Best PayFast Alternative for E-commerce Businesses in 2025

E-commerce in Pakistan is booming, with the e-commerce market projected to reach $5.91 billion by 2025, growing at a rate of 20.7% annually. As businesses strive to capitalize on this growth, choosing the right payment gateway is critical for ensuring seamless, secure, and efficient transactions.

While PayFast has been a popular choice for many Pakistani merchants, XPay has emerged as a superior alternative, offering advanced features, seamless integrations, and a customer-centric approach tailored to the needs of e-commerce businesses in 2025. 

This blog post explores why XPay stands out as the best PayFast alternative for e-commerce businesses in Pakistan.

PayFast: A Brief Overview

PayFast, operated by Avanza Premier Payment Systems (APPS), is a homegrown Pakistani payment gateway launched in 2018 and commercially approved by the State Bank of Pakistan in 2021. It supports a variety of payment methods, including credit/debit cards, bank transfers, and mobile wallets, and is known for its competitive transaction fees, multi-currency support, and PCI DSS compliance. PayFast integrates with major e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and OpenCart.

However, PayFast has limitations that may hinder businesses looking to scale or enhance their checkout experience. Redirect-based checkouts can lead to cart abandonment, and its subscription billing features are less flexible compared to modern alternatives. 

Additionally, PayFast’s integrations, while functional, lack the advanced customization and omnichannel capabilities that larger or tech-savvy businesses demand in 2025.

Why XPay is the Best Alternative

XPay is redefining e-commerce payments in Pakistan with its innovative, secure, and user-friendly features. Designed to address the challenges faced by Pakistani merchants, XPay offers a robust alternative to PayFast, particularly for businesses seeking higher conversion rates, seamless integrations, and advanced payment solutions. 

Below, we highlight why XPay is the top choice for e-commerce businesses in 2025.

1. Seamless On-Site Checkout Experience

One of PayFast’s drawbacks is its reliance on redirect-based checkouts, which can disrupt the customer journey and increase cart abandonment rates. XPay eliminates this issue with its embedded checkout system, allowing customers to complete transactions directly on the merchant’s website without being redirected to external pages. 

This streamlined process reduces friction, enhances trust, and boosts conversions by up to 35%, as reported by XStak.

For example, Pakistan’s leading marketplace PriceOye integrated XPay to eliminate redirects, resulting in a smoother checkout experience and increased revenue.

2. Higher Conversion Rates with Dynamic Routing

XPay’s dynamic transaction routing ensures high acceptance rates by intelligently routing payments through the most efficient channels. This minimizes payment failures, a common issue with traditional gateways like PayFast, where failed transactions can frustrate customers and lead to lost sales. 

XPay’s ability to optimize payment processing makes it ideal for businesses handling high transaction volumes or targeting diverse customer segments.

3. Advanced Subscription Billing for Recurring Revenue

Subscription-based businesses, such as SaaS platforms, online courses, and subscription boxes, are gaining traction in Pakistan. While PayFast supports basic recurring payments, XPay offers a comprehensive subscription billing solution with flexible billing cycles (daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly), automated renewals, and error-free invoicing. 

XPay’s subscription feature reduces churn by notifying customers of failed transactions and offering retry logic, ensuring businesses recover revenue that might otherwise be lost. This makes XPay a superior choice for businesses with recurring revenue models.

4. Tokenization for Secure and Fast Repeat Purchases

Security is a top concern for online shoppers in Pakistan, and XPay addresses this with its tokenization feature. Payment details are securely stored and encrypted, allowing returning customers to complete purchases with a single click. 

This not only speeds up the checkout process but also enhances customer trust by adhering to PCI DSS compliance standards. PayFast, while secure, lacks the same level of tokenization sophistication, making XPay a better option for businesses prioritizing repeat purchases and customer retention.

5. BIN-Based Discounts for Personalized Offers

XPay’s BIN-based discounts feature allows merchants to offer personalized promotions based on customers’ bank cards, attracting specific bank customers and increasing conversion rates. For instance, MEME, an online retailer, used XPay to configure bulk BIN-based discounts, seamlessly applying offers to VISA cardholders during checkout. 

This level of customization is not available with PayFast, giving XPay a clear edge for businesses looking to drive sales through targeted promotions.

6. Seamless Integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, Custom Web & Apps

Both PayFast and XPay integrate with major e-commerce platforms, but XPay’s integrations are more robust and user-friendly. XPay offers official Shopify and WooCommerce plugins that eliminate the need for complex configurations, enabling merchants to start accepting payments instantly. 

Its Shopify app, free for merchants with a Bank Alfalah Merchant ID (MID), provides real-time transaction management and a high-converting payment flow. 

XPay also supports mobile SDKs for React Native, Kotlin, Swift, and Flutter, ensuring smooth payment processing across all devices and platforms. PayFast’s integrations, while functional, are less flexible and lack the same level of mobile app support.

7. Omnichannel Payment Solutions

XPay is an omnichannel payment solution, allowing retailers to collect both online and offline payments instantly. Its Payment Links API enables merchants to accept payments via SMS, email, or social media, making it ideal for businesses with diverse sales channels, such as restaurants or custom websites. 

PayFast, while versatile, is primarily focused on online transactions and lacks the same level of omnichannel flexibility, making XPay a better fit for retailers seeking a unified payment system.

8. Trusted by Leading Brands

XPay is trusted by some of Pakistan’s top e-commerce brands, including Laam, Domino’s, Maria B, and PriceOye. These businesses have reported increased daily orders, revenue, and customer satisfaction after adopting XPay’s stable and high-performance payment gateway. 

9. Cost-Effective and Transparent Pricing

XPay offers no hidden fees and charges merchants based on usage, ensuring transparency and affordability. It supports multiple payment methods, including credit/debit cards, e-wallets, bank transfers, and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options, catering to diverse customer preferences. 

10. Superior Security and Customer Support

Both PayFast and XPay are PCI DSS compliant, ensuring secure transactions. However, XPay goes further with end-to-end encryption, transaction alerts for suspicious activity, and a user-friendly dashboard that simplifies payment management for merchants and customers. 

XPay’s responsive support team and well-documented APIs make onboarding and troubleshooting effortless.

11. Fraud Engine: Stop Fraud Before It Starts

XPay’s Fraud Engine offers real-time, proactive protection—far more advanced than PayFast’s basic fraud monitoring.

• Block List Module: Instantly block transactions by email, phone, BIN, IP, or card fingerprint before they're processed.
  
• Quick Actions: Block users directly from the Transaction Details page with one click.
  
• Performance Dashboard: Monitor blocked transactions and fraud rule effectiveness with real-time analytics.
  
• Lower Risk, More Control: Reduce chargebacks, stop fraud early, and gain full control over your payments.
  

Choose XPay for smarter fraud prevention—ideal for high-risk or high-volume transactions.

12. Payment Equations Platform

XPay’s advanced payment processing system optimizes transaction calculations, ensuring accurate, efficient, and customizable payment flows for diverse business needs (e.g., split payments, dynamic pricing, or loyalty rewards). PayFast lacks this level of customization and processing flexibility.

PayFast vs. XPay: A Side-by-Side Comparison

Conclusion

While PayFast has served Pakistani e-commerce businesses well, XPay is the clear winner for 2025, offering unmatched features, seamless integrations, and a customer-focused approach. Its embedded checkout, subscription billing, tokenization, and omnichannel capabilities make it the best alternative for businesses looking to scale, reduce cart abandonment, and enhance customer trust. Upgrade to XPay today and unlock the full potential of your e-commerce business in Pakistan’s thriving digital economy.