Online business is not complete without a payment system which was a pain in the bone for Africa especially Nigeria.
There are many people that want to sell and buy online but there is absence of good payment platform they can utilize until beginning of 2015 when Paystack was founded not long after that Fluterwave was also founded aiming the same goal to help business owner to receive money from anywhere in the world and to help buyer make a safe payment.
No doubt they have been doing their job well, different review online can testify to it, they have been able to remove doubt that surround paying of goods online as both of them have function where people can make a bank transfer as a payment option, no need of inputting your card details.
Though they are aiming the same thing they are different in their approach and function, it can be confusing when business like ecommerce need to select one as their payment processor that is why we research and write Paystack vs Fluterwave base on feature, customer care, ease of payment and other factors.
Paystack vs flutterwave: Introduction
Paystack story
Paystcak was founded by Sola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi in 2015 and has over 60,000 users on it platform with over $1 billion transaction per month.
Their primary purpose is to process payment by releasing their API that business like ecommerce, companies, and banks can integrate with their website or app.
With Paystack customer can make onetime payment or recurring payment and seller can retrieve customer data and transaction details.
Fluterwave story
Fluterwave was cofounded by Iyinola Aboyeji in 2016 and they have their presence currently in over 17 countries in Africa.
Their aim is to do the same thing as Paystack but albeit in deferent way. They help merchant to receive payment from customer and other business, it did not end there they also create an app called Barter to further care for their customer.
With the barter people can create a virtual card (including dollar) which they can use to shop online, this help to reduce fear of scam since the app came with function to limit the fund that can be deduct from virtual card. This app can also be used to pay bill, receive and send money.
Paystack vs flutterwave: Security
Is Paystck secure/ safe?
After a survey we concluded that Paystack is secure because of the following reason
Paystack is authorized by PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)
It is certified by Master card, Visa and Verve
It has SSL certificate (transport layer security) in place
Is Fluterwave safe?
Fluterwave is also save because of the following reason
It is authorized by PCI DSS
Certified by Master card, Visa and Verve
Also has SSL certificate in place
Winner: Draw
Paystack vs Flutterwave: Transaction fee
Paystack transaction fee
Paystack charges 1.5% + #100 on every local transaction, maximum transaction fee to deduct on any transaction is capped at #2,000 and every transaction under #2500 is free.
They charges 3.9% + #100 on international transaction.
They charges #10 on transfer of #5,000
They charges #25 on transfers above #5,000
They charges #50 on transfers above #50,000
They charges #10 per API call and #15 for BVN API call
Flutterwave transaction fee
Flutterwave charges 1.4% on local transaction; it is also capped at #2000
It charges 3.8% on international transaction.
It charges #50 on BVN API call
Winner: Flutterwave.
Paystack vs flutterwave: Payment option
Paystack payment option
- Bank transfer
- Mobile money
- USSD
- Visa QR
- Debit and credit card
Flutterwave payment option
Below are the option flutter allow for people to make transaction
- POS (Point of Sale)
- Debt and credit cards
- Bank transfer
- Mobile money wallet like Opay
- American Express
- M-pesa
- Visa QR
- USSD
- Barter
Winner: Flutterwave
Paystack vs Flutterwave: Features and tool
Paystack tools
Products
Paystack allow you to sell product on their platform for free. There is no need to worry about ecommerce fee and insecurity.
It also allows you to manage inventory and you can sell single or multiple product.
Invoices
There is free invoice section on Paystcak called “bill your customer” where you can send amount to be paid and when to be paid to your customer.
Recurring bill
If your business deal with subscription Paystack is the best for you, they allow you to make recurring billing such that your customer can be bill every time their subscription is renew automatically
Chargeback
To prevent scam from merchant end Paystack introduce charge back. Some merchant will charge money but refuse to deliver the value or deliver substandard value Paystack introduce charge back where customer can request for refund if they did not receive their goods or service and seller can either refute with evidence or accept it.
Payment page
On Paystack you can customize your payment page for instance you can put more form if you want to collect information from your customer.
Flutterwave product/tools
Virtual cards
Like kuda bank you can also create a virtual card on Flutterwave and it can be site specific and limited i.e.
you can set up the limited amount of money you want to spend on a site. You can also generate card for other purpose.
Invoice generation
Like Paystack, You can also send invoice to your customer, track payment and get paid. Apart from sending the invoice to your customer email address you can also send it to their WhatsApp account.
Payment link
On Flutterwave you can generate payment link and share it to your customer.
At the time of writing this article those are the tool that are available on both platform.
Winner: Paystack
Paystack vs Flutterwave: Customer support
They both have good customer support
Winner: draw
Paystack vs flutterwave: integration
Paystack integration
- WordPress (woo commerce)
- Shopify
- Ecommece website
- Fintech
- Others
Fluttewave integration
- Quick books
- Zoho
- Squarespace
- Xero
- Shopify
- WordPress (woo commerce)
- Fintech
- Others
Winner: Can’t say
Paystack and Flutterwave alternative in Nigeria
Though the popular payment processing platform in Nigeria is Paystack and Flutterwave there are other platform you can use and they are
Remita
If you are a student or work with government in Nigeria, you will surely know about Remita, this is the platform use by Nigeria government and it does nothing special other than to facilitate local and international transaction.
It charges 2% for domestic transaction and 4% for international transaction. It is the best platform to use when you want to pay tax
Like Flutterwave and Paystack it is also PCI DSS compliance.
Vogue pay
Vogue pay is another payment processing platform in Nigeria that allow merchant to receive payment in their prefer currency. They charge 2.5% on local transaction and 4.5% on international transaction.
Like Flutterwave and Paystcak they have many payment options such as bank transfer and wallet. Merchant can charge one time payment, subscription and set up a donation.
Cash Envoy
Cash Envoy is a payment processing platform in Nigeria that aim to help shopify user in Nigeria to receive money from their customer.
The integration is free but they charge 1.5% + #25 on local transaction, 3.9% + #12 on international transaction.
Pay u
Pay u also help buyer to receive money from local and international customer, you have option to customize your payment page in pay U and this can help you increase conversion rate.
It is also PCI DSS compliance and also offer fraud protection service.
Amplify
Amplify has the following features
It is PCI DSS compliance and has 3 d security in place
There is multiple payment option; you can accept payment with MasterCard, American express, Verve and in over 40 currency of the world.
You can also generate a link which your customer can click to make payment.
They charges 1.5 % + #20 for local transaction and capped at 2000
They charges 3.8% + #20 for international transfer
Conclusion
I’m sure you would have drawn conclusion already.
As you can see Flutterwave charge less transaction fee compare to Paystack and has option to create virtual card (including dollar) which is most desirable considering the problem Nigeria encounter when making payment online.
Therefore Fluttewave will be the best bet for you if you want less fee.
Also Flutterwave has wider coverage compare to Paystack, they are in over 17 countries in Africa.
Paystack also has its own value, if you are a programmer Fluterwave is the go to because of its ease of integration
