Payfast started in 2007 with the vision to help online merchants grow their business. Today, Payfast powers more than 80,000 merchants in South Africa.

Payfast is one of the easiest payment gateways to start with. You can set up an account in a few minutes. Then, after you submit your documentation, accounts are usually approved in a couple of days. One of the main advantages of Payfast is that they offer many different payment methods. It includes credit and cheque cards, as well as instant EFTs with most of the main South African banks (FNB, Capitec, Absa, Standard Bank, Nedbank…). They also integrate with Zapper and SnapScan, as well as Mobicred, Scode, and Masterpass. This gives a lot of options through one single supplier. Payfast also offers cash advance solutions, based on your transaction history with the platform.

Payfast only charges a fee for each successful transaction. The Payfast transaction fee for payments done with credit and cheque cards is 3.2% + R2.0 per transaction. Instant EFTs incur a 2% fee, with a minimum of R2.0. For the other payment methods, the fees are between 3.5% and 5.5%. Payfast does not charge any monthly fee to use their service, but there is an R8.7 fee for each payout to your bank account. The fee structure is clearly displayed on the site and is negotiable when you reach a certain revenue. You do not need a merchant account to use Payfast.

Overall, Payfast has the advantage of being easy to set up and offers a wide range of payment options. However, the fees are not the cheapest and they charge a fee to withdraw your money to your bank account.