Best Payment Gateway in Saudi Arabia: Top Options Compared
Comparing payment gateways in Saudi Arabia usually starts with rate cards. It should start with the register, because the licence a provider holds decides whether it can legally put your revenue in your bank account, and four of the eight major providers publish no rates at all.
This page gives you both: what each provider discloses about itself, and what SAMA’s public register says about who is licensed to do what.
Start with the register, not the rate card
Under SAMA Circular No. 46004436, dated 24 July 2024, a provider offering only technical linkage needs no licence. But merchant contracting, KYC and AML checks, and final settlement of funds into merchant accounts must be performed by a SAMA-licensed institution or a bank.
So a provider can have the best checkout in the market and still be unable to pay you. Behind it sits some other entity holding your money, and you should know its name before you sign rather than after your first dispute.
The check takes a minute. Open SAMA’s register of licensed payment service providers and search the registered legal name, not the brand. HyperPay appears as Hyperpay Inc Saudi Information Systems Technology Company, activity type Electronic Money Institution, unified number 7016872546, expiring 29 December 2029. We also hold Payment Technology Service Provider and eMSP Payment Gateway permits from Saudi Payments, which is the separate approval that allows mada acceptance.
| Company, as listed | Activity type | Unified no. | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hyperpay Inc Saudi Information Systems Technology Company | Electronic Money Institution | 7016872546 | 29/12/2029 |
| Geidea for Technology | Payment Institution | 7001715221 | 04/11/2030 |
| Tap Financial | Payment Institution | 7002845464 | 04/09/2029 |
| Moyasar Financial | Payment Institution | 7010466964 | 13/01/2030 |
| Alwans for Information Technology (Foodics) | Payment Institution | 7012409806 | 19/11/2028 |
| Network International Arabia | Payment Institution | 7005137505 | 16/01/2029 |
| Hala Company | Electronic Money Institution | 7009863320 | 03/12/2030 |
| Digital Payment Company (Loop) | Electronic Money Institution | 7002793649 | 01/12/2030 |
Some familiar names do not appear under those names, and an absence proves nothing on its own. So read what each company says about itself instead. Telr states it is licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE. Checkout.com’s licences page lists ten jurisdictions and Saudi Arabia is not among them. Stripe does not list Saudi Arabia as a supported merchant country on its Global Availability page, so any comparison placing Stripe among your options contradicts Stripe’s own disclosure.
What each provider supports, and who publishes rates
Three of the nine below publish Saudi rates in any detail, and one of those three attaches a written caveat to its own numbers. That is not a gap in our research; it is a stated position by the companies themselves, and useful to know before a sales call.
| Provider | Methods it confirms | Publishes rates? |
|---|---|---|
| HyperPay | mada, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, STC Pay, UnionPay, Apple Pay, Tabby, Tamara, SADAD, PayPal | No. Priced per merchant against actual card mix |
| Moyasar | mada, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, STC Pay | No. Its FAQ refers pricing to the sales team |
| Geidea | mada, Visa, Mastercard, digital wallets, BNPL | No. Fees defined in a separate merchant-terms annex |
| Tap | mada, Apple Pay, STC Pay, Visa, Mastercard, Tamara, Tabby | No. The Saudi pricing link returns a 404 |
| PayTabs | mada, cross-border cards, digital wallets, bank transfer, BNPL | Partly. SAR 49 per month for the standalone app, mada at 1%, credit cards at 2.25% + SAR 1, with its own note that pricing is in testing and subject to change |
| Telr | Visa, Mastercard, American Express, mada, PayPal, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Tabby | Yes, fully. From SAR 99 per month with 3% + SAR 1 on credit cards, up to SAR 259 with 2.60% + SAR 1. mada at 1% across tiers, before 15% VAT |
| Amazon Payment Services | mada, STC Pay, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay | Partly. mada at 1.00% and STC Pay at 0.90%, with the base Visa and Mastercard rate shown as an image rather than text |
| Checkout.com | Processes mada since 2019 | No. Pricing page asks you to contact the team |
| Stripe | Does not list Saudi Arabia as a supported merchant country | Not applicable |
One pattern holds across every published rate card: mada is priced far below international credit cards. Telr at 1% against 2.60% to 3%, PayTabs at 1% against 2.25%, Amazon Payment Services at 1.00%. Your card mix, not the headline rate, decides your real cost, and a cheaper-looking table can be more expensive if your traffic is distributed differently from the assumption behind it.
How to compare offers properly
Take the percentage split of your own volume between mada and international cards, apply each provider’s rates to it, and add the monthly fee. That blended number is the only comparable figure. Two providers with identical headline rates can differ by a third once your mix is applied.
Then ask about four things that never appear on a pricing page. What happens to the fee when you refund a customer, and is there a separate refund charge? Is the fixed per-transaction fee charged per approval or per attempt including declines? What is the chargeback fee, and is it returned if you win? And what are the exit terms, including whether stored card tokens can be migrated?
The last one carries the highest switching cost and is asked least often. If the contract is silent on token migration, leaving means asking every stored customer to enter their card again.
Why the approval rate matters more than the rate card
A merchant discount rate applies to transactions that succeed. Authorization rate decides how many transactions exist to charge a rate against. On a million in monthly card volume, 0.2 points of MDR is worth 2,000 a month, while two points of authorization rate is worth 20,000 in captured revenue.
Ask each shortlisted provider for its authorization rate on a card mix like yours over the last ninety days, and ask how it defines the figure before you accept the number. Approvals over attempts is not the same as approvals over attempts with 3-D Secure abandonment excluded. No verifiable Saudi benchmark is published, so the only meaningful comparison is against your current provider’s, measured the same way.
Why HyperPay
We are the entity that contracts with you and settles your funds, not a layer sitting on top of someone whose name you have not been told. The SAMA Electronic Money Institution licence in the table above is ours, and the Saudi Payments permits that allow mada acceptance are ours too.
Behind that sit eleven payment methods on one integration, PCI DSS v4.0.1 Level 1 certification with ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO 22301, and products built for specific business models rather than one shape imposed on everyone: HyperSplit for marketplaces, HyperBill for invoicing, HyperTap for in-store acceptance, and HyperHospitality for hotels.
Bring your actual card mix and the four contract questions above. Talk to our team and get the answers in writing.
Top Asked Questions about Best Payment Gateway in Saudi Arabia
Which payment gateway is cheapest in Saudi Arabia?
There is no single answer, because only three providers publish rates. Telr publishes a full table starting at SAR 99 per month with 3% + SAR 1 on credit cards and Mada at 1%, before VAT. What is actually cheapest depends on the share of your volume running on mada versus international cards.
Can any payment gateway settle money into my Saudi bank account?
No. SAMA Circular 46004436 of 24 July 2024 allows purely technical linkage providers to operate without a licence, but requires merchant contracting, KYC and AML checks, and final settlement into merchant accounts to be performed by a SAMA-licensed institution or a bank. Ask which entity settles, by name.
Is HyperPay licensed by SAMA?
Yes. The public register lists Hyperpay Inc Saudi Information Systems Technology Company as an Electronic Money Institution, unified number 7016872546, with the licence valid to 29 December 2029. HyperPay also holds Payment Technology Service Provider and eMSP Payment Gateway permits from Saudi Payments.
Does Stripe work for Saudi merchants?
Stripe’s Global Availability page does not list Saudi Arabia among supported merchant countries, while it does list the UAE. Any comparison placing Stripe among a Saudi merchant’s options contradicts Stripe’s own published disclosure. Check the page yourself before planning an integration.
What should I ask a provider before signing?
Ask for its authorization rate on a card mix like yours and how it is defined, what happens to the fee on a refund, which licensed entity settles your funds, and what migration off the platform looks like, including stored card tokens. Get all four answers written into the agreement.
Do I need to support mada?
Yes. Mada is the national network most Saudi customers pay with, and it is priced well below international credit cards by every provider that publishes rates. A Saudi checkout without Mada is asking a majority of the market to use a card they may not have.