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

Most cited source

stripe.com

43citations

From Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT

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% 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% First reading
9 Unzer DE New entry 8 , range 3–32 8#9
8
  • : score 8 · #9
9% 4% None First reading
10 Helcim CA New entry 7 , range 2–32 7#10
7
  • : score 7 · #10
6% 5% 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 stripe.com Brand site 38.3% 3 of 4 31 1
2 mollie.com Brand site 20.0% 2 of 4 13 4
3 paypal.com Brand site 23.3% 3 of 4 10 1
4 adyen.com Brand site 10.0% 1 of 4 7 1
5 shopify.com Brand site 10.0% 2 of 4 7 Not read
6 sumup.com Brand site 5.0% 1 of 4 4 1
7 gocardless.com Brand site 5.0% 2 of 4 3 Not read
8 payone.com Brand site 3.3% 2 of 4 3 Not read
9 vr-payment.de Brand site 3.3% 2 of 4 3 Not read
10 squareup.com Brand site 1.7% 1 of 4 2 Not read

Questions asked

QuestionLanguageMost recommended
Was ist das beste Zahlungsgateway für einen Onlineshop? German PayPal
Online-Zahlungsabwicklung für kleine Unternehmen German Mollie, PayPal and Stripe, tied
Wie kann ein kleiner Onlineshop Kartenzahlungen akzeptieren? German No brand recommended
Wie kann ich Online-Zahlungen auf meiner Website anbieten? German Mollie, PayPal and Stripe, tied
Zahlungsgateway einer Bank oder Online-Zahlungsanbieter für den E-Commerce? German Mollie, PAYONE, Unzer and VR Payment, tied
Pauschalgebühren oder Interchange-Plus-Modell bei Online-Zahlungen? German No brand recommended
Welche Alternativen zur Nachnahme gibt es für einen Onlineshop? German PayPal
Welche Alternativen zu Banküberweisungen gibt es, um online Kundenzahlungen einzuziehen? German GoCardless
Ich betreibe einen kleinen Onlineshop. Welches Zahlungsgateway sollte ich nutzen? German Mollie and PayPal, tied
Ich leite den E-Commerce-Bereich eines Einzelhändlers und möchte, dass beim Bezahlvorgang weniger Zahlungen abgelehnt werden. German No brand recommended

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