How to choose a payment gateway in India

The headline rate is only the start. These five things decide what actually lands in your account.

1. The fee for the way your customers pay

Gateways often charge differently by method. For a standard credit card, today’s published rates are:

• Razorpay: 2% + 18% GST
• Cashfree: 1.95% + 18% GST
• PayU: 2% + 18% GST

For UPI paid from a bank account, the rates are different again:

• Razorpay: 2% + 18% GST
• Cashfree: 1.95% + 18% GST
• PayU: Not published (PayU says its UPI pricing varies by business type and volume)

If most of your customers pay by UPI, the UPI rate matters more than the card rate.

2. GST on the fee

Every fee above carries GST on top. Read GST on payment gateway fees to see when it doesn’t apply and how to claim it back.

3. When the money arrives

Settlement times vary from the same day to several working days. Each app’s charges page lists them, with “Not published” where the app doesn’t say.

4. Offers for new sign-ups

Some gateways waive their fee for new businesses for a limited time or volume, but usually still charge GST. Clarifee shows offers but never uses them to rank apps unless you say you qualify.

5. Rates that aren’t published

Some apps only quote privately for some methods. We show these as “Not published” and let you enter your quote.

Try it with your own numbers

Then compare two apps on your real monthly mix with the Monthly mix tool, or read a ready-made comparison like Razorpay vs Cashfree.