmark for a US store.
Plan your setup with a payment provider you connect through an extension. That is the standard way US Shopware stores work today, and it gives you more room to negotiate. If Shopware Payments launches in the US later, you can compare its rates with your existing contracts and switch payment methods one by one.
PayPal is a must for most US stores, and you have two ways to offer it. The PayPal extension for Shopware connects your PayPal business account directly. Braintree, PayPal’s gateway for larger merchants, processes cards, wallets, Venmo and PayPal through one integration. In both cases, PayPal transactions are billed at your PayPal rate.
The standard rates from PayPal’s US merchant fee page (last updated November 4, 2026):
Braintree charges 2.89% + $0.29 for cards and third-party wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, plus 1% each for non-USD currencies and cards issued outside the US. Venmo costs 3.49% + $0.49, ACH Direct Debit 0.75% capped at $5.00, and a chargeback $15.00. PayPal transactions follow your PayPal account terms. Established businesses can get custom flat rates or interchange-plus pricing.
For a small or mid-sized store, the PayPal extension plus a card provider like Stripe is the simplest setup. Braintree makes sense once you want cards, PayPal and Venmo from one provider with one payout and one dispute dashboard, or when your volume is high enough to negotiate. Either way: ask PayPal for merchant rates before you sign anything else, because PayPal is usually the most expensive line item. Step by step instructions are in our guide on integrating PayPal with Shopware 6.
BNPL lets customers split a purchase into installments while you receive the full amount upfront. The BNPL provider carries the credit risk, and you pay a higher fee for it. In the US, the main options are Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay and PayPal Pay Later.
BNPL is the most expensive payment method in this comparison: at Stripe, roughly double the card rate. It pays off when it brings orders you would not get otherwise, typically at higher order values in categories like furniture, electronics or sporting goods. Test it with a rule in Shopware that only shows BNPL above a cart value you define, and compare conversion rate and average order value before and after.
Watch the promotional rates: Stripe states that certain businesses get Klarna and Affirm at 2.9% + $0.30 for at least one month, after which standard pricing applies unless you disable the methods. Put a reminder in your calendar.
Stripe is the default choice for many US startups and mid-sized stores: 2.9% + $0.30 per online card payment, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Link at the same rate, no setup or monthly fees. Manually entered cards cost 0.5% more, international cards 1.5% more, and currency conversion another 1%. ACH Direct Debit costs 0.8%, capped at $5.00, which makes it attractive for high B2B order values. Disputes cost $15.00. Stripe has an official Shopware plugin; details are in our Stripe integration guide.
Adyen prices on Interchange++: for Visa and Mastercard, you pay the actual interchange and scheme fees plus 0.60% and a $0.13 processing fee per transaction. American Express costs 3.3% + $0.10, Discover 3.95%. There are no setup or monthly fees, but Adyen sets a minimum invoice depending on industry or business model. That makes Adyen interesting from a high monthly volume, especially for brands selling in several countries. More in our Adyen integration guide.
Authorize.net is a widely used US payment gateway. The All-in-One plan includes gateway and merchant account at 2.9% + $0.30 plus $25.00 per month. If you already have a merchant account with your bank, the Gateway Only plan costs $25.00 per month plus $0.10 per transaction and a $0.10 daily batch fee. eCheck (ACH) is available to US businesses at 0.75% on the Gateway + eCheck plan. There is no setup fee and no card chargeback fee from Authorize.net; eCheck chargebacks cost $25.00.
BlueSnap publishes pricing for several regions. Its published Quick Start pricing is 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card transaction for US Visa and Mastercard consumer cards, with custom pricing for larger merchants. Quick Start pricing does not apply to high-risk merchants. solution25 maintains a BlueSnap plugin for Shopware 6.
Cybersource is Visa’s enterprise payment platform with strong fraud management. It does not publish prices; you get a quote from Cybersource sales or through a partner bank. It fits larger stores that already work with an acquirer and need advanced fraud tools. See our Cybersource plugin for Shopware 6.
NMI is a white-label gateway sold mainly through ISOs, resellers and software partners, so your rates come from the partner who sets up your merchant account. NMI is a good fit if you already have a processing relationship you want to keep and only need a gateway that talks to Shopware. We built the NMI Payments plugin for Shopware 6.
PayTrace focuses on B2B. It automates Level II and Level III card data, which helps B2B merchants qualify for lower interchange rates on commercial cards, and offers ACH (Trace ACH) and surcharging. Pricing comes from sales or a reseller. Our PayTrace plugin for Shopware 6 brings this to your B2B store.
Amazon Pay lets customers check out with the address and card stored in their Amazon account. Through Stripe, it costs 2.9% + $0.30, the same as a card payment. More in our Amazon Pay guide for Shopware 6.
For Foleja, one of the fastest-growing marketplaces in Southeast Europe with sellers from several countries, we built a marketplace architecture on Shopware 6. According to the project report, buyers previously struggled with currency conversion, and the scope included integrating payment systems for several countries with different compliance rules.
We solved this with regional and international payment gateways and correct currency handling, so customers shop in their local currency. The report cites a 20 to 30% higher conversion rate for the overall project; how much of that comes from payments alone cannot be read from it.
The lesson carries over to US brands selling into Canada or Europe: first clarify which payment methods and currency customers expect in each target market, then choose the provider that covers those markets.
Cards dominate in the US. According to the Federal Reserve’s 2026 Diary of Consumer Payment Choice, credit and debit cards account for two-thirds of all payments made by US consumers. Online, wallets that skip typing in card and address details are the fastest way through checkout.
Shopware covers approval workflows, quotes and customer-specific prices with its B2B features; an overview is in our article on Shopware B2B components.
To compare providers fairly, you need your own payment mix. Our example assumes a US B2C store with $50,000.00 in monthly revenue, an average order value of $100.00 (500 orders) and only domestic cards in USD. Mix: 65% cards and wallets ($32,500.00, 325 orders), 25% PayPal ($12,500.00, 125 orders), 10% BNPL ($5,000.00, 50 orders). All rates are the published standard rates listed above.
| Line item | A: Stripe + PayPal extension | B: Braintree (cards, PayPal, Pay Later) | C: Authorize.net All-in-One + PayPal extension |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cards and wallets ($32,500.00) | 2.9% + $0.30: $1,040.00 | 2.89% + $0.29: $1,033.50 | 2.9% + $0.30: $1,040.00 |
| PayPal Checkout ($12,500.00) | 3.49% + $0.49: $497.50 | 3.49% + $0.49: $497.50 | 3.49% + $0.49: $497.50 |
| BNPL ($5,000.00) | Klarna via Stripe, 5.99% + $0.30: $314.50 | PayPal Pay Later, 4.99% + $0.49: $274.00 | PayPal Pay Later, 4.99% + $0.49: $274.00 |
| Monthly fee | $0.00 | $0.00 | $25.00 |
| Total per month | $1,852.00 | $1,805.00 | $1,836.50 |
| Effective rate | 3.70% | 3.61% | 3.67% |
Three takeaways: First, the difference between the setups is less than $50.00 a month. Second, PayPal Checkout brings 25% of revenue but about 27% of fees in every variant, so better PayPal merchant rates are the biggest single lever. Third, BNPL is 10% of revenue but around 15% to 17% of fees. Not included: international cards, Amex surcharges, chargebacks, refunds (transaction fees are not refunded at Braintree, for example) and interchange-plus pricing such as Adyen, which can come out lower at high volume but depends on your card mix.
Use this table as a template: replace the mix with the figures from your own Shopware orders, and the rates with the ones in your contracts.
Whichever provider you choose, all payment methods in Shopware 6 run through the same settings. The menu paths below follow the Shopware documentation.
You find payment methods under Settings, Commerce, Payment methods. Extensions like PayPal, Stripe, Adyen or our BlueSnap, Cybersource, NMI and PayTrace plugins create their payment methods during installation; you only need to activate them. For your own methods like invoice or prepayment, you maintain name, description, logo and position, which controls the order at checkout. In the standard version, Shopware ships with cash on delivery, invoice, prepayment and direct debit already active. Review this list at launch, or your store will offer cash on delivery that nobody can process.
An active payment method is not yet visible in your store. It has to be assigned in the sales channel, separately for each sales channel.
Every payment method has an availability rule field where you select a rule from the Rule Builder. If the field is empty, the method is always available. Typical rules from our projects:
Payment providers report the payment status back to Shopware via webhook. Check in the Flow Builder that shipping is only triggered at the status “Paid” and that a “Failed” status sends an email with a payment link. Test every payment method end to end in the provider’s sandbox, including partial refunds and cancellations. More in our article on configuring payment methods in Shopware.
Fees, the expected payment mix and the effort for contracts lead to three basic patterns we recommend again and again.
| Store type | Payment methods | Provider combination | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small B2C store (up to about $20,000 per month) | Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, one BNPL option | Stripe plus PayPal extension, or Braintree | No monthly fee, fast onboarding, BNPL without credit risk |
| Mid-sized B2C store ($20,000 to $200,000 per month) | Cards, wallets, PayPal and Venmo, Klarna or Affirm, ACH for large orders | Braintree or Stripe with negotiated rates, BlueSnap as an alternative | Negotiated PayPal and card rates are the biggest lever |
| B2B store | Invoice on net terms, ACH, corporate cards with Level II and III data, PayPal | Shopware invoice payment method with rules, plus PayTrace, NMI or Cybersource for cards, Stripe or Authorize.net eCheck for ACH, Adyen at high volume | Invoice is standard, rules control approval, Level II and III data lowers card costs |
Your tools are the order overview in the Shopware Administration filtered by payment method, the providers’ monthly statements and the checkout report in Google Analytics 4.
Run the numbers again when promotional BNPL rates end, when your volume reaches the level where providers offer custom pricing, or when Shopware Payments becomes available in the US.
There is no single best provider. Most US Shopware stores combine a card provider like Stripe, Braintree or Authorize.net with PayPal. Adyen and Cybersource suit high volumes, BlueSnap offers flat-rate pricing, and NMI and PayTrace work well with an existing merchant account or for B2B with Level II and III data.
Published standard rates for online cards are 2.9% + $0.30 at Stripe and BlueSnap, 2.89% + $0.29 at Braintree and 2.9% + $0.30 plus $25.00 per month at Authorize.net. PayPal Checkout costs 3.49% + $0.49. In our example with $50,000.00 in monthly revenue, total fees range from $1,805.00 to $1,852.00.
Not yet. Shopware Payments is currently available only to merchants with their registered office in Germany or Austria. Shopware says an expansion to the United States is planned but has not announced a date.
In the standard version, Shopware 6 ships with cash on delivery, invoice, prepayment and direct debit, all active. Cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, BNPL and ACH come through extensions from your payment provider.
In B2C: credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal, plus BNPL such as Klarna or Affirm for higher order values. In B2B: invoice on net terms, ACH and corporate cards. Cards account for two-thirds of US consumer payments.
For large amounts, ACH: 0.8% capped at $5.00 at Stripe, 0.75% capped at $5.00 at Braintree. Among the common checkout methods, cards and wallets at around 2.9% + $0.30 are cheaper than PayPal Checkout at 3.49% + $0.49 and BNPL at 4.29% to 7.99% plus a fixed fee.
Yes. Hosted fields or redirects reduce your scope, often to the short SAQ A, but you still validate compliance. Since March 31, 2025, SAQ A merchants must confirm their site is not susceptible to attacks from scripts that could affect their ecommerce systems.
Planning a new Shopware store or rethinking your payment setup? Get in touch or call our New York office at +1 929-264-7602. We run the numbers with your order value and payment mix, show you which combination costs less and set it up, including our own plugins for BlueSnap, Cybersource, NMI and PayTrace.
Already running a store? Our free store audit shows where customers drop off at checkout, which payment methods are missing and where you are overpaying on fees.
Besnik Bilalli is the founder and CEO of solution25, a Shopware and Shopify agency with an office in New York at 60 East 42nd Street, Suite 1201. Before founding the agency in 2017, he built his own online store and grew it to more than 500 orders a day. Since then, he has helped merchants with Shopware projects, from the first budget to day-to-day operations. He is happy to answer questions about this article personally: get in touch.
Responsible for content and updates: Besnik Bilalli. Last updated: November 2026. Next content review: February 2027.
