Both are solid choices for a South African store, and both plug into WooCommerce, Shopify or a system built for you. Paystack, owned by Stripe since 2020, keeps to a shorter list of payment methods. Payfast gives your customers more ways to pay, including Zapper, store cards, cash and buy now, pay later. How your customers like to pay should decide it.
Everything below comes from Paystack’s and Payfast’s own pages, read on 19 October 2026.
Which payment methods does each one offer?
Paystack takes cards, American Express included, plus Apple Pay, SnapScan, Instant EFT through Ozow and Capitec Pay. Its pay-by-bank options need an extra verification review before you can switch them on, and they only handle once-off payments. International cards are settled in rand.
Payfast lists 15 ways to pay. Beyond cards and the phone wallets, the list covers Instant EFT, Capitec Pay, SnapScan, Zapper, Scan to Pay, Mobicred, RCS store cards, MukuruPay for cash, and two buy now, pay later options, Payflex and MoreTyme.
If a real share of your customers pay with a store card, in cash or in instalments, that list settles it.
How quickly does the money arrive?
Paystack settles two working days after the customer pays. Payfast pays out on a schedule or when you ask, and offers an Immediate Payout once the bank’s 48-hour clearing time has passed.
Can either one run subscriptions?
Yes. Both charge a saved card on a schedule. Paystack’s subscriptions only work with cards. Payfast’s recurring billing runs on stored card details too, with an API to pause, update or cancel a subscription.
What does connecting each one take?
Both have WooCommerce and Shopify plugins, and for a standard store the plugin is enough.
For a custom system, both confirm a payment by sending a message to your server, and that message, not the customer landing on your thank-you page, is what should mark the order as paid. Paystack signs each webhook with an x-paystack-signature header, an HMAC SHA512 of the payload made with your secret key, and sends only from three published IP addresses.
Paystack also retries a delivery that fails: every three minutes for the first four attempts, then hourly for 72 hours. Your code will see the same event more than once, so record each one against its reference and ignore repeats. Payfast’s own checks are covered in Payfast or Yoco.
So which one should you choose?
| If you | Choose |
|---|---|
| want Stripe behind your payment gateway | Paystack |
| sell to customers who pay by Zapper, store card or cash | Payfast |
| want buy now, pay later at checkout | Payfast |
| already take Instant EFT through Ozow and want it under one account | Paystack |
Whichever you pick, it can be connected to your store, your booking system or your accounting. If you would rather not wire it up yourself, tell me what you are running.
Sources
- Paystack, payment methods and settlement, payout schedule, pay with bank, webhooks and Paystack and Stripe
- Payfast, payment methods, Immediate Payout and Subscriptions
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