Payment Gateways in Colombia (2026): Real Fees Compared

What is a payment gateway, and how is it different from an aggregator?

An aggregator lets you start charging within days under its own contract. A pure gateway needs bank contracts and only pays off at high volume.

A payment gateway connects your store's checkout to the card networks, PSE (Colombia's online bank-transfer system) and digital wallets, processes the charge and transfers the money to you minus its fee. In Colombia it comes in two models, and the difference matters more than the logo.

In the aggregator model, the provider collects on behalf of many merchants under a single contract. You sign up, upload documents and can take payments within a few days. In return you pay an all-in fee per transaction. This is the model most small and mid-sized stores use.

In the gateway model, you contract directly with acquiring banks and the provider only supplies the technology. The fee is negotiated with the bank and can be lower, but onboarding is slower: ePayco, for example, says you start charging 20 to 30 days later under its gateway model, and Wompi pitches its gateway plan at merchants with more than 2,000 transactions. If you're starting out, the aggregator is the sensible choice.

How much does each gateway charge in Colombia? (2026 comparison table)

Base rates look alike. What differs is the fixed fee, the payout time and the conditions attached.

These are the rates each provider publishes for online payments on its standard plan, checked on their official pages on 26 October 2026. All are charged per successful sale and exclude VAT and tax withholdings. Check the official page before signing: rates change and some depend on your monthly volume.

PayU, for years one of the most used gateways in Colombia, is now part of Rapyd, which bought its global payments division. Its Colombian site redirects to rapyd.net and no standard rate is published, so it's left out of the table. If you're considering it, ask their sales team for a quote.

How much do you actually receive on a COP 100,000 sale?

Between COP 95,100 and 96,000, depending on the gateway. On small sales the fixed fee weighs more than the percentage.

Between COP 95,133 and 96,037 for every COP 100,000 sold by card, depending on the gateway and plan. The calculation is: percentage of the sale, plus the fixed fee, plus 19% VAT on that fee. We apply it the same way to every gateway so they're comparable; confirm with your provider how VAT is invoiced in your case.

Here's a COP 100,000 sale and, in brackets, a COP 1,000,000 one:

• ePayco with a Davivienda account: you receive COP 96,037 (967,763). Effective cost: 3.96%.
• Wompi: you receive COP 96,014 (967,632). Effective cost: 3.99%.
• Mercado Pago at 14 days: you receive COP 95,728 (965,847). Effective cost: 4.27%.
• Bold, next day in your Bold account: you receive COP 95,371 (963,348). Effective cost: 4.63%.
• ePayco with another bank: you receive COP 95,252 (960,016). Effective cost: 4.75%.
• Mercado Pago instant: you receive COP 95,133 (959,897). Effective cost: 4.87%.

Which gateway integrates best with WooCommerce and Shopify?

On WooCommerce they all have an official plugin. On Shopify, first check which providers are available in your country.

On WooCommerce, all four have an official plugin published by the company itself in the WordPress directory, and all were updated in 2026: Wompi Portal de Pagos, ePayco plugin for WooCommerce, Bold pagos en línea and Mercado Pago payments for WooCommerce. PayU also maintains an official plugin for its global platform. An official plugin matters: when WooCommerce or WordPress updates, the provider is responsible for compatibility.

Installing the plugin takes minutes. Everything else takes time: testing in the gateway's sandbox, checking that the order status changes when the payment confirmation arrives (webhooks), handling a PSE payment left pending, and making sure the confirmation email only goes out once the payment is approved. That's the part that tends to fail in rushed integrations.

On Shopify the list is shorter because it depends on which providers Shopify enables for Colombia. Bold has an app in the Shopify App Store, and in 2025 Wompi announced on-site card payments for Shopify merchants in Colombia. Bear in mind that Shopify charges an extra fee when you use an external payment provider: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced, according to its pricing page.

When does the money arrive, and what about chargebacks?

Payout timing shapes your cash flow. Chargebacks decide how much of what you sold you keep.

It depends on the plan. Wompi pays out the next business day on its aggregator plan, Bold the next day into its digital account or instantly at a higher rate, and Mercado Pago lets you choose: the longer you wait, the less you pay. With ePayco the money sits in a virtual account and you withdraw it, at a cost beyond the included withdrawals. For a store holding its own stock, getting paid quickly can be worth more than the rate difference.

On top of the fee, the gateway may apply tax withholdings (income tax, VAT and ICA) depending on your tax status. ePayco, for example, lists a 1.5% income tax withholding on the base amount and a 0.2% ICA withholding. Withholdings aren't a cost, they're tax prepayments you offset in your return, but they do reduce what reaches your account each day. Talk to your accountant before forecasting cash flow.

A chargeback happens when the cardholder disputes the purchase with their bank and the money is reversed. The gateway will ask you for proof of delivery, so keep shipping receipts and customer messages. And watch refunds: ePayco notes that only credit card purchases can be reversed from its platform; for PSE or cash, you refund the customer through normal banking channels.

How do you choose the right gateway for your store?

Choose by your customers' payment mix and your cash flow, not just the lowest rate.

Start with your customers, not the rate. If most pay with PSE or Nequi, look for the gateway that handles those methods best. If you sell high-ticket items by card, the percentage matters more than the fixed fee. If you sell lots of cheap products, it's the reverse: on a COP 30,000 sale, a COP 900 fixed fee is already 3% of the sale.

Then look at your bank and your cash position. Preferential rates usually require an account with a partner bank, such as Davivienda for ePayco, or with the provider itself, as with Bold. And decide how much getting paid today rather than in two weeks is worth to you.

Finally, Bre-B. Banco de la República's instant payment system turned one in October 2026 with more than 245 participating institutions, and a growing share of payments are made by scanning a QR code. For an online store it doesn't replace the gateway yet, but ask your provider how it plans to bring it into checkout: if instant account-to-account payments become common online, they could push fees down. In the meantime, having two gateways configured gives you a fallback if one fails on a high-traffic day.