Shopify Payments vs Stripe vs Adyen: UK Guide

For most UK Shopify stores, Shopify Payments is the right default — the fees are competitive and, crucially, you avoid Shopify's 0.5–2% third-party payment surcharge. Stripe makes sense if you sell outside Shopify too, or you already run Stripe elsewhere. Adyen is enterprise territory — worth it above roughly £10M annual GMV on Shopify Plus, and generally not before.

Shopify Payments vs Stripe vs Adyen at a glance

Rates verified against Shopify's UK pricing page, Stripe's UK pricing page and Adyen's published pricing in September 2026.

Why does this comparison matter?

Payment processing is one of the biggest recurring costs a Shopify store has after ad spend. On a £50k/month store, a 0.5% difference in fees is £3,000 a year.

Three questions decide it:

• Are you on Shopify? If yes, Shopify's third-party surcharge changes the maths. Not using Shopify Payments means paying both your gateway *and* Shopify a cut.
• How much international traffic do you take? Cross-border fees vary a lot.
• How much volume are you processing? Adyen only makes sense at scale; Stripe becomes attractive when you also sell outside Shopify.

Shopify Payments — the default for most UK stores

Shopify Payments is Shopify's own payment processor, built directly into the checkout. It is powered by Stripe under the hood in the UK, but you never see or manage that — it just appears as a native Shopify feature.

What you get:

• Native integration — no separate gateway account to manage
• No Shopify third-party payment surcharge (0.5%–2% saving depending on plan)
• Shop Pay — Shopify's one-click accelerated checkout, which typically lifts conversion on repeat customers
• Built-in fraud analysis on every order (rated Low / Medium / High risk)
• Automatic support for Apple Pay, Google Pay, and most UK debit/credit cards
• Payouts to a UK bank account, minimum 3 business days after capture
• Chargebacks handled from inside the Shopify admin

UK card rates by plan:

• Basic (£25/mo): 2% + 25p per online transaction
• Grow (£65/mo): 1.7% + 25p
• Advanced (£344/mo): 1.5% + 25p
• Plus (from £1,800/mo): from 1.3% + 25p

International cards add 2% on top; if the customer pays in a currency other than GBP and Shopify converts it, add another 2%. Chargebacks are £15 (refunded if you win).

Best for:

• Any UK Shopify store where the majority of sales happen through the Shopify checkout
• Stores that want the least amount of admin — no separate gateway to reconcile
• Stores that want Shop Pay's conversion lift on repeat buyers

Limitations:

• Locked to Shopify — if you ever leave the platform, you lose the processor too
• Some higher-risk categories (CBD, some supplements, adult, firearms-adjacent) are not eligible
• Payouts land in 3 business days minimum, not instantly
• No native invoicing or subscription billing outside the Shopify ecosystem

For the vast majority of the UK Shopify stores we help set up, Shopify Payments is the answer. The moment you *don't* use it, you start paying Shopify's third-party surcharge as well as your alternative gateway's fees. On a Basic plan that surcharge is 2% — often more than the gateway's own charges.

Stripe — the developer-friendly, multi-channel choice

Stripe is the general-purpose payment processor most modern UK online businesses know. It powers everything from indie SaaS products to large marketplaces, and it can be dropped into a Shopify store as an alternative gateway.

What you get:

• UK cards: 1.5% + 20p (standard consumer/debit); 2.8% + 20p (premium cards like Amex)
• EEA cards: 2.5% + 20p
• International cards: 3.15% + 20p (+2% for currency conversion)
• Radar Lite fraud protection included; Radar for Fraud Teams available at 5p per screened transaction
• Rich dashboard, excellent developer docs, and integrations with almost every SaaS tool
• Subscription billing, invoicing, Stripe Connect for marketplaces, all in the same account
• £20 chargeback fee (and, since June 2025, a further £20 counter fee if you contest — refunded if you win)

Best for:

• Stores that also take payments *outside* Shopify — for example a members-only content platform, a booking flow, or a wholesale portal
• Merchants who already run Stripe for other parts of their business and want one dashboard
• Categories Shopify Payments won't underwrite (Stripe's own risk rules apply, but they cover more ground)
• Anything with a custom checkout or a headless build

Limitations — and this is the important one:

Using Stripe on a standard Shopify plan means Shopify charges you a third-party payment surcharge on top of Stripe's fees:

• Basic plan: +2%
• Grow plan: +1%
• Advanced plan: +0.6%
• Plus plan: +0.2%

So on the Grow plan, a UK card that costs 1.5% + 20p through Stripe direct actually costs you 2.5% + 20p once Shopify's surcharge is added. That is *worse* than Shopify Payments (1.7% + 25p) on the same plan. The maths only starts to work out for Stripe on Advanced or Plus, and even then only in specific situations.

Stripe is not usually the right pick as your *primary* Shopify checkout unless you have a categorical reason (Shopify Payments won't accept you, or you need Stripe features Shopify can't provide).

Adyen — the enterprise processor

Adyen is a Dutch payment platform used by Shopify, Uber, eBay, Spotify and Microsoft. It operates as a full acquirer in most markets, which means it removes a middleman from the transaction chain and, at scale, is cheaper than any percentage-based processor.

What you get:

• Interchange++ pricing: the true wholesale interchange cost passed through, plus Adyen's markup — typically around 0.95–1.15% + ~11p on UK consumer cards
• Direct access to local acquiring across Europe (better acceptance rates on EU cards, lower fees on EU domestic methods like iDEAL, Bancontact, SEPA)
• RevenueProtect Basic (velocity checks, block/trust lists) included; premium ML fraud tools available
• One platform for online, in-store and marketplace payments
• No setup, monthly or closure fees — but a minimum invoice applies (agreed at onboarding, typically €120+/month equivalent)
• Custom payout schedules including daily

Best for:

• Shopify Plus merchants processing significant volume (Shopify itself has publicly partnered with Adyen for Plus)
• International brands with EU and UK operations wanting one processor across borders
• Businesses where a 0.3–0.5% saving on processing is genuinely material (i.e. multi-million turnover)

Limitations:

• Shopify Plus only. Not available on Basic, Grow or Advanced plans
• Activating Adyen on Shopify permanently deactivates Shopify Payments on that store
• Contract-based pricing — small merchants get quoted the "minimum invoice" or turned away
• Integration is a project (typically 8–12 weeks), not a switch
• Reporting is functional but less polished than Shopify's or Stripe's

For the small-to-medium UK Shopify stores we work with, Adyen is almost never the right answer at launch. It becomes worth revisiting once you are firmly on Shopify Plus and processing eight figures a year.

What does each cost in real life?

Let us model a UK Shopify store doing £50,000/month in UK card sales, average order £50 (so 1,000 transactions/month). We will compare Shopify Payments and Stripe on the Grow plan (the most common tier at this volume) and skip Adyen — it is not realistically available at this level.

Option 1 — Shopify Payments (Grow plan)

• Card fees: £50,000 × 1.7% = £850
• Per-transaction fees: 25p × 1,000 = £250
• Shopify third-party surcharge: £0 (waived)
• Shopify plan (billed monthly): £65
• Total: £1,165/month (about 2.33% of turnover, all-in)

Option 2 — Stripe on Shopify (Grow plan)

• Stripe card fees: £50,000 × 1.5% = £750
• Stripe per-transaction fees: 20p × 1,000 = £200
• Shopify third-party surcharge: £50,000 × 1% = £500
• Shopify plan: £65
• Total: £1,515/month (about 3.03% of turnover)

Using Stripe instead of Shopify Payments on the same plan costs an extra £350/month, or £4,200/year — purely because of the surcharge. That is the "hidden" cost most store owners miss.

At £500k/month on Shopify Plus with a negotiated 0.2% surcharge, the picture narrows and the choice becomes genuinely close. Below that, Shopify Payments almost always wins on cost alone.

What does SME Shack recommend?

For the UK Shopify stores we build and support:

• New store, doing <£20k/month: Shopify Payments on Basic. Simple, low overhead, no surcharge.
• Growing store, £20k–£250k/month: Shopify Payments on Grow or Advanced. Do the annual billing for the roughly 25% plan discount.
• You already run Stripe for a subscription product, membership site or booking system: keep Stripe for those flows, but still use Shopify Payments in the Shopify checkout. Running two processors side by side is normal.
• Shopify Payments won't accept your category (CBD, some supplements, adult): you'll need a specialist gateway. Stripe may not accept you either — talk to us before committing.
• Shopify Plus doing £10M+ annually, especially with EU operations: Adyen is worth quoting. Get pricing from at least two Plus-specialist agencies before switching.

If you also take in-person payments — market stalls, pop-ups, a physical shop — Shopify's own Tap & Chip Reader plays nicely with Shopify Payments, but it is not always the best in-person deal. See our comparison of Square, SumUp and Zettle for UK in-person payments if that side of the business is significant.

We set up Shopify Payments as part of every Shopify build we ship. Details on scope and pricing are on our e-commerce services page.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Does Shopify charge extra if I use Stripe?

A: Yes. Shopify adds a "third-party payment provider" fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus for every transaction not processed through Shopify Payments. This is on top of what Stripe itself charges. On most plans, this surcharge alone wipes out any headline saving from Stripe's lower percentage rate.

Q: What if I use PayPal or Klarna too?

A: PayPal, Klarna, Clearpay and Shop Pay Installments are treated slightly differently. When they are offered as "alternative payment methods" through the standard Shopify integration, they don't trigger the third-party surcharge in the way a full third-party gateway does. You still pay the alternative provider's own fees (PayPal is roughly 1.2% + 30p for domestic UK, Klarna around 3–4% depending on product) but you can safely run them alongside Shopify Payments without a double charge. Always double-check the current rules for your specific setup — Shopify's terms occasionally shift.

Q: How quickly do I get paid?

A: Shopify Payments in the UK pays out on a 3-business-day rolling cycle by default once your store is established (longer for the first few weeks). You can switch to weekly or monthly if it makes bookkeeping easier. Stripe starts new UK accounts on a 7-day rolling schedule and typically shortens it to 2–3 days over time. Adyen sets payout frequency in your merchant agreement — daily is available.

Q: What are the fees for international customers?

A: On Shopify Payments, a non-UK card adds 2% on top of your usual rate; if you also convert currency, add another 2%. On Stripe, EEA cards are 2.5% + 20p and non-EEA are 3.15% + 20p, with 2% added for currency conversion. Adyen uses interchange++ so the fee varies by scheme and region but is usually the lowest of the three at real volume. For heavy international traffic, model this carefully — cross-border costs can double your effective processing rate.

Q: What happens with chargebacks?

A: Shopify Payments charges £15 per chargeback, returned in full if you win. Stripe charges £20 per dispute received and, since June 2025, a further £20 if you challenge it (both refunded on a win). Adyen's chargeback fee is set in your merchant agreement. Shopify's admin is by far the friendliest place to handle them.

Q: Can I switch payment processors later?

A: Yes. You can turn Shopify Payments on or off from your Shopify admin, and swap in a third-party gateway (or back to Shopify Payments) with a few clicks. The only irreversible step is activating Adyen on Shopify Plus — that permanently disables Shopify Payments on the store, and switching back requires opening a new store or going through Shopify support. All other switches are reversible.