BitPay vs CoinPayments 2026: Fees, Payouts and Merchant Fit
Start with BitPay if your US or Canadian shop qualifies and you need a bank payout with published terms. Consider CoinPayments if a crypto balance with scheduled wallet transfers suits you, once you know your account's price. Its lower starting rate is for coins; tokens, other platforms and extra costs can change the bill. New European merchants face availability limits at both. Pick by what each will approve, how you need to be paid and how much store work you can take on.
On 15 October 2026 we read both providers' public prices, country policies, bank guidance and invoice and integration documentation, plus selected clauses of CoinPayments' agreements. For BitPay's acceptance terms we're relying on our 11 October reading, which we didn't refresh for this comparison, and older licence-register and asset-list evidence keeps its original date. The examples are our own calculations. We didn't open accounts, install modules, make payments or measure support. Our ranking methodology explains the preliminary scores.
Can your business use either gateway?
BitPay's onboarding help covers US and Canadian applications and says new EEA, UK and Australian applications are paused. Its country list isn't exhaustive, and state and product limits still apply.[2] CoinPayments' FAQ says its EU/EEA service stopped after 1 July 2026, account access is paused and no restart is confirmed.[3]
CoinPayments lists the jurisdictions it can't serve and can decline others too, so a country missing from that list isn't a green light.[7]
It also matters which company signs your agreement. BitPay's terms treat the Inc. and the B.V. differently, and CoinPayments links two agreements: a September 2025 one naming CoinPayments Inc./PaidInSatoshi and a March 2026 one with Centauri. Your own agreement shows which one is yours; a footer or a regional account label is no guide. Centauri's agreement mentions a licence application and a partner registration, but those are its own statements and we haven't matched them to a permission covering your account.[9]
Neither provider's published policy lets us recommend a simple new EEA launch, so line up a lawful alternative before you plan checkout. If you already have an account, check whether its service and your balance are still reachable.
This is general information, not legal advice.
How do their fees compare?
BitPay's standard price is easy to read: 2% plus $0.25 per paid invoice while your cumulative monthly volume is below $500,000. It also publishes volume bands: 1.5% plus $0.25 from $500,000 and 1% plus $0.25 from $1 million. High-risk businesses pay more, at prices it doesn't publish.[1]
CoinPayments publishes several prices, and nothing says which one is yours. Its V2 fee page starts at 0.5% for coins and 1% for tokens, while its other live fee schedule starts at 3% for both.[4][5] The FAQ describes a new platform, but nothing there puts every new merchant on V2 pricing, and its allowance for personal wallets doesn't apply to merchants collecting payments.
BitPay also charges a non-refundable application fee, even if the application is denied or withdrawn, and doesn't publish the amount.[6] The comparison below leaves it out, so ask what it is before you apply.
The calculator covers only the fees on incoming payments, and assumes both providers approve your business and receiving setup. For CoinPayments it uses the 0.5% coin rate, not the 1% token rate or the unclear 3% schedule, and for BitPay a single monthly band, so invoices that cross a threshold aren't modelled. It leaves out minimums, network and conversion costs, bank and account charges, and refund or exit costs, so what it shows isn't what reaches your bank. An unknown cost isn't a free one. The BitPay fee guide and CoinPayments fee guide cover the other costs.
CoinPaymentsLowest estimate$50$50 0.50%Confirm rate
BitPay$225$225 2.25%
Published rate estimates only. Provider minimums, network, conversion, bank and account charges may be extra.
Why does order size change the answer?
More orders mean more flat charges at BitPay, even when monthly sales stay the same.
The example covers only the fees on incoming payments, before the other costs listed above. The sales figure and CoinPayments' 0.5%, 1% and unclear 3% rates are reference points we picked, not quotes for any account.
Don't rebuild your checkout over a headline gap alone. The full fee calculator guide covers what the model leaves out.
Who controls the money after a customer pays?
Both put an intermediary between the customer and you, but the legal setups differ. BitPay's acceptance terms, effective 1 April 2026, describe a payment agent, not an ordinary cryptocurrency custodian. You have a claim to settlement, not to the exact coins that came in. If crypto settlement fails, the terms fix the ledger value in dollars or euros instead of holding the same amount of coin for later delivery.[6]
The September 2025 CoinPayments/PaidInSatoshi agreement describes hosted assets pooled with other users' assets, with losses shared proportionally if the pool has a shortfall it can't reconcile.[8] Neither setup is insurance, and neither promises that your funds are kept apart or always reachable. A ledger balance isn't spendable bank cash.
The score bars below are an overall rating. They say nothing about whether your account would be approved, how safe the provider is or whether it fits your products.
The table below uses older asset counts and licence evidence, including regulatory checks from 11 October, so it may not match what's switched on for your account today. Its custody labels also blur the difference described above, agent versus pooled assets.
The table's money rows count only the fees on incoming coin payments, before the other costs above. They use the same inputs as the calculator: CoinPayments' 0.5% coin rate and one whole-month band for BitPay.
| BitPay | CoinPayments | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73/100 · #3 | 53/100 · #13 |
| Payment fee | 2% + $0.25 | from 0.5% |
| Cost on $10k/month | $225 | $50.00 |
| Pays out to bank | AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, MXN, NZD, USD | Not stated |
| Stablecoin networks | USDC: Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Solana · USDT: Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Solana · PYUSD: Ethereum · GUSD: Ethereum · USDP: Ethereum · EURC: Ethereum · BUSD: Ethereum, Polygon | USDT: ERC20, BEP20, TRC20, Arbitrum, Polygon, Solana · USDC: ERC20, BEP20, Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, Solana · DAI: ERC20 · TUSD: ERC20, TRC20 |
| Coins | 19 | 40 |
| Custody | Custodial | Custodial |
| Merchant KYC | Required | Required |
| Rolling reserve | Not stated | Not stated |
| Licence | Money transmitter (NMLS ID) (1496848); Virtual Currency Business Activity licence (NYDFS) | Unspecified EU licensing claim on the separate /home page; root does not repeat that heading. Entity, regulator, number, permissions and EU/EEA service restart unconfirmed. |
| Plugins | WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento 2, WHMCS, Wix, BigCommerce | WooCommerce, WHMCS |
| Legal entity country | United States | Not stated |
| Founded | 2011 | 2013 |
The BitPay review and CoinPayments review show the evidence behind each cell.
Which is clearer about paying you into a bank?
BitPay publishes more bank detail. It issues eligible settlements on business days once you're above the minimum, and the bank credit follows. Its developer table gives a $20 minimum for US ACH and two business days after issue. Non-US dollar wires have a $10,000 minimum, and the table says nothing about how long a wire takes.[10]
BitPay's European minimums conflict. The developer docs say €500 and £500, while the help page, updated 7 October, says €100 and £1,000, so ask which applies to your account. The help page also covers miner fees on crypto settlement. Those are for the crypto transfer, not conversion or every bank charge.[11]
CoinPayments advertises bank payouts where they're available, depending on its partners, your jurisdiction, technical feasibility, fees and timing.[23] We couldn't find which bank partner, payment rail, fees, minimum or arrival time would apply to you. The preferred fiat currency in its account guide is only a display setting, not an offer of bank settlement.
The alternative is CoinPayments' balance, or its forwarding options: immediate, hourly, nightly or weekly. Settings apply per currency, and batched forwarding carries a network charge on your side for each outgoing batch.[13] The buyer still pays their own sending fee. The documentation doesn't promise one batch across every asset or say when money reaches a bank.
Which coins and checks matter for your customers?
Look at the exact coin and network on both sides of checkout. BitPay's invoice help lists bitcoin (including Lightning), Ethereum-family networks and Solana, with USDC and USDT. Availability varies by merchant or shopper location, and TRON and BNB Smart Chain aren't listed.[20] CoinPayments' V2 withdrawal catalogue lists token-network pairs for withdrawals, which may not match what's enabled at checkout.
A coin listed for storage, payment, conversion or settlement isn't necessarily available for the others, so compare like with like. Your receiving wallet has to handle the coin and network too.
Both want business paperwork. CoinPayments verifies incorporated and unincorporated businesses differently and checks owners and associated people; personal accounts lack commercial tools.[15] BitPay asks for an active business website, owner information and a bank account in the business's name. Its approved daily and annual limit is a different cap from the monthly price bands.[21] Neither document promises how long an application or a later hold will take.
What you sell matters too. BitPay prohibits some businesses, including sexually explicit content and services, and puts others, such as forex and lawful gambling, in a restricted category that needs express approval.[6] CoinPayments' contracts restrict sexually related services and unlawful businesses, with an online-gaming exception that requires lawful authorisation in both the sender's and the recipient's jurisdictions.[9] That exception doesn't approve a particular operator.
Will either work with your store and renewals?
CoinPayments' current WooCommerce guide describes a newer SDK module that uses Client ID and Secret credentials. It's a different package from the older Merchant ID and IPN one in our earlier review. CoinPayments says it tested WooCommerce 10.8.1 with PHP 8.2 on Debian 13; we haven't installed the module.[16] Your developer can tell you which package fits your account.
CoinPayments says paid means confirmed funds held by the provider, while completed means your merchant balance has been credited, and completed is its published trigger for fulfilling an order.[12] Its module guides mention both events for order updates, so have your developer check how your store maps them. We haven't found that the wording difference causes a fault. A browser return or a detected payment can come before you've been credited.
Recurring billing still needs a person behind it. CoinPayments' WHMCS module lets customers pay renewal invoices, for the versions CoinPayments says it tested.[17] BitPay schedules emailed bills that customers open and pay.[22] Neither flow described pulls money automatically from a customer's own wallet, so if you're replacing an automatic subscription system, someone has to send reminders and chase missed renewals.
What happens when a customer needs money back?
A refund on a normal sale is one thing; an incomplete, late or excess payment is another. BitPay's docs cover full and partial refunds, customer receiving details and a fee setting that defaults to the merchant paying. A created request isn't a finished return, so ask how it's funded, how the value is converted, who pays the fee and when the customer gets the money under your BitPay entity's agreement.[18]
CoinPayments' payment-exceptions guide describes buyers making claims and network fees being deducted. It sets the minimum for an excess-payment refund at one network fee. The 60-minute checkout rate lock isn't a refund deadline.[14]
The two linked agreements say something different: an excess refund needs at least twice the network fee, a claim within 90 days and funds still held by the provider. Manual recovery of errors costs 8% if the money is recoverable, and also needs prompt contact and a currency CoinPayments handles, with small cases at its discretion.[8][9] That 8% is a recovery charge rather than a refund fee, and recovery isn't promised.
Someone should track each order's amount received, whether it's credited, the refund value, any deductions and the final transaction reference, and follow up with the buyer if a claim stays open.
What happens if you stop using the account?
Closing your checkout doesn't close the account. Under the CoinPayments/PaidInSatoshi agreement, twelve months without a qualifying transaction can trigger a 5.5% dormancy charge for each qualifying period and each dormant account, and logging in doesn't count. Centauri's agreement relies instead on state unclaimed-property law and permitted dormancy provisions, so don't assume the 5.5% rate carries over.[8][9]
Both CoinPayments contracts linked above require a closed balance to be claimed and removed within 30 days. Recovering it later can cost you under certain conditions, and debts and other obligations can remain. BitPay's closure terms say it keeps fees already incurred, plus possible transfer costs, on a balance below the minimum. Both providers' terms allow holds or delays and give no single deadline for releasing money.[6]
- 01
Get the new provider approved
Before you schedule a switch, make sure the new provider will approve your company, owners, countries and activity, and that you've seen its agreement, your price and how you'll be paid.
- 02
Check your integration
Have your developer check credited-order handling, short and expired payments, refunds and repeated notifications in the right package.
- 03
Keep the old records
Match up invoices, fees, transfers, returns and open renewals. Keep your access to the old account until what's still owed is dealt with.
- 04
Finish the exit
Find out how to withdraw and close lawfully, what deductions remain and who answers customer claims. Balances, permissions and renewal agreements don't carry over on their own.
Which should you choose for five common situations?
Pick the one that will approve your business and pay you the way you need.
| Your situation | Starting point | Catch before choosing |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary US or Canadian shop that needs money in a bank | Look at BitPay | BitPay has to approve your company, owners, customer markets and activity, and you still need the full price and bank details |
| New EEA merchant | Neither is a simple recommendation | Both have published availability restrictions, and marketing pages aren't evidence of reopening |
| Seller with many small orders | Compare your confirmed CoinPayments price with BitPay's | BitPay's flat charge matters, but network fees and a different CoinPayments schedule can change the result |
| Stablecoin or token merchant | Compare the exact coin and network each approves for you | CoinPayments' coin calculator doesn't model tokens, and checkout and receiving networks may differ |
| Business with frequent returns or renewals | Compare how much staff time each needs | Someone has to map credited orders, handle refund claims, fund returns and chase customer-paid renewals |
- BitPay publishes standard volume bands and bank settlement details for each payout method.
- CoinPayments lets you hold a balance and has several schedules for forwarding crypto.
- Both publish store and invoice guidance your developer can check against how you work.
- Once you have account prices and know how you'll be paid, you can budget around real order sizes.
- BitPay's flat charge weighs on small orders, and its application fee is mandatory but unpublished.
- CoinPayments' overlapping fee schedules leave your account price unclear.
- Availability restrictions in Europe mean we can't recommend either for a new account.
- BitPay's bank minimums conflict in Europe, CoinPayments' bank partners are unknown, and both can hold funds and attach conditions to refunds.
Public review ratings and advertised support coverage say little about how reliable either company is for merchants, and we haven't measured how well either resolves problems or recovers funds. The same limits apply to NOWPayments versus CoinPayments, and our processor selection guide shows how to put the same questions to each provider.
What evidence supports the comparison?
Show the evidence log (8 checks)+
| Checked | What we checked | Finding | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-15 | BitPay availability | BitPay takes US and Canadian applications. New EEA, UK and Australian onboarding is paused, and other limits apply. | BitPay Support |
| 2026-10-15 | CoinPayments availability | The FAQ still says EU/EEA service has ended and no restart is confirmed. | CoinPayments FAQ |
| 2026-10-15 | Fee schedules | V2 prices differ for coins and tokens, and a second live schedule leaves your price unclear. | CoinPayments fees |
| 2026-10-11 | BitPay custody terms, earlier reading | Not refreshed for this comparison. BitPay is a payment agent, not an ordinary crypto custodian, and you hold a settlement claim, not the coins received. | BitPay Terms |
| 2026-10-15 | CoinPayments custody terms | The agreement pools assets and shares any shortfall, and its dormancy terms differ from Centauri's. | CoinPayments/PaidInSatoshi agreement |
| 2026-10-15 | Bank receiving | BitPay issues a settlement first and the bank credit follows. Its developer docs' European minimums conflict with its help page. | BitPay developer docs |
| 2026-10-15 | Store fulfilment | Completed means the merchant is credited. The module guides' wording about events should be checked against your store. | CoinPayments status guide |
| 2026-10-15 | Payment exceptions | Buyers file claims and deductions apply, and the minimum for excess refunds differs between the documentation and the contracts. | CoinPayments payment errors |
BitPay vs CoinPayments FAQ
Is CoinPayments cheaper than BitPay?
Can a new EU merchant choose either provider?
Which is better if I need bank deposits?
Does the CoinPayments calculator include the token rate?
Do I control the incoming coins at either gateway?
Should my shop fulfil a CoinPayments order when it says paid?
Can either automatically debit subscription customers' wallets?
What should I keep when switching providers?
Change log: 15 October 2026, first published, with fee examples and the limits on each.
Sources
24
Numbers in square brackets in the text link to these sources.
- BitPay merchant pricing · Checked 2026-10-15
- BitPay merchant onboarding countries · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments platform and EU/EEA FAQ · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments V2 fees · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments other live fee schedule · Checked 2026-10-15
- BitPay acceptance terms, effective 1 April 2026; earlier 11 October reading · Checked 2026-10-11
- CoinPayments restricted jurisdictions and agreement links · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments and PaidInSatoshi agreement, September 2025 · Checked 2026-10-15
- Centauri merchant agreement, March 2026 · Checked 2026-10-15
- BitPay banking and settlement documentation · Checked 2026-10-15
- BitPay settlement help and conflicting European floors · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments invoice credit and fulfilment states · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments receiving and forwarding settings · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments payment errors and customer refund claims · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments business verification and display currency · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments current WooCommerce module · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments current WHMCS module and renewals · Checked 2026-10-15
- BitPay refund resource and fee-payer setting · Checked 2026-10-15
- BitPay WooCommerce original directory listing · Checked 2026-10-15
- BitPay invoice assets and networks · Checked 2026-10-15
- BitPay business verification and approved capacity · Checked 2026-10-15
- BitPay recurring customer-paid bills · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments current homepage and partner disclaimer · Checked 2026-10-15
- CoinPayments separate business page claims · Checked 2026-10-15