Choosing a Payment Provider
Two questions decide it: do you need automatic recurring billing, and where do your subscribers live? A short decision tree across all eleven providers.
Eleven providers is a lot. This page walks you through a short decision tree so you can pick confidently — and ignore the rest until you need them.
The two questions that decide everything
Do you need automatic recurring billing?
- Yes → pick one of Stripe, PayPal, Polar, Mollie, Kelviq, Paystack, Razorpay. Those seven support automatic renewals; the others don't.
- No (one-time or lifetime plans only) → any provider works. Favour the provider your audience is most likely to already have.
Where do your subscribers live?
| Audience | Best provider |
|---|---|
| Globally distributed, cards preferred | Stripe — broadest coverage (138+ currencies, 42 countries), best conversion on cards, deep Subscriby integration. |
| Globally distributed, PayPal preferred | PayPal — 200+ countries, trusted brand for buyers who don't enter card details on unfamiliar sites. |
| Globally distributed, you want tax handled for you | Polar — merchant of record: collects the payment, handles sales tax and VAT, pays you out in 120+ countries, including where Stripe will not onboard you. |
| Globally distributed, you want tax handled and failed renewals chased for you | Kelviq — merchant of record as well: collects the payment, handles sales tax and VAT, pays you out in 90+ countries, and emails the member a payment link and retries a failed card up to eight times over fourteen days. |
| Europe (Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and beyond) | Mollie — iDEAL, SEPA Direct Debit, Bancontact, cards and PayPal, with renewals on the mandate the first payment leaves. |
| India exclusively | Razorpay — UPI, netbanking, Indian cards, wallets. Recurring via UPI AutoPay. |
| Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, etc.) | Paystack — local payment methods, NGN/GHS/ZAR/KES support. |
| Sri Lanka / regional crypto | CeyPay — LKR + USDT across 5 chains. |
| Global crypto audience | CoinPayments — Bitcoin, USDT, USDC across many chains. |
| Platform-native, digital goods policy compliance | Native payment methods — frictionless in-app payments where the platform has a currency, meets Apple/Google rules. |
| Offline sales, giveaways, gifting | Access Codes — no gateway, generate and hand out. |
| Alternative to PayPal in harder regions | Skrill — 131 countries, good fallback. |
You can (and should) enable more than one. Turn on Stripe plus PayPal for a global audience — each subscriber picks whichever they trust more. Add Razorpay if you have Indian subscribers; add Paystack if you have African ones; add Mollie if your European members pay by iDEAL or SEPA. The goal is never to exclude someone from paying.
Decision tree
What about tax and compliance?
Each provider handles its own tax collection (or doesn't) according to local law. This is provider-level, not Subscriby-level:
- Stripe supports Stripe Tax for automated sales tax / VAT collection in many regions.
- Razorpay handles GST for Indian transactions.
- Polar is the merchant of record: it calculates, collects and remits sales tax and VAT itself, so you never register in a buyer's country.
- Kelviq is a merchant of record too, with the same tax handling, payouts in 90+ countries and renewals it chases itself when a card fails.
- Mollie leaves tax collection to you.
- Paystack handles regional taxes where required.
- CoinPayments and CeyPay leave tax collection to the creator — crypto doesn't naturally carry a tax layer.
Always consult a local accountant or tax adviser before launching — Subscriby doesn't provide tax advice.
Ready to set one up?
- Payment methods setup (creator guide) — the end-to-end setup flow, common to all providers.
- Follow the provider-specific guide for the one you chose:
- Stripe · PayPal · Polar · Mollie · Kelviq · Razorpay · Paystack
- Skrill · CoinPayments · CeyPay
- Native payment methods · Access Codes
How is this guide?
Last updated on
Payment Methods
Stripe, PayPal, Polar, Mollie, Kelviq, Skrill, CoinPayments, Paystack, Razorpay, CeyPay, native payments and access codes compared: regions, currencies, recurring, crypto.
Stripe
Connect Stripe through Stripe Connect for cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link and other wallets in 138+ currencies, automatic renewals, direct charges and plans that sync as products and prices.