IntaSend provides a Flutterwave payment gateway alternative by enabling merchants to collect card payments, mobile, crypto, bank, and send cross-border payments. In this article, we will share more details about the IntaSend payment gateway and why we think it is a better alternative to Flutterwave.
Flutterwave is a billion-dollar unicorn. It is one of the foremost payment gateways in Africa. IntaSend is a payment gateway that was born out of the need to solve the various payment issues facing Africans. Everyone can use IntaSend wherever you are in Africa, whether you are a freelancer, an online store owner, a business service owner, a service provider, a retail or wholesale business, or a small, medium, or large business. Flutterwave works for all kinds of websites, e-commerce stores, mobile, and web apps.
IntaSend integrates banks and various payment mechanisms into a reliable, simple-to-use service that benefits businesses all over Africa. IntaSend may be new but it holds some advantages over Flutterwave that make it a better payment gateway. In this article, we’ll compare IntaSend and Flutterwave briefly before highlighting the advantages of switching to IntaSend.
Advantages of IntaSend over Flutterwave
Here are the advantages that IntaSend holds over Flutterwave.
Fast customer service response
IntaSend is a growing business that is just scaling up. They can pay enough attention to you and provide customized, tailor-made solutions to your needs. You’ll get through to our customer service contact without much delay. Customer complaints are patched through and attended to very fast. Their customer support is available 24/7.
Ease of access to founders
Aspiring users of IntaSend can easily schedule a meeting with the founder to know more about the service and how it can help grow their business. This isn’t possible by any chance with Flutterwave. The best you can get on Flutterwave is an FAQ or customer service to some of your enquiries.
Cryptocurrency support
IntaSend supports cryptocurrency direct from the website. IntaSend empowers online businesses to receive payment via Bitcoin. And the best part of all? IntaSend protects you against the volatility of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Funds paid for using Bitcoin are immediately converted to fiat currency and made available for you to withdraw.
IntaSend Bitcoin processing supports both the Bitcoin Lighting and Main-chain network. The Bitcoin Lighting network differs from the Main-chain network in that it allows for fast processing of Bitcoin transactions on the Blockchain without any delay. Nothing like block confirmation time which allows for faster, affordable payments.
Bitcoin support on IntaSend doesn’t require anything special to add to your website. The regular IntaSend API works well for this. Activating the “pay with bitcoin” option is just a one-click solution. And your customers don’t have to do anything special to pay with Bitcoin. They either pay by using the wallet address provided or by scanning your IntaSend Bitcoin address QR code.
Better East African focus and support
Founded in Kenya by two entrepreneurs, IntaSend offers better support for businesses domiciled in Kenya and East Africa. IntaSend is used and trusted by several businesses in East Africa and the company has formed a reputable partnership with them. You can be sure that the same courtesy and remarkable service will be offered to you if you use their services. IntaSend also offers very cheap and reasonable transaction rates to mobile networks and businesses in Kenya.
Controversy-free
Flutterwave has been embroiled in some controversies and series of allegations. There have been alleged tales of mismanagement, financial impropriety, workplace bullying, abuse of power and harassment. The controversy made waves in the fintech and investment sector and led to several questions concerning Flutterwave, its operations, and compliance issues.
On the other hand, IntaSend is free of controversies and it operates a working environment that is safe for everyone, and respectable to everyone. There has never been any single allegation or accusation against IntaSend and its founders. You are rest assured that your funds and business dealings are safe and secured with IntaSend.
Support the growth of a small business
Flutterwave is a unicorn (a company valued at over $1 billion dollars). IntaSend is a growing fintech company without any known seed funding as of now. Using IntaSend shows that you are supporting a small but fast-growing fintech startup that promises to disrupt fintech as we know it in Africa. IntaSend is bringing a lot of changes to the fintech startup world in Africa with several implementations and features.
Multi-wallet solution
IntaSend allows users to keep multiple wallets on their platform. These wallets can be used to separate different accounts and keep track of their finances separately. You can migrate funds from one wallet to another easily. You can also withdraw funds from a wallet easily.
Developers and businesses can build various kinds of wallets on IntaSend’s infrastructure and then allocate these wallets to their users. You don’t have to build your wallet from scratch when you use this service. The wallet solution can be integrated for mobile and web apps, e-commerce collection, gaming and e-sports, crowdfunding campaigns, etc.
Other advantages of IntaSend
Affordable transaction fees
IntaSend’s transaction fees are affordable and very reasonable. You are only billed minimal percentage fees per transaction. No signup fee is required. And best of all, you can test IntaSend features for free without having to pay a dime. There is a demo mode that allows you to set up live demo accounts and test IntaSend features for yourself before you officially begin to use it for real-world transactions.
Disbursement to 132 countries
IntaSend offers fast cash disbursement to about 132 countries worldwide. So, you can send to and also receive from people in other countries worldwide. If you have friends and relatives in other countries worldwide, you can use this service to easily send money to them. It’s fast, hitch-free, and convenient. The transaction fees are also minimal and better than what you’ll get from other services. Now, you no longer have to look for shortcuts and tricks to send money to people resident in other countries. And the exchange rates are very reasonable. The transaction exchange rate is also constantly updated to reflect changes, so you can rest assured that you’ll get a fair rate.
Ease of setting up
IntaSend is easy to set up and use. You don’t need to be a computer programmer or a web developer to use the IntaSend payment gateway. Easy-to-follow instructions, documentation, and videos are provided by IntaSend on how you can use their services. The API, web SDK, and plugins are what you’ll use to implement and activate the payment service. You can start receiving payments within minutes of signing up to use the service.
Ease of receiving money in foreign currency
IntaSend allows one to easily receive foreign currency from anyone all around the world. Now you can setup your online store to have customers from all over the world. Multiple currencies are supported and not just one. Your customers can pay via VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, M-Pesa, and cryptocurrency.
Free sign up
Signing up on IntaSend is free. You won’t be required to pay anything when you want to start using the service. As mentioned earlier, you only pay a small percentage per transaction. There are no applicable charges when you are applying to use the service.
Fast withdrawals
Withdrawals on IntaSend are fast and easy. You can withdraw to your bank account or mobile money M-Pesa account. Withdrawals are fast regardless of your withdrawal choice and you get your money ASAP.
IntaSend NGO and religious body solution
IntaSend has a special payment package for NGOs and religious bodies. This allows NGO and religious organizations to receive online donations safely and securely. It can also be used for crowdfunding and special donations. IntaSend can help with donations, membership fees, merchandise sales, event tickets etc.
Security
IntaSend uses various security protocols to ensure that your money is secured. IntaSend is PCI-DSS compliant to protect your customers’ debit and credit card information. IntaSend has various security measures to protect you from identity theft, phishing, data theft, fraudulent chargebacks, and another form of nefarious activities that could affect online payment systems.
IntaSend conducts KYC procedures to properly vet every business and organization that uses its services. This enables it to be a business that stays in line with every compliant measure. IntaSend also updates its security measures regularly to keep you protected.
Reliable record keeping and business analytics
With IntaSend you get a monthly record of transactions on a dashboard. You can view all monthly inflow and outflow. This helps with record-keeping for businesses. It also helps with tracking and monitoring every transaction. IntaSend also offers intelligence business analytics that helps you make sense of statistics and figures generated by your business. This helps you to make better business decisions. Generating reports from the dashboard is easy and free to do.
No holding period
Some payment processors will hold your money down for a certain period before releasing money to you. With IntaSend, there is nothing like that. Received money can be withdrawn quickly.
No downtime
IntaSend doesn’t have downtime or technical problems that will lead to loss of business for its users. The payment platform has been perfected to work 24/7. So, you don’t have to get frustrated by the poor, intermittent service of other payment gateways. Subscribe to our service status pages for real-time updates.
Support for multiple e-commerce platforms
IntaSend supports various e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify. So, you can use IntaSend to receive payments on any e-commerce store built on these platforms. You can easily integrate IntaSend with your e-commerce store by using their API or webSDK. It’s very easy to do with the guides and documentation provided by IntaSend. You can set it up within some minutes and test it before your customers start to use it. And you can contact the support team to help you should you need their help. The checkout process is fast and smooth and your customers won’t get frustrated in any way when making payments.
Unique payment links
IntaSend allows you to generate unique payment links that can be sent to your customers to pay. Once your customers click on the link, they can easily make payments for goods and services.
Subscription-based payment
Do you run a subscription-based service that requires people to pay an amount of money periodically? IntaSend can help you set up recurring periodic payments. Everything is automated and set up automatically, so you don’t have to do much.
Easy cash disbursement
IntaSend does both cash inflow and outflow perfectly. You can use IntaSend to set up a salary payment scheme whereby money is disbursed from your IntaSend account to specific people periodically. You can withdraw money to bank accounts and M-Pesa mobile money accounts. Withdrawals are fast and seamless. IntaSend is perfect for receiving and dispensing money.
Zero hidden fees
IntaSend has zero hidden fees. You are explicitly told what you’ll be charged before you begin to use the service. You will never wake up to sudden charges from nowhere when you use IntaSend. Nothing like non-compliance fee, tax reporting fee, regulatory fee, online reporting fee, data processing fee, settlement fee, operation cost, notification charges or anything of the sort.
Custom payment forms
IntaSend allows you to add custom fields to your checkout forms. So, you can add more information fields that you require from your customers instead of sticking to the default forms you get with other payment processors.
Prompt payment notification
IntaSend will send you prompt notifications for payment purchases and transfers. The payment notifications will come in the form of emails and other notification services. This helps you to stay aware of all financial transactions and take the necessary action as needed.
Conclusion
The African digital payment market is projected to grow by $27 billion in 2025 and IntaSend is doing a lot to push and manifest this growth. IntaSend is ushering in the next level of payment innovations that will disrupt Africa’s fintech sector. It will open up businesses in Africa to the world and empower them to become global businesses as opposed to being local businesses serving Africans alone. IntaSend frequently adds new features and options to its payment services to stay ahead of Flutterwave and other competitors thereby pushing it to the forefront of online payment infrastructure in Africa. Sign up with us to start accepting online payments for your business.
