Popular alternative payment methods across the world, ranked by transactions per second - Paysecure

As technology has advanced, so has the way we make payments and transfer funds to one another. The number of people who carry cash has been steadily declining worldwide while alternative payment methods (APMs) have seen a sharp increase in the number of users and transactions, especially in recent years. Paying for goods and services and transferring funds has never been easier as the number of digital payment options around the world continues to grow.

Nearly every country uses some form of alternative payment, with many central banks even creating their own real-time payment options to allow more citizens the ability to make payments and transfer money online. Diversifying payment options is beneficial to society as it enables banking to become accessible to even the most remote people. To put the worldwide rise to prominence of alternative payment methods into perspective, the Paysecure team examined 40 of the top alternative payment methods from around the world to reveal how many transactions they processed every second over the past year. Read on for the findings of our study:

What is an Alternative Payment Method?

Alternative payment methods are any means of payment other than a major credit card, debit card, or cash. APMs are increasing in popularity as the world continues to evolve toward a cashless society. It makes sense— alternative payments offer a more streamlined process, leading to quicker checkouts. They allow consumers to transfer funds outside of banking hours, as well as offer a way to avoid fees commonly charged by banks. They even allow consumers to make purchases without needing to carry cash or needing to do business in person at all. If businesses want to remain competitive in a cashless future, they will have to embrace the many alternative payment types that are being adopted by consumers across the world.

Alternative Payment Methods examples:

- Buy Now Pay Later

- Digital wallet

- Mobile payment

- Online banking

- Real-time payments

- Voucher-based

What is the most popular Alternative Payment Method?

Which alternative payment method had the most transactions in 2023? The APM that had the most transactions in our report was Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with a staggering 117.6 billion transactions in 2023. This amounts to 3,729.1 transactions every second, a 58% increase over the 2,348 transactions every second in 2022. UPI is a real-time payment system that allows users to make a bank transfer instantly. It is regulated by India’s central bank and has been in use since 2016. India leads the world in digital transactions, with over 40% of payments being made digitally, and UPI being used for a majority of them.

APMs that recorded more than one-thousand transactions per second in 2023

- Unified Payments Interface (India): 3,729.1

- Skrill (100+ countries): 1,553.8

- Pix (Brazil): 1,331.8

- Alipay (China): 1,157.4

What is Pix?

Pix is an online instant payment platform introduced by the Central Bank of Brazil in late 2020. It was created to make payments and money transfers more convenient and universal for the people of Brazil. As of March 2024, the Pix payment app is used by 153 million Brazilians (75% of the population) and 15 million companies. Data from the Central Bank shows that Pix accounted for 39% of all electronic payments in the country in 2023. The Pix payment platform has the potential to one day overtake the debit card industry in Brazil, which was responsible for 41% of all electronic payments made in 2023.

How many transactions were made using Pix in 2023? The people of Brazil made 42 billion transactions using Pix during 2023, averaging an impressive 1,331.8 transactions every second. Since its introduction just four years ago, Pix has revolutionized how Brazilians pay for purchases and transfer money.

Pix payments is one of many alternative payment methods that can be seamlessly integrated with Paysecure’s payment products. To learn more about using Brazil’s most popular digital payment method for your business, contact us.

40 top Alternative Payment Methods, ranked by transactions per second

Paysecure’s top worldwide real-time payment, mobile payment, and digital wallets list:

	Alternative Payment Method	Country	Type of Payment Method	Number of Annual Transactions	Transactions per Second
1	Unified Payments Interface (UPI)	India	Real-time payments	117.6 billion	3,729.1
2	Skrill	100+ countries	Digital wallet	49 billion	1,553.8
3	PIX	Brazil	Real-time payments	42 billion	1,331.8
4	Alipay	China	Digital wallet	365 billion	1,157.4
5	PayPal	165 countries	Digital wallet	25 billion	792.7
6	Internet Banking Payment System (IBPS)	China	Real-time payments	18 billion*	570.8
7	Gcash	Philippines	Digital wallet	6.9 billion*	219.9
8	MoMo	Vietnam	Digital wallet	6.8 billion	215.6
9	PayPay	Japan	Digital wallet	6.4 billion	202.9
10	Immediate Payment Service (IMPS)	India	Real-time payments	5.8 billion	183.9
11	Faster Payment Service (FPS)	United Kingdom	Real-time payments	4.5 billion	142.7
12	Boleto	Brazil	Voucher-based	3.7 billion	117.3
13	GrabPay	Asia	Digital wallet	3.65 billion	115.7
14	PromptPay	Thailand	Real-time payments	3.6 billion	114.2
15	ZENGIN	Japan	Real-time payments	3 billion	95.1
16	Zelle	USA	Real-time payments	2.9 billion	92.0
17	Vipps MobilePay	Norway, Denmark, Finland	Mobile payments	1.24 billion	39.3
18	New Payments Platform (NPP)	Australia	Real-time payments	1.2 billion*	38.1
19	iDEAL	Netherlands	Online banking	1.14 billion**	36.1
20	KakaoPay	Korea	Digital wallet	1.1 billion	34.9
21	Swish	Sweden	Online banking	1.02 billion	32.4
22	Bizum	Spain	Online banking	1 billion*	31.7
23	Klarna	22 countries	Buy Now Pay Later	912.5 million	28.9
24	InstaPay	Philippines	Real-time payments	740 million	23.5
25	DuitNow	Malaysia	Real-time payments	670 million *	21.2
26	TWINT	Switzerland	Mobile payments	590 million	18.7
27	MobilePay	Denmark, Finland	Digital wallet	566.4 million*	18.0
28	MB Way	Portugal	Digital wallet	551 million	17.47
29	Faster Payment System (FPS)	Hong Kong	Real-time payments	531 million	16.8
30	BLIK	Poland	Online banking	510 million	16.2
31	PayNow	Singapore	Real-time payments	310 million*	9.8
32	Fast and Secure Transfers (FAST)	Singapore	Real-time payments	290 million*	9.2
33	Trustly	Europe	Online banking	274 million	8.7
34	Raast	Pakistan	Real-time payments	160 million	5.1
35	DOKU	Indonesia	Online banking	145 million*	4.6
36	Interac	Canada, USA	Mobile payments	103.8 million	3.3
37	Zip	Australia	Buy Now Pay Later	72.7 million	2.3
38	Affirm	USA	Buy Now Pay Later	64.35 million	2.0
39	Riverty	13 countries	Buy Now Pay Later	50 million	1.6
40	Atome	APAC region	Buy Now Pay Later	12.9 million	0.4