What Is NOWPayments?
CryptoNOWPayments is a crypto payment gateway supporting 300+ cryptocurrencies, offering the widest altcoin coverage of any payment processor. It provides auto-conversion, mass payouts, e-commerce plugins, and a developer API with a competitive 0.5% processing fee.
How It Works
1. **Payment creation**: The merchant creates a payment via the NOWPayments dashboard, API, or e-commerce plugin, specifying the price in fiat or crypto. 2. **Customer selects cryptocurrency**: The customer chooses from 300+ available cryptocurrencies to pay with. 3. **Address generated**: NOWPayments generates a unique deposit address for the selected cryptocurrency and displays the exact amount and QR code. 4. **Customer sends payment**: The customer sends the specified amount from their wallet to the deposit address. 5. **Auto-conversion (optional)**: NOWPayments detects the payment, confirms it on the blockchain, and optionally converts it to the merchant's preferred cryptocurrency or stablecoin via ChangeNOW's exchange. 6. **Settlement**: The merchant receives the payment in their chosen currency. IPN callbacks notify the merchant's system of the completed payment.
Key Details
Varies by coin
0.5% processing fee
No standard limit (plan-dependent)
70 countries
Pros & Cons
- Widest crypto support — 300+ cryptocurrencies accepted, far more than any competitor, enabling merchants to reach holders of niche and emerging coins.
- Lowest standard fee — 0.5% processing fee is half the rate charged by BitPay and Coinbase Commerce (1%), significant for high-volume merchants.
- Auto-conversion — merchants can accept any of 300+ cryptos and receive settlement in their preferred coin or stablecoin, powered by ChangeNOW exchange.
- Mass payouts — batch cryptocurrency disbursement to multiple recipients, useful for payroll, affiliate commissions, and marketplace seller payments.
- Shorter track record — founded in 2019, NOWPayments has less operational history than BitPay (2011) and may carry more platform risk.
- No direct fiat settlement — unlike BitPay, NOWPayments settles in cryptocurrency. Merchants who want fiat must convert through a separate exchange.
- Less brand recognition — the NOWPayments brand is less known among mainstream merchants and consumers compared to Coinbase Commerce or BitPay.
- Auto-conversion spreads — while the 0.5% fee is low, auto-conversion between cryptocurrencies involves exchange spreads that add to the effective cost.
Use Cases
- Altcoin-friendly merchants — businesses catering to crypto communities with diverse token holdings can accept 300+ currencies through a single integration.
- Crypto payroll and mass payouts — companies disbursing cryptocurrency payments to employees, contractors, or affiliates in bulk.
- Gaming and digital goods — game developers accepting in-game purchases in various cryptocurrencies popular in the gaming community.
- Content creator donations — streamers, bloggers, and open-source developers embed NOWPayments donation widgets to accept tips in any cryptocurrency.
- Subscription services — SaaS and membership businesses using NOWPayments' recurring payment API for crypto-based subscriptions.
NOWPayments is a cryptocurrency payment gateway launched in 2019 by the team behind ChangeNOW, a popular instant crypto exchange. It stands out in the crypto payment processing space by supporting over 300 cryptocurrencies — far more than any competitor. While BitPay supports 16+ and Coinbase Commerce supports roughly 10, NOWPayments enables merchants to accept payments in virtually any cryptocurrency with meaningful market activity, from major coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum to niche altcoins and meme tokens.
## How NOWPayments Works
NOWPayments operates as a custodial payment processor with optional auto-conversion. When a customer pays with cryptocurrency, NOWPayments detects the incoming transaction, confirms it on the blockchain, and can automatically convert the received crypto to the merchant's preferred cryptocurrency or stablecoin. Merchants can choose to receive settlement in BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, or one of many other supported coins.
The auto-conversion feature is powered by ChangeNOW's exchange infrastructure, which aggregates liquidity from multiple exchanges to provide competitive conversion rates. This means a merchant can accept payment in Dogecoin, for example, and receive USDT — getting the stability of a dollar-pegged asset while offering customers the flexibility to pay with their preferred crypto.
## Pricing
NOWPayments charges a 0.5% processing fee — the lowest standard rate among major crypto payment processors. BitPay and Coinbase Commerce both charge 1%. This 50% fee reduction can be significant for merchants processing high volumes of crypto payments. There are no setup fees or monthly fees on the standard plan, though premium and enterprise plans with additional features are available.
## Integrations and Plugins
NOWPayments provides plugins for all major e-commerce platforms: WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, PrestaShop, WHMCS, Zen Cart, and OpenCart. It also offers integrations with subscription and billing platforms like Ecwid and Zeroqode (for Bubble apps).
For developers, NOWPayments provides a REST API for creating payments, managing invoices, and handling webhooks. The API supports both one-time payments and recurring subscription payments (a feature lacking in many crypto processors). IPN (Instant Payment Notification) callbacks keep merchant systems synchronized with payment status in real time.
## Mass Payouts
A distinctive feature of NOWPayments is its mass payout functionality, which allows businesses to send cryptocurrency payments to multiple recipients in a single batch. This is useful for payroll, affiliate commissions, marketplace seller payouts, and any scenario requiring bulk disbursements. Mass payouts support 300+ cryptocurrencies, and the system handles conversion if the payout currency differs from the merchant's held funds.
## Donation and Fundraising Tools
NOWPayments offers specialized donation widgets and buttons that can be embedded on websites, blogs, and content platforms. These tools are widely used by content creators, open-source projects, and nonprofits to accept crypto donations in any of the 300+ supported currencies. The widgets are customizable and can display QR codes for easy mobile payments.
## NOWPayments vs Competitors
The key differentiator for NOWPayments is breadth of cryptocurrency support. If your audience includes holders of niche or emerging cryptocurrencies, NOWPayments is the only major processor that can serve them. The 0.5% fee is also the lowest in the market. The tradeoff is that NOWPayments has a shorter track record (founded 2019) compared to BitPay (2011) and a smaller merchant base. It also lacks the regulatory standing and brand recognition of Coinbase Commerce's Coinbase backing.