Adyen vs Mercury

Adyen is a global payments company founded in Amsterdam in 2006 by Pieter van der Does and Arnout Schuijff, and listed on Euronext Amsterdam since 2018. Adyen runs its own acquiring, processing and risk stack in one system, so a merchant gets one contract and one report for card payments, local payment methods and in-store terminals across many countries. Customers include Uber, Microsoft, eBay and OpenAI.

The platform covers online checkout through Drop-in and Components SDKs, point-of-sale terminals, Tap to Pay on phones, RevenueProtect fraud scoring, network tokenization, payouts, and Adyen for Platforms for marketplaces that onboard and pay sub-merchants. Pricing is published and usage-based: a fixed $0.13 processing fee per transaction plus a payment method fee, such as Interchange++ plus 0.60% for Visa and Mastercard. There are no setup or monthly fees, though a minimum invoice can apply depending on industry.

Adyen fits large retailers, travel and mobility companies, and marketplaces processing high volumes across several regions, where unified data and acquiring margins matter. It is a poor fit for small shops: onboarding is sales-led, integration needs developers, and support is tuned for enterprise accounts. Stripe is easier for startups and SaaS billing, PayPal brings consumer wallet reach, and Square suits small in-person sellers.

Adyen keeps growing: H1 2026 net revenue was about EUR 1.3 billion, up 19% year on year, and in July 2026 it completed the acquisitions of Talon.One (loyalty and promotions) and Orb (usage-based billing).

Mercury is a US financial technology company, founded in 2017 and based in San Francisco, that provides business banking for startups and online businesses. Mercury itself is not a bank: accounts are held at partner banks, and deposits can be swept across a network of banks to extend FDIC insurance well beyond the standard limit for a single bank.

The free core product includes checking and savings accounts, physical and virtual debit cards, a corporate credit card, domestic and international wires, ACH transfers, invoicing, bill pay and an API for automating finance. Mercury Treasury invests idle cash in money market funds for yield, and the paid tiers, Mercury Plus and Mercury Pro, add advanced bill pay, reimbursements and dedicated support. Onboarding is online and fast, and many founders outside the United States use Mercury for a Delaware company formed through services such as Stripe Atlas.

Mercury fits venture-backed and bootstrapped startups with a US entity that want a modern interface and an API. It only serves US-registered companies, cash deposits and some traditional banking services are limited, and as a fintech it depends on its partner banks. Brex and Ramp focus more on spend management and corporate cards, Relay offers many sub-accounts for profit-first budgeting, and traditional banks provide fuller lending relationships for companies that need credit lines.