The top 7 payment methods of 2025

For French consumers and businesses, there are more ways to make payments than ever before.

In some ways, this is positive: Competition, variety, and flexibility are all good things. In other ways, this presents challenges: Acceptance, variable costs, and more maintenance.

To achieve more of the positives and reduce your exposure to the negatives, it helps to know which payment methods are most popular. With this knowledge, consumers and businesses can make smart decisions about which methods they use and accept.

In this article, we explain which payment methods are popular in France, the reasons for this, and how to choose the right payment method for doing business with French consumers.

What defines a “popular” payment method in 2025?

Popularity can be defined in several ways. We believe there are three key areas that drive the popularity of payment methods:

• Transaction volume (how many sales they process)

• Merchant acceptance (market share with businesses)

• User preference and takeup (market share with consumers)

A payment method might not meet all three criteria. A popular method with merchants might not process a large volume of payments and vice versa.

The most used payment methods in France 2025

Some of the most popular payment methods in France include debit card (e.g. Carte Bancaire, Visa, Mastercard), digital wallets (e.g. PayPal), mobile wallets (e.g. Apple Pay and Google Pay), SEPA and bank transfer, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), and cash.

According to Banque France, in 2024, 72% of payments were made using point of sale (POS) machines. 25% of payments are made online and 3% of payments are made peer-to-peer (P2P). We’ve broken down the data on payment methods as they’re used in these contexts.

Within card payments, Carte Bancaire stands out as the leading network. With a reported ~66% share of the market, the domestic payment giant co-badges cards with both Visa and Mastercard.

Credit cards are notably less popular in France than many countries, making up just 12.4% of the cards in circulation. For context, credit card usage (per 100 people) is 96% higher in Spain and 445% greater in the USA compared to France.

Peer-to-peer payments (3% of total)

P2P payments are predominantly made via SEPA, instant payment, and other bank transfer methods. Cash, cheque, and other methods will be included in the total but lack supporting data.

Data sourced from Banque de France content: 1, 2, 3. Several figures are estimated, based on calculations and interpretations. This information should be used as a guide.

Most common B2B payment methods in France

B2B payments are their own unique category. Compared to B2C, very few B2B merchants will be taking card payments on a POS. Instead, for one-off and recurring payments, French businesses use trade credit, bank transfers, or digital payment gateways and checkouts.

Katia D., owner of Normandie’s Château Coliving, explained that: “When I pay suppliers, it’s mostly with bank transfers apart from those that allow payment on spot, in which case I do Apple Pay or debit card. Some suppliers even expect payment by cheque.”

Whatever the case, reconciliation is always a concern. Digital methods that integrate with accounting software handle a lot of the manual work for businesses, but cash and cheques require a lot of time to reconcile.

Comparing the most popular payment methods in France side-by-side

How do these popular payment methods stack up for the businesses taking payments? We’ve ranked them according to important metrics for French businesses, on a relative scale of one (low) to three (high) in each category.

How French consumers choose a payment method in 2025

Choosing how to pay is a personal preference, but there are some guiding principles that inform most consumers’ decisions, including:

• Loyalty/habits

• Convenience

• Rewards

• Security

• Speed

Convenience counts for a lot. Laurie V., a climate consultant, told us that she chooses “Apple Pay because it's easier since I own an iPhone.” She added: “I'm happy to pay by card or bank transfer if needed, as well as with Wero. I like that one because it allows you to pay only by entering someone's phone number instead of the full IBAN.”

Jeanne F., a community and event manager, shared a similar opinion: “I prefer Apple Pay, because I have multiple cards all in the same place and don't have to remember any password or code. Also, some of my cards are virtual, like my work card.”

She also mentioned the need for flexibility in a travel-heavy world.

“I use different cards depending on where I am. My traditional bank has fees for payments abroad, so I'll never use it outside of France and use mostly my N26 or Revolut card.”

How to choose the right payment methods for your business

There are several competing factors to consider when deciding on payment methods to use in your business, including:

• Customer expectations

• Payment fees and conversion rates

• Regional, international, and generational needs

• Flexibility (e.g. traditional card payments vs. BNPL)

Understanding your customers’ expectations is vital, as not doing so is a risk to your sales. Jeanne F. told us that:

“If I want to pay with one of the cards I only have on Apple Pay and it's not supported, I might just not do the purchase or at least postpone it.”

It pays to be aware of the demographics of your customers. Katia told us: “It’s fascinating to me that, in France, people still use paper cheques on a regular basis – even state institutions, which is wild to me. We don’t particularly notice it in our business, as we attract people who are very much digitally native, regardless of their age.”

Regarding fees and costs, this is a difficult issue to balance. As Katia explains: “A wire transfer doesn’t have the commissions that we pay with Stripe and SumUp, but we hardly ever do that because we know it is an inconvenience for the client. We would sometimes do it with returning clients or friends who we know wouldn’t mind the extra effort.”

Why French businesses use Airwallex for multi-currency payments

For businesses with any kind of international presence, Airwallex is quickly becoming the popular choice.

Airwallex can accept over 160 payment methods and 130 currencies from across the world, so your business can feel local to Monique in Paris, Maria in Manila, and Mateo in Santiago.

Not only that, Airwallex also acts as your all-in-one financial platform for managing spend and expenses, FX (at highly competitive mid-market rates), payouts to 120+ countries, and holding dozens of currencies.

You only have to look at French businesses like From Future to see how Airwallex can help.

More options, more flexibility, more sales

French consumers used to choose between cash and cheque. Today, there are dozens of ways to pay and their usage among French consumers varies hugely.

In 2025, businesses in France need to be flexible and ready to take payments in a range of methods.

Many payment gateway providers can process different payment methods, but you should look no further than Airwallex and our ability to process 160+ payment methods.

Using Airwallex, your French customers can pay in the way that suits them. So can your Finnish, Fijian, and Faroese customers!