Razorpay vs Stripe for Shopify India: Which Payment Gateway in 2026

If you are running a Shopify store from India in 2026, the payment gateway question is binary: Razorpay, Stripe, or both. They serve fundamentally different purposes. Picking wrong costs you 8 to 15 percent of conversions you should have captured. Here is how to decide.

Razorpay is what your customers actually want

UPI is now over 60 percent of online payments in India. Razorpay has the cleanest Shopify integration for UPI, alongside cards, net banking, EMI on cards, and wallets like PhonePe, Paytm, and Amazon Pay.

Settlement is T+2 by default and T+1 once your account hits volume thresholds. Refunds happen automatically through Shopify (not through the Razorpay dashboard, which is the most common merchant mistake).

Pricing is 2 percent on cards and UPI, slightly higher on wallets and EMI. The integration is now native in Shopify Settings → Payments — no third-party plugin needed.

Stripe is what international customers expect

If your store sells globally — UAE, USA, UK, Australia, Singapore — Stripe handles international cards better than any Indian gateway. Your customers in these geographies pay 3D Secure flows that work, get receipt formats they recognize, and trust the brand.

Stripe pricing is higher for India payments (around 3 percent vs Razorpay's 2 percent), so do not use Stripe as your only gateway for Indian customers. Use both — Shopify lets you offer multiple gateways at checkout, and the customer picks.

The right setup is both, with priority routing

Order Razorpay first in your Shopify payment settings. Indian customers see UPI/cards/EMI options instantly. International customers see Stripe as their default. The priority order matters more than most stores realize — Shopify offers them in the order you configure.

GST invoicing works with both. Configure your GST number in Settings → Taxes → India, and Shopify generates GST-compliant invoices automatically.

If you are still on Cashfree, Instamojo, or PayU, switch. The integrations are weaker, the dashboards lag, and you are paying for legacy.

Common mistakes to avoid

Refunding through Razorpay dashboard instead of Shopify. Always refund through Shopify — it pushes the refund through to the gateway and updates order state correctly.

Skipping webhook configuration. Without webhooks, payment status sometimes lags behind in Shopify. Your customer paid, your store does not know yet, support tickets pile up.

Forgetting EMI. Cards with EMI options drive 12 to 18 percent of orders in apparel and electronics. Enable it during gateway setup or you leave money on the table.