Here are the top payment‑gateway providers in India (widely used in 2024–2025), a short summary of what they’re best at, and quick notes to help you choose.

Top picks (at a glance)

• Razorpay — developer‑friendly, rich product suite (payments, subscriptions, banking). (razorpay.com)
• PayU — enterprise‑grade gateway with wide payment coverage and merchant tools. (payu.in)
• Cashfree — strong for payouts / instant settlements and marketplaces. (cashfree.com)
• Stripe (India) — global/developer platform, good for SaaS and multi‑currency. (stripe.com)
• CCAvenue (Infibeam) — very wide payment method support, used by large merchants. (ccavenue.com)
• Paytm Payments (Paytm) — large UPI/wallet reach and integrated merchant ecosystem. (paytmpayments.com)
• BillDesk — legacy leader for high‑volume billers, utilities and recurring collections. (thefinrate.com)
• Instamojo — quick onboarding, payment links and easy store builder for small sellers. (instamojo.com)
• Juspay — mobile/UPI specialist and payment‑orchestration for high conversion. (juspay.io, business-standard.com)
• Easebuzz — full‑stack for collections + payouts, SMB focused with quick onboarding. (easebuzz.in)

Short profiles (why merchants pick them)

• Razorpay — modern API/SDKs, payment links, subscriptions, bank accounts and business banking products; strong for startups and tech teams who want fast integrations and product features. (razorpay.com)
• PayU — broad merchant suite (checkout, analytics, BNPL/EMI support), used by mid‑to‑large merchants that need stability and multiple integrations. (payu.in)
• Cashfree — known for instant/scheduled settlements, bulk payouts and marketplace split settlements; good when you need fast access to funds or vendor disbursals. (cashfree.com)
• Stripe (India) — global platform, predictable pricing, great developer experience and tools for subscriptions/Billing; ideal if you serve international customers or run SaaS. (stripe.com)
• CCAvenue — one of the oldest players, supports 200+ payment options and multi‑currency; used by large ecommerce players requiring wide payment coverage. (ccavenue.com)
• Paytm Payments — huge UPI & wallet reach in India, integrated merchant ecosystem (POS, soundbox, offers); useful for consumer‑facing businesses wanting Paytm’s reach. (paytmpayments.com)
• BillDesk — trusted for bill payments, utilities and recurring/scheduled collections at scale; often chosen by banks, large enterprises and public utilities. (thefinrate.com)
• Instamojo — fastest to start (payment links, small online stores), transparent plan/transaction fees for individual creators / micro SMBs. (instamojo.com, support.instamojo.com)
• Juspay — optimizes mobile + UPI checkout, orchestration and routing to improve success rates and conversion for apps. (juspay.io, business-standard.com)
• Easebuzz — combines payments with payout/banking APIs and quick onboarding for SMEs and platforms. (easebuzz.in)

Pricing & costs (quick note)

• Pricing varies widely: many providers use per‑transaction/percentage fees (often ~1%–3% + fixed ₹ fee), with enterprise/custom plans for high volumes. Stripe, Razorpay, PayU and Cashfree publish standard rates but final pricing depends on volume, industry and negotiated contracts — check each provider for up‑to‑date rates. (stripe.com, razorpay.com, payu.in, cashfree.com)

When to pick which provider (recommended by use case)

• Small sellers, creators, freelancers: Instamojo (easy payment links + store). (instamojo.com)
• Startups / developer teams: Razorpay or Stripe — modern APIs, subscriptions, in‑app SDKs. (razorpay.com, stripe.com)
• Marketplaces / platforms needing payouts: Cashfree or Easebuzz — instant settlements & split payouts. (cashfree.com, easebuzz.in)
• Large enterprises, utilities, high recurring volumes: BillDesk or CCAvenue — stability, reconciliation and BBPS/billing integrations. (thefinrate.com, ccavenue.com)
• Mobile/UPI optimized checkout and high conversion: Juspay (HyperUPI / checkout optimizations). (juspay.io, business-standard.com)

Security & compliance (must‑check)

• Look for PCI‑DSS compliance, RBI/PA (payment aggregator) authorisations where relevant, tokenization, 3‑D Secure and fraud detection tools. Most major providers advertise these on their sites — confirm current certifications before signing. (ccavenue.com, payu.in, cashfree.com)

How to choose (quick checklist)

• What payments you need (UPI, cards, wallets, international cards)
• Settlement frequency and need for instant payouts
• Fees & MDR for your transaction mix (UPI vs cards)
• Integration effort (plugins vs custom API/SDK)
• Refunds/dispute processes and reconciliation tools
• Support SLAs and onboarding KYC time
• Volume discounts / enterprise pricing availability

If you want one short recommendation:

• For most India‑focused startups and SMBs go with Razorpay (balanced features + developer tools) or Cashfree (if you need fast payouts/marketplace features). For businesses with significant international customers or SaaS billing needs, consider Stripe (India) for global features. (razorpay.com, cashfree.com, stripe.com)

I can also prepare a direct comparison (fees, settlement times, integrations) for 3–4 gateways you’re considering if you tell me which ones — but the above list is a practical starting point.