The most visible online payment gateways in Germany, October 2026

October 2026 · 15 questions asked from Germany in German and English · ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode · 60 answers read

Leader

PayPal

74Heralded Score, range 62–81

Where engines disagree most

Square

1/4engines put it in their top three

Top three on Google AI Overviews, not on Google AI Mode, Gemini 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 PayPal US New entry 74 , range 62–81 74#1
74
  • : score 74 · #1
83% 39% First reading
2 Stripe US New entry 72 , range 59–79 72#2
72
  • : score 72 · #2
81% 35% First reading
3 Mollie NL New entry 52 , range 42–68 52#3
52
  • : score 52 · #3
51% 30% First reading
4 Adyen NL New entry 40 , range 33–49 40#4
40
  • : score 40 · #4
39% 11% First reading
5 Shopify Payments CA New entry 36 , range 28–45 36#5
36
  • : score 36 · #5
31% 10% None First reading
6 Square US New entry 23 , range 7–37 23#6
23
  • : score 23 · #6
17% 5% None First reading
7 GoCardless GB New entry 11 , range 4–34 11#7
11
  • : score 11 · #7
12% 4% None First reading
8 SumUp GB New entry 10 , range 4–34 10#8
10
  • : score 10 · #8
8% 7% None First reading
9 Unzer DE New entry 8 , range 3–32 8#9
8
  • : score 8 · #9
9% 4% First reading
10 Helcim CA New entry 7 , range 2–32 7#10
7
  • : score 7 · #10
6% 5% None 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 ecommercegermany.com Media 3.3% 2 of 4 1 15
2 nerdwallet.com Media 1.7% 1 of 4 2 Not read
3 omr.com Media 3.3% 1 of 4 1 6
4 bankrate.com Media 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
5 cio.com Media 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
6 der-bank-blog.de Media 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
7 fuer-gruender.de Media 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
8 machsklar.de Media 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
9 ndr.de Media 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read
10 startups.co.uk Media 1.7% 1 of 4 1 Not read

Questions asked

QuestionLanguageMost recommended
best payment gateways for small businesses English Stripe
online payment gateway for ecommerce English PayPal, Shopify Payments and Stripe, tied
how to accept online payments on a website English PayPal and Stripe, tied
how to reduce declined card payments online English No brand recommended
payment gateway fees comparison English Stripe

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