Paystack, Hubtel or Flutterwave: which payment gateway suits a Ghana online store?

Paystack, Hubtel and Flutterwave all take mobile money and cards for Ghanaian online stores. Their published online checkout fees in Ghana run from 1% to 4.8% per payment, and the gap between them shows up in four places: the mobile money rate, the international card rate, who carries the fee and how the money reaches you.

Tribal House builds online stores in Accra. Every fee below comes from each provider's own Ghana pricing, help or developer pages, checked on 18 October 2026. If a provider publishes no figure, we say so. For the cost of building the store itself, read our guide to what an e-commerce website costs in Ghana.

What do Paystack, Hubtel and Flutterwave charge per payment in Ghana?

Paystack charges 1.95% on local and international payments in Ghana. Hubtel charges 1.95% on MTN MoMo, Telecel Cash and Visa or Mastercard online payments when the business carries the fee, and 2.5% on AT Money. Flutterwave charges 2% on mobile money and bank transfer, 2.6% on local cards and 4.8% on international cards.

Flutterwave states that its prices exclude VAT and other local taxes. Paystack offers volume discounts to large merchants without publishing the tiers. Hubtel publishes rebates of 10% to 30% of fees for businesses that absorb fees and process GHS 20 million or more a month.

Which mobile money networks does each gateway accept?

All three gateways accept the three Ghanaian mobile money networks: MTN MoMo, Telecel Cash and AT Money (the old AirtelTigo Money). Hubtel also lists G-Money and GHQR in its fee table. The rate per network differs only at Hubtel, where AT Money costs 2.5% against 1.95% for the other two.

• Paystack lists MTN, Airtel/Tigo and Telecel at 1.95% in its help article on mobile money.
• Hubtel lists MTN Mobile Money, Telecel Cash, AT Money, G-Money and GHQR, each with its own rate.
• Flutterwave names MTN, Telecel and Airtel in its Ghana developer guide. Customers enter a one-time code at checkout, then approve the prompt with their MoMo PIN.

A mobile money payment can fail at the prompt: the customer misses it, types a wrong PIN or runs short of balance. Ask your developer to test a declined prompt and a timeout before launch, and to confirm each order only after the gateway's webhook reports success.

What does an international card payment cost on each gateway?

Paystack charges 1.95% on international cards in Ghana, the same as its local rate, and settles them in cedis by default. Flutterwave charges 4.8%. Hubtel lists Visa and Mastercard at 1.95% for card-not-present payments but publishes no separate international rate, so ask Hubtel in writing before you market to buyers abroad.

On GHS 10,000 of foreign card sales, Paystack's 1.95% comes to GHS 195 and Flutterwave's 4.8% to GHS 480. If you plan to sell beyond Ghana, our guide to website design for West Africa covers currency, delivery and checkout choices by market.

Who pays the gateway fee, you or your customer?

Flutterwave and Hubtel let you choose who carries the fee, and their defaults differ. Flutterwave's customers bear the charge by default, and you change that in the dashboard. Paystack's Ghana calculator deducts its 1.95% from what it settles to you. Hubtel publishes two fee tables, one for each choice, and the customer-pays table is cheaper.

Hubtel adds the fee to the request when the customer pays. For a GHS 100 order at 1%, it asks the customer for GHS 101. The customer-pays rates on Hubtel's Service Fees page:

Passing the fee on lowers your cost but raises the price at checkout. The alternative is to absorb the fee and build it into product prices.

How much does each gateway take from GHS 50,000 of monthly sales?

A store selling GHS 50,000 a month, with 60% paid by mobile money and 40% by local card, pays GHS 975 in fees on Paystack, GHS 975 on Hubtel with the business carrying the fee, and GHS 1,120 on Flutterwave before VAT. The sums below use each provider's published Ghana rates.

The split gives GHS 30,000 in mobile money (50,000 x 0.6) and GHS 20,000 in card payments (50,000 x 0.4). We assume the mobile money comes through MTN and Telecel and that all cards are Ghanaian.

Over a year, Flutterwave costs GHS 1,740 more than the other two on this mix (13,440 minus 11,700), plus VAT, which its page excludes. Two changes move the Hubtel figure. If all GHS 30,000 of mobile money arrived through AT Money at 2.5%, that line would be GHS 750 and the month GHS 1,140. If your customers carry the fee on Hubtel, your cost on this mix falls to zero, and each customer pays about 1% more at checkout.

Payout costs sit outside these sums. Paystack and Flutterwave settle to you the next day at no published charge. Hubtel's send-money fees are listed below; ask Hubtel whether they apply when you withdraw your own balance.

How fast does the money reach your bank account or MoMo wallet?

Paystack settles to your bank account or mobile money wallet on the next working day, so Monday's sales arrive on Tuesday. Flutterwave pays local payments out the next day. Hubtel headlines "Instant Settlement" on its developer page and offers transfers to MoMo wallets and banks, but publishes no settlement timeline.

What documents do you need to open a merchant account?

Paystack and Flutterwave publish document lists for each type of Ghanaian business, and Paystack also accepts unregistered starter businesses with a personal ID, a TIN and a personal bank or MoMo account. Hubtel's KYC policy asks for a legitimate business, a national ID for individuals and licences for regulated trades.

Register the business and get its TIN before you build the checkout. On a Paystack starter account, a name mismatch between the ID and the bank account stops activation.

Can you charge subscriptions or recurring payments?

Recurring billing works on cards with Paystack and Flutterwave. Paystack's help article states that customers cannot make recurring payments through mobile money, and Flutterwave's payment plans run on card transactions alone. Hubtel publishes no recurring billing terms on the fee, legal or developer pages we checked on 18 October 2026.

• Paystack plans bill hourly to yearly, according to its developer documentation. Its WooCommerce plugin renews Visa and Mastercard subscriptions through the WooCommerce Subscriptions add-on.
• Flutterwave offers payment plans, saved card tokens and bank direct debit, with payment plans limited to cards.
• Hubtel merchants with a membership or school-fee model should ask Hubtel for its recurring terms in writing.

A subscription business with mobile money customers needs a fallback: a monthly payment link sent by SMS or WhatsApp, with a reminder before the due date.

Which gateways plug into WooCommerce and Shopify?

Paystack and Flutterwave both publish their own WooCommerce plugins and Shopify apps. Paystack's WooCommerce plugin names Ghanaian merchants and Ghana mobile money, and its Shopify listing names Ghana. Hubtel's developer page lists APIs and no plugins; the WooCommerce plugin for Hubtel on WordPress.org states that it has no affiliation with Hubtel.

• Paystack for WooCommerce (WordPress.org): for merchants in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa; cards and Ghana mobile money; refunds from the order page.
• Paystack for Shopify (Shopify App Store): lists Ghana among six countries, free to install.
• Flutterwave for WooCommerce (WordPress.org): billed as the official plugin; card, mobile money, bank transfer and USSD; subscriptions.
• Flutterwave for Shopify (Shopify App Store): published by Flutterwave, free to install.
• Payments for Hubtel (WordPress.org): built by an independent developer, sold with a separate activation key, supported by the developer.

A custom-built store can use any of the three through its API. Budget the integration and testing time in the build quote; our website cost guide shows where payment work sits in a typical scope.

How do refunds work on each gateway?

Paystack refunds reach the customer within 3 to 10 working days and Paystack keeps its original fee. Flutterwave returns card refunds in 3 to 15 days and mobile money refunds in 3 to 5 days. Hubtel reviews refund requests sent by email or in writing and returns approved refunds to the original wallet or card.

• Paystack: full or partial refunds from the dashboard. From 15 October 2026, a refund or dispute must fall within one year of the transaction.
• Flutterwave: refunds go through its API from your available balance and can be partial. Bank account refunds complete within 24 hours.
• Hubtel: covers double debits, processing errors, duplicate payments and unfulfilled services. Requests go to support@hubtel.com or Hubtel's social and app channels, with no published timeline.

Write your store's return policy to match the slowest channel you accept, and state on the checkout page that card refunds take longer than MoMo refunds.

Does the E-Levy still apply to mobile money payments?

No. The Electronic Transfer Levy (Repeal) Act, 2025 (Act 1128) took effect on 2 April 2025, according to EY's tax alert on Ghana's 2025 budget laws. The levy no longer applies to mobile money payments made at an online checkout. Guides that add the levy to mobile money checkout costs predate the repeal.

Gateway fees and Flutterwave's VAT note are separate from the levy, so the worked example still applies.

Which gateway suits which kind of Ghanaian business?

Pick on your sales mix first and your platform second. A MoMo-heavy local store pays least on Paystack or Hubtel at 1.95%. A store selling to the diaspora pays least on Paystack's 1.95% international rate. A Shopify store has official apps from Paystack and Flutterwave. A subscription business needs cards, on Paystack or Flutterwave.

Buyers also judge the payment step on how it looks; our piece on fintech brand design in West Africa covers the trust signals around money. With any of the three, ask for the fee schedule in writing at sign-up, since published rates change and negotiated rates are private.

What does Tribal House charge to build a store with a payment gateway?

Tribal House publishes its starting prices: project sprints from US$2,500, brand and website projects from US$6,000 and monthly retainers from US$1,500. We send a written scope and fee after a 30-minute discovery call. Projects are invoiced 40% at kickoff, 40% during production and 20% at delivery.

Brand and website projects ship in four to eight weeks, and each launch includes Loom walkthroughs, a CMS guide and a launch checklist. See our plans, recent projects and services, or book a call.