# Payment Gateways

This guide explains what a payment gateway is, which gateways Easy Digital Downloads supports, and how to choose the right one for your store. To connect a specific gateway or configure your payment settings, follow the links to each setup guide below.

What's a Payment Gateway?
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A payment gateway is software that works as a go-between for your website and the merchant processors that actually move the money, like Stripe, PayPal, or Square. It's what lets your store accept many types of payments, from credit cards to bank transfers to digital wallets.

You enable and manage your gateways on the **General** settings screen, under **Downloads** » **Settings** » **Payments**.

![The Payments and payment gateways settings screen in Easy Digital Downloads.](https://easydigitaldownloads.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/edd-payments-general-gateways.jpg)Which Payment Gateways Does Easy Digital Downloads Support?
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Easy Digital Downloads connects to the most popular payment gateways, with several built in and many more available as features. Here are your main options:

- **Stripe:** accept all major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more. See the [Stripe setup guide](https://easydigitaldownloads.com/docs/stripe/) to learn more, including the range of payment methods available.
- **PayPal:** let customers pay with their PayPal account or a card. See the [PayPal setup guide](https://easydigitaldownloads.com/docs/paypal-setup/).
- **Square:** accept card payments through Square. See the [Square setup guide](https://easydigitaldownloads.com/docs/setting-up-square-payments/).
- **Store Gateway:** built in and used for free ($0) orders and test transactions. It lets you build and test your store before you connect a live gateway, even without an internet connection.

Beyond these, many more payment gateways are available as [features in the EDD gateways library](https://easydigitaldownloads.com/downloads/category/extensions/gateways/). You can enable more than one gateway and let customers choose how to pay at checkout.

How to Choose a Payment Gateway
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You can offer a single gateway or several. If you enable more than one, customers pick which to use at checkout. For example, you might offer PayPal alongside one card processor.

**One tip**: most customers don't know the difference between options like Stripe and Authorize.net. Try to only give them choices they recognize, such as PayPal plus one card option, rather than several similar gateways that all do roughly the same thing. Too many choices can slow down checkout.

When deciding, it helps to consider the fees each gateway charges, where most of your customers are located, and whether you need features like subscriptions or digital wallets.

<a></a>Enabling and Configuring Your Gateways
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You enable your gateways, set a default, and adjust their options on the Payments settings screen, under **Downloads** » **Settings** » **Payments**.

Toggle to enable each gateway you want to offer, choose your defaults, and select **Enable Test Mode** if you want to process test transactions without real money.

For a full walkthrough of every option on that screen, see [Payment Settings](https://easydigitaldownloads.com/docs/payment-settings/).

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