Updated to reflect current data: June 17, 2022
It’s 2022 and businesses are saying goodbye to their banks, wire transfers, and credit card fees in favor of blockchain transaction rails. For businesses, the instinct is to use BitPay — however, there are a number of BitPay alternatives (competitors and simply other options) to choose from. We'll explore four of these different options.
Despite the current downtrend, the market for cryptocurrency is thriving! You don't have to take our word for it: just look at the on-chain metrics in the last two years alone.
From April 2020 to their height in November 2021, the total market cap of Bitcoin and Ethereum had increased from $120B and $15B to $1.25T and $560B, respectively (an 1040% increase for Bitcoin and a 3700% increase for Ethereum). The growth and momentum represents a departure from trading and speculation into real world utility.
More businesses than ever are accepting and making payments with cryptocurrency. We expect this trend to continue into late-2022 and beyond.
But for a company that wishes to accept crypto payments, proceeding alone can be treacherous. There are a lot of manual steps involved and each step introduces the possibility of human error. That’s why it makes sense to turn to crypto payment solutions to handle the details.
Should I use BitPay?
Arguably the biggest name in crypto payments, you've probably heard of BitPay. Crypto users have trusted the company since it was founded in 2011. Back then, crypto was basically underground and very complicated to use.
Atlanta-based BitPay operates similar to a credit card company, where they hold your funds and collect a fee for each transaction. If you’re a merchant who doesn’t want to touch crypto and you’re comfortable with transaction fees and waiting for funds to clear, BitPay is a great solution. It’s a good way for ecommerce stores to introduce crypto inclusive payment options without much fuss.
But the crypto industry has come a long way since 2011. The ecosystem has matured and the user experience is infinitely better. A number of BitPay competitors have emerged, where before there were none. If you’re a company operating in the blockchain space sending and receiving crypto payments, a credit card analogous experience like BitPay might not be a great fit. It may be valuable to consider one of the BitPay alternatives for your crypto payment needs.
What Are Some Alternatives To BitPay?
For each solution, we considered a few factors relevant to businesses: whether the service is custodial or not, KYC, fees, service type, ecommerce integrations, accounting integrations, invoicing, bulk/mass pay, supported tokens, legacy financial support, and whether you can withdraw to a bank account.
Here are the BitPay alternatives we cover:
- Gilded
- BTCPay Server
- CoinPayments
- Coinbase Commerce
Gilded
Gilded is the one of the only non-custodial solutions in the crypto payment space. Gilded never touches user funds or wallets. With advanced invoicing tools, bill pay, automated accounting, and integrations with popular business tools, Gilded is the most comprehensive crypto business solution on the market.
Gilded at a Glance
- Type of custody: Non-custodial
- KYC: No
- Fees: 0%
- Service type: SaaS
- Ecommerce integrations: No
- Accounting integrations: Yes
- Invoicing: Yes
- Recurring invoicing: Yes
- Mass pay: Yes
- Supported tokens: 20+ tokens including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins
- Withdraw to a bank account: No
- Legacy payment options: Credit card, wire transfer
Gilded is best suited for crypto B2B payments. If you’re looking to accept crypto payments on an ecommerce site, another platform would be a better fit. Gilded is the only payment gateway that allows you to see all your wallets and transactions in one place and sync your digital asset transactions to QuickBooks and Xero. Gilded is the best choice for blockchain companies that desire a non-custodial solution with a wide range of payment options and automated accounting.
BTCPay Server
BTCPay Server is a self-hosted, open-source bitcoin payment processor suitable for advanced users. Merchants can run their own node to receive payments directly without fees and intermediaries.
BTCPay Server at a Glance
- Type of custody: Non-custodial
- KYC: No
- Fees: 0%
- Service type: Self-hosted
- E-commerce integrations: Yes
- Accounting integrations: No
- Invoicing: Yes
- Recurring invoicing: No
- Mass pay: No
- Supported tokens: bitcoin (with the option to add a few altcoins with additional programming)
- Withdraw to a bank account: No
- Legacy payment options? No
BTCPay is a customizable solution that facilitates P2P bitcoin transactions. We love that it’s open source and non-custodial. But BTCPay is also highly technical. Adding support for additional tokens requires advanced programming knowledge. The average business will not be able to implement BTCPay without hiring a developer.
CoinPayments
CoinPayments is a custodial solution that aims to make crypto payments easy for merchants. They offer POS tools, “buy now” buttons, shopping carts, and more, allowing merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments on their online store. CoinPayments also facilitates crypto to crypto conversion and crypto to fiat conversion for additional fees.
2017 CoinPayments Hack
In 2017, an exploit on the CoinPayments wallet allowed a hacker to drain XRP from users’ hot wallets on the site. The vulnerability has since been patched and CoinPayments replenished the stolen funds within six months. As with any custodial service, it’s probably best not to leave your funds on the platform.
CoinPayments at a Glance
- Type of custody: Custodial
- KYC: Yes
- Fees: 0.5%
- Service type: SaaS
- Ecommerce integrations: Yes
- Accounting integrations: No
- Invoicing: Yes
- Recurring invoicing: No
- Mass pay: Yes
- Supported tokens: Bitcoin, Ethereum, dozens of other tokens
- Withdraw to a bank account: Yes
- Legacy payment options? No
CoinPayments is a comprehensive solution for businesses who wish to accept cryptocurrency on an online store. They have a nice range of tools for merchants and make it easy to convert crypto payments to fiat currency.
Coinbase Commerce
Coinbase Commerce is the payment processing arm of Coinbase. They integrate with Shopify or WooCommerce Payments for ecommerce sites to easily offer crypto payment options to customers. These payments are credited directly to a merchant controlled wallet. With Coinbase Commerce, you will need to memorize a 12-word phrase in order to maintain access to your funds.
Coinbase Commerce at a Glance
- Type of custody: Non-custodial*
- KYC: No
- Fees: 0%
- Service type: Self-hosted
- Ecommerce integrations: Yes
- Accounting integrations: No
- Invoicing: Yes
- Recurring invoicing: No
- Mass pay: No
- Supported tokens: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and USD Coin
- Withdraw to a bank account: No
- Legacy payment options: No
Coinbase Commerce allows merchants to easily accept cryptocurrency payments without having to go through an intermediary. Coinbase Commerce is particularly useful if you’re already using Shopify or WooCommerce. It’s best for users who are comfortable holding and moving crypto.
*While Coinbase Commerce claims to be non-custodial, the only way you can access funds is via their platform, even with the 12-word seed phrase. While they may not store your private key, you don’t have access to your ~actual~ private keys either.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to accepting crypto payments, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The service you choose depends on the structure of your company, your business needs, and your crypto philosophy. Are you a crypto purist who wants to hold your own coins or do you just want to get paid and cash out in fiat?
The Gilded Difference
Crypto hasn’t always been easy. Gilded simplifies every aspect of your AR/AP process on blockchain. As proud crypto nerds, we ❤️ digital assets, but your finance team may not. That changes today. Gilded is the only platform that unifies your crypto and fiat financials.
Looking to add crypto to your payment workflow? Get in touch and we’ll show you how easy it can be.
Gilded empowers businesses to transact globally, using blockchain to unlock more efficient business operations. Our seamless invoicing, payment and accounting software helps businesses get paid faster and more transparently, with dramatically lower fees.
