Paystack
A Stripe subsidiary operating locally in rand, and the practical route to Stripe-quality tooling from South Africa. The documentation and API are the notably developer-focused among the providers profiled here.
Paystack published fees
Read off the provider's own published pricing page.
Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026.
paystack.com/za/pricingThis profile is general factual information and editorial analysis, not an endorsement, personalised recommendation, provider quote or proof that every product is authorised for your use. Check the source dates, exact contracting entity, current written terms and regulatory scope before committing.
The fees
What Paystack charges.
Every line carries the date we last checked it and where we read it. The lines our calculator models are generated from the same engine, so this table and the tool cannot disagree.
| Line | Rate | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paystack rate | 2.90% | Cards · best DX | Paystack rate: 2.90% Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Paystack EFT rate | 2.00% | EFT · no chargebacks | Paystack EFT rate: 2.00% Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Fixed fee per transaction, paystack | R1,00 | Added on top of the percentage | Fixed fee per transaction, paystack: R1,00 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Fixed fee per transaction, paystack eft | None | Added on top of the percentage | Fixed fee per transaction, paystack eft: None Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Minimum per transaction | None | A floor on percentage plus fixed fee | Minimum per transaction: None Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Monthly / setup | R0 | On the plan we model | Monthly / setup: R0 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Payout fee | Free | Charged per payout run | Payout fee: Free Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Refund fee | None | Charged to process a refund | Refund fee: None Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Processing fee on a refund | Kept by the provider | The hidden cost: a refunded sale usually still costs you the original fee | Processing fee on a refund: Kept by the provider Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Chargeback penalty, paystack | Not published | Not published by any provider. Our model provisions R120,00 per chargeback as an editorial assumption | Chargeback penalty, paystack: Not published Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Chargeback penalty, paystack eft | None on this rail | Not published by any provider. Our model provisions R120,00 per chargeback as an editorial assumption | Chargeback penalty, paystack eft: None on this rail Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| International cards | 3.1% + R1.00 | Ex VAT, charged and settled in rand by default | International cards: 3.1% + R1.00 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Transfers | R3.00 | Per transfer, charged whether the transfer succeeds or fails. Settlement payouts themselves are free; this is the Transfers product for sending money out | Transfers: R3.00 Read off the provider's own published pricing page. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. paystack.com/za/pricing |
| Chargeback response window | 48h | A dispute you do not answer within 48 hours is auto-accepted against you | Chargeback response window: 48h From the provider's own domain, but a support article rather than its rate card. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. support.paystack.com/en/articles/2127234 |
| Arbitration ceiling | $520 / $600 | Mastercard and Visa respectively, if a dispute escalates to arbitration | Arbitration ceiling: $520 / $600 From the provider's own domain, but a support article rather than its rate card. Checked last month, on 23 Jul 2026. support.paystack.com/en/articles/2123522 |
Rates ex VAT. Read off paystack.com/za/pricing itself, rendered in a real browser on 2026-07-23: the page blocks plain HTTP clients, which is why an earlier pass could only cite the help centre. The R1.00 fee is waived on transactions under R10. The EFT rail is Capitec Pay and Ozow EFT at 2% with no flat fee. The old 2.7% + R1 claim was Paystack's 2021 launch rate and is long superseded on the page itself. Settlement payouts are free; the R3.00 fee belongs to the separate Transfers product.
What it accepts
Payment methods.
Strengths
- The documented API, SDK and webhook surface is relatively broad among the providers profiled here. Teams should test it against their own stack and support requirements.
- Backed by Stripe, and the standard route for South African SaaS that eventually needs global reach.
- Subscriptions, payment links and transfers are all first-class API products.
- EFT at 2% gives a bank rail inside a gateway with genuinely good developer tooling.
Watch-outs
- The 48-hour chargeback window auto-accepts against you if you miss it, which is short by industry standards.
- Transfers cost R3.00 whether they succeed or fail, so failed payouts to bad account details are billable.
- No rand dispute fee is published. An escalated arbitration is billed in dollars, up to $520 on Mastercard and $600 on Visa.
For developers
Integration and API.
Paystack has the strongest developer experience in the local market: clean REST endpoints, honest error responses, client libraries that are actually maintained, and documentation written by people who have integrated a payment gateway themselves. For a team choosing on integration cost rather than headline rate, this is usually the answer.
It is also the standard route for South African SaaS with global ambitions. Stripe does not operate directly in South Africa, and Paystack is the extended network that covers it. Our guide on selling SaaS globally covers the trade-off between Paystack and a merchant-of-record platform in more detail.
Two operational notes. Handle the 48-hour chargeback window with an alert that reaches a human, because an unanswered dispute is auto-accepted against you. And make webhook handling idempotent, verifying the signature server-side rather than trusting the redirect, as with every gateway here.
Regulatory records and scope
Paystack South Africa (Pty) Ltd · 2019/304691/07
Listed in PASA's June 2025 public TPPP register. The register records this entity under a sponsoring bank and payment-service columns. It is not evidence that every Paystack product or activity is authorised, or that the June 2025 status remains current.
Paystack South Africa (Pty) Ltd: record dated 2025-07-02 Read from the identified regulator or payment-system body publication. Checked this month, on 01 Aug 2026.
Paystack is not a sponsor of this site, and this profile is not a paid placement.Nothing on this page was seen by Paystack before it was published.
In context
How Paystack compares.
The whole field, ranked by what actually reaches your account, computed by the same engine that powers the calculator. Not a shortlist we picked.
| # | Provider | Rail | Headline | Chargebacks | Effective rate | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ozow pay-by-bank | Pay-by-bank · no chargebacks | 1.50% | None | 1.80% | R2 703 |
| 2 | Peach Pay by Bank | Pay by Bank · no chargebacks | 1.50% | None | 2.05% | R3 075 |
| 3 | Paystack EFT This provider | EFT · no chargebacks | 2.00% | None | 2.37% | R3 553 |
| 4 | Stitch Capitec Pay | Capitec Pay · no chargebacks | 2.00% | None | 2.38% | R3 563 |
| 5 | iKhokha Instant EFT | Instant EFT · no chargebacks | 2.00% | None | 2.38% | R3 563 |
| 6 | PayFast Instant EFT | Instant EFT · no chargebacks | 2.00% | None | 2.41% | R3 609 |
| 7 | Yoco | Cards · Core plan | 2.55% | Card risk | 3.04% | R4 563 |
| 8 | iKhokha | Cards · SME payments | 2.85% | Card risk | 3.40% | R5 106 |
| 9 | Ozow cards | Cards via partners | 2.85% | Card risk | 3.42% | R5 133 |
| 10 | Stitch Express | Cards · orchestration | 2.95% | Card risk | 3.52% | R5 282 |
| 11 | Paystack This provider | Cards · best DX | 2.90% | Card risk | 3.64% | R5 458 |
| 12 | Peach Payments | Cards · subscriptions | 2.95% | Card risk | 3.79% | R5 683 |
| 13 | PayFast | Widest methods | 3.20% | Card risk | 4.21% | R6 320 |
A R650,00 average basket, R150 000,00 a month, 3% refunded, 4 payout runs a month, incl 15% VAT. Quote-based providers are absent from this table because they publish no rate to compute, not because they were excluded. Card rails carry a chargeback provision of R120 per chargeback, which is an editorial assumption, not a sourced figure: no provider on this site publishes a chargeback penalty amount. Run your own numbers in the calculator.
See Paystack against your real numbers
Set your basket, volume and refund rate to find your effective rate, then compare it with every other gateway.