Korean Payment Gateways Compared: Inicis, Toss, KCP

Korean payments involve two kinds of company. Payment gateways (PGs) such as KG Inicis, NHN KCP, NicePay and Toss Payments sign the merchant contract, run the payment window and settle money to your bank account. Easy-pay wallets such as Naver Pay, Kakao Pay, Toss Pay and NHN's PAYCO are payment methods your customers choose inside that window. Every domestic PG we checked either asks for a Korean business registration or publishes no route without one. If your company has no Korean entity, the realistic routes are Stripe's Korean payment methods (for businesses in Stripe's supported countries) or Eximbay, a Korean cross-border PG that tells non-Korean businesses to contact it directly.

This page compares the providers foreign teams search for most. Every fact comes from the provider's own site or documentation, checked in 2026, and the sources are listed at the end. Fees appear only where the provider publishes them, and they change, so confirm the current terms in writing before you sign.

Korean payment gateways at a glance

Two names searchers also meet are KICC and Smartro. KICC (Korea Information & Communications) runs the EasyPay payment brand, and Smartro offers VAN and PG services. Neither publishes an English onboarding route that we could find, so we left them out of the table.

What is KG Inicis?

KG Inicis is one of Korea's oldest online PGs. The company was founded on 3 November 1998, listed on KOSDAQ in November 2002 (code 035600) and belongs to the KG Group. It describes its main businesses as B2C online payments (INIPAY), B2B electronic guarantees and a global PG business.

For a merchant, KG Inicis offers a payment window for web and mobile, recurring billing, escrow and cancellation APIs, all documented on its Korean developer manual. It also has ready-made connections for Korean hosted shop builders and for WordPress WooCommerce, and it lists Shopify and Wix integrations. On those two global platforms, KG Inicis states that only Korean-issued credit cards are available as a payment method.

KG Inicis publishes a fee table (2026, VAT excluded):

• Credit cards: 3.00% to 3.50%, depending on whether you sell through a hosting platform or your own site
• Bank transfer: 1.80% to 2.00% (minimum 200 KRW, about 14 US cents)
• Virtual account deposit: 300 KRW (about 21 US cents) per transaction
• Easy pays: 3.00% to 3.50% for PAYCO, SSG Pay, Toss Pay, Kakao Pay, Tmoney Pay and L.Pay; 3.30% to 3.50% for Samsung Pay and Naver Pay; 3.50% for Apple Pay
• Overseas cards and global wallets such as WeChat Pay and Alipay: negotiated separately

The application form asks for the company name, the business registration number and the business address. For an offline contract, the document list adds a passport or alien registration card when the representative of the Korean business is a foreign national. In other words, a foreign founder can contract KG Inicis through a Korean company, but the company itself must be registered in Korea.

What is NHN KCP?

NHN KCP is a PG within the NHN group, founded on 28 December 1994. It covers online payments, card terminals, POS and kiosks. Online, it supports all Korean card companies plus overseas VISA, Mastercard and JCB cards, bank transfer, virtual accounts, mobile carrier billing, gift cards and recurring billing with a billing key. It also sells KCP PAY, which lets a merchant run its own branded easy pay, and BUYLINK payment links.

The developer centre is in Korean. It documents a standard payment window, a lighter LITE PAY flow, a REST API, webhooks and payment verification, with sample code in JSP, PHP, ASP, .NET, Node and Python. NHN KCP does not publish its fees on the service pages we checked, and we found no published onboarding route for a company without a Korean business registration.

What is NicePay?

NicePay is the PG brand of NICE Information & Telecommunication (NICE I&T), part of the NICE group. Its contract checklist for a new online merchant lists, besides the service contract, a copy of the Korean business registration certificate, a seal certificate, the corporate register (for a corporation) and a settlement account.

NicePay publishes two plans for merchants it settles for directly (2026):

Naver Pay through NicePay needs a separate review. The developer documentation covers authenticated payments through the payment window, non-authenticated server API payments such as billing keys and virtual accounts, and payment notifications by webhook.

What is Toss Payments?

Toss Payments is the PG of the Toss group, built around a payment widget, a REST API and webhooks. It publishes its fees: a 220,000 KRW (about US$160) sign-up fee and a 110,000 KRW (about US$80) annual fee (both may vary by contract type), then 3.4% for cards and easy pays (some easy pays add their own fee), 2.0% for bank transfer (minimum 200 KRW, about 14 US cents) and 400 KRW (about 29 US cents) per virtual account payment, with 10% VAT on top.

Its easy-pay list covers Toss Pay, Kakao Pay, Naver Pay, PAYCO, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, L.Pay and SSG Pay. Toss Payments has a Shopify app listed since November 2025 (the listing is in Korean only) and announced its Shopify partnership in June 2026. Onboarding asks for a Korean business registration number. Our Toss Payments integration guide covers the widget, the confirm call and webhooks in detail.

What is Eximbay?

Eximbay is a Seoul-based PG focused on cross-border payments. It handles payments from overseas customers (global cards, PayPal, Alipay+, Alipay, WeChat Pay and Japanese methods) and payments from Korean customers (all Korean cards, virtual accounts and Korean easy pays) through one API and SDK. It publishes two Shopify apps: Eximbay Local, for major Korean cards plus Naver Pay, Kakao Pay and PAYCO, and Eximbay Global, for overseas customers.

Its English application guide lists Korean business documents, then states: "If you are not a Korean business entity, please contact our customer support center." Settlement can be in won or a foreign currency. Eximbay's published domestic rate is 3.5% for all Korean credit and debit cards and 3.5% for Naver Pay, Kakao Pay, Toss and PAYCO. Its pricing page also lists a one-off screening fee of 330,000 KRW (about US$240) and a monthly maintenance fee of 110,000 KRW (about US$80) (both VAT included), with the monthly fee waived at 1 billion KRW (about US$710,000) or more in monthly transactions.

What is NHN PAYCO?

PAYCO is the easy-pay app of NHN PAYCO, part of the NHN group. Korean shoppers use it to pay online and in stores, collect PAYCO points and download coupons. It is a payment method, not a gateway. A merchant offers PAYCO through a PG that supports it. KG Inicis, NicePay, Toss Payments and Eximbay all list it, and Stripe supports PAYCO for one-time payments.

What are Naver Pay, Kakao Pay and Toss Pay?

These are the wallets most Korean checkouts show next to cards.

• Naver Pay is run by NAVER Financial. Its Korean developer centre documents two direct integrations: a payment type that adds Naver Pay to your own checkout, and an order type where the order runs through Naver Pay.
• Kakao Pay runs its own developer centre for online payments. Most merchants offer it through their PG.
• Toss Pay is the wallet inside the Toss app. It is offered by Toss Payments, KG Inicis, NicePay and Eximbay, but Stripe does not list it among its Korean methods.

Can a foreign company use Stripe or PayPal for Korean customers?

Stripe lets businesses in 28 supported countries, including the US, the UK, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and most of the EU, accept Korean cards, Kakao Pay, Naver Pay, Samsung Pay and PAYCO without a local entity. Kakao Pay is not available to Singapore businesses. Prices must be in KRW. Stripe's US pricing page lists 3.1% + 30¢ for South Korean payment methods, plus 1.5% for international transactions and 1% if currency conversion is required. South Korea is not a supported business country, so a Korean-registered company cannot open a Stripe account. Our Stripe in Korea guide covers the details.

PayPal operates a Korean site, but KRW is not on the list of currencies its REST API supports, so a PayPal checkout charges Korean customers in another currency. Treat PayPal as an extra option for international buyers rather than a substitute for Korean cards and wallets.

How do you choose?

• No Korean entity, card and wallet customers: start with Stripe if your business is in a supported country, or ask Eximbay about a cross-border contract.
• Korean entity, developer-led build: Toss Payments or another domestic PG through its API. Compare published fees with the offer you receive.
• Korean entity, hosted shop: check which PGs your platform supports first. Our Cafe24 vs Shopify comparison covers the platform side.
• Several PGs or plans to switch later: look at an integration layer such as PortOne, covered in our Korean payment gateway integration guide.

Frequently asked questions

Can a foreign company use KG Inicis?

Only through a business registered in Korea. The KG Inicis application asks for a Korean business registration number, and its contract documents are Korean company records. A foreign national can be the representative of that Korean company; for an offline contract, a passport or alien registration card is then added.

Can a foreign company use NHN PAYCO?

Yes, as a payment method. Stripe supports PAYCO for businesses in its supported countries, and Eximbay's Shopify app lists it. A Korean merchant offers PAYCO through a PG such as KG Inicis, NicePay or Toss Payments.

Can a foreign company use Eximbay?

Eximbay focuses on cross-border payments, but its application guide is written around Korean business documents and asks non-Korean entities to contact its support centre. Ask before you build, and get the contract terms, settlement currency and fees in writing.

Can a foreign company accept Naver Pay or Kakao Pay?

Yes, through Stripe, if your business is in a supported country (Kakao Pay excludes Singapore). Eximbay's Shopify app also lists both. Direct contracts with Naver Pay or Kakao Pay follow their own Korean onboarding.

Does Toss Payments work for foreign companies?

Its merchant application asks for a Korean business registration number, so it fits a company with a Korean entity or branch. Part of its developer documentation is available in English.

Which Korean payment gateway has the lowest fees?

It depends on your volume, business size and contract. Published card rates in 2026 ranged from 2.9% (NicePay Special, with a higher registration fee) to 3.5%, and Korean law gives smaller merchants preferential card rates. Compare the written offer, not the headline rate.

Need a Korean checkout built?

We integrate Korean PGs, Stripe and easy pays into websites and web apps, and we can support the PG application on the Korean side while the contract stays in your company's name. See our Korea integrations page, send us your requirements, or email dwkim@nqsolution.kr.

Picked a gateway and need it integrated? Write to us in two minutes: no brief needed. Our KG Inicis integration guide shows what the work involves.

Sources

All checked in 2026.

• KG Inicis: company profile (Korean)
• KG Inicis: payment methods and fees (Korean)
• KG Inicis: contract documents (Korean)
• KG Inicis: service application and hosting integrations (Korean)
• KG Inicis developer manual (Korean)
• NHN KCP: company introduction (Korean)
• NHN KCP: services (Korean)
• NHN KCP developer centre (Korean)
• NicePay: fees (Korean)
• NicePay: contract documents (Korean)
• NicePay developer centre (Korean)
• Toss Payments: fees (Korean)
• Toss Payments: easy pay methods (Korean)
• Toss Payments: application guide (Korean)
• Shopify App Store: Toss Payments
• Eximbay: application guide (English)
• Eximbay: pricing (English)
• Shopify App Store: Eximbay Local
• Shopify App Store: Eximbay Global
• PAYCO (Korean)
• Naver Pay developer centre (Korean)
• Kakao Pay developer centre (Korean)
• Stripe Docs: South Korean payment methods
• Stripe: local payment method pricing (US)
• PayPal Developer: currency codes
• KICC EasyPay (Korean)
• Smartro (Korean)