About 17; min
Singapore merchants choosing a payment gateway in 2026 face a clearer choice than the rest of the world: HitPay, the homegrown player with deep local payment coverage, or Stripe Singapore, the global brand with rich developer tooling. Both work well, but they win different customers. Picking the wrong one means leaving real money on the table—either through higher fees or through missed conversions from customers who wanted to pay via PayNow.
This comparison goes beyond the marketing pages. We tested both on real Singapore transactions, looked at the full fee math for a SGD 50,000 monthly revenue business, examined integration depth with Shopify and WooCommerce, and measured payout times to local bank accounts. The right answer depends on your business model more than any feature list suggests.
The Two Platforms at a Glance
HitPay is a Singapore-founded payment platform built specifically for SMBs in the region. It aggregates major local methods including PayNow, GrabPay, Atome, Shopee Pay, and credit cards under one merchant account. Roughly 25,000 Singapore merchants use HitPay as of 2026.
Stripe Singapore is the local entity of the global payments giant. It supports cards, PayNow (added in 2022), GrabPay, and DBS PayLah! alongside its core international card processing. Stripe’s strength is in developer tooling and global expansion—the same account that takes SGD payments can also take USD, EUR, and 130+ other currencies.
Pricing Breakdown
Fees are where the two platforms diverge most. Here are the actual rates Singapore merchants pay in 2026:
| Payment Method | HitPay | Stripe Singapore |
|---|---|---|
| PayNow QR | 0.7% per transaction | 0.8% + SGD 0.50 |
| Local SG card (Visa/Mastercard) | 2.95% | 3.4% + SGD 0.50 |
| International card | 3.95% | 4.4% + SGD 0.50 |
| GrabPay | 2.6% | 3.4% + SGD 0.50 |
| Atome BNPL | 4.5% | Not supported natively |
| Setup fee | Free | Free |
| Monthly fee | Free | Free |
For a Singapore D2C business doing SGD 50,000 monthly with a 40% PayNow / 50% card / 10% GrabPay mix, the rough fee comparison runs:
- HitPay: ~SGD 140 (PayNow) + ~SGD 738 (cards) + ~SGD 130 (GrabPay) = SGD 1,008/month
- Stripe Singapore: ~SGD 260 (PayNow incl. flat) + ~SGD 850 (cards incl. flat) + ~SGD 170 (GrabPay incl. flat) = SGD 1,280/month
HitPay saves around SGD 270/month at this volume. The gap widens further if your customers skew heavily toward PayNow.
Local Payment Method Coverage
HitPay’s selling point is local breadth. It supports:
- PayNow (the most popular Singapore method)
- GrabPay, ShopeePay, FavePay, AlipayHK
- Atome BNPL, Hoolah BNPL
- Visa, Mastercard, Amex
- DBS PayLah! direct
- WeChat Pay, Alipay (for tourist transactions)
Stripe Singapore covers:
- PayNow
- GrabPay
- DBS PayLah!
- Visa, Mastercard, Amex, JCB, Discover, UnionPay
- Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link
- WeChat Pay, Alipay
If BNPL matters for your business (apparel, electronics, beauty), HitPay’s native Atome and Hoolah support is a real advantage. Stripe requires a third-party integration for BNPL in Singapore.
Developer Experience and Integrations
Stripe wins decisively here. The API is mature, documentation is industry-best, and the developer community is huge. Common languages and frameworks have official SDKs, and Stripe-built tools like Checkout, Payment Element, and Connect cover most use cases.
HitPay’s API is functional but simpler. It supports payment creation, refund handling, and webhook events. The documentation is adequate for direct integration but lacks the depth of Stripe’s. Plugin support for Shopify, WooCommerce, OpenCart, Wix, and others is solid.
For a complex SaaS subscription product with usage-based billing, Stripe is the right choice. For a typical Singapore e-commerce store or service business taking one-off payments, HitPay is more than enough.
Payouts and Settlement
HitPay pays out to your local DBS, OCBC, UOB, or other Singapore bank account daily (T+1) at no extra cost. PayNow transactions settle within hours in some cases.
Stripe Singapore pays out on a T+2 schedule by default. Daily payouts are available, and there are no fees for SGD payouts to local accounts. Multi-currency payouts (USD, EUR, GBP) are available without an FX conversion if you hold balances in those currencies.
For cash flow purposes, both are reasonable. HitPay has a slight edge for businesses that need daily settlement without configuration.
Subscription Billing
Stripe Billing is one of the most mature subscription products on the market. It handles trials, proration, usage-based billing, dunning, and tax automatically. For SaaS companies, this saves engineering effort and reduces failed-payment churn.
HitPay supports basic recurring payments via stored card credentials, but the depth is limited. Complex billing models (per-seat plus usage, hybrid plans, custom invoicing) require manual workarounds.
If subscriptions are central to your business, Stripe is the better choice despite the higher fees. The Billing toolkit alone is worth the price for most SaaS companies.
Dispute and Chargeback Handling
Both platforms charge similar dispute fees (around SGD 20–25). Stripe’s Radar fraud detection is more sophisticated, with machine learning models that catch fraudulent patterns better. HitPay’s fraud tooling is simpler but adequate for most low-risk merchants.
If your business sells high-value digital goods or services in higher-risk categories, Stripe Radar (especially Radar for Fraud Teams at USD 0.07 per screened transaction) gives meaningful protection. For physical products with delivery proof, HitPay’s tooling is usually enough.
Customer Support
HitPay’s support is Singapore-based with response times typically under 2 hours during business days. WhatsApp support is available—a real advantage when something breaks during a busy sale period.
Stripe’s support is global with email and chat. Response times are reasonable but the agents may not understand Singapore-specific nuances like IRAS GST treatment or local bank reconciliation issues.
For Singapore-only merchants, HitPay’s local support is genuinely more useful than Stripe’s broader team.
When to Pick HitPay
- Your customers are predominantly Singapore-based
- PayNow and GrabPay are likely to be heavy in your payment mix
- You sell physical products with BNPL appeal (apparel, beauty, electronics)
- You want the lowest fee structure for typical SG transactions
- You prefer local support and don’t need advanced subscription billing
- You’re under SGD 200K monthly revenue and value simplicity
When to Pick Stripe Singapore
- You sell to international customers as well as Singapore
- You run a subscription SaaS or membership business
- You need advanced features like Connect (marketplaces), Issuing (cards), or Atlas
- Your team has engineering capacity and prefers a deep API
- You expect to expand to multiple countries within 12 months
- Sophisticated fraud detection matters for your category
The Hybrid Approach
Some Singapore merchants run both. Stripe handles the international card volume, while HitPay handles PayNow, GrabPay, and BNPL. This works well for cross-border DTC brands that want the best of both worlds, though it adds reconciliation work on the accounting side.
If you go hybrid, route customers to the gateway with the cheapest fee for their chosen method using a smart routing layer at checkout.
Final Verdict
For most Singapore SMBs in 2026, HitPay is the right default choice. The local payment depth, lower fees, and Singapore-based support save real money and time. Unless you have specific needs that Stripe addresses, HitPay covers the typical SG merchant use case better.
Stripe Singapore wins for SaaS businesses, international sellers, marketplaces, and teams that need its developer toolkit. The higher fees are justified by the depth of features and the global expansion path it enables.
Test both with a small portion of traffic before committing. Real conversion rates by payment method on your specific customer base tell you more than any general comparison can. Pick the gateway that matches how your customers actually want to pay.
