Cheapest Crypto Payment Gateway 2026: All-In Cost Compared on a $100 Sale
Headline fees lie. Here's the real math on what 13 crypto payment gateways actually cost you per $100, $1,000, and $10,000 sale, merchant fee, conversion spread, network fee, withdrawal cost, all included.
Key Takeaways
- BTCPay Server [Bronze tier] is the absolute cheapest, 0% merchant fee, ~$1/month hosting, network fees only
- Cryptomus [Silver tier] is the cheapest hosted option, 0.4%, no conversion spread, no withdrawal fees
- NOWPayments [Gold tier] and Plisio [Gold tier] tie at 0.5%, but NOWPayments adds a 0.5% conversion spread if you auto-convert
- Headline fees lie, BitPay [Bronze tier] at "1%" is actually closer to 1.5% once you factor in the $5 wire fee per payout
- For most merchants under $10k/month volume, the practical cheapest is Cryptomus, then NOWPayments
Table of Contents
The four fees every crypto gateway charges
Every crypto payment gateway article on the internet quotes a single percentage and calls it a day. That is misleading. The actual cost of accepting crypto comes from four components, and most gateways are transparent about one or two but quietly bury the others.
| Fee | Typical range | Who pays | Disclosed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merchant fee | 0% – 2% | Merchant (you) | Always |
| Network fee | $0.50 – $30 | Customer (or you, depending on flow) | Sometimes |
| Conversion spread | 0.5% – 2% | Merchant (hidden in rate) | Rarely |
| Withdrawal fee | $0 – $25 + 1% | Merchant | Sometimes |
Network fees vary wildly by blockchain, Bitcoin ranges from $1-30 depending on mempool congestion, USDT-TRC20 is typically $1, USDT-ERC20 can be $5-15, Lightning is fractions of a cent, and Monero is around $0.05.
All-in cost on a $100 sale, 13 gateways
This is the comparison every "lowest fees" article gets wrong. Same scenario across every provider: a $100 sale paid in USDT-TRC20 (the most popular merchant flow because TRC-20 has the lowest network fees), customer pays the network fee, merchant withdraws to an external wallet weekly.
| Gateway | Merchant fee | Spread | Withdrawal | You keep | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTCPay Server | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 (direct) | $100.00 | |
| Cryptomus | $0.40 | $0.00 | ~$1.00 (network) | $98.60 | |
| NOWPayments | $0.50 | $0.00 (no convert) | ~$1.00 | $98.50 | |
| Plisio | $0.50 | $0.00 | ~$1.00 | $98.50 | |
| Coinremitter | $0.23 | $0.00 | $1.50 (1% min $1) | $98.27 | |
| CoinPayments | Untracked | $0.50 | $0.75 (auto-convert default) | ~$1.00 | $97.75 |
| CoinGate (crypto) | $1.00 | $0.00 | ~$1.00 | $98.00 | |
| Paymento | Silver | $0.50–0.99 | $0.00 (non-custodial) | $0.00 (direct to wallet) | $98.50–99.00 |
| CoinGate (fiat) | $1.00 | $1.00 (conversion) | $0 SEPA / $25 SWIFT | $98.00 (SEPA) | |
| BitPay | $1.00 | Bundled | $5 wire (amortized) | $94.00* | |
| CoinsPaid | $0.80 | $0.50 | ~$1.00 | $97.70 | |
| Confirmo | $0.80 | $0.50 | ~$1.00 | $97.70 | |
| Stripe (crypto) | $1.50 | Bundled | Stripe payout schedule | $98.50 |
*BitPay's $5 wire fee makes small sales very expensive, on a $100 sale, the per-payout fee dominates. At higher volumes the wire fee amortizes across many sales and BitPay becomes competitive. We model that below at the $1,000 and $10,000 levels.
Cheapest hosted gateway: 0.4% all-in
Cryptomus, no spread, no withdrawal fees, native Shopify support
See Cryptomus Details →$1,000 and $10,000 sale, where the ranking changes
Sale size matters because some fees are flat (network, wire) and some are percentage-based. Here is the same scenario at $1,000 and $10,000.
| Gateway | $100 keeps | $1,000 keeps | $10,000 keeps |
|---|---|---|---|
| BTCPay Server | $100.00 | $1,000.00 | $10,000.00 |
| Cryptomus | $98.60 | $994.00 | $9,959.00 |
| NOWPayments | $98.50 | $993.50 | $9,949.00 |
| Plisio | $98.50 | $993.50 | $9,949.00 |
| CoinGate (crypto) | $98.00 | $989.00 | $9,899.00 |
| BitPay | $94.00 | $985.00 | $9,895.00 |
| CoinGate (fiat SWIFT) | $73.00 | $973.00 | $9,773.00 |
Two big shifts as volume grows: BitPay's $5 wire fee stops mattering (3.3% on a $100 sale, 0.05% on a $10k sale), and fiat-settling gateways look worse on small transactions because the SWIFT/wire fee is fixed. If you do small transactions, stay crypto-native and convert in bulk yourself.
TRC-20 vs Lightning vs ETH, the network fee reality
The blockchain your customer pays on changes the math dramatically. Most merchant comparison articles ignore this. Here is what the same $100 sale costs in network fees alone:
| Network | Asset | Customer pays | Merchant withdraws |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning Network | BTC (LN) | < $0.01 | < $0.01 |
| Tron (TRC-20) | USDT | ~$1.00 | ~$1.00 |
| Solana | USDC / SOL | < $0.01 | < $0.01 |
| Polygon | USDT / USDC | < $0.05 | < $0.05 |
| Bitcoin (on-chain) | BTC | $1 – $30 | $1 – $30 |
| Ethereum (ERC-20) | USDT / USDC / ETH | $3 – $20 | $3 – $20 |
| Monero | XMR | ~$0.05 | ~$0.05 |
The takeaway: steer customers toward TRC-20 USDT, Lightning BTC, or Solana USDC if you care about all-in cost. Bitcoin on-chain and Ethereum ERC-20 add real overhead. Every gateway on our list supports at least three of the cheap networks, see our full gateway comparison for network support per provider.
The "custodial fee tax" you don't see
Here is the trade-off the comparison sites never quantify. Custodial gateways (NOWPayments, CoinGate, BitPay, Cryptomus) take possession of your funds before forwarding them to you. That gives them three opportunities to extract margin you don't see on the fee page:
Conversion spread
If you auto-convert customer BTC payments to USDT, the gateway uses its own rate. That rate is typically 0.5-1% worse than the spot market. On a $10,000 monthly volume, that is $50-100/month invisible.
Withdrawal fees
Some custodial gateways (Coinremitter, CoinsPaid for fiat) charge per-withdrawal fees on top of the headline fee. BitPay's $5 wire is the most visible example. Multiply by your withdrawal frequency.
Custody risk (the implicit fee)
Your funds sit on the gateway's books between payment and withdrawal. If the gateway has a bad week (FTX-style insolvency, regulatory action, banking freeze), your float is at risk. This isn't a fee on the receipt, but it is a fee on your risk-adjusted return.
Non-custodial gateways (BTCPay Server, Paymento, PayGate.to) avoid all three by design. The merchant fee is also lower because there is no float for the gateway to monetize. That is why BTCPay Server can charge 0% while still being viable, they don't make money on you, they make money from sponsorships and donations.
Final ranking by all-in cost
Putting it all together, here is the cheapest-to-most-expensive ranking by realistic all-in cost on a $1,000 USDT-TRC20 sale, withdrawn weekly to an external wallet.
| Rank | Gateway | Payyd tier | All-in cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BTCPay Server | $0 (network only) | Self-hosters, BTC-first merchants | |
| 2 | Cryptomus | 0.4% + network | Cost-sensitive Shopify/WooCommerce stores | |
| 3 | NOWPayments | 0.5% + network | Coin breadth, affiliate income, mass payouts | |
| 4 | Plisio | 0.5% + network | Email-only signup, decent Shopify plugin | |
| 5 | Paymento | 0.5–1% (non-custodial) | Self-custody without self-hosting | |
| 6 | CoinPayments | 0.5% + 0.75% spread | Legacy merchants, broad coin support | |
| 7 | CoinGate (crypto-only) | Bronze | 1% + network | EU merchants, MiCA-licensed compliance |
| 8 | CoinsPaid / Confirmo | Bronze / Silver | ~1.3% all-in | Enterprise SLA, white-label needs |
| 9 | BitPay | 1% + $5 wire | US merchants, brand trust, USD payouts | |
| 10 | Stripe Crypto | Untracked | 1.5% | Merchants already on Stripe Pay |
FAQ
What is the cheapest crypto payment gateway in 2026?
BTCPay Server is 0% (self-hosted, you pay only network fees). Among hosted gateways, Cryptomus at 0.4% is the cheapest, followed by NOWPayments and Plisio at 0.5%.
What does 0.5% actually cost on a $1,000 sale?
$5 merchant fee plus ~$1 network fee (USDT-TRC20) = $6 total. You keep $994. For comparison, a $1,000 Visa charge costs $25-35 in interchange and assessment fees.
Are there hidden crypto gateway fees?
Yes, conversion spreads (0.5-2% if you auto-convert), withdrawal fees (per-payout charges), and the custody risk of letting a gateway hold your float. Headline fees rarely tell the full story.
Is BTCPay Server really free?
Yes, the software is open source and there's no merchant fee. Your costs are the ~$5/month VPS to host it and the network fees on each payment. For high-volume merchants, the savings vs a 1% gateway easily justify the technical overhead.
Which network should I tell customers to pay on?
For USDT/USDC: TRC-20 (Tron), Solana, or Polygon. For BTC: Lightning Network. Avoid ERC-20 (Ethereum mainnet), gas fees can hit $10-20. Avoid BTC on-chain for sub-$50 sales, the network fee eats the margin.
Are crypto gateway fees lower than card processors?
Substantially. Crypto gateways charge 0.4-1.5% all-in. Visa/Mastercard interchange + assessment + processor markup typically totals 2.5-3.5%. On a $10k/month merchant, that's $200-300/month in card fees vs $40-100 in crypto fees.