How people pay in South Africa in 2026
South Africa runs two payment cultures side by side. In the SARB's 2023 Payments Study, cash made up 56% of consumer payments by volume but only 21% by value, while debit cards carried 34% of the volume and 55% of the value. Online, growth is fast: Mastercard and World Wide Worx expected online retail to pass R130 billion in 2025, close to 10% of total retail, after R96 billion in 2024.
The 2026 checkout is increasingly local and bank-led. Capitec Pay and PayShap now compete with cards, Apple Pay became the most-used e-commerce method by volume on Stitch's platform in Q1 2026, and BNPL is mainstream among credit-active shoppers. Cash still reaches online merchants through vouchers and pay-at-till codes. The SARB's Vision 2030+ consultation paper, published in February 2026, sets the next goal: to "safely accelerate the digitisation of the payments ecosystem". To compare with East Africa, read our guide to payment methods in Kenya.
- R130bn+ online retail sales expected in 2025 (Mastercard / World Wide Worx)
- 56% of consumer payments made in cash, by volume, in 2023 (SARB Payments Study)
- 45 million PayShap transactions per month in October 2025 (PayInc)
- 57.5% of digitally active consumers tried Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay in the past year (Stitch, 2026)
Payment by card in South Africa
Cards are the backbone of digital payments in South Africa. There is no domestic card scheme: banks issue Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards. GlobalData put card payments at R2.7 trillion in 2024, up 10.3%, with debit cards at 74% of that value, as reported by the Cape Argus. In the SARB's 2023 study, 91% of diary respondents used a debit card and only 19% a credit card. Capitec alone processed more than 2.4 billion card payments in its year to February 2025.
Tap is the default in store. In the same GlobalData survey, 68.4% of respondents had a contactless card they used regularly. Online, card success is the weak spot: Stitch found that nearly 1 in 4 online card attempts failed in Q1 2026, often on invalid details or 3D Secure. Retail store cards remain a local credit line at checkout. Scheme rules and interchange fees shape acceptance costs, as explained in our guide to card networks.
Card schemes in South Africa
Visa
International card scheme
Issued as debit and credit cards by South African banks and accepted in store, online and through tokenized digital wallets.
Mastercard
International card scheme
The other main network for South African debit and credit cards, accepted at the same terminals and online gateways as Visa.
Bank debit cards
Domestic debit
Visa or Mastercard debit cards issued by Capitec, FNB, Absa, Standard Bank, Nedbank and digital banks. They lead everyday card spending and most online checkouts.
55% share of consumer payment value in 2023, SARB Payments Study
Store cards
Retail credit card
Closed-loop credit cards such as the RCS card, Game Mystore and Makro Credit, approved online with a one-time PIN at checkouts that accept them.
1 million+ store card holders reachable online, per Payfast
Payment by cash in South Africa
Cash remains the most used payment instrument by count. The SARB's 2023 Payments Study found that 98% of diary respondents used cash, with an average cash payment of R208, against R768 for a debit card. ATMs supplied 55% of cash access and cashback at the till 28%. Capitec still saw cash transaction volumes rise 3% in its year to February 2025.
For online merchants, cash arrives through two routes. Shoppers buy a voucher PIN with cash at a supermarket, spaza shop or petrol station and enter it at checkout. Or they receive a barcode or reference at checkout and pay at a till. Takealot added 1Voucher in February 2026, and Pay@ works across Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, PEP, Spar and informal retailers. Banks also offer cash-send, where money is collected with a secret code at an ATM or store. Our cash-to-digital case studies show how other markets handled this shift.
Cash payment methods in South Africa
1Voucher
Cash voucher
A 16-digit voucher from Flash, bought with cash at Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, OK Foods and Flash traders, then redeemed online, for example on Takealot through Ozow.
OTT Voucher
Cash voucher
A prepaid PIN sold at resellers and redeemed on merchant websites, used by shoppers outside the banking system.
92,000+ outlets selling OTT Vouchers, Adumo
Pay@
Pay at till
The shopper pays a Pay@ reference in cash or card at a network retailer, from Shoprite and Pick n Pay to informal stores.
500+ billers payable through Pay@, Pay@
SCode
Pay at till
A barcode sent by SMS or email after checkout, paid in cash or by card at Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, OK Furniture and Post Office counters.
6,000+ retail outlets accepting SCode payments, Payfast
MukuruPay
Cash payment code
The shopper receives a Mukuru code at checkout and pays it in cash at a Mukuru partner outlet.
250,000+ outlets in the Mukuru network, Payfast
Payment by bank transfer in South Africa
EFT is the workhorse of the national payment system. EFT credits reached 1.13 billion transactions in 2024 and 70.3% of retail settlement value on SAMOS, according to the SARB's NPS oversight report. Recurring collections run on DebiCheck, the authenticated debit order, with 58.8 million mandates initiated in 2024. PayShap, the instant payment rail run by PayInc, formerly BankservAfrica, launched in March 2023. It grew from 5 to 6 million transactions a month in late 2024 to over 45 million in October 2025, with 80% of payments under R500.
Online, bank payments are now a real alternative to cards. Capitec Pay, approved in the Capitec app, is the preferred online method for 24.6% of shoppers in Stitch's 2026 survey, second only to debit cards. Gateways such as Ozow and Stitch add pay by bank flows for other banks, and PayShap Request, live since December 2024, lets merchants push a payment request to a ShapID. For the bigger picture, read our article on account-to-account payments.
Bank transfer methods in South Africa
PayShap
Instant payment
Real-time payments of up to R50,000 between participating banks using a phone number or ShapID, with PayShap Request for merchant collections.
45 million+ transactions per month in October 2025, PayInc
Capitec Pay
Bank pay button
The shopper enters a phone, account or ID number at checkout and approves in the Capitec app. Capitec has 26 million active clients.
643 million e-commerce transactions including Capitec Pay in the year to February 2026, Capitec
Instant EFT / pay by bank
Pay by bank
Redirect payments from the shopper's online banking, offered by gateways such as Ozow and Stitch, alongside bank buttons like Absa Pay and Nedbank Direct EFT.
Manual EFT
Credit transfer
A classic bank transfer with a payment reference, still common for larger online orders and B2B invoices, though slower to confirm.
1.13 billion EFT credit transactions in 2024, SARB
DebiCheck
Authenticated debit order
Debit order mandates that the customer confirms with the bank, used for subscriptions, insurance and loan repayments.
58.8 million DebiCheck mandates initiated in 2024, SARB
Payment by installment and BNPL in South Africa
Buy now, pay later has gone mainstream. In Stitch's 2026 consumer survey, 38.9% of respondents tried BNPL for the first time in the past 12 months, and 71% of credit-active consumers used it at some frequency. Electronics is the top category, followed by clothing, and 48.7% of shoppers want BNPL both online and in store.
The local model is mostly short and interest-free: split a purchase into two to four payments. Payflex and PayJustNow lead the stand-alone players, and banks have entered the field with MoreTyme inside the GoTyme app, the new name of TymeBank since April 2026. Longer credit runs on revolving accounts such as Mobicred and on retail store cards. Merchants are paid upfront while the provider carries the credit risk, so the choice comes down to fees, approval rates and how many shoppers each provider already has.
Installment and BNPL providers in South Africa
Payflex
BNPL
Splits a purchase into 2, 3 or 4 interest-free payments, with the first paid at checkout. Payflex then collects the rest and carries the credit risk.
1 million+ active BNPL users, Payfast
PayJustNow
BNPL
Interest-free installments online and in store, with a deals directory that sends shoppers to partner merchants.
2.6 million+ shoppers and 3,000+ integrated merchants in 2025, PayJustNow
MoreTyme
Bank BNPL
A GoTyme Bank feature that splits eligible purchases into three equal payments, the first one immediately, then after 30 and 60 days.
3,000+ participating stores in 2026, GoTyme
Mobicred
Revolving credit
An online credit account with limits of up to R50,000, repaid monthly by debit order. The merchant is paid in full.
Payment by digital wallet and X-Pay in South Africa
Phone wallets are the fastest-moving part of the market. Stitch reports that 57.5% of digitally active consumers tried Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay in the past year, and that Apple Pay overtook card as the most-used e-commerce method on its platform in Q1 2026. Large banks support the main wallets: Capitec lets clients add cards to Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet and Garmin Pay, and had over 1 million clients using them by early 2025. Our X-Pay explainer covers how these tokenized wallets work.
South Africa also has its own QR wallets. Scan to Pay, the former Masterpass, now reaches 600,000+ acceptance locations and was added to Samsung Wallet in September 2026. SnapScan and Zapper remain common in restaurants, markets and small shops. Telecom wallets play a smaller role than elsewhere in Africa, a point the SARB makes in its Vision 2030+ paper, though MTN MoMo reached 13 million registered users in April 2025 and Vodacom runs VodaPay.
Digital wallets and X-Pay in South Africa
Apple Pay
Mobile wallet
Supported by major banks including Capitec, and now a leading online method, with near 96% success in one merchant launch tracked by Stitch.
Google Pay
Mobile wallet
Tokenized card payments on Android phones, in store by tap and online at checkouts that support it.
Samsung Wallet
Mobile wallet
Samsung's wallet, formerly Samsung Pay, for tap payments on Galaxy devices, now also able to pay Scan to Pay QR codes.
Scan to Pay
QR wallet
The Masterpass QR network renamed in 2023 and run with EFT Corporation, embedded in the apps of Absa, Capitec, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank.
600,000+ acceptance locations in September 2026, The Paypers
SnapScan
QR wallet
Standard Bank's QR app: scan the merchant code, pay with a stored card or the SnapScan Wallet, and confirm with a PIN or biometrics.
Zapper
QR wallet
A QR app used in restaurants and shops, also scannable from partner apps such as Absa, Capitec, FNB, Nedbank, VodaPay and MTN MoMo.
15 million+ users reachable through Zapper and its partner apps in 2024, Payfast
Payments in South Africa: FAQ
What is the most popular payment method in South Africa?
Cash still leads by number of payments, with 56% of consumer payments by volume in the SARB's 2023 Payments Study. Debit cards lead by value, with 55% of what consumers spend. Online, debit cards, Capitec Pay and Apple Pay are the top choices.
What is PayShap?
PayShap is South Africa's real-time payment rail, run by PayInc (formerly BankservAfrica) since March 2023. People pay using a phone number or ShapID, and merchants can send PayShap Requests. Volumes passed 45 million transactions a month in October 2025.
Which payment methods should an online store offer in South Africa in 2026?
Start with Visa and Mastercard cards plus Apple Pay and Google Pay, then add pay by bank with Capitec Pay, Instant EFT and PayShap. BNPL from Payflex or PayJustNow lifts basket size, and a cash voucher such as 1Voucher or OTT reaches shoppers without cards. In Stitch's 2026 survey, 93.3% of consumers tried a new payment method in the past year.
Is BNPL popular in South Africa?
Yes. Stitch's 2026 report found that 71% of credit-active consumers use BNPL at some frequency and 38.9% tried it for the first time in the past year. PayJustNow alone serves over 2.6 million shoppers.
Accept local payments in South Africa with NORBr
South African merchants usually use a gateway such as Peach Payments or Payfast by Network, backed by a big bank acquirer, while Ozow leads pay-by-bank and Yoco serves small businesses. Check Capitec Pay, PayShap, instant EFT and DebiCheck support.
With NORBr, you can connect any acquirer, PSP or local provider that offers Capitec Pay, instant EFT, PayShap, cash vouchers and BNPL such as Payflex. Some are already in our connector catalog; Mapper™ gets the others live in days, and Smart Checkout shows each shopper the right methods. Explore the other #PayWorldTour guides.
Local payment providers in South Africa
Peach Payments
Payment gateway
Cape Town-based gateway serving online merchants in South Africa and other African markets, with local methods, payment links and recurring billing in one integration.
Covers: Cards, Capitec Pay, PayShap, Instant EFT, Scan to Pay, Payflex, Mobicred, Apple Pay, Google Pay
Payfast by Network
Aggregator
Long-standing South African online payment aggregator, now part of Network International, popular with SMEs and WooCommerce or Shopify stores.
Covers: Cards, Instant EFT, Capitec Pay, SnapScan, Zapper, Scan to Pay, Mobicred, Apple Pay, Samsung Wallet
Ozow
Pay-by-bank provider
Johannesburg-based pay-by-bank provider whose instant EFT checkout lets shoppers pay straight from their bank account at major South African retailers and online stores.
Covers: Instant EFT, PayShap, Capitec Pay
Yoco
PSP
Cape Town-based payment provider for small businesses, offering card machines, online payment links and a point-of-sale app across South Africa.
Covers: Cards, Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Wallet, Scan to Pay
