What is the most popular payment method in Saudi Arabia?
mada debit cards, mostly used contactless. E-commerce sales on mada cards reached SR37.6 billion in July 2026, and 8.6 billion of mada's 8.9 billion transactions in 2023 were contactless. Apple Pay is the leading wallet.
In detail
mada, Saudi Arabia's domestic debit scheme run by Saudi Payments under the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA). It carries the bulk of card spending, online and in stores. E-commerce sales on mada cards reached SR37.6 billion in July 2026 and SR101.4 billion in Q2 2026, up 32.3% year on year.
Contactless first
Most mada payments are tap payments. In 2023, 8.6 billion of mada's 8.9 billion transactions were NFC, a mix of contactless cards and phones. Apple Pay leads the wallet market, since mada cards can be added to Apple Wallet. Google Pay launched with mada in September 2025.
A fast move away from cash
Electronic payments reached 85% of all retail payments in Saudi Arabia in 2025, against 18% in 2015, according to SAMA. Visa and Mastercard sit on top of mada on credit and co-badged cards, and BNPL providers such as Tabby and Tamara are licensed finance companies.
What it means for payment operators
A Saudi checkout without mada misses most shoppers. Operators serving merchants in Saudi Arabia need a local acquirer that supports mada online, Apple Pay and the international schemes, plus local BNPL. Connecting them once and enabling them per merchant keeps launches in the kingdom simple.