PayFast at a glance
Before going deeper, the basics. These are facts pulled from PayFast public materials, SBP records and industry analyses, not speculation.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2018 |
| Commercial licence | 2021 (SBP) |
| Merchants served | 3,500+ |
| Methods supported | Cards, Raast P2M, wallets, bank transfer, UnionPay |
| Settlement | T+1 to T+2 |
| Published MDR | Not disclosed — quoted per merchant |
| Notable clients | Gul Ahmed, Sana Safinaz, Bookme, Elo, Junaid Jamshed |
| Best for | Established ecommerce with negotiation leverage |
What PayFast does well
- Broadest method coverage of any Pakistani PSP. Cards (Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay), Raast, mobile wallets and direct bank transfer all under one integration.
- First with Raast P2M. PayFast was the first commercially licensed Pakistani gateway to go live with State Bank Raast Person-to-Merchant payments in May 2024 — a real early-mover credit on the new instant payment rail.
- SBP commercial licence. Full PSP/PSO compliance reduces regulatory risk for larger merchants.
- Brand recognition. If you sell to Pakistani consumers, customers have likely seen the PayFast logo elsewhere. Familiar trust marks reduce checkout friction.
- Bank network depth. Solid integrations with major Pakistani commercial banks — fewer transaction failures from bank-side issues than newer entrants.
- No setup or monthly fees. Only per-transaction MDR, no recurring software costs.
Where PayFast falls short in 2026
PayFast was built when redirect-based checkouts and opaque pricing were industry norms. In 2026, both feel dated. Here is where it falls behind newer alternatives.
1. Redirect-based checkout (a documented cart-abandonment risk)
When a customer clicks Pay on a PayFast-integrated store, they are redirected off your site to the PayFast checkout page, then redirected back. Off-site checkouts are a well-documented conversion killer — every redirect, every loading screen, every URL change is a chance for the customer to abandon. Industry analyses consistently put redirect-based cart abandonment 20 to 30 percent higher than on-site embedded flows.
Pakistani gateways including XPay (PostEx), Safepay and Rapid Gateway have moved to embedded on-site checkout in part to solve this. PayFast has not.
2. Pricing is not published
PayFast does not publish its Merchant Discount Rate. The pricing page states that rates vary depending upon the size of the aggregator and the number of expected transactions. In practice this means:
Large merchants with negotiation leverage can sometimes secure MDR around 1.5 to 2 percent. Smaller merchants without leverage often end up at 2.5 to 3 percent or higher. You will not know until you negotiate.
Pakistani gateways that publish their MDR up front — Rapid Gateway at a flat 2 percent wallet and 2.5 percent card — give merchants pricing certainty that PayFast does not.
3. No tokenization for recurring payments
If your business charges customers on a schedule — subscriptions, SaaS, memberships, instalment plans — you need tokenized card storage and recurring-billing automation. PayFast offers limited support here. Subscription businesses report having to build workarounds or moving to a different gateway entirely.
4. Limited subscription billing flexibility
Related to the tokenization gap: PayFast lacks the dunning, retry and recurring-billing logic that modern gateways ship out of the box. For a digital product, course or SaaS business in Pakistan, this is the single biggest reason to look elsewhere.
5. Slower onboarding than newer entrants
Documentation, KYC and go-live tend to follow an enterprise-paced rhythm at PayFast. Smaller merchants who want to be collecting payments the same day they sign up will find this frustrating. Several newer Pakistani gateways target same-day live as standard.
PayFast pricing in plain language
Because PayFast does not publish its MDR, here is the realistic picture based on industry context for most Pakistani PSPs in 2026.
Wallet payments (JazzCash, easypaisa): typically 1.5 to 3 percent depending on volume. Card payments (Visa, Mastercard): typically 2.5 to 3.5 percent depending on volume. Bank transfer and Raast: typically lowest, often under 1 percent or even free for Raast.
There are no setup fees and no monthly subscription, which is positive. The downside is that you cannot model your unit economics until after a sales call. Rapid Gateway, by contrast, publishes a flat 2 percent wallet / 2.5 percent card MDR with no negotiation required.
Who PayFast is the right fit for
- Large established ecommerce brands with the negotiation leverage to secure favourable MDR.
- Merchants who value PSP/PSO regulatory weight over feature breadth (PayFast is a fully licensed PSP).
- Businesses on legacy stacks (Magento, custom builds) where PayFast plugin support is mature.
- Merchants with existing PayFast relationships and no migration appetite.
- Brands that benefit from PayFast brand recognition at the checkout step.
Better alternatives in 2026
Five Pakistani gateways worth shortlisting against PayFast, each solving a specific gap PayFast leaves open.
- Safepay — strong Shopify integration, on-site checkout (no redirect drop-off), developer-friendly API. Best for DTC brands on Shopify.
- PayPro — digital invoicing, over-the-counter cash collection network, and recurring billing in PKR. Best for B2B, education, insurance and subscription businesses.
- XPay (by PostEx) — embedded on-site checkout positioned around conversion. Best for Shopify merchants prioritising checkout completion.
- Rapid Gateway — published flat MDR (2 percent wallet, 2.5 percent card), T+1 settlement, official WooCommerce/Shopify/WordPress plugins, built-in invoicing. Best for merchants who want transparent pricing and same-day onboarding.
- JazzCash and Easypaisa direct — the two dominant mobile wallets in Pakistan, typically the lowest MDR (1.5 to 2.5 percent). Best added alongside a primary gateway, not as a standalone replacement.
The bottom line
PayFast is a credible, established option. The brand recognition is real, the SBP licence is real, the merchant roster is real. But established no longer means best.
The right question for 2026 is not whether PayFast is good — it is whether PayFast is the right fit for your specific business. Merchants with negotiation leverage, established volume, or specific Magento legacy stack requirements may still find PayFast their best option. Smaller merchants, subscription businesses, Shopify-first DTC brands, and any merchant who wants pricing transparency would likely fit better with one of the alternatives above.
If you want a deeper side-by-side, our 2026 guide to the seven best Pakistani payment gateways compares all the major players head to head.