Cashfree payment gateway: a good fit for your business in India?

Aman Saxena

11.10.21 (updated more than 1 year ago)

3 minute read

"Cashfree is a strong payment gateway service for domestic transactions but it may be worthwhile to shop around if you have international transactions."

Cashfree is an Indian payment gateway that businesses and freelancers can use for online payments from customers.

📝 Table of contents
Pricing and fees Is it safe? Payment options International payments Settlement time Customer care

Cashfree payment gateway pricing and fees

Cashfree is an online Indian payment gateway that can accept payments from customers, as well as make payments to vendors.

Cashfree is developer friendly and has the ability to be integrated into your own website and Shopify websites too. And even if you don’t have a website, Cashfree can provide payment links for quick and easy transactions.

While Cashfree is certainly a popular payment gateway option, it does come with charges depending on the type of transaction from customers.

1.90% fee per domestic transaction for:

Visa
Mastercard
Maestro
Google Pay
Phonepe
ICICI
Netbanking for 65+ banks
Amazon Pay

2.5% fee per domestic transactions for:

E-paylater
Olamoney
Zest Money
Kotak EMI
HDFC EMI
ICICI EMI

Other types of transaction and the corresponding fee:

Type of payment	Fee
UPI	0%
Rupay	0%
Diners Club	2.95%
American Express	2.95%
International Visa card	3.5% + ₹ 7
International Mastercard	3.5% + ₹ 7

If you have a large volume of transactions or even micro transactions, you can qualify for getting customized pricing from Cashfree. You can contact their sales department to find out more on customized pricing and if it is the right choice for you.

A major benefit of Cashfree is that there is no setup fee or account maintenance fee for partners. So if you are a freelancer or small or medium sized business, you can save money possibly versus other payment gateways.

And if you are looking for more options and flexibility, Cashfree also offers additional services like:

Payouts for vendors
Cashgram
Autocollect
Subscriptions for customers
Bank account verification
Easy Split for dividing commissions

Each service listed above does have their own fees depending on the nature of the transaction. ¹

Cashfree can be considered a strong payment gateway service for domestic transactions but it may be worthwhile to shop around if you have international transactions.

Is Cashfree payment gateway safe?

Cashfree is a safe payment gateway that is used by over 1 lakh merchants in India. They process 20 million API requests a day and have a 99.99% average system uptime.

Cashfree also makes it safe for businesses and freelancers to make payments with a unique bank account verification service. It helps verify others bank accounts quickly and easily before you have to make any payments to vendors.

Cashfree has a solid foundation. The firm was incubated by PayPal and is supported by State Bank of India, the startup accelerator Y Combinator and Apis partners. ²

Payment options supported with Cashfree

Cashfree offers a variety of payment options for customers to use in India and abroad. Here are the options available:

Cards options:

Visa
Mastercard
Diners Club
American Express
Maestro

Digital wallets & payment options:

Netbanking for 65+ Indian banks
Google Pay
UPI
Amazon Pay
Phonepe
Rupay
Olamoney
Flexmoney
Zest Money
Paytm
Paypal
E-paylater

There are also options available for customers to use EMI with HDFC, Kotak and ICICI bank on the payment gateway.³

The variety of payment options make Cashfree a convenient option for Indians across the country, and for businesses that qualify for international payments.

Cashfree international payments

Cashfree can accept international payments from customers overseas. The payments can be done with any Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Diners Club cards that accept international transactions.

But there are fees for taking international payments on Cashfree. Here are the fees for international transactions on Cashfree for Visa and Mastercards:⁴

3.5% of the transaction + fixed charge of ₹7

⚠️ You have to show valid documents and be approved first by Cashfree to use the international translation option on the payment gateway. Check with your Cashfree sales representative to see if you qualify.⁶

Keep in mind that international transactions may come with their own fee and exchange rate per card. This means the cost of items can be higher to you or your customer.

Cashfree allows for transactions in 30 different currencies⁵. Customers have the option to see their total in the currency of their choice.

Another option to accept international payments is to integrate any new or existing Paypal account with Cashfree. Cashfree will not charge extra for the Paypal integration or transactions, and you or your customer will just have to pay the Paypal fees.

💸 International transfers are fast, simple, and cheap with the Wise Web/Android/ iOS app

Wise lets overseas customers send money directly to your Indian bank account with the real exchange rate and just one low transfer fee.

Try Wise for free 🚀

Wise Business Account can help your save with receiving payments from abroad

Indian businesses and freelancers can sign up with Wise Business Account to get account details in 8 different currencies to receive payments from abroad. Your clients pay you with a local transfer in their currency, and you receive rupees in your INR bank account — with eFIRC for every transfer. That is truly business without borders.

Cashfree settlement time

Cashfree’s settlement time is 2 business days after the transaction is complete.

For example, if the transaction is done on Tuesday, the settlement date would be Thursday.

Bank holidays are not included in the settlement time. India’s bank holidays can be found on the Reserve Bank of India website.⁷

Cashfree customer care

Cashfree offers online customer care through the merchant dashboard. Once you log in, you can submit a ticket for any issues you are having. And once you are a merchant partner with Cashfree, you will receive a dedicated relationship manager.

Additionally, you can email Cashfree directly at care@cashfree.com or look through the Cashfree Support Page with FAQs and articles to troubleshoot any problems.

Cashfree also has a real time chat service online and a contact number that you can find through the partner dashboard.⁸

Sources used for this article:

All sources checked as of 10 October, 2021

*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.