Payment service providers (PSPs) are essential to allow UK companies to process customer payments on and offline. There are plenty to choose from, which each have their own features and fees. If you’re looking for a major global PSP to suit your own specific needs, you might be debating between Stripe1 vs Worldpay2.
Join us as we walk through a Worldpay vs Stripe review, plus a look at Wise Business which can help you receive international payments from either Stripe or Worldplay, with mid-market exchange rate currency conversion and low, transparent fees.
💡Learn more about Wise Business
Before we get into our Stripe payments vs Worldpay review in detail, an overview.
It’s worth saying upfront that Worldpay provides custom built solutions based on an individual organisation’s needs, size, sector and average payment value. That means that the exact services you can get from Worldpay may vary depending on the type of business you have - however, their overall product and service range is extremely comprehensive, as we’ll see in a moment.
Stripe has a somewhat easier to navigate range of solutions which you can discover online without needing to generate a personalised quote. More on that later.
| Service | Stripe | Worldpay |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Pay as you go, or negotiated subscription | Custom pricing based on turnover, average transaction value and sector |
| Trustpilot rating | 2.7 out of 5 ⭐ | 4.7 out of 5 ⭐ |
| Invoice payments | ✅ | ✅ |
| Recurring payments | ✅ | ✅ |
| International payments | ✅ | ✅ |
| API integrations | ✅ | ✅ |
| Checkout solution | ✅ | ✅ |
| Payment links | ✅ | ✅ |
| In-person payments | ✅ | ✅ |
Worldpay is now part of FIS Global, and offers a comprehensive range of services including options for SMEs, enterprises, platforms and marketplaces. Generally, it markets itself as a company which provides custom made solutions, so the information available online is relatively limited as you’re encouraged to talk to the sales team to learn more about how Worldpay may work for your business.
Overall, though, some of the Worldpay solutions you may be interested in for your UK business include:
- Take payments online and in person
- 300+ payment methods available, covering 126+ currencies
- Support billpay
- Manage payments to others at home and abroad
- Issue payment cards and offer banking as a service solutions
- Comprehensive back office support
- Access business financing
Worldpay gets an excellent 4.7 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot3, with a pretty solid 65% of reviews rating the service as 5 stars.
Yes. Worldpay UK is FCA regulated and registered4, making it safe to use. Worldpay’s parent company, FIS, has a 99%+ uptime, and processes 40 trillion USD annually, making it one of the largest payment processing organisations in the world.
Worldpay fees depend on the type and size of business you have. You can generate an indicative quote using the Worldpay pricing quote generator5, or call the team for more information. To generate an indicative quote you’ll need to enter your approximate annual card payment volume, and the average cost per transaction, as well as the industry sector you’re in.
To give an example, we’ve included some indicative pricing for retail businesses in the UK at different turnover volumes. Bear in mind that all information is indicative only, and you’ll need to get a personalised quote to learn more.
| Transaction type | Indicative quote Business with £100,000 turnover | Indicative quote Business with £1 million turnover |
|---|---|---|
| In-person payments | 0.9% - 2.6% depending on the card type | 0.8% - 2.4% depending on the card type |
| Online payments | 0.5% - 2.2% depending on the card type | 0.4% - 2% depending on the card type |
| International | Get more details directly from Worldpay - not included in indicative quote | |
| Refund | Not specified in indicative quote | |
| Chargeback | £20 |
For in-person or online payments an additional cost of 0.045 GBP (4.5p) applies for each transaction
Stripe is a large global business offering ways to get paid on and off line. Stripe has a pretty straightforward product and fee structure, allowing you to either access off the peg services or custom make a package to suit your own specific needs.
There are easy no code options to allow newer businesses and people with limited technical knowledge to get started quickly, as well as more complicated products which require technical help or know-how. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the options you may get with Stripe:
- Ways to get paid from 47 countries, using 50+ payment methods and 135 currencies
- Stripe payment terminals for in-person card payments
- Tools to accept payments with a smartphone
- Reusable payment links for customer transactions
- Invoicing and billing tools
- Different subscriptions and payment methods including pay per usage
- Prebuilt and optimised checkout for online card payments
- Platform payments and finance automation for enterprise customers
You can’t end a Stripe payments review without mentioning Trustpilot, which aggregates live customer feedback. At the time of writing, Stripe scores a poor 2.7 star rating out of 5 on Trustpilot6. However it’s worth mentioning that 47% of the reviews are 5 stars.
Stripe’s score is significantly pulled down because 42% of reviewers only give Stripe 1 star. As it seems to be a platform which divides customer opinion, reading through some of the reviews and comments may help you form your own view of their suitability for you.
| Learn more about Stripe in this full Stripe Payments UK review |
|---|
Stripe is a safe and regulated option in the UK. As a large business, Stripe is classified as a level 1 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) provider7 and handles 250 million or more API requests a day, with a historical uptime of over 99.999%.
Stripe security measures include8:
- Annual onsite audits and additional quarterly checks
- Processes to spot and correct any vulnerabilities
- Industry level security to prevent malware and viruses
| Learn more in our full guide: Is Stripe legit and safe to use in the UK? |
|---|
If you opt for the Stripe off the shelf package, you’ll be able to easily see all your payment options and the costs involved online. This means you can compare these costs against alternatives like Worldpay to see which might work best.
Below we’ve got a roundup of the most important Stripe fees to know about. You can also get a complete Stripe payment fee review here.
| Service | Stripe UK fee9 |
|---|---|
| Accept payments from local credit or debit cards | 1.5% + £0.20 for standard UK cards 1.9% + £0.20 for premium UK cards |
| Accept payments from international credit or debit cards | 2.5% + £0.20 for cards issued in the EEA 3.25% + £0.20 for cards issued anywhere else 2% fee applies if currency conversion is needed |
| Accept payments with link (Stripe one click checkout) | 1.2% + £0.20 for UK cards International card fees apply for cards issued elsewhere |
| Settle and pay out in additional currencies | 1% |
| Refund | Processing fees are not refunded - other charges may also apply depending on payment type10 |
| Chargebacks (disputes) | £20 per dispute |
| Recurring billing | 0.5% value of bill paid |
| Invoicing | 0.4% value of paid invoice |
| Instant pay out from Stripe | 1% (standard payout is free, but takes longer) |
As we’ve seen, the way that Stripe and Worldpay work is quite different, particularly when it comes to fees. Worldpay has custom made fees based on the business type and size, while Stripe has a more straightforward structure. That means that to compare the 2 on fees you’ll need to generate an indicative quote from Worldpay based on your own business type.
Below we’ve used an example for a Worldpay customer which has a 100,000 GBP/annum turnover and an average transaction of 10 GBP, in the retail sector.
| Transaction type | Stripe fee | Worldpay fee |
|---|---|---|
| In-person payments | 1.4% + ££0.10 for cards issued in the EEA 2.9% + £0.10 for cards issued anywhere else | 0.9% - 2.6% depending on the card type An additional cost of £0.045 (4.5p) applies for each transaction |
| Online payments | 1.5% + £0.20 for standard UK cards 1.9% +£ 0.20 for premium UK cards | 0.5% - 2.2% depending on the card type An additional cost of 0.045 GBP (4.5p) applies for each transaction |
| International | Online: 2.5% + £0.20 for cards issued in the EEA 3.25% + £0.20 for cards issued anywhere else In person: 1.4% + £0.10 for cards issued in the EEA 2.9% + £0.10 for cards issued anywhere else 2% fee applies if currency conversion is needed | Not specified - get a quote based on your specific business situation |
| Refund | Variable - Processing fees are not refunded | Not specified - get a quote based on your specific business situation |
| Chargeback | £20 per dispute | £20 per dispute |
Check out Wise Business as a low cost way to hold, send, spend, receive and exchange 40+ currencies. Perfect if you use a PSP like Stripe or Worldpay, and you’re taking your business beyond borders.
You can open a Wise Business account online or in the Wise app, to get local bank details for 8 major currencies, apart from GBP, which you can use with Stripe and Worldpay for easy ways to get paid from international customers.
Receive payments to Wise conveniently and then convert to GBP with the mid-market rate and low and transparent fees from 0.43%11, or hold your balance in a foreign currency for future business payments. Holding a foreign currency balance reduces the need to convert to and from GBP - and can mean you pay less on conversion fees overall.
Get started with Wise Business 🚀
Use this guide to help decide which payment service provider might suit your specific business needs - and if your business has global aspirations, remember to check out Wise Business for easy ways to manage your money across borders.
Sources used in this article:
Sources last checked January 16, 2024
*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.
This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.
We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.
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