Regional processor
Paystack
Online payments for businesses in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa
7%
of the world’s people live in the 6 countries where Paystack onboards local businesses.
Designed for
Businesses registered in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya or South Africa collecting local payments, including bank transfers, mobile money and M-PESA.
Limitations
Only businesses registered in four African countries can sign up generally (Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt are in private beta), and payouts are domestic only.
What it offers
Online and in-person payment acceptance. Cards (Visa and Mastercard in all markets) plus local methods that vary by country: bank transfer, USSD, mobile money, M-PESA, EFT, QR, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Settlement is in local currency by default; Nigerian and Kenyan businesses can also accept and settle in USD.
Only for businesses in NG, GH, KE, ZA, CI, EG.
Transfers from your Paystack balance to bank accounts in your own country, and to mobile money in Ghana and M-PESA in Kenya. Domestic only. Available to Registered businesses, not Starter businesses.
Only for businesses in NG, GH, KE, ZA.
Dedicated Virtual Accounts: bank account numbers you create for your customers to pay into; payments are recorded against that customer and settle to your Paystack balance. Not a multi-currency holding account.
Only for businesses in NG, GH.
Not offered.
Not offered.
Not offered.
Deeper review
Platform and product capabilities
What you can build on Paystack: for other businesses, for your users, for consumers and with stablecoins.
Platform & marketplace
Run payments for other businesses: sign them up, take a cut, pay them out.
Subaccounts let you split a payment between your main account and another bank account. No Paystack page fetched says Paystack runs KYC on subaccount holders.
medium confidence
Split a transaction with one or more subaccounts by percentage or a flat fee to the main account; choose who bears Paystack's fee.
Prebuilt Popup/Redirect checkout shows the payment methods enabled on your dashboard. No white-label onboarding or payout components were found.
medium confidence
Transfers to bank accounts in your own country (NG, GH, KE, ZA), mobile money in Ghana and M-PESA in Kenya. Domestic only; Registered businesses only.
Embedded finance for your users
Give your users financial products under your brand.
Dedicated Virtual Accounts (NG, GH) give each customer a bank account number to pay you; funds settle to your balance, not to an account the user owns.
medium confidence
Not found in public materials (provider's own pages checked).
low confidence
Not found in public materials (provider's own pages checked).
low confidence
Consumer apps
Build for individuals, not just businesses, the way Bridge allows.
For Nigerian businesses in Betting, Financial services and General services, Paystack validates the personal identity of customers before issuing them a Dedicated Virtual Account. This is the only consumer-KYC flow found.
medium confidence
Not found in public materials (provider's own pages checked).
low confidence
Not found in public materials (provider's own pages checked).
low confidence
Stablecoins
Dollar-backed tokens as a payment and treasury rail.
Not found in public materials (provider's own pages checked). Cryptocurrency operators are on Paystack's ineligible list.
low confidence
Not found in public materials (provider's own pages checked).
low confidence
Not found in public materials (provider's own pages checked).
low confidence
Not found in public materials (provider's own pages checked).
low confidence
AI agents
Build with AI tools, and let AI agents shop and pay.
Official Paystack MCP Server (npm package @paystack/mcp-server), in beta/public preview. It exposes the Paystack API to AI assistants but accepts only test secret keys (live keys are rejected).
Not found in public materials (provider's own pages checked).
low confidence
Not found in public materials (provider's own pages checked).
low confidence
Where it onboards businesses
Available in 4 of the 170 countries we track, limited in 2, not confirmed in 1.
Paystack says its services are only for businesses registered in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya. Côte d'Ivoire and Egypt are described as a private beta, although Paystack already publishes pricing and compliance requirements for both.
High confidence: matches the provider’s published country list. Spotted a wrong country? Report it on that country’s page.
Africa · 2
Paystack: common questions
Which countries does Paystack support?
Paystack onboards businesses registered in 4 of the 170 countries we track, and in 2 more with limits (Egypt and Côte d’Ivoire). Available: Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Ghana.
Where is Paystack available, by region?
Countries where Paystack onboards businesses (fully or with limits), by region: North America 0 of 2, Latin America 0 of 26, Europe 0 of 43, Middle East 0 of 14, Africa 6 of 49, Asia-Pacific 0 of 36.
What does Paystack offer?
Accept payments: Online and in-person payment acceptance. Cards (Visa and Mastercard in all markets) plus local methods that vary by country: bank transfer, USSD, mobile money, M-PESA, EFT, QR, Apple Pay and Google Pay. Settlement is in local currency by default; Nigerian and Kenyan businesses can also accept and settle in USD. Pay people abroad: Transfers from your Paystack balance to bank accounts in your own country, and to mobile money in Ghana and M-PESA in Kenya. Domestic only. Available to Registered businesses, not Starter businesses. Multi-currency account: Dedicated Virtual Accounts: bank account numbers you create for your customers to pay into; payments are recorded against that customer and settle to your Paystack balance. Not a multi-currency holding account.
Does Paystack support stablecoins?
No stablecoin products are listed for Paystack.
Can marketplaces and platforms use Paystack?
Sub-accounts for your users: Partly (Subaccounts let you split a payment between your main account and another bank account. No Paystack page fetched says Paystack runs KYC on subaccount holders). Split payments and platform fees: Yes (Split a transaction with one or more subaccounts by percentage or a flat fee to the main account; choose who bears Paystack's fee). Embeddable UI: Partly (Prebuilt Popup/Redirect checkout shows the payment methods enabled on your dashboard. No white-label onboarding or payout components were found). Pay out to your users: Yes (Transfers to bank accounts in your own country (NG, GH, KE, ZA), mobile money in Ghana and M-PESA in Kenya. Domestic only; Registered businesses only).
What are the alternatives to Paystack?
Other regional processor providers we track: Mercado Pago, Flutterwave, Razorpay and Xendit. Which one fits depends mostly on where your business is registered.
Sources
- Paystack support: What is Paystack and how does it work? (Countries we serve) ↗
- Paystack support: Paystack business types (Starter and Registered, per-country limits) ↗
- Paystack support: Compliance requirements for Egypt ↗
- Paystack support: Compliance requirements for Côte d'Ivoire ↗
- Paystack support: Transactions pricing ↗
- Paystack support: Transfers pricing ↗
- Paystack support: Transfers ↗
- Paystack support: Enabling international payments ↗
- Paystack support: Ineligible businesses ↗
- Paystack pricing page (Nigeria) ↗
- Paystack countries page ↗
- Paystack docs: Payment channels ↗
- Paystack docs: Dedicated Virtual Accounts ↗
- Paystack docs: Split payments ↗
- Paystack API: Subaccounts ↗
- Paystack docs: MCP Server (beta) ↗
- Paystack careers: job listing describing The Stack Group ↗