Worldpay vs Stripe: Pricing, features and the best choice for your business in 2026

Key takeaways

• Stripe and Worldpay both handle online payment acceptance but differ on pricing transparency, international reach, and developer flexibility. 

• If your revenue crosses borders, FX costs and operating complexity matter as much as transaction fees. Neither Stripe nor Worldpay provides the multi-currency accounts, treasury controls, or local settlement needed to manage funds efficiently across markets.

• Airwallex gives you the financial foundation that Stripe and Worldpay lack. With local collection, multicurrency accounts, interbank FX, global payouts and a unified treasury layer, it reduces costs and complexity once you sell beyond the UK.

Stripe and Worldpay both let businesses accept online payments via cards, wallets, and bank transfers. You might be weighing them up if you run a SaaS product, marketplace, eCommerce store, or platform that manages payments at scale.

This guide compares them on pricing, payment coverage, global reach, integration effort, and costs. 

We also explain why many companies are moving to Airwallex, when they start selling in multiple currencies and markets, because we provide the full treasury stack that Stripe and Worldpay do not.

What is Stripe?

Stripe is an online payments platform used by SaaS companies, marketplaces, subscription businesses, and online retailers. It supports card payments, bank transfers, digital wallets, and more than 100 currencies.

What is Worldpay?

Worldpay is a long-running payment processor used by many UK retailers, hospitality groups, and mid-to-large enterprises. It handles online payments, card terminals, point-of-sale, merchant services, and settlement.

Compare Worldpay and Stripe, side by side

How Worldpay and Stripe compare on cost, FX, global reach, and build effort

Here’s a closer look at the two.

Pricing, FX, and fees

If you earn money in more than one currency, FX costs matter as much as card fees. Stripe publishes most costs, but Worldpay doesn’t share them publicly.

Stripe

Stripe has clear fees. For UK-issued cards, standard online payments cost 1.5% + £0.20 per transaction. Fees are higher for EEA or international cards, typically ranging from 2.5% to 3.25% + £0.20 depending on card origin and currency.

When a payment arrives in a different currency (for example, USD into a GBP account), Stripe applies an extra 2% FX conversion fee on top of the transaction cost.¹

Add-ons such as Billing, Radar, or Tax are charged separately. 

Worldpay

Worldpay tends to negotiate pricing by merchant. Larger businesses may get better rates, but contracts often include minimum fees, settlement fees, recurring charges, PCI compliance charges, and other extras. 

FX conversions are also added when you receive foreign currency.²

Read more: What is a multi-currency account? Growth benefits for business

Payment methods and global coverage

If your customer base is international, Stripe offers wider reach. If you’re mostly UK-focused with in-person payments, Worldpay will work for you.

Stripe

Stripe supports 100+ currencies, cards, wallets, and global payment methods. It suits businesses with customers in more than one region. If you sell subscriptions abroad or handle cross-border ecommerce, Stripe gives wide coverage and routing logic to optimise acceptance rates.³

Worldpay

Worldpay supports major cards and wallets, and has support for UK retail and POS. It is more focused on domestic and European commerce. Global coverage often depends on contract and business type.⁴

Integrations, APIs, and build effort

If you have developers and want full control, choose Stripe. If you want a straightforward checkout or POS support, Worldpay is simpler.

Stripe

Stripe is developer-first. The API allows custom logic for checkouts, subscriptions, marketplace payouts, account structures, billing rules, and system-to-system data flows. It requires engineering time, but if you need flexibility, Stripe delivers.⁵

Worldpay

Worldpay is more designed for reliability and scale than deep custom logic. It works well for typical ecommerce checkouts and card acceptance, but is less suited to custom monetisation, multi-party routing or engineered subscription logic.⁶

Settlement, payouts, and cash flow 

How fast you receive funds, and how easily you can move them, affects cash flow, reconciliation time and working capital.

Stripe

Stripe has clear online settlement cycles, but cross-border payouts and converting currencies can slow down availability of funds and add extra steps to reconcile balances, especially if you sell in multiple regions.⁷

Worldpay

Worldpay settlement times depend on contract terms and business type. Faster payout schedules can be available, but some merchants pay extra to activate them.⁸

Security, compliance, and risk

Both are reliable processors. The differences are more in pricing, international capability, and integration depth.

Stripe

Stripe has strong PCI compliance, fraud controls, and regulated payment services, with risk tools built directly into its API and platform features.

Worldpay

Worldpay has long-established enterprise-grade compliance, fraud monitoring, and merchant infrastructure.  

Why businesses choose Airwallex instead

When you start selling in more than one country, taking payments is only the first step. FX fees stack up, money gets stuck in the wrong currency, payouts take longer, and finance teams need extra tools just to keep track. Stripe and Worldpay help you get paid, but they don’t give you the setup you need to run your business across currencies and markets.

Airwallex gives you that foundation, all in one place. You can:

• open accounts in multiple currencies, with local banking details

• collect payments in 130+ currencies without forced conversion

• use interbank FX rates across 60+ currencies

• send payouts to 150+ countries over local rails

• issue cards that spend from your wallet balances

• see every balance, approval and transfer in one dashboard

If you’re widening your customer base, moving money across regions, or building international revenue lines, Airwallex helps you do it faster, with fewer systems and less risk.

Which payment gateway should you choose in 2026?

Stripe suits businesses that want control, engineered billing logic, and global payment methods. However, once revenue moves across currencies, FX fees, reconciliation tasks, and separate treasury tools make things complicated.

Worldpay works well for domestic payments, in-person card acceptance, and enterprise merchant services. If most of your revenue comes from the UK and you need terminals, POS support, or a stable card processor, it does the job. But, pricing can be opaque, FX is handled through conversion fees, and it doesn’t have a built-in way to manage multi-currency balances.

Airwallex does more. It combines local collection, multi-currency accounts, interbank FX, global payouts, cards, and treasury controls in one place, so you can hold, convert and deploy funds without stitching together extra systems. For businesses that are growing internationally, Airwallex is the cleaner, simpler, and more cost-efficient option.

FAQs 

Is Stripe cheaper than Worldpay?

Stripe publishes its fees, so you can predict costs. Worldpay usually sets pricing through contracts that can include service and compliance charges. When you earn in more than one currency, FX conversion can add more to the bill than the card fee itself, whichever provider you use.

Does Worldpay support international payments?

Yes, but its strength is the UK and Europe. Coverage outside those regions depends on the agreement. Stripe generally supports more currencies and methods, which helps if you sell to customers in different regions.

Which works better for UK ecommerce, Stripe or Worldpay?

Worldpay suits local card acceptance and point of sale. Stripe works well for online subscriptions, marketplaces and platforms that also sell beyond the UK. Businesses that want to expand globally often switch to Airwallex because it provides the multicurrency foundation neither Stripe nor Worldpay is built for.

Do Stripe and Worldpay charge FX fees?

Yes. When payments land in a different currency, both apply FX costs. Neither gives you local currency accounts, interbank FX, or a treasury layer that removes repeated conversions. This is where companies that scale internationally choose Airwallex.

Which offers more global payment methods?

Stripe generally supports more currencies and wallets than Worldpay. But both are focused on processing the payment itself. Airwallex goes further by letting you collect funds in many currencies, hold them without forced exchanges, and settle through local rails.

Is Worldpay or Stripe better for platforms and marketplaces?

Stripe usually provides more control for multiparty flows. Worldpay is simpler for standard acceptance. Airwallex is the alternative for businesses that need a full financial layer for multiple currencies, entities, cost centres and international flows.

Can Airwallex replace Stripe or Worldpay?

Yes. Many companies use Stripe or Worldpay when they sell in the UK. As soon as revenue expands into multiple currencies and regions, they move their payments and financial operations to Airwallex because it gives them accounts, FX, payouts and treasury in one place.

Sources and references 

1. docs.stripe.com/global-payouts/pricing

2. worldpay.com/en/products/multicurrency-solutions

3. docs.stripe.com/payments/payment-methods/overview

4. hdocs.worldpay.com/apis/pushtoaccountglobal/coverage

5. docs.stripe.com/payments-api/tour

6. docs.worldpay.com/apis

7. docs.stripe.com/payments/balances

8. worldpay.com/en-GB/insights/guides/how-payment-processing-works