- Compares Amazon Payment Services, PayTabs Paymes and Telr in Saudi Arabia, and Stripe, Telr, Ziina and Shopify Payments in the UAE.
- mada debit costs about 1% at Saudi gateways, against 2–3% plus SAR 1 for credit cards, so your mix drives the bill.
- On Shopify in Saudi Arabia, the third-party transaction fee is often the biggest single cost. Shopify Payments isn't offered there.
- Gateways that only quote on request, like Tap, HyperPay and Checkout.com, are listed separately so you know whom to ask.
Which payment gateway will cost your store the least each month? The answer depends on how your customers pay.
This calculator takes your card sales, order count and payment mix. It then ranks the Saudi or UAE gateways that publish their prices, with VAT and Shopify fees included.
Payment gateway fee comparator
Estimated monthly cost of gateways that publish their rates
Where is your business registered?
These gateways onboard Saudi entities (CR or, for some, a freelance licence) and settle in SAR.
Average ticket: SAR 200.00
Apple Pay is priced as the card inside it. Exception: Amazon Payment Services charges Apple Pay at its card rate, even for mada.
Store platform
Shopify plan
Shopify adds a 2.0% transaction fee to every order paid through a third-party gateway.
Cheapest published option: PayTabs Paymes
effective rate: 4.07%
Shopify's fee here is SAR 1,000. On Grow it would be SAR 500 (before the plan price difference).
Estimated monthly cost
- Processing (% + fixed)
- Monthly fee
- Shopify transaction fee
- VAT on gateway fees (15%)
#1PayTabs PaymesCheapest
SAR 2,034 · 4.07%
Paymes SuperApp pricing ("testing phase"). International cards assumed at the credit rate.
#2Telr KSA
SAR 2,172 – SAR 2,448 · 4.34%–4.90%
Published as a range: cards 2.6-3% + SAR 1, SAR 99-259/month. Bar shows low to high.
#3Amazon Payment Services
SAR 2,651 · 5.30%
Standard Plan. Apple Pay billed at card rate. International card rates may differ.
Quote-based gateways
These do not publish rates, so we can't rank them. Ask each for a written rate card split by method.
- Tap Payments — Native Shopify checkout app; mada, Apple Pay, Jaywan (UAE), KNET.
- HyperPay — Riyadh-based, Shopify app. Only third-party estimates exist.
- Moyasar — Saudi entities only (CR or freelance licence); STC Pay supported.
- Checkout.com — Enterprise acquirer, flat-rate or interchange++. mada for KSA entities only.
- Geidea — Rates negotiated per merchant. Shopify app with Tabby and Tamara.
Shopify adds a 2.0% transaction fee to every order paid through a third-party gateway.
Estimates based on published fees as of October 2026; confirm with the provider. Excludes refunds, chargebacks, FX, payout and setup fees. Shopify plan subscriptions not included.
How to use the calculator
It takes about two minutes:
- 1
Pick your country
Choose where your business is registered: Saudi Arabia or the UAE. Each has its own set of gateways.
- 2
Enter volume and orders
Type your monthly card sales and the number of card orders. The calculator shows your average ticket, which drives the fixed per-order fees.
- 3
Set your payment mix
Slide the shares of local debit, local credit and international cards. They always add up to 100%. Then set how many orders use Apple Pay.
- 4
Choose your platform
Pick Shopify and your plan, or another platform. Shopify adds its own fee when you use a third-party gateway.
- 5
Compare the ranking
Gateways are sorted cheapest first. Open each one to see processing, monthly fee, Shopify fee and VAT.
What's included, and how it works
Each gateway's cost is built from its published rate card:
- Processing. A percentage of each payment plus a fixed fee per order. In Saudi Arabia, mada debit costs about 1% at all three gateways. Credit cards cost 2.25–3%, plus SAR 1 per order.
- Monthly fee. From SAR 49 for PayTabs Paymes up to SAR 259 at Telr KSA. Telr UAE picks a tier from your volume, and its monthly fee drops as you grow.
- International cards. In the UAE, Stripe, Telr and Ziina add a surcharge for foreign cards.
- VAT on fees. 15% in Saudi Arabia and 5% in the UAE, charged on the gateway's fees, not on your sales.
- Shopify's fee. 2% on Basic, down to 0.2% on Plus, on every order through a third-party gateway. Shopify Payments, available only in the UAE, skips it.
Telr KSA publishes a price range rather than fixed tiers, so it shows as a low-to-high bar. Gateways that don't publish prices appear in a separate list.
Worked example: a Saudi Shopify store
Take the calculator's starting point. A Shopify Basic store in Saudi Arabia takes SAR 50,000 a month across 250 card orders.
60% of orders are paid with mada, 30% with Saudi credit cards and 10% with foreign cards. 40% go through Apple Pay.
| Gateway | Monthly cost | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| PayTabs Paymes | about SAR 2,034 | 4.1% |
| Telr KSA | SAR 2,172–2,448 | 4.3–4.9% |
| Amazon Payment Services | about SAR 2,651 | 5.3% |
Here's the catch: SAR 1,000 of every bill is Shopify's 2% fee. Switch the platform to "Other platform" and PayTabs drops to about SAR 1,034.
Moving to Shopify Grow halves that fee. So once your sales grow, check whether a bigger plan pays for itself.
The same store in the UAE
Now switch the country to the UAE. The default store takes AED 50,000 from 200 orders, with 20% on foreign cards.
| Gateway | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Shopify Payments | about AED 1,733 |
| Telr UAE (Medium tier) | about AED 2,339 |
| Ziina | about AED 2,733 |
| Stripe UAE | about AED 2,838 |
Shopify Payments wins because it skips Shopify's AED 1,000 fee. Off Shopify, Telr's Medium tier is the cheapest, since it has no monthly fee and a low fixed charge.
Drop the volume below AED 50,000 and Telr moves to a tier with a monthly fee. Small stores should test their real numbers.
Related guides
What each fee means and how to read a gateway's rate card.
Which gateways work with Shopify in the Kingdom, and how they compare.
Why mada is cheaper than credit cards and how to get the best rate.
Ready to talk to providers? Browse the payment gateway directory or see all our free seller tools.
Frequently asked questions
Among gateways with published prices, PayTabs Paymes usually comes out lowest for small and mid-sized stores, thanks to its SAR 49 monthly fee. Quote-based gateways such as Tap or HyperPay set rates by volume, so a growing store should get written offers too.
Sources & further reading
- Amazon Payment Services pricing — Amazon Payment Services
- PayTabs pricing — PayTabs
- Telr pricing — Telr
- Stripe pricing (UAE) — Stripe
- Ziina for business — Ziina
- Third-party payment providers — Shopify
This guide is for general information only and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and fees change — always confirm with the official source or a licensed advisor.
Maya is MiddleEastEcom's lead guide and editor. She researches GCC marketplaces, payments and regulations and turns them into practical playbooks for sellers.
Meet Maya
