Integrate a Payment Gateway: Options and Costs in LATAM

Accepting payments online seems simple until you run into the fees, the payout timelines and the tangle of webhooks. Integrating a payment gateway in LATAM means choosing between local options like MercadoPago —the leader in Argentina and the region— and international ones like Stripe, with fees ranging from 3% to 6% per transaction depending on the payout timeline. The right decision depends on who you sell to, in what currency and whether you charge once or on a recurring basis.

What it means to integrate a payment gateway

A payment gateway is the intermediary that connects your website with banks and card networks to process payments. Integrating it means connecting your site or application to that service so the customer can pay without leaving your experience (or with a controlled redirect), and so you receive the money and an automatic confirmation.

There are two levels of integration:

• Redirected checkout or payment link: the customer goes to the gateway's page, pays and comes back. Fast to implement, less control over the design.
• Embedded checkout (API): the payment happens inside your website, with your branding. More control and better conversion, but it requires development and compliance with security standards.

Fee table: payment gateways in LATAM 2026

The figures are approximate and vary by country, volume and negotiation. Use them as a reference for comparison, not as an exact rate.

Gateway	Approx. fee (card)	Payout	Best for
MercadoPago	3.5% - 6% + tax	Instant to 30 days	Local LATAM market, installments
Stripe	~2.9% + fixed fee	~7 days	International, subscriptions
PayPal	~4% - 5.4% + fixed	Variable	Customers abroad, freelance
dLocal	Negotiable	Variable	Volume, multi-country LATAM
Mobbex / local AR	2% - 5% + tax	Configurable	Argentina, tight costs

The practical rule: the shorter the payout timeline, the higher the fee. If your cash flow can wait to get paid at 14 or 30 days, you cut your per-transaction cost considerably. If you need the money now, you pay the premium.

How to choose based on your business

There is no perfect gateway, there is the right one for your case. Define it like this:

• You only sell in your country: a local gateway (MercadoPago, Mobbex or equivalent) gives you better approval rates, installments and support in your own language and currency.
• You sell abroad or charge in USD: Stripe or PayPal are almost mandatory. They handle multi-currency and are the international standard.
• You charge subscriptions or recurring payments: Stripe is the benchmark for its handling of recurring billing and automatic retries.
• You're a marketplace with several sellers: you need payment splitting, which narrows your options and demands a more refined integration.

The most common setup for serious LATAM businesses is to integrate two gateways: a local one for the domestic market and an international one for customers abroad. It sounds complex, but done well it always gives the customer the best payment option.

Not sure which gateway suits your case or how much it costs to integrate? Book a 30-minute call and we'll map out the options for your market and your volume, at no cost.

What to consider before integrating

Beyond the fee, these points determine whether the integration will give you headaches:

1. Approval rate. A gateway with a lower fee that rejects many cards costs you more in lost sales. Look at this, not just the percentage.
2. Webhooks and reconciliation. The payment has to update your system automatically: mark the order as paid, send the receipt, deduct stock. Without well-implemented webhooks, you end up reconciling by hand.
3. Failure handling. What happens if the payment stays "pending"? And if the customer closes the window halfway through? A serious integration accounts for these cases, not just the happy path.
4. Security and compliance. Never touch card data directly. Serious gateways handle that for you (tokenization, PCI). If an integration asks you to store card numbers, it's a legal and security problem.
5. Withdrawal timelines and costs. Some charge to transfer your money to your account. Add it to the total calculation.

This is part of why a custom or platform-based ecommerce has different implications: on a managed store, the gateway comes already integrated; on your own website, you (or the developer you hire) handle the integration.

Typical integration cases

• A distributor that sells to retailers needed to charge with installments and at 30 days: MercadoPago with deferred payout lowered its effective fee and improved its cash flow.
• An accounting firm that bills monthly fees moved to recurring payments with Stripe: it stopped chasing payments one by one and late payments dropped.
• A business that exports services integrated Stripe and PayPal to charge in dollars to customers in the United States and Europe without friction.

In every case the gateway lives inside a custom web application or an ecommerce that orchestrates the rest of the flow: order, payment, receipt and follow-up.

When a complex integration is NOT worth it

To avoid over-engineering, stop if:

• You only charge a few times a month. A payment link or a simple button is enough. You don't need a full API integration for five charges a month.
• Your volume doesn't justify the development. If you're just starting out, begin with the simplest checkout and add complexity when sales call for it.
• You don't yet have a system to connect the payment to. Product first, fine-tuned integration later.

How to get started

1. Define your market and currency: that rules out half the options right away.
2. Compare the effective fee, not the nominal one: add up taxes, payout timelines and withdrawal costs.
3. Decide on the integration level: a payment link to start, an embedded API when volume justifies it.

The hard part isn't choosing the gateway, it's integrating it well: webhooks, reconciliation, failure handling and security. That's where a mistake costs you lost payments or legal problems. At Deepyze we integrate local and international gateways inside custom websites and systems for companies in Argentina and LATAM, with a fixed closed price, a proposal in 24 hours and a team in your own time zone. Tell us about your case and we'll tell you which gateway suits you and how much it costs to get it running end to end.