UPI QR vs payment link vs payment gateway: which does your business need?
Three ways to get paid, three different bills. This guide shows where each works, what each can take, what each costs, and how to tell which one your business needs today.
A UPI QR code takes payments at a counter with no fee to you, and a UPI payment link does the same on WhatsApp, email or a website. A payment gateway adds cards, net banking, wallets, receipts and online checkout, for a fee per payment that some gateways charge even on UPI. Most small businesses need a QR and a link first, and a gateway once they sell online.
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UPI QR, payment link and gateway, side by side
A UPI QR code and a UPI payment link both pay your bank account directly through UPI, with no company in the middle and no fee today. A payment gateway is a paid service that collects through UPI and cards, keeps records, and pays you out later. The difference is what you need besides UPI.
Gateway terms are Razorpay's, read on its pricing page on 24 October 2026, as one published example. The UPI fee rules are the Finance Ministry's of 15 September 2026. More in our guides to UPI payments.
| UPI QR code | UPI payment link | Payment gateway | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | UPI QR codeA counter, a stall, a clinic desk, a printed card | UPI payment linkWhatsApp, SMS and email requests, a button on a page | Payment gatewayA website or app checkout, and card payments |
| Takes | UPI QR codeUPI | UPI payment linkUPI | Payment gatewayUPI, cards, net banking, wallets and more |
| Fee to you today | UPI QR codeNone | UPI payment linkNone | Payment gatewayThe gateway's price: 2% per successful payment at Razorpay, UPI included [source] |
| Once the 2026 UPI fee starts | UPI QR code0.4% above ₹2,000 on merchant accounts; P2PM stays at zero | UPI payment linkThe same rules as a QR | Payment gatewayThe gateway's price, as it chooses to set it |
| Amount | UPI QR codeCustomer types it, unless the QR carries one | UPI payment linkCan be fixed in the link | Payment gatewaySet by your checkout or invoice |
| How you know you were paid | UPI QR codeYour bank's SMS or app | UPI payment linkYour bank's SMS or app | Payment gatewayThe gateway's dashboard, then its payout to your bank |
| Set-up | UPI QR codeAny UPI ID; print the code | UPI payment linkAny UPI ID; make the link | Payment gatewayAn account with the gateway, with its checks |
The 0.4% row is the framework the Finance Ministry announced on 15 September 2026, whose start NPCI moved to after Diwali; UPI charges for merchants has the detail and a fee calculator.
How the money reaches you, route by route
With a UPI QR code or link, the customer's UPI app sends the money from their bank straight to yours. With a gateway, the gateway collects the payment, keeps its fee, and pays the rest into your bank on its settlement cycle. That middle step is what you pay for, and what you get the records from.
Which one does your business need?
Tick what is true for you and enter what you take by UPI in a month. The chooser tells you which routes you need, and what a gateway's fee would cost on that volume at Razorpay's published 2% rate, against nothing for a direct UPI QR or link. It runs in your browser.
What a payment gateway charges on UPI, and what it is for
UPI has carried no merchant discount rate since 2020, but a gateway is free to charge its own fee for its service. Razorpay's pricing page says plainly that UPI through it has zero MDR and still carries a 2% platform fee. That fee pays for the checkout, the records and the payouts, which are worth paying for when you need them.
Razorpay's own words on UPI
Asked whether standard UPI payments carry a fee, its pricing FAQ answers that there is zero MDR, and then: "a standard platform or technology fee of 2% will be applied which is for the dashboard, reporting tools, and the secure infrastructure provided by the Payment Gateway" [source]. The same page lists payment links, pages, buttons and invoices at that same rate, with no set-up or yearly maintenance fee.
Cards cost more, on any route
The Finance Ministry's FAQ puts typical credit card MDRs at 1.5% to 2.5% a payment, with debit cards capped at up to 0.90%. If your customers want to pay by card, you need a gateway or a card machine, and that cost comes with it.
When the gateway is worth it. You run an online shop and every order has to be marked paid without anyone checking a bank SMS. You take cards, EMI or international payments. You send many invoices and need refunds and reports in one place. Those are real jobs, and a gateway does them well.
When it is not. You are paid in person or on WhatsApp, the customer pays by UPI anyway, and you check your bank app. Then a QR code and a link do the job for nothing, and a gateway's 2% on ₹1,50,000 a month is ₹3,000 you did not need to spend.
A UPI payment link, made properly
A UPI payment link is a short address that starts with upi://pay and carries your UPI ID, your name, and optionally the amount and a note. Tapped on a phone, it opens the customer's UPI app with those details filled in. On a laptop with no UPI app there is nothing for it to open.
- pa is your UPI ID and pn the name the customer sees, as in NPCI's UPI linking specification.
- am fixes the amount, cu is the currency (INR) and tn a note that appears with the payment, so you know what it was for.
- Leave the amount out for a link people pay any sum into; put it in for an advance or a fixed fee.
Our free UPI QR code generator builds the link and the QR code from your UPI ID, and nothing you type leaves your browser. A Beeps profile puts the same kind of payment button on the page your visiting card opens, so a customer can pay you from the card you handed over.
QR, link or gateway: questions
Is UPI a payment gateway?
No. UPI is the payment system itself, run by NPCI, that moves money from one bank account to another. A payment gateway is a company's service that sits between your website or app and several payment systems - UPI, cards, net banking, wallets - and sends you the money afterwards. You can take UPI with no gateway at all.
Sources: NPCI, published by the Department of Financial Services
Which is cheapest: a UPI QR, a payment link or a gateway?
A UPI QR code or a UPI payment link that pays your bank directly carries no fee today. A gateway charges its own fee per payment: Razorpay's standard rate is 2% per successful transaction, UPI included. Once the 2026 UPI framework starts, payments above ₹2,000 to merchant accounts carry 0.4% whichever route they take.
Sources: Razorpay [source], Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Finance
Do I need a payment gateway to take payments on WhatsApp?
Not for UPI. A UPI payment link sent in a chat opens the customer's UPI app and pays your bank directly. You need a gateway when the customer wants to pay by card, or when you want receipts and order records made for you automatically.
Can a Beeps profile take payments?
Yes, on Pro at ₹299 a year. The Pay via UPI button opens the customer's UPI app with your UPI ID filled in, and the money goes to your bank with no cut taken by us. Pro can also connect a payment gateway with your own account - the documentation lists 11, Razorpay, Cashfree, PhonePe and Stripe among them - for cards and wallets.
What changes for QR codes when the 2026 UPI fee starts?
Nothing has to be replaced: the Finance Ministry's FAQ says existing QR codes, stands and soundboxes keep working. What changes is the fee on payments above ₹2,000 to merchant accounts. Small merchants on P2PM, up to ₹1 lakh a month, stay at zero.
Sources: NPCI, published by the Department of Financial Services
Sources
Facts about other companies and the wider market come from the pages below, as published by them. Each was read on the date shown. Beeps Card prices come from our own pricing page.
- Razorpay, source page. Checked .
- NPCI, published by the Department of Financial Services, Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on Select UPI (P2M) Transactions - FAQs, 15 September 2026. Checked .
- Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Finance, UPI Continues to Remain Free for Peer to Peer Transactions and 96% of Merchant Transactions (15 September 2026). Checked .
- NPCI (copy hosted by labnol.org), UPI Linking Specifications, version 1.6 (November 2017). Checked .