PayFast vs Peach Payments vs Ozow: which SA gateway should you use?

What is a payment gateway and why does it affect conversions?

A payment gateway is the service that processes payments between your customer's bank and yours. It handles the secure transfer, fraud checks, and settlement. In South Africa, this choice matters more than in most markets because Shopify Payments is not available locally, so every SA merchant pays both a gateway fee and Shopify's own additional transaction fee on top.

According to Stitch's 2025 Consumer Payments Report, 56% of South African consumers say the ability to pay quickly and easily influences which online store they choose. A checkout that only offers card payment is already excluding a large portion of buyers who prefer instant EFT, Pay by Bank, or Capitec Pay. More than 90% of South Africans used a payment method outside of cash or card in the last year.

What is PayFast?

PayFast is South Africa's most widely used online payment gateway for SMEs. It processes card payments, instant EFT, SnapScan, Zapper, Mobicred (buy now pay later), and store cards through a single integration. For most SA stores launching on Shopify or Webflow, it is the default starting point because setup takes under a day and it requires no international merchant account.

Fees (ex VAT):

• Card (Visa, Mastercard): 3.5% + R2.00 per transaction
• Instant EFT: 2.0% (minimum R2.00)
• QR/Wallets (SnapScan, Zapper): 3.2% to 3.5% + R2.00
• No setup fee, no monthly fee on the aggregation plan

On Shopify, add 0.6% to 2.0% depending on your plan for Shopify's additional transaction fee. A Basic plan merchant processing R100,000 per month in card transactions pays approximately R5,700 in combined fees.

What works well:

• Fastest onboarding in the SA market (account active within 24 hours)
• Widest payment method coverage: 18 methods including Mobicred and SnapScan
• Integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Webflow, and 80+ other platforms
• ZAR-native, no currency conversion required
• Well-recognised brand that SA customers trust at checkout

What to watch:

• Highest card rate of the three gateways compared here (3.5% vs Peach's 3.25% and Yoco's 2.95%)
• Payout fees apply each time funds are withdrawn
• Limited subscription and recurring billing logic for SaaS or membership businesses
• Reporting and checkout customisation are basic for high-volume operations

Best for: Small to medium SA stores wanting to launch fast with the widest payment method coverage.

What is Peach Payments?

Peach Payments is a mid-market payment gateway built for SA businesses that are scaling or selling internationally. It processes card payments, instant EFT, Pay by Bank, and recurring billing, with multi-currency support for stores taking international orders.

Fees (ex VAT):

• Card (Visa, Mastercard, Amex): 2.95% + R1.50 per transaction (Growth Plan)
• EFT and Pay by Bank: 1.5% + R1.50
• Recurring/non-3D Secure: 3.5% + R1.50
• No setup fee on the Growth Plan; custom rates negotiable above R500,000 per month

On R100,000 in monthly card sales, Peach Payments saves approximately R300 per month compared to PayFast on card transactions alone, according to fee modelling published by Growth Pulse Media (2026).

What works well:

• Lower card rate than PayFast at comparable volumes
• Recurring billing support (tokenisation for subscriptions and memberships)
• Advanced fraud protection with 3D Secure and stored-card tokenisation
• Multi-currency: accepts international cards in foreign currencies
• Custom rate negotiation above R500,000 per month
• Integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, and Magento

What to watch:

• Does not support SnapScan or Zapper natively
• Onboarding takes longer than PayFast (days rather than hours), which can delay launch
• Overkill for stores under R50,000 per month in revenue

Best for: Growing SA stores processing above R100,000 per month, stores taking international orders, and businesses needing recurring billing for subscriptions.

What is Ozow?

Ozow is a specialised instant EFT gateway. It processes direct bank-to-bank payments without requiring a card, connecting to over 47 million SA bank account holders. Payments are irrevocable once confirmed, eliminating chargeback risk entirely on EFT transactions.

Fees (ex VAT):

• Instant EFT: 1.5% (at standard volume) up to 2.5% at lower volumes
• Minimum fee applies per transaction (approximately R1.00)
• No monthly fees on standard plans

Ozow is cheaper per EFT transaction than PayFast's 2% instant EFT rate at standard volumes. For a store processing R200,000 per month in EFT transactions, the saving is approximately R1,000 per month versus PayFast EFT fees.

What works well:

• Lowest EFT transaction fees in the SA market at scale
• No chargeback risk: irrevocable bank-to-bank confirmation
• Real-time settlement confirmation
• Works as a standalone gateway or as a supplementary option alongside PayFast
• Integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and custom builds

What to watch:

• EFT only: does not process card payments at all
• Stores must run a second gateway alongside Ozow to support card-paying customers
• Less brand recognition at checkout than PayFast for first-time SA online shoppers

Best for: Stores with high average order values, businesses selling high-ticket items where chargeback fraud is a real risk, and any store wanting to offer lower-friction EFT without manual bank confirmation.

PayFast vs Peach Payments vs Ozow: side-by-side comparison

PayFast is the right starting point for most SA stores. Add Ozow as a second gateway if your customers pay primarily by EFT or if your average order value is above R2,000. Move to Peach Payments when you are scaling past R100,000 per month in card revenue, taking international orders, or running subscriptions.

Does using multiple gateways improve checkout conversion?

Yes, and the data is specific. According to Stitch's 2025 Consumer Payments Report, Pay by Bank has become the second-most preferred payment method for SA online retail purchases, and Capitec Pay sits third. When a store offers only card payments, it excludes a significant proportion of buyers who would complete the purchase via EFT or direct bank transfer.

A common SA setup that covers most buyers is PayFast for cards, SnapScan, and Zapper alongside Ozow as a dedicated EFT option. This combination does not require the customer to navigate away from your site for either payment type and covers the two most-used payment categories in the SA market.

According to Mastercard's 2025 data, 37.3% of SA shoppers abandon checkout because the process is too long or complicated. Offering too many payment options at once creates its own friction. Limit the checkout to two or three clearly labelled methods.

How does payment gateway choice affect Shopify stores in South Africa specifically?

Shopify Payments is not available in South Africa, so every SA Shopify merchant pays Shopify's additional transaction fee on top of the gateway's own fee. This additional fee ranges from 0.6% (Advanced plan) to 2.0% (Basic plan) on every sale processed through a third-party gateway.

This makes your actual cost per transaction higher than the gateway's published rate. On R100,000 in monthly card sales on the Basic plan using PayFast, total payment processing costs reach approximately R5,700 per month. The same volume on Peach Payments reduces that to roughly R5,400.

A growing SA Shopify store that switches from PayFast to Peach Payments when it crosses R100,000 per month in card revenue saves approximately R300 per month in fees, and gains recurring billing capability it cannot access on PayFast.

What we configure on client stores

At LaunchLlama, we set up PayFast as the primary gateway on most SA Shopify and Webflow builds because of its launch speed and payment method breadth. For stores in the lodge and hospitality sector, where average booking values run above R3,000 and guests commonly prefer EFT for high-value transactions, we add Ozow alongside PayFast to reduce the friction of confirming large manual transfers.

The clearest example is the Zebra Nature Reserve build: a lodge store with guests paying for accommodation packages ranging from R2,500 to R12,000. Card abandonment on high-value lodge bookings is a real problem in SA. Running Ozow for EFT at that price point removes the risk entirely and gives guests the payment option they are most comfortable with for large amounts.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use PayFast and Ozow on the same Shopify store?

Yes. Shopify allows multiple third-party gateways to be active simultaneously. The most common SA setup is PayFast for card, SnapScan, and Zapper payments alongside Ozow for instant EFT. Each gateway charges its own transaction fee independently, and Shopify's additional transaction fee applies to both.

What is the cheapest payment gateway in South Africa?

The cheapest option depends on your payment mix. For card-only transactions at scale, Peach Payments (2.95% + R1.50 ex VAT) is cheaper than PayFast (3.5% + R2.00). For EFT at high volume, Ozow (1.5% min R1.00) is cheaper than PayFast EFT (2.0% min R2.00). For most small stores under R50,000 per month, PayFast's higher rates are offset by not needing to manage multiple gateways.

Do South African payment gateways comply with POPIA?

PayFast, Peach Payments, and Ozow all process payments through hosted checkout pages or tokenisation flows that keep card data off your own server. Your POPIA obligations cover the personal data you collect at checkout (name, email, address) and how you store, use, and protect it, not the card processing itself.

Which payment gateway is best for a Webflow store in South Africa?

All three gateways integrate with Webflow via hosted checkout links or embedded payment flows. PayFast is the most commonly used for Webflow builds in SA because of its fast setup, ZAR support, and wide payment method coverage. Peach Payments and Ozow integrate cleanly with custom Webflow builds that use their API or hosted payment page redirects.

Get your free website audit