Peach Payments vs. PayFast: Which Is Best for Your eCommerce Business in South Africa?

The e-commerce market is growing rapidly in South Africa. A large number of customers now buy products and services online, from clothing and electronics to digital subscriptions and services. One of the most important decisions for any e-commerce business is choosing the right payment gateway for receiving recurring payments.

A payment gateway enables way more than card payments; it supports recurring billing that is crucial for subscription-based businesses, lets customers choose payment preferences such as mobile payments, local cards, bank transfers, etc., manages currency conversions, offers fraud protection, and connects smoothly with your e-commerce platform.

In this blog, let’s compare two of the leading payment gateways used by South African online merchants: Peach Payments and PayFast. This comparison will be helpful in determining which may be better for your business, especially if you are already selling or are planning to sell a subscription-based product or service.

Overview of Peach Payments

Peach Payments offers a complete e-commerce payments toolkit that includes card processing, bank/EFT payments, mobile-friendly checkouts, fraud protection, tokenization, and multi-currency support. Peach Payments does not handle recurring billing workflows itself, but it provides tokenization and stored-card capabilities, which allow recurring charges to be processed when paired with a billing platform like SubscriptionFlow.

Key Features & Services

• Accept payments from a variety of cards (credit and debit), such as Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Diners, etc.

• Support domestic payment methods beyond cards: bank transfers, EFT, local mobile-friendly transactions, and other alternative payment options.

• Support subscription and recurring billing via tokenization or card-storage feature. This is ideal for business models with ongoing payments (e.g., memberships, SaaS subscriptions).

• Accept multiple currencies and foreign cards, which helps businesses with international customers.

• Automatically make settlements to South African bank accounts, which ensures that funds flow smoothly without delays.

• Offer mobile-friendly checkouts, which are important as most customers shop via their smartphones.

• PCI DSS-1 compliant, providing tokenization and tools to detect fraudulent activities.

Overview of PayFast

PayFast is also widely used in South Africa and has built its reputation among small and medium-sized e-commerce businesses. Similar to Peach Payments, PayFast does not run recurring billing logic, but it offers subscription tokens that allow merchants to charge customers on a recurring basis when integrated with a billing engine like SubscriptionFlow.

Key Features & Services

• Support a number of payment methods, such as credit cards and debit cards, instant EFT, mobile-friendly and local payment methods like Zapper, etc.

• Support subscriptions and recurring billing, which is essential for SaaS, membership, and subscription-based businesses.

• Do not charge any setup fee or monthly fee, and merchants only pay for each successful transaction.

• Integrate easily with most of the e-commerce platforms through plugins or standard integrations.

Comparison of Key Features

Here’s a comparison of key features of Peach Payments and PayFast. 

Payment Methods Supported

The following payment methods are supported by Peach Payments: credit/debit cards, international cards, local EFT/bank payments (Nedbank Direct EFT, bank-pay methods), Pay by Bank, mobile payments, and even alternative payment options such as buy-now-pay-later services. Another of its key features is multi-currency support; it accepts international cards if you have customers across the globe.

PayFast also supports a broad range of payment methods, but is more inclined towards local South African customers: cards, Instant EFT, mobile payment methods, local wallets (SnapScan, Zapper), store-cards, and much more. It is ideal for a domestic customer base.

Verdict: If you have both a local and an international customer base, Peach Payments offers a slightly wider range and flexibility in payment methods. But if you’re only serving local customers, PayFast covers all your payment needs. 

Integration with E-commerce Platforms

Peach Payments is easily integrated with leading platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify, Wix, Magento, nopCommerce, etc.

You have done your part.
Let SubscriptionFlow take it from here!

Let us help your business grow with our powerful
subscription management software.

Schedule a Demo

PayFast also integrates with most e-commerce platforms; it’s among the easiest gateways to set up for owners whose stores are on common platforms.

Verdict: Both Peach Payments and PayFast easily integrate with leading e-commerce platforms. So, if your e-commerce store wants a payment gateway that is simple to set up and quick to launch, choose PayFast. Whereas Peach Payments provides more flexibility and payment options, which are especially useful if you expect to scale, take international orders, or want customized billing workflows.

Pricing and Fees

For Peach Payments, the transaction fee for cards (local Mastercard, Visa, and Amex) is 2.95% + R1.50 per transaction (ex VAT) on the standard “Growth Plan.”

The transaction fee for non-3D Secure and recurring payments (subscriptions) is slightly higher (3.50% + R1.50).

For EFT, Pay by Bank, Nedbank Direct EFT, and similar bank-based payments, Peach Payments charges 1.50% + R1.50 per transaction.

There are no setup fees or mandatory monthly fees with the basic Growth Plan.

Also, there are no additional costs for daily automated settlements.

PayFast doesn’t offer a monthly fee option (for their aggregation solution), and you pay per successful transaction.

The prices also vary in sources for card transactions. They charge a per-transaction percentage + fixed fee.

For Instant EFT, the costs are lower relative to cards. And as EFT is popular in South Africa, it provides a very cost-effective option for bank-paying shoppers.

Verdict: PayFast is a cheaper and better option for small and local e-commerce stores because there is no monthly fee, and you only have to pay when you make a sale. Meanwhile, Peach Payments’ EFT/bank-payment fees are attractive, and if you want more advanced features like recurring billing, multi-currency support, and subscriptions, their slightly higher fee is a good trade-off. 

Security Features

Peach Payments is PCI DSS Level 1 certified and supports tokenization for recurring and subscription payments, gives 3-D Secure support, and has tools to identify fraud, all of which are important for handling cards and international transactions.

Likewise, PayFast also supports secure payment and complies with PCI. Moreover, its Instant EFT option helps minimize risks since transactions happen directly from a customer’s bank account.

Verdict: Both payment gateways are safe and secure for online transactions. Peach Payments might provide you with a more enterprise-grade approach, which is more beneficial for high-volume e-commerce stores. 

Customer Support & Service

Peach Payments provides support through phodane and email 365 days a year, which is best if your e-commerce store operations run continuously or you have international customers in different time zones. 

PayFast is also known for its reliable support and simpler merchant dashboards and tools.

Verdict: Both payment gateways offer merchant support, with Peach Payments giving 365-day support, giving it a slight edge over PayFast, where consistent availability is crucial, especially if you are operating across markets or have to manage a higher volume of orders.

User Experience (For Merchants & Customers)

Peach Payments offers a seamless checkout experience with responsive and mobile-friendly checkout widgets or SDKs for mobile apps. Thus, more shoppers purchase your products and services on their phones.

Moreover, features like subscription and recurring billing support through tokenization make it ideal for businesses that depend on memberships and subscriptions. With this, customers can pay with a single click after they’ve stored their card info.

User experience is also enhanced through multi-currency and foreign-card support for international customers.

PayFast is best when you are looking for an easy setup. It also supports local payment methods for South African customers, ones they are familiar with and trust.

Also, PayFast supports recurring billing and split-payment options to some extent. This makes it suitable for subscription businesses that are smaller in size.

Verdict: For simple, local market stores and small businesses that prefer speed and convenience, PayFast gives a user-friendly payment flow. However, for businesses that want to scale over a period of time and have a larger international customer base, Peach Payments ensures more flexibility and better features for long-term user experience.

Which One Should You Choose?

The payment gateway that you should opt for depends on your e-commerce business size, customer base, whether it’s local or worldwide, and business model.

PayFast has zero setup costs, no monthly fees, and is very easy to use for small to medium-sized local businesses with broad local payment support, mainly targeting South African shoppers.

Subscription-based businesses looking to grow or having international customers should go for Peach Payments, as it supports recurring billing, cross-border transactions, international cards, enterprise-grade security & flexibility, and broad payment method support.

Similarly, e-commerce businesses that have a mix of local and global customers or want to offer multiple payment options like cards, bank payments, BNPL, wallets, etc., can choose Peach Payments.

In addition, entrepreneurs looking to launch quickly without any hefty upfront cost or run a simple product store for South African customers can use PayFast, as it is a more practical and efficient choice. 

How SubscriptionFlow Automates Recurring Billing

Whether you choose Peach Payments or PayFast, both gateways only process transactions and do not handle subscription cycles, renewals, prorations, upgrades/downgrades, failed payments, or customer billing preferences. This is where SubscriptionFlow becomes vital.

Within SubscriptionFlow, you can easily enable any of your preferred payment gateways to instantly start receiving recurring payments while SubscriptionFlow automates all subscription processes. No matter which payment gateway your business chooses, SubscriptionFlow ensures your recurring billing operations remain efficient, automated, and optimized for growth.