The most visible online payment gateways in Europe, October 2026

October 2026 · 105 questions asked from 7 countries · ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode · 420 answers read

Leader

Stripe

75Heralded Score, range 72–78

Most cited source

youtube.com

95citations

From Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews

Where engines disagree most

Adyen

1/4engines put it in their top three

Top three on Google AI Mode, not on Gemini, Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT

Brands

Search is not measured for this board yet, so it ranks on AI answers.

Rank Brand Rank change Heralded Score All AI Score trend Mentioned Recommended By engine Mentioned by Change
1 Stripe US New entry 75 , range 72–78 75#1
75
  • : score 75 · #1
84% 42% First reading
2 PayPal US New entry 70 , range 65–73 70#2
70
  • : score 70 · #2
76% 36% First reading
3 Mollie NL New entry 37 , range 34–40 37#3
37
  • : score 37 · #3
26% 16% First reading
4 Adyen NL New entry 35 , range 32–38 35#4
35
  • : score 35 · #4
29% 10% First reading
5 Shopify Payments CA New entry 35 , range 32–38 35#5
35
  • : score 35 · #5
27% 11% First reading
6 Square US New entry 32 , range 28–35 32#6
32
  • : score 32 · #6
23% 7% First reading
7 Netopia Payments RO New entry 9 , range 6–18 9#7
9
  • : score 9 · #7
9% 5% First reading
8 SumUp GB New entry 8 , range 6–15 8#8
8
  • : score 8 · #8
7% 5% First reading
9 Redsys ES New entry 8 , range 5–14 8#9
8
  • : score 8 · #9
7% 5% None First reading
10 GoCardless GB New entry 7 , range 5–12 7#10
7
  • : score 7 · #10
8% 3% First reading

“=” marks brands whose score ranges overlap, so the test cannot separate them. Every brand named in at least three answers is ranked. AI gives each brand’s score and rank from the engines’ answers; Search is not measured for this board yet. By engine has one dot per engine (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode), darker the more often it names the brand.

Most cited sources

Rank Source Type Cited in Engines Pages cited Brands its pages mention
1 youtube.com Social 11.0% 2 of 4 59 Not read
2 connectpay.com Vendor site 6.0% 3 of 4 8 10
3 inflowpay.com Vendor site 3.6% 2 of 4 1 5
4 reddit.com Community 3.3% 3 of 4 9 Not read
5 zapier.com Vendor site 3.1% 2 of 4 1 7
6 bedrijfssoftwaregids.nl Review site 1.9% 2 of 4 2 6
7 europa.eu Regulator 1.4% 1 of 4 9 Not read
8 nerdwallet.com Media 1.9% 2 of 4 4 4
9 startups.co.uk Media 2.4% 3 of 4 1 7
10 ecommerce-nation.fr Media 2.1% 3 of 4 3 7

Questions asked

QuestionLanguageMost recommended
Quelle est la meilleure solution de paiement pour une boutique en ligne ? French PayPal and Stripe, tied
Solutions de paiement en ligne pour les petites entreprises French Mollie, Stripe and SumUp, tied
Comment une petite boutique en ligne peut-elle accepter les paiements par carte ? French PayPal and Stripe, tied
Comment ajouter le paiement en ligne à mon site web ? French PayPal and Stripe, tied
Solution de paiement d’une banque ou prestataire de paiement en ligne pour le e-commerce ? French Mollie, PayPal, Payplug and Stripe, tied
Tarification forfaitaire ou interchange plus pour les paiements en ligne ? French Adyen, Mollie and Stripe, tied
Quelles alternatives au paiement à la livraison pour une boutique en ligne ? French PayPal, Payplug, Shopify Payments and Stripe, tied
Quelles alternatives au virement bancaire pour encaisser des paiements en ligne ? French GoCardless, Mollie, Payplug and Stripe, tied
J’ai une petite boutique en ligne. Quelle solution de paiement choisir ? French PayPal and Stripe, tied
Je travaille dans le e-commerce chez un distributeur et je veux réduire les paiements refusés au moment du paiement. French PayPal

Each engine's top three

Method

Each leaderboard ranks brands on two sides. AI is how ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode answer the board's buyer questions. Search is Google's top 10 results for the keywords behind those questions. All combines the two, where Search is measured.

For the AI side, each month Heralded asks every engine the same buyer questions, twice each, and reads every answer. An answer counts 0 for a brand it leaves out, 50 for a brand it names and 100 for a brand it recommends, and the Heralded Score is built from those. A brand named in at least three answers gets a score and a place.

How the leaderboards are measured