Alternative payment methods in Europe: popular APMs by country, costs and integration

What counts as an alternative payment method?

An alternative payment method is any payment option that does not run on the international card rails of Visa, Mastercard or American Express. The term comes from the card-centric view of US and UK providers; in the Netherlands, Poland or Switzerland these methods are the default, and cards are the alternative.

APMs differ in who carries the risk and how money moves. Bank-based methods pull funds directly from the shopper's account and settle as a credit transfer, wallets sit on top of a bank account or card, and invoice or BNPL providers pay the merchant and collect from the shopper later.

• Bank-based (account-to-account): iDEAL, BLIK, eps, Przelewy24, Pay by Bank, SEPA Direct Debit
• Mobile wallets: Bizum, MB WAY, TWINT, Swish, Vipps MobilePay, Satispay, Wero
• Local debit card schemes: Bancontact, Cartes Bancaires
• Invoice and buy now, pay later: Klarna, Riverty, iDEAL in3
• E-wallets: PayPal, Amazon Pay
• Cash-based vouchers and crypto: used in specific niches

What are the most popular payment methods in each European country?

The table lists the methods a merchant selling into each market should consider first. Figures come only from scheme operators, central banks or named industry studies; where no such source publishes a share, the method is listed without a percentage.

Two patterns stand out. In the north-west, one bank-based method dominates each country, while in Germany shoppers split between PayPal, invoice and direct debit. In the south and the Nordics, bank-owned mobile wallets have grown fastest.

Why do alternative payment methods increase checkout conversion?

Shoppers abandon a checkout when their usual method is missing. In the ECB's SPACE 2024 study, cards carried 48% of online payments in the euro area, so a card-only checkout leaves out roughly half of the ways people prefer to pay; in the Netherlands it misses about 70% of purchases.

Bank-based methods also authenticate inside the shopper's banking app, which satisfies strong customer authentication without a separate 3-D Secure step. The payment is confirmed in seconds and cannot be charged back, which lowers fraud and dispute costs.

How much do alternative payment methods cost?

Methods without interchange are priced as a fixed fee or a low percentage, so on a typical basket they cost less than cards. Wallets and pay-by-link services are closer to card pricing, and BNPL costs most because the provider carries the credit risk.

The rates below are Mollie list prices in October 2026 for a merchant in the Netherlands or Belgium. Other providers and negotiated contracts typically differ by a few tenths of a percent.

How do you choose which APMs to offer?

Start from where your revenue comes from, not from a provider's method list. Two or three methods per country usually cover most shoppers; a longer list slows the checkout and adds reconciliation work.

Check how each method settles and refunds before you switch it on. Some return funds by bank transfer only, some do not support partial refunds, and some need the shopper's IBAN to refund.

• Market share in your top three countries by revenue
• Basket size: fixed-fee methods get relatively cheaper as baskets grow, while percentage fees weigh most on large orders
• Recurring billing: SEPA Direct Debit supports it natively; iDEAL typically via a first payment that sets up a direct debit mandate
• Refund and payout support, settlement speed and currency
• B2B fit: invoice, SEPA B2B Direct Debit and bank transfer dominate business purchases

What changes with Wero and European wallet interoperability?

The European Payments Initiative is replacing national schemes with Wero: iDEAL in the Netherlands is due to migrate by 2027 and Payconiq in Luxembourg during 2026, while Wero e-commerce is live in Germany and rolling out in Belgium and France. Erste Bank and Raiffeisen in Austria joined EPI in 2026.

In February 2026, EPI and the EuroPA alliance of Bancomat, Bizum, MB WAY and Vipps MobilePay agreed to connect their schemes, which serve about 130 million users in 13 countries. Cross-border transfers between users are planned for 2026 and online and in-store payments for 2027, so merchants should expect one integration to reach more countries over time.

How do you integrate alternative payment methods?

Direct contracts with each scheme or local operator give the lowest fees but require a local entity in some markets and a separate integration per method. A multi-method PSP such as Adyen, Mollie or Stripe offers most European APMs through one API, at list prices and with its own coverage gaps.

To add APMs through OrsunPay, you connect your own accounts at one or more PSPs or local operators, and the hosted checkout shows each shopper the methods available for their country, currency and amount. OrsunPay is a technical layer on those accounts and does not hold funds.

How to add alternative payment methods to your checkout

1. Rank your markets List your top countries by revenue and traffic, and note the currency and typical basket size for each.
2. Pick two or three methods per country Use the country table to choose the leading local method plus cards, and add invoice or BNPL where shoppers expect it, as in Germany.
3. Compare provider coverage and fees Check which PSPs support each method for your entity's country, their fees on your basket size, refund support and settlement times.
4. Integrate and order the checkout Connect the provider accounts, then show methods by the shopper's country, with the local favourite first.
5. Measure and adjust Track conversion, refunds and cost per method each month and remove methods that add clutter without sales.