Comparison

PayNow for Stripe vs ChargeDesk

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PayNow for Stripe

Accept card payments quickly and easily on your iPhone. This minimalist point-of-sale app supports major debit and credit cards in over 135 currencies, with no extra hardware needed. It offers a secure and intuitive interface for processing transactions.

Highlights
  • Accept major debit and credit cards
  • 135+ currency support
  • Tap to Pay payments
  • No extra hardware required
  • High security & PCI Compliance
  • Intuitive UI
Features
Read full description

PayNow for Stripe is a minimalist point of sales app, allowing you to accept card payments quickly and easily using just your iPhone. FEATURES •  Accept all major debit and credit cards - Visa, MasterCard, American Express •  Take payments in 135+ currencies! •  Supports Tap to Pay payments •  No extra hardware required •  Highest level of security & PCI Compliance •  Use device camera to populate card details fast (optional) •  Simple, intuitive & elegant UI •  Cost is 0.8% per transaction + Stripe fees We are a Stripe verified partner: https://stripe.com/partners/paynow Full details and FAQs on our website at https://paynow-app.com// WHAT DOES IT COST? PayNow for Stripe adds a fee of 0.8% per transaction. Stripe has its own costs, which are outlined on their website at https://stripe.com/pricing Stripe has no set up fees, no monthly fees, no refund fees, and no hidden costs. All up, this is about as cheap as it gets for processing credit cards. WHAT IS STRIPE? Stripe is a credit card processor for web and mobile. They process billions of dollars a year for thousands of companies of all sizes. One of the best things about Stripe is their awesome set of APIs, which allow developers to build tools that do more with Stripe – that’s what we've done with this app. You will need a Stripe account to use PayNow for Stripe, and keep in mind is that it’s Stripe doing the real work. PayNow is just a nicely designed mobile app interface you can use to talk (send a credit card charge) to Stripe. Please visit our website to find out more. TRANSLATIONS The app has translations in a handful of languages so far. If you want to submit a correction to your language, or translate a new language we would be very grateful for your help. Visit this link: https://poeditor.com/join/project/ruLhR2MJHF LEGAL INFO EULA & Privacy Policy: https://paynow-app.com/eula-privacy-policy/

About

ChargeDesk

Manage multiple payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Shopify from your mobile device. Receive instant notifications for payments and subscription changes. Perform actions like refunds, cancellations, and customer updates on the go.

Highlights
  • Manage multiple payment gateways
  • Real-time payment notifications
  • Process refunds and cancellations
  • Create new charges and subscriptions
  • Edit customer details and payment methods
  • Integrates with existing e-commerce platforms
Features
Read full description

Manage your Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Recurly, Chargify, NMI, Zuora, GoCardless, WooCommerce, Shopify & Square customers on the go with ChargeDesk. Our powerful notification system lets you know immediately when important actions happen in your account. Find out straight away when a new customer pays you or upgrades their subscription. - Refund charges - Cancel subscriptions - Create new charges (either by invoicing the customer or charging a card on file) - Create new subscriptions - Edit subscription plans - Authorize and capture payments - Manage coupons - Send payment reminders - Edit customer details including adding VAT numbers - Securely update a customer's credit card on file ChargeDesk works with your existing e-commerce setup - in most cases no coding or changes are needed. Just connect your gateway to ChargeDesk and you'll be managing your customers in seconds.

Screenshots

PayNow for Stripe4 screens
ChargeDesk4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: PayNow for Stripe at 4.4 against ChargeDesk's 3.0. PayNow for Stripe also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 33 months) and ratings volume (53 vs 2). ChargeDesk's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and review sentiment (67% vs 56%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PayNow for Stripe holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PayNow for Stripe has 53 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 56% of PayNow for Stripe's written reviews are positive against 67% of ChargeDesk's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PayNow for Stripe ships an update every 2 months, ChargeDesk every 33 months. Both last shipped on November 2, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
PayNow for Stripe versus ChargeDesk: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPayNow for StripeChargeDesk
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (53 ratings) — better3.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews56.3% of reviews66.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings53 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 33 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS13.013.0
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPayNow Pty LtdPeter Industries Pty Ltd

Customer experience

PayNow for Stripe

All ratings49 ratings
Positive87.8%
Neutral2.0%
Negative10.2%
Written reviews48 reviews
Positive56.3%
Neutral4.2%
Negative39.6%

ChargeDesk

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

PayNow for Stripe

No in-app purchases

None

ChargeDesk

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PayNow for Stripe free?
PayNow for Stripe is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ChargeDesk free?
ChargeDesk is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PayNow for Stripe or ChargeDesk?
PayNow for Stripe is rated higher. PayNow for Stripe averages 4.4 out of 5 from 53 ratings, while ChargeDesk averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.
Do PayNow for Stripe or ChargeDesk have ads?
Neither PayNow for Stripe nor ChargeDesk shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PayNow for Stripe or ChargeDesk?
PayNow for Stripe ships an update every 2 months, and ChargeDesk every 33 months. Most recently, PayNow for Stripe was updated on November 2, 2026 and ChargeDesk on November 2, 2026.

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