# The most used payment and billing tools

As of October 2026, the most used of the 33 payment and billing tools runsonwhat tracks is PayPal, found at 33,388 companies, ahead of Stripe (25,164) and Klarna (4,639).

Payments covers processors (Stripe, Adyen, PayPal, Razorpay), subscription billing (Chargebee, Recurly, Recharge), merchants of record that also handle sales tax (Paddle, Lemon Squeezy) and usage-based billing for software (Orb, Metronome).

Stripe leads among software companies by a wide margin; regional processors lead in their home markets, and e-commerce stores often use the payment stack that comes with their store platform.

## Payment and billing tools ranked by companies using them

| # | Tool | Companies | Share of category | Last 30 days | Most popular with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [PayPal](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/paypal) | 33,388 | 42% | −1 | Apparel & Fashion (15×) |
| 2 | [Stripe](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/stripe) | 25,164 | 31% | +8 | Non-profit Organization Management (3.5×) |
| 3 | [Klarna](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/klarna) | 4,639 | 5.8% | +1 | Sporting Goods (22×) |
| 4 | [Amazon Pay](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/amazon-pay) | 2,170 | 2.7% | – | Sporting Goods (19×) |
| 5 | [authorize.net](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/authorize-net) | 1,881 | 2.3% | +1 | Veterinary (41×) |
| 6 | [Braintree](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/braintree) | 1,739 | 2.2% | +19 | Wholesale (5.2×) |
| 7 | [Recharge](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/recharge) | 1,646 | 2.1% | – | Cosmetics (37×) |
| 8 | [SkyVerge](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/skyverge) | 1,346 | 1.7% | – | Sporting Goods (18×) |
| 9 | [Global-e](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/global-e) | 1,064 | 1.3% | – | Clothing (96×) |
| 10 | [Affirm](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/affirm) | 1,055 | 1.3% | +2 | Luxury Goods & Jewelry (37×) |
| 11 | [Toast](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/toast) | 874 | 1.1% | – | Restaurants (52×) |
| 12 | [Appstle](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/appstle) | 811 | 1.0% | – | Cosmetics (22×) |
| 13 | [Razorpay](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/razorpay) | 586 | 0.73% | −1 | Apparel & Fashion (16×) |
| 14 | [Chargebee](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/chargebee) | 468 | 0.58% | +14 | Software (5.8×) |
| 15 | [Cardinal Commerce](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/cardinal-commerce) | 424 | 0.53% | – | Retail (5.3×) |
| 16 | [Paddle](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/paddle) | 407 | 0.51% | +18 −18 | 1–10 employees (7.1×) |
| 17 | [ProfitWell](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/profitwell) | 385 | 0.48% | – | 1–10 employees (6.1×) |
| 18 | [Adyen](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/adyen) | 377 | 0.47% | +2 | 1,001–5,000 employees (4.7×) |
| 19 | [Sezzle](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/sezzle) | 374 | 0.47% | – | Sporting Goods (41×) |
| 20 | [SeQura](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/sequra) | 256 | 0.32% | – | Apparel & Fashion (23×) |
| 21 | [Scalapay](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/scalapay) | 254 | 0.32% | – | Apparel & Fashion (31×) |
| 22 | [Checkout.com](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/checkout-com) | 174 | 0.22% | +36 | 201–1,000 employees (3.7×) |
| 23 | [Skio](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/skio) | 131 | 0.16% | – | Food & Beverages (22×) |
| 24 | [Ordergroove](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/ordergroove) | 124 | 0.15% | – | Cosmetics (85×) |
| 25 | [Mollie](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/mollie) | 122 | 0.15% | – | 51–200 employees (1.8×) |
| 26 | [Moneris](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/moneris) | 98 | 0.12% | – | – |
| 27 | [Recurly](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/recurly) | 77 | <0.1% | – | – |
| 28 | [Yampi Checkout](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/yampi-checkout) | 65 | <0.1% | – | – |
| 29 | [Lemon Squeezy](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/lemonsqueezy) | 36 | <0.1% | – | – |
| 30 | [Cleverbridge](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/cleverbridge) | 27 | <0.1% | – | – |
| 31 | [Digital River](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/digital-river) | 8 | <0.1% | – | – |
| 32 | [Metronome](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/metronome) | 5 | <0.1% | – | – |
| 33 | [Orb](https://www.runsonwhat.com/reverse/orb) | 2 | <0.1% | – | – |

Share is each tool's part of all 80,177 matches in this category; a company using two tools counts for both.

## How to compare payment and billing tools

- Processor or merchant of record: a merchant of record takes on tax and compliance in exchange for a higher fee.
- Pricing model support: subscriptions, usage, seats and invoicing.
- Local payment methods in your markets.
- Fees at your volume, including international cards and currency conversion.

## How runsonwhat finds payment and billing tools

Payment tools show up in the checkout scripts a site loads (js.stripe.com), in checkout and billing subdomains that point at the vendor, in domain-verification records and on subprocessor lists.

## FAQ

### What are the most popular payment and billing tools?

As of October 2026, the most popular payment and billing tools by number of companies using them are PayPal (33,388 companies), Stripe (25,164 companies) and Klarna (4,639 companies), according to runsonwhat. PayPal alone accounts for 42% of the 80,177 Payments & Billing matches runsonwhat has, and the top three together for 79%. 33 payment and billing tools have at least one confirmed customer.

### PayPal vs Stripe: which is more popular?

PayPal is more popular: 33,388 companies show public evidence of PayPal, against 25,164 for Stripe (1.3× as many), according to runsonwhat (October 2026). Among companies with more than 1,000 employees, though, Stripe leads: 860 against 753. Klarna is third with 4,639.

### Which payment and billing tools do small businesses use most?

Among companies with up to 50 employees, the most used payment and billing tools are PayPal (18,677 companies), Stripe (13,119 companies) and Klarna (2,135 companies), according to runsonwhat (October 2026). The counts cover companies with a known headcount; see each tool's page for the full size breakdown.

### Which payment and billing tools do large companies use most?

Among companies with more than 1,000 employees, the most used payment and billing tools are Stripe (860 companies), PayPal (753 companies) and Klarna (134 companies), according to runsonwhat (October 2026). That differs from the overall ranking, where PayPal leads. Large companies often run more than one tool in a category, so the same company can count for several.

### Which payment and billing tools are most popular in the United States?

In the United States, the most used payment and billing tools are PayPal (11,557 companies), Stripe (10,626 companies) and authorize.net (1,292 companies), based on companies runsonwhat has located there (October 2026). PayPal has 37% of the Payments & Billing matches among companies based in the United States.

### Which payment and billing tools are most popular in the United Kingdom?

In the United Kingdom, the most used payment and billing tools are PayPal (3,003 companies), Stripe (2,500 companies) and Klarna (861 companies), based on companies runsonwhat has located there (October 2026). PayPal has 41% of the Payments & Billing matches among companies based in the United Kingdom.

### Which payment and billing tools do retail companies use?

Retail is the industry with the most Payments & Billing matches, and its companies use PayPal (4,474 companies), Stripe (770 companies) and Klarna (750 companies) most, according to runsonwhat (October 2026). Each tool's page breaks its customers down by industry, so you can check where a tool over-indexes.

### Which payment and billing tools are companies adopting right now?

In the 30 days to October 2026, the most new adoptions runsonwhat recorded were for Checkout.com (36 companies), Braintree (19 companies) and Paddle (18 companies). A start is counted when a recheck finds a tool that the previous check of the same company, done the same way, did not.

### What is PayPal's market share among payment and billing tools?

PayPal has 42% of the Payments & Billing matches runsonwhat has found (33,388 companies of 80,177), as of October 2026; Stripe has 31%. This is share of companies with public evidence of each tool, not share of revenue or seats, and a company that runs two tools counts for both.

### How does runsonwhat rank payment and billing tools?

runsonwhat counts the companies where a public record shows each tool in use and ranks by that count. Payment tools show up in the checkout scripts a site loads (js.stripe.com), in checkout and billing subdomains that point at the vendor, in domain-verification records and on subprocessor lists. A company counts only when a direct record backs it up. The full method is at https://www.runsonwhat.com/methodology.

## Related categories

- [Frontend](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/frontend-frameworks.md)
- [Auth & Identity](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/authentication.md)
- [Backend & Database](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/backend-databases.md)
- [AI](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/ai-tools.md)
- [Search](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/site-search.md)
- [Media & UI](https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/media-ui.md)

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Source: runsonwhat, https://www.runsonwhat.com/tools/payments (updated October 2026). Counts are companies with direct public evidence of the tool (DNS records, certificates, website code, a real-browser crawl, subprocessor lists), so they are lower bounds. Methodology: https://www.runsonwhat.com/methodology.