NOWPayments alternatives: crypto checkouts compared

You create a NOWPayments account, generate an API key, and connect it to your store. Its official WooCommerce plugin is downloaded from the NOWPayments site rather than installed from the WordPress.org directory; the WordPress.org listing that carries its name is built by a third party. Payments are forwarded to the wallet address you set, and an optional custody product can hold balances for you instead. Fiat conversion runs through a partner, Switchere, which has its own account.

It supports more than 300 coins, including USDT on TRON, Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Solana and Polygon, and USDC on Ethereum, Polygon and Solana. On fees, its pricing page lists a 1% service fee with lower rates for high volume, while its own fees article describes 0.5% when you receive the coin the buyer paid in and 1% when it is converted. That article also says network fees are paid twice in the pay-to-your-wallet mode. Ask for the rate that applies to your account before you compare.

Setup. An account, an API key and a plugin zip are three things to manage, and a key is one more secret that can leak or need rotating.

Plugin delivery. A plugin from the WordPress.org directory is reviewed there and updates from your dashboard. A plugin downloaded from a vendor site has to be updated by hand.

Fee clarity. Two published rates and double network fees make the real cost of a payment harder to predict.

No buyer protection. Like every major gateway, NOWPayments has nothing that holds a payment until the buyer confirms delivery, which is what makes some buyers hesitate on large orders from a store they do not know.

Vaultion Payments is a free plugin in the WordPress.org directory that needs no account, no API key and no approval: paste a receiving address and “Pay with Crypto!” appears at checkout. It takes BTC, ETH, LTC, SOL, TRX, POL and BNB, USDC on Base, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, BNB Smart Chain and Solana, and USDT on Solana and TRON, for one 0.75% fee per payment and nothing monthly. On EVM networks, Solana and TRON the buyer pays your wallet directly, with the fee split off in the same transaction; Bitcoin, Litecoin and the “Send to address” ETH option pass through a Vaultion deposit address and are forwarded after confirmation. It needs a USD store currency, and its coin list is shorter than NOWPayments’.

CoinGate charges 1% on its standard plan and requires business verification. Payments collect in your CoinGate balance and settle weekly, including to a bank in EUR, USD or GBP, under a MiCA licence. It lists USDC on many networks but no USDT.

Plisio lists 0.5% on its gateway API, says basic setup needs no KYC, and keeps an official WooCommerce plugin on WordPress.org. Its pages describe custody inconsistently, so check where your funds sit.

BitPay is the established route to fiat settlement in seven currencies, with Shopify support, after an application and verification. Its pricing page lists 2% plus 25 cents per transaction under $500k a month.

BTCPay Server is free, open-source and self-hosted, never holds your keys, and needs no KYC. It is built for Bitcoin and Lightning; USDT needs a community plugin, and you run the server.

Vaultion Payments can hold a high-value order in escrow in USDC or USDT on six networks. The payment sits in a smart contract, not with Vaultion, until the buyer confirms delivery or the review period ends. The buyer pays the escrow fee (4% below 500 USDC, 3% from 500, 2% from 5,000), and you choose whether escrow is off, the buyer’s choice, or required. Disputes go to Vaultion-assisted human arbitration, which is not decentralized: you are trusting Vaultion’s reviewers. A separate guardian can pause a ruling but never redirect funds.