PayFast vs Yoco vs Ozow for Accepting Payments on Your Website
Which South African payment gateway suits your store: card-first, in-person plus online, or EFT-heavy. Fees, integrations and why offering two reduces abandonment.
A practical comparison of the three main South African payment gateways for a business website.
TL;DR: Quick Answer
Which South African payment gateway suits your store: card-first, in-person plus online, or EFT-heavy. Fees, integrations and why offering two reduces abandonment.
Key takeaways
- Very cheap quotes (under R5,000) almost always exclude copywriting, SEO, custom design and post-launch support
- Professional copywriting can represent 20-35% of a total website project cost, and is worth it for search visibility
- On-page SEO built into the website at launch costs a fraction of what it costs to retrofit after the site is live
- Hosting, SSL, domain and maintenance add R3,000-R10,000 per year on top of build cost
- E-commerce adds significant cost due to payment gateway integrations, product data, security requirements and checkout UX
- Timeline and client responsiveness directly affect cost: slow feedback rounds extend agency hours
All three are payment aggregators, which means you sign up with them directly rather than negotiating a merchant account with a bank. That is why South African online stores can be taking payments within days rather than weeks. What separates them is which payment methods your customers actually want to use.
The comparison
| PayFast | Yoco | Ozow | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best at | Broad method coverage | In-person plus online | Instant EFT |
| Cards | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Instant EFT | Yes | Via partners | Core product |
| In-person card machine | No | Yes | No |
| Recurring billing | Yes | Yes | Debit orders |
| WooCommerce plugin | Mature | Mature | Available |
| Typical rate | ~2.5% to 3.5% | ~2.5% to 3.5% | ~1.5% to 2.5% EFT |
Treat the rates as indicative and confirm current pricing directly. All three publish standard rates and all three negotiate at volume, so a store doing meaningful turnover should ask rather than accept the list price.
PayFast
The most established South African gateway and the default choice for a general online store. It covers cards, instant EFT, Mobicred, SnapScan, Zapper and recurring billing in one integration, which means you are unlikely to need a second provider.
The WooCommerce integration is the most mature in the local market and almost every South African developer has worked with it.
Choose it if you want one gateway covering most payment methods with the least integration work.
Yoco
Best known for card machines, and that is the reason to choose it: if you already take card payments in a shop or on site, Yoco gives you one provider, one dashboard and one settlement for both in-person and online sales.
The online product is solid and the onboarding is the simplest of the three. Where it is weaker is instant EFT, which it handles through partners rather than natively.
Choose it if you sell both in person and online and want to stop reconciling two systems.
Ozow
Built around instant EFT, which matters more in South Africa than in most markets. A meaningful share of local buyers either do not have a credit card or will not use one online, and Ozow lets them pay directly from their bank account with immediate confirmation.
The fees on EFT are generally lower than card rates, which becomes significant on larger transaction values. Card support is more limited, so it usually works as a second method rather than the only one.
Choose it if your customers are EFT-inclined, your average order value is high, or you sell B2B.
Why you should probably offer two
Card-only checkouts lose South African customers who will not put a card in. EFT-only checkouts lose the ones who expect a card option.
Offering card and instant EFT together measurably reduces abandoned checkouts, and the cost of the second integration is small against the orders it recovers. Most established South African stores run PayFast for breadth plus a dedicated EFT option, or Yoco alongside Ozow.
What to check before deciding
Settlement time, which is how long before the money reaches your account and varies from one to several days. Chargeback handling and who carries the cost. Whether the checkout stays on your site or redirects, because redirects lose some buyers. Recurring billing, if you need it. And whether the plugin for your platform is actively maintained rather than abandoned.
Juicy Designs integrates all three as part of e-commerce web design. Related: Shopify vs WooCommerce and what an online store costs.
Frequently asked questions
PayFast, Yoco or Ozow, which should I use on my website?
PayFast for a general online store needing cards and EFT in one place. Yoco if you already take card payments in person and want one provider for both. Ozow if most of your customers pay by EFT and you want lower fees on larger transactions.
What do they cost?
All three sit broadly in the 2.5% to 3.5% range per transaction for card payments, with Ozow's instant EFT typically lower at around 1.5% to 2.5%. Check current rates directly, because pricing changes and volume discounts are common.
Do I need a merchant account?
Not with any of these. All three are payment aggregators, so you sign up with them rather than negotiating a merchant account with a bank, which is why setup takes days rather than weeks.
Which works best with WooCommerce or Shopify?
All three have WooCommerce plugins. PayFast and Yoco have the most mature integrations. Shopify support is more limited in South Africa, which is one reason many local stores run WooCommerce.
Can I offer more than one?
Yes, and most South African stores should. Offering card and instant EFT together measurably reduces abandoned checkouts, because a meaningful share of local buyers prefer EFT.