Best Tabby alternatives for UAE merchants in 2026
Tabby alternatives for UAE merchants in 2026Tabby does one thing — BNPL at checkout. If you need card acquiring, payment links or lower fees, here are the UAE alternatives worth pricing.
By Raqma Editorial · reviewed by Raqma Editorial · Updated 26 October 2026
Raqma Editorial · reviewed by Tabby answers one question well: "how do I let customers pay in instalments". If that is your only question, this page is not for you. But merchants searching for "Tabby alternatives" usually need something Tabby does not do — plain card acquiring, payment links, POS, or simply a lower take-rate. Here is what actually replaces each Tabby job.
What Tabby actually is
Tabby for Business is a BNPL (buy-now-pay-later) product: your customer splits a purchase into instalments, Tabby pays you upfront minus a merchant fee (published figures put it around 4–6% depending on sector and term — Tabby does not publish a fixed rate card, so confirm yours in the contract). It is a checkout add-on, not a card acquirer: refunds, chargebacks and card acceptance still run through a gateway.
If you need card acquiring — the direct alternatives
- PayTabs — UAE-based acquirer, published rates 1.75–2.9% + AED 1 per transaction, no monthly fee at entry. The straightforward swap for merchants who wanted lower fees, not instalments.
- Stripe UAE — 2.9% + AED 1 per charge, no monthly fee. Best developer tooling and subscription billing; weaker on very small tickets because of the fixed dirham.
- Tap Payments — 2.75% flat, zero fixed fee, no monthly fee. Often the cheapest on small-ticket baskets where a per-transaction dirham hurts.
- Telr (SME plans) — 2.35% + AED 0.50, but AED 99/month — the maths wins from roughly AED 40–50k monthly volume upward.
- Network International — publishes a 1.5–3.5% band; the headline cheapest at volume, but onboarding is slower and the lower bound is negotiated, not default.
PayTabs — UAE-based acquirer, published rates 1.75–2.9% + AED 1 per transaction, no monthly fee at entry. The straightforward swap for merchants who wanted lower fees, not instalments.
Stripe UAE — 2.9% + AED 1 per charge, no monthly fee. Best developer tooling and subscription billing; weaker on very small tickets because of the fixed dirham.
Tap Payments — 2.75% flat, zero fixed fee, no monthly fee. Often the cheapest on small-ticket baskets where a per-transaction dirham hurts.
Telr (SME plans) — 2.35% + AED 0.50, but AED 99/month — the maths wins from roughly AED 40–50k monthly volume upward.
Network International — publishes a 1.5–3.5% band; the headline cheapest at volume, but onboarding is slower and the lower bound is negotiated, not default.If you need payment links without a website
Ziina Business (2.6% + AED 1), Mamo (2.9% + AED 1), Nomod (2.37–2.77% + AED 0.80) and Zbooni (3.5% + AED 1) all sell card-not-present payment links — the same job Tabby does for freelancers and social sellers, minus the instalments. Nomod and Ziina are usually the price winners at link volumes.
Ziina Business (2.6% + AED 1), 
Mamo (2.9% + AED 1), 
Nomod (2.37–2.77% + AED 0.80) and 
Zbooni (3.5% + AED 1) all sell card-not-present payment links — the same job If you want BNPL but not Tabby
Tamara is the direct like-for-like competitor — same instalment model, similar merchant-fee structure, similarly unpublished rate card. Spotii is a smaller third. None publishes a fixed merchant fee, so the real comparison is contractual: ask both for your sector rate and compare settlement terms, not the marketing page.
Tamara is the direct like-for-like competitor — same instalment model, similar merchant-fee structure, similarly unpublished rate card. Spotii is a smaller third. None publishes a fixed merchant fee, so the real comparison is contractual: ask both for your sector rate and compare settlement terms, not the marketing page.The honest summary: Tabby and a gateway are complements, not substitutes — most UAE merchants end up with one gateway from the payment gateways catalogue plus a BNPL option on top. Model the fee side at your real volume on our founder stack cost page, and check the hidden-fees tracker before signing anything with an unpublished rate card.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Is Tabby a payment gateway?
No — Tabby is a buy-now-pay-later option that sits on top of a gateway. You still need Stripe, PayTabs, Tap or a similar acquirer to accept cards; Tabby adds instalment payments for your customers on top.
What is the cheapest alternative to Tabby in the UAE?
For plain card acquiring, PayTabs publishes rates from 1.75% and Network International from 1.5% at volume — both below a typical BNPL merchant fee of 4–6%. But BNPL exists to lift conversion, so compare cost against the sales it adds, not against card fees alone.
Can I use Tabby and a normal gateway together?
Yes — most UAE merchants run a primary gateway (Stripe, PayTabs, Tap) and offer Tabby or Tamara as an extra checkout option rather than a replacement.