Paystack in South Africa: Fees, Payouts, Features and Who It Suits
Paystack charges South African businesses 2.9% plus R1.00 per local card transaction (the R1.00 is waived under R10), 2% with no fixed fee for Capitec Pay and Ozow EFT, and 3.1% plus R1.00 for international transactions, all excluding VAT. There are no setup or monthly fees, payouts to your bank are free, and they arrive two working days after the customer pays. Paystack accepts cards (including American Express), Capitec Pay, Ozow Instant EFT, SnapScan and Scan to Pay QR codes, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and settles in rand only.
We compare Paystack with Yoco, PayFast and Peach Payments in our payment gateway guide. This page goes deeper on Paystack alone, because it is one of the stronger options for South African online businesses and the details matter when you are choosing. Everything below comes from Paystack’s own website, help centre, developer documentation and South African merchant agreement (checked 29 October 2026). Where Paystack’s own pages contradict each other, we say so rather than pick one.
Who Paystack is
Paystack started in Nigeria and is part of the Stripe family. Stripe announced in October 2020 that it would acquire Paystack, and every Paystack page still carries the line “Paystack is a Stripe company”. That is changing: in January 2026 Paystack’s CEO announced a new parent company, The Stack Group, whose three founding shareholders are Stripe, the CEO and Paystack employees, “pending regulatory approvals”. We found no official statement that the change has completed.
In South Africa, Paystack opened to all businesses in May 2021 after a six-month pilot. Its South African merchant agreement describes the local company, Paystack South Africa Proprietary Limited, as “licensed by the Payments Association of South Africa (“PASA”) to operate as a third party payment provider”. Its site lists offices in Cape Town and Rosebank, Johannesburg.
Fees in South Africa
These are the lines on Paystack’s South African pricing page, plus the related fees from its help centre:
| What | Fee (excluding VAT) |
|---|---|
| Local cards | 2.9% + R1.00 (R1.00 waived under R10) |
| Capitec Pay and Ozow EFT | 2%, no fixed fee |
| International transactions | 3.1% + R1.00 |
| Setup, integration, monthly fees | None |
| Payouts to your bank | Free |
| Transfers from your balance to other accounts | R3 per transfer, failed or successful |
| Card pre-authorisation | R1.00 reservation fee, then the normal card fee when captured |
| Accepting a chargeback | No penalty |
VAT is charged on top. Paystack’s help centre is clear that it “must charge VAT at 15% on our fees”, and gives the example of a R1,000 local card payment costing R30 in fees plus R4.50 VAT, R34.50 in total. You can download a tax invoice from the dashboard.
Two smaller fees apply only if you use the features: a 1% fee to top up your Paystack balance (South African businesses can only do this by EFT), and R3 per successful call to its bank account validation API.
What is not published: there is no fee cap for South Africa, no separate refund fee (Paystack’s own transaction fee on a refunded sale is not returned), and no published volume discount. The merchant agreement allows custom pricing “agreed otherwise in an addendum” and promises at least 30 days’ notice of fee changes. Note also that the option to pass fees on to customers is a dashboard toggle only for Nigerian businesses; South African businesses have to ask support.
Payment methods
| Method | Notes from Paystack |
|---|---|
| Visa and Mastercard | All markets |
| American Express | ”South African-based businesses can receive Amex card payments by default” |
| Capitec Pay | Capitec customers only; extra review before activation |
| Ozow Instant EFT | Absa, FNB, Investec, Nedbank, Standard Bank, Bidvest Bank and TymeBank; extra review before activation |
| SnapScan and Scan to Pay | QR payments “available to businesses in South Africa only” |
| Apple Pay | Requires international payments to be enabled on your account |
| Google Pay | Visa and Mastercard; in the Paystack checkout, not as a standalone button |
A few practical details from the help centre:
- Capitec Pay and Ozow EFT need an additional review after you go live (allow about three business days), only support once-off payments, and accept amounts up to R100,000 per transaction, subject to the customer’s own bank limits.
- QR payments cannot be used for recurring payments.
- Currency: South African businesses accept rand only. International cards are “charged and settled in Rand by default”, and accepting them needs approval, with Paystack aiming to reply within 48 working hours.
- Diners Club is not mentioned anywhere we looked, and buy now pay later is not listed as a payment channel.
Payouts
Paystack’s pricing page puts it simply: “It takes 2 working days after a customer pays for you to receive your payout. So payments received on Monday, for example, will be settled on Wednesday.” Payouts “are only processed on working days and not weekends or public holidays”, they are free, and there is no minimum payout amount for South Africa.
- Manual payouts: registered businesses with at least a month of transaction history can switch to manual payouts, where your Paystack balance is credited early on the second day, including weekends and holidays, and you withdraw when you choose.
- No instant payouts in South Africa: Paystack’s “Payout on Demand” is “currently only available to Nigeria-based businesses”.
- Which bank account: a personal account for Starter businesses, a personal or business account for sole proprietors, and a company account for registered businesses.
- Reserves: the merchant agreement allows Paystack to hold a reserve, generally released about six months after an account is closed.
For how this compares with other gateways, see our guide to payout times for Yoco, PayFast, Peach and Paystack.
Account types and signing up
Paystack offers three kinds of account in South Africa:
- Starter business: unregistered, paid into a personal bank account, with a collection limit. It needs your ID, bank account number and a bank confirmation letter.
- Sole proprietorship: Paystack’s South African version of a Starter business, with a collection limit of R1,000,000. It needs ID, a bank confirmation letter and proof of address, both not older than six months.
- Registered business: no collection limit. It needs your CIPC certificate and enterprise number, a bank confirmation letter not older than six months and details of at least one director.
Activation happens in the dashboard’s compliance section. Paystack says its reviews team will email you within 24 hours if there is a problem with what you submitted, and accounts marked “Pre-approved” can take real payments immediately.
Two lists are worth checking before you sign up. Some business types are not supported in South Africa at all, including cryptocurrency trading, dropshipping, lending, betting and lotteries. Others, including accounting and legal practices, real estate, liquor sales, marketplaces, travel agencies, schools and NGOs, must sign up as registered businesses. Starter businesses also cannot use transfers.
Features available in South Africa
- Subscriptions charged on a schedule from hourly to annually, card only. There is no built-in free trial feature, and subscriptions started on the 29th to 31st bill on the 28th of later months. Our guide to recurring payments and subscriptions explains how this compares with PayFast, Peach and debit orders.
- Repeat card charges using a stored authorisation, for amounts that vary.
- Pre-authorisation: reserve an amount on a card and capture it later. Paystack says this is “currently available only to businesses registered in South Africa” and must be switched on.
- Payment pages, invoices and storefronts for selling without your own website.
- Split payments between your account and subaccounts, by percentage or flat amount.
- Transfers to South African bank accounts, for registered businesses, from R1 to R1,000,000 per transfer.
- Virtual Terminal for taking payments in person through payment links and QR codes, for registered businesses.
Not available in South Africa: the physical Paystack card terminal (“currently only available to Nigeria-based registered businesses”), Payout on Demand, direct debit, customer saved cards, Paystack Vault and address verification are all Nigeria-only, according to Paystack’s help centre.
Website integrations
- WooCommerce: Paystack maintains its own plugin, version 5.8.5 with more than 20,000 active installs on WordPress.org when we checked. It works with the WooCommerce Subscriptions extension, and Visa and Mastercard subscriptions renew automatically. Its plugin description still mentions Masterpass, which no longer appears on Paystack’s South African channel list.
- Shopify: Paystack has a Shopify app that lists South Africa among its countries. Remember that Shopify adds its own transaction fee when you use any provider other than Shopify Payments, which is not available in South Africa, as we explain in WooCommerce vs Shopify.
- Wix: supported for stores, bookings and events, but Paystack says recurring payments through Wix Pricing Plans are not possible.
- Custom sites: a documented API, plus setup guides for Ecwid, Squarespace, Magento, PrestaShop, OpenCart, BigCommerce and others.
Disputes, refunds and security
- Chargebacks: South African businesses have 48 business hours to respond to a dispute, and one left unanswered is “automatically accepted on your behalf”. If a dispute goes to arbitration and you lose, Paystack’s help centre lists a $750 arbitration fee.
- Refunds: customers should receive refunds within 3 to 10 working days, Paystack’s transaction fees are not returned, and from 15 October 2026 refunds and disputes are limited to transactions within the last year.
- Security: Paystack says it is PCI DSS compliant as a Level 1 Service Provider and certified to ISO 27001, and cards are authorised with one-time passwords or 3D Secure.
- Support: Paystack advertises support “24/7”, by email and through its contact form.
Where Paystack’s own pages disagree
We found several contradictions while checking. If one of these matters to your business, confirm it with Paystack in writing:
- Starter account limit: one help article gives R80,000 for South Africa, another gives R1,000,000.
- International card fee: the pricing page says 3.1% plus R1.00, but one help article’s table lists 2.9% plus R1.00 for South Africa.
- International settlement: the pricing page says two working days, but the merchant agreement says international transactions settle in seven business days.
- USD payouts: a Paystack page says “You can get paid out in USD”, while the help centre restricts USD to Kenya and Nigeria.
- Minimum amount: the API documentation says R1.00, one help article says R0.01.
Who Paystack suits
Paystack is a strong fit for online businesses that want one simple published rate, free payouts and no monthly fee, especially if they take Amex, want QR and pay-by-bank options in one checkout, or are building on WooCommerce or a custom platform that needs subscriptions, split payments or transfers. It is less suited to businesses that need in-person card machines, same-day payouts or buy now pay later, or to the business types it does not support.
Our e-commerce website package can be set up with Paystack instead of our default, Yoco, and we build custom platforms that use its subscriptions and split payments. Request a quote and tell us how you want to get paid.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Paystack charge in South Africa?
2.9% plus R1.00 per local card transaction, with the R1.00 waived under R10, 2% with no fixed fee for Capitec Pay and Ozow EFT, and 3.1% plus R1.00 for international transactions. These exclude VAT, which Paystack charges at 15% on its fees. There are no setup or monthly fees and payouts are free.
How long does Paystack take to pay out in South Africa?
Two working days after the customer pays, so Monday’s payments are settled on Wednesday. Payouts are not processed on weekends or public holidays, and instant payouts are only available to Nigerian businesses.
Can a sole proprietor use Paystack in South Africa?
Yes. Paystack has a sole proprietorship account for South African businesses, which needs ID, a bank confirmation letter and proof of address, and has a collection limit of R1,000,000. Some business types must register as companies first, and some are not supported at all.
Does Paystack support subscriptions in South Africa?
Yes, on cards. Paystack offers subscription plans billed from hourly to annually and repeat charges on stored card authorisations. Pay-by-bank methods such as Capitec Pay and Ozow EFT, and QR payments, only support once-off payments.
Is Paystack owned by Stripe?
Stripe announced its acquisition of Paystack in 2020, and Paystack still describes itself as “a Stripe company”. In January 2026 Paystack announced a new parent company, The Stack Group, with Stripe as one of three founding shareholders, pending regulatory approvals.
