Which UAE payment gateways plug into Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix and custom stacks — plugins, hosted checkout, payment links and API depth compared.
By Raqma Editorial · reviewed by Raqma Editorial · Updated 13 October 2026
Gateway marketing pages lead with fees; merchants feel integrations. A gateway that costs 0.2% less but lacks a maintained plugin for your platform costs more in developer time than the rate saves. This guide maps the UAE options by how you actually sell.
Shopify is the dominant stack for UAE e-commerce. Stripe works natively where Shopify Payments is available; PayTabs, Tap and Telr integrate through official plugins. Before committing, check two things on the plugin listing: last update date (a stale plugin breaks silently at checkout) and whether refunds process inside Shopify admin or force you into the gateway dashboard. Wix and Squarespace have narrower gateway lists — verify your shortlist against the platform's accepted-providers page first.
Self-hosted WordPress/WooCommerce is where regional gateways are strongest: PayTabs, Telr and Network International all maintain WooCommerce plugins, and Stripe covers it via the official Stripe plugin. Magento (Adobe Commerce) integrations exist but are thinner — Tap and Network International have modules; budget for a developer to wire them correctly, as payment modules are the highest-risk part of a Magento build.
For a custom checkout, compare API quality not API existence. Stripe sets the benchmark: idempotent requests, mature webhooks, clear error taxonomy, a sandbox that behaves like production. Regional providers — PayTabs, Tap, Network International — offer REST APIs with varying depth; evaluate specifically for tokenization (repeat billing), partial refunds via API, and webhook retry behaviour. Ask for a sandbox key and build the refund path first — it is the capability most APIs get wrong.
If you sell through invoices, WhatsApp or social channels, you may not need a gateway integration at all. Ziina and mamo built their UAE business on payment links; PayTabs and Telr also offer hosted checkout pages and links. The trade-off is checkout branding and conversion data — hosted pages convert slightly less than embedded checkout but launch in a day.
If you take payments in person too, the shortlist narrows: Network International and Stripe Terminal cover in-person; several regional gateways are online-only. Check whether the provider unifies online and POS settlement into one dashboard — split reconciliation is a recurring pain for omnichannel merchants.
Fees and settlement terms for the providers mentioned are on the payment gateways comparison — model your monthly volume there before you integrate.
Best-in-class APIs, docs and plugins (Shopify, WooCommerce). Flat pricing, no monthly fee — but settlement is slower and approval for brand-new UAE entities can be picky.
2.9% + AED 1 for UAE-issued cards; +1% for international cards. Per Stripe AE pricing, Sep 2026.
MENA payment orchestrator — Flexi entry plan with no monthly fee; rates improve meaningfully with merchant history.
1.75% + AED 1 is the established-merchant floor; new merchants typically see ~2.85–2.9% + AED 1. Paid tiers to ~AED 180/mo lower the rate. Sep 2026.
GCC gateway with simple flat pricing — good middle ground between local acquirers and global APIs.
Flat ~2.49–2.75% for local cards, no monthly fee on the basic plan. Sep 2026.
Local UAE acquirer with strong SME track record — among the lowest local-card rates on a modest monthly plan.
Bands by monthly volume: AED 0–9,999 → AED 249/mo at 0%; AED 10,000–24,999 → AED 199/mo at 2.45% + AED 1; AED 25,000–49,999 → AED 99/mo at 2.35% + AED 0.50; AED 50,000+ → AED 0/mo at 2.25% + AED 0.50. Per telr.com/pricing, verified Oct 2026.
Fastest way to get paid in the UAE with zero code: links, QR, Tap to Pay. No monthly fee — you pay per transaction only.
2.6% + AED 1 to receive via links/QR/NFC/Tap to Pay; +1.5% for non-AED currency or international cards. Sending to Ziina Business accounts is free. Fees include 5% VAT on the fee only. Per Ziina help centre + KFS, verified Oct 2026.
Stripe (via Shopify Payments where available) and PayTabs both offer first-party Shopify integration in the UAE. Tap and Telr also support Shopify through plugins — confirm the plugin version matches your Shopify plan before committing.
Yes — payment links and hosted checkout pages cover most no-code cases: Ziina, mamo and PayTabs all sell link-based collection for invoices and social selling, with no integration work at all.
Four things: tokenization for repeat billing, webhook reliability for order status, refund API coverage (partial and full), and a sandbox that mirrors production behaviour. Weak webhooks are the most common reason merchants re-platform later.
No — recurring requires card tokenization plus a subscription or stored-mandate layer. Stripe supports it natively; among regional providers, check tokenization and mandate support explicitly rather than assuming it from marketing pages.
Raqma Editorial · reviewed by 
Network International all maintain WooCommerce plugins, and