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NOWPayments

Features
Ease of use
Ease of management
Quality of support
Affordability
Market presence
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Pricing from
Pay-as-you-go
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What is NOWPayments

NOWPayments is a cryptocurrency payment gateway that lets merchants accept crypto payments and receive settlement in supported cryptocurrencies. It provides APIs, plugins, and invoicing tools to integrate crypto checkout into e-commerce sites, online services, and donation flows. The product focuses on multi-currency support and merchant-facing payment processing rather than consumer self-custody.

pros

Broad crypto payment coverage

NOWPayments supports accepting payments in many cryptocurrencies, which helps merchants offer multiple payment options without building separate integrations per asset. It also supports common merchant flows such as invoices and payment links. This breadth is useful for businesses serving international customers who prefer different networks and tokens.

Integration options for merchants

The product offers API-based integration as well as prebuilt plugins for common website and e-commerce platforms. This reduces implementation effort compared with building a custom blockchain payment stack. It also fits both hosted checkout and embedded payment experiences depending on the merchant’s technical needs.

Merchant-oriented operational features

NOWPayments includes tools oriented to business operations, such as payment status tracking and configurable payment settings (for example, confirmations and timeouts). These features help reconcile orders and manage payment windows in volatile network conditions. The focus on merchant workflows differentiates it from consumer wallet products.

cons

Not a full custody platform

NOWPayments is primarily a payment gateway and does not provide the same institutional custody, treasury management, or policy controls as dedicated digital-asset custody platforms. Organizations needing multi-user governance, advanced key management, or regulated custody may require additional systems. This can increase overall architecture complexity for larger firms.

Crypto settlement exposure

Settlement is typically in cryptocurrency, so merchants may still face volatility and accounting complexity compared with fiat-first payment processors. Businesses that require guaranteed fiat settlement, chargeback-like dispute tooling, or card-network style protections may find gaps. Tax and bookkeeping workflows often require third-party support.

Dependency on network conditions

Payment finality depends on blockchain confirmations and network fees, which can affect checkout time and user experience. Congestion or high fees on certain networks can lead to delayed payments or abandoned carts. Merchants may need to tune confirmation requirements and supported networks to balance risk and conversion.

Plan & Pricing

Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go Service fees: 0.5% for payments without exchange (merchant receives same crypto as payer); 1% for multi-currency payments, Fixed Rate payments, and when "fee paid by user" option is enabled. (Service fee is charged from the final payment amount before payout.) Network (blockchain) fees: Variable; charged per blockchain transaction and depend on blockchain/workload/speed. Non-custodial flow may incur network fees for deposit and payout; Custody incurs one network fee when sending to custody balance. Conversions / Custody: Conversions inside Custody are charged 0.5% service fee per conversion; mass payouts are not subject to NOWPayments service fees (only network fees). Setup / monthly fees: No setup or monthly subscription fees stated on the official pricing/docs pages. Example costs: For a $100 single-currency payment, service fee = $0.50 (0.5%). For a $100 payment requiring exchange, total service+exchange = $1.00 (1%). Notes: Fixed Rate Exchange option rounds total transaction fee to 1% when enabled; fiat conversion / on-ramp fees are documented separately on the site.

Source pages used: NOWPayments official Pricing and Help (Fees) pages.

Seller details

NOWPayments
Private
https://nowpayments.io/
https://x.com/NOWPayments_io
https://www.linkedin.com/company/nowpayments/

Tools by NOWPayments

NOWPayments
NOWPayments

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