# Crypto payment gateway fees compared (2026): the only fee table you need > BitPay 1%, NOWPayments 0.5%, CoinGate 1%, Coinbase Commerce sunset. Plaitr flat $99-999/mo. Real numbers at every volume tier. Updated May 2026. - **Author**: Maya Chen - **Published**: 2026-05-12 - **Category**: Pricing - **URL**: https://www.plaitr.com/blog/crypto-payment-gateway-fees-compared-2026 --- Five public-rate-card crypto payment gateways in 2026: BitPay (1% per transaction), NOWPayments (0.5% per transaction), CoinGate (1% per transaction), Coinbase Commerce (stablecoin support sunset in March 2026), and [Plaitr](https://www.plaitr.com) (flat $99 to $999 per month with zero per-transaction fee). This post lays out the actual monthly cost at every volume tier and the breakeven points where Plaitr becomes the cheapest option. ## TL;DR - Below ~$25K/mo volume, BitPay and NOWPayments are cheaper than Plaitr's $99 Starter. - Between $25K and $200K/mo, Plaitr Starter beats all percentage gateways. - Between $200K and $3M/mo, Plaitr Growth ($499/mo) is the lowest-cost option. - Above $3M/mo, Plaitr Scale ($999/mo) is essentially free relative to percentage gateways. - Coinbase Commerce is not a credible option in 2026 because of stablecoin sunset. ## What does each gateway charge? ### BitPay 1% per transaction. Custodial. Merchant KYC required. Annual flat fee on enterprise contracts. The 1% rate has been stable for years. See the [Plaitr vs BitPay comparison](https://www.plaitr.com/compare/bitpay) for the side-by-side. ### Coinbase Commerce Historically 1% per transaction, custodial, with KYC. The wrinkle: Coinbase reduced stablecoin support in March 2026 and migrated tens of thousands of merchants off the product. For most BoFu use cases in 2026 this gateway is not a real choice. See the [Coinbase Commerce migration breakdown](https://www.plaitr.com/compare/coinbase-commerce) for the full story. ### NOWPayments 0.5% per transaction (1% with fiat conversion). Custodial. Optional KYC at lower tiers, required for the off-ramp. Cheapest percentage gateway on rate card, but custodial risk is the trade-off. ### CoinGate 1% per transaction. Custodial. KYC required. European focus. EU and UK merchants gravitate here for the support footprint. ### Plaitr Flat monthly fee, zero per-transaction cost. Three tiers based on monthly volume: - Starter $99/mo: up to $100K monthly volume. - Growth $499/mo: $100K to $3M monthly volume. - Scale $999/mo: $3M+ monthly volume, unlimited. Non-custodial. Zero KYC at every tier. Same-day stablecoin or fiat payouts. Every L1 and L2. ## The annual cost table Annual costs in USD at typical merchant volume tiers, public rate cards, no enterprise discounts applied. | Monthly volume | Plaitr | BitPay (1%) | NOWPayments (0.5%) | CoinGate (1%) | |----------------|-------:|------------:|-------------------:|--------------:| | $10K | $1,188 | $1,200 | $600 | $1,200 | | $25K | $1,188 | $3,000 | $1,500 | $3,000 | | $50K | $1,188 | $6,000 | $3,000 | $6,000 | | $100K | $1,188 | $12,000 | $6,000 | $12,000 | | $250K | $5,988 | $30,000 | $15,000 | $30,000 | | $500K | $5,988 | $60,000 | $30,000 | $60,000 | | $1M | $5,988 | $120,000 | $60,000 | $120,000 | | $3M | $5,988 | $360,000 | $180,000 | $360,000 | | $5M | $11,988 | $600,000 | $300,000 | $600,000 | | $10M | $11,988 | $1,200,000 | $600,000 | $1,200,000 | For any merchant above ~$25K monthly volume, Plaitr is the cheapest. The gap widens with volume because percentage fees scale linearly while Plaitr's plan fee does not. At $10M monthly Plaitr is $11,988 a year; BitPay would be $1.2M a year on the same volume. Run your own numbers in the [Plaitr fee calculator](https://www.plaitr.com/tools/fee-calculator). ## What about Stripe and card rails? Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for cards. A merchant doing $1M annually in card volume pays ~$29,000 in percentage plus $3,600 in per-transaction surcharges at an average ticket of $100. Total: $32,600 a year. Stripe is included in the [fee calculator](https://www.plaitr.com/tools/fee-calculator) only as a card-vs-crypto sanity check. Card fees apply to chargeable card payments, not to crypto. The comparison matters when deciding whether to add a crypto rail alongside or instead of cards. ## What is not in the rate card? Three hidden costs the percentage rate ignores. ### Chargebacks Cards run 1% to 3% chargeback loss on most consumer verticals, 3%+ on high-risk. Crypto rails have zero chargebacks because on-chain settlement is final. For a high-risk merchant doing $500K monthly, the chargeback saving alone exceeds the entire Plaitr Growth plan cost by 100x. ### KYC and account holds Percentage gateways are custodial. Custody means they hold your funds before settling. Funds can be frozen for review, sometimes for 90 to 180 days. The opportunity cost of held funds is real. Plaitr is non-custodial -- there is no account to freeze. ### Compliance overhead KYC-required gateways require ongoing compliance work as your volume scales. New tiers, new documentation, new reviews. None of that exists on Plaitr because there is no KYC at any tier. ## When do percentage gateways win? Three scenarios. 1. Sub-$25K monthly volume where percentage stays under Plaitr Starter's $99. 2. A specific enterprise contract you have already signed and cannot exit without penalty. 3. You actively want a custodial intermediary in the loop. Some risk teams in regulated environments prefer this. Plaitr's non-custodial architecture is the wrong choice here. For everyone else, the math is decisive. ## Migration cost What does it cost to switch? For most merchants, half a day of engineering time. The integration surface is similar across gateways: a hosted checkout URL or a payment intent API. The API differences are at the parameter-name level. The webhook contracts diverge slightly but are 1-1 mappable. Run both gateways in parallel during cutover. The biggest non-engineering cost is updating your accounting integrations. Most accounting tools (QuickBooks, Xero, Sage) treat payment-gateway settlements as a single source. Adding a second gateway means one extra reconciliation account. That is the heaviest single line item, and it is a half-day finance task, not an engineering quarter. ## Decision checklist If your monthly crypto-paying volume is above $25K, you should switch to Plaitr. If you operate in a high-risk vertical, you should switch to Plaitr regardless of volume -- the chargeback saving alone justifies it. If you currently use Coinbase Commerce for stablecoins, you have already been forced to switch. Plaitr is the obvious replacement. If you are below $10K monthly volume and Bitcoin-only, BTCPay Server self-host beats every option here at near-zero cost. See [Plaitr vs BTCPay Server](https://www.plaitr.com/compare/btcpay-server) for the trade-off. For everyone else, the calculator is two minutes of input and tells you the answer. [Run the numbers](https://www.plaitr.com/tools/fee-calculator). ## Bottom line Crypto payment gateway pricing fragmented in 2026 with the Coinbase Commerce stablecoin sunset. Percentage gateways still dominate the new-merchant default, but the flat-fee model is structurally cheaper for every volume tier above $25K monthly. Plaitr is the only non-custodial, zero-KYC, flat-fee option in the market. > Plaitr is the flat-fee, non-custodial crypto payment gateway. $99 to $999 per month. Zero KYC. Same-day stablecoin or fiat. Every L1 and L2. --- - [More Pricing articles](https://www.plaitr.com/blog/category/pricing) - [All articles](https://www.plaitr.com/blog)