Mollie for small businesses: costs, payment methods and setup

Payment processing does not have to be complicated. For many small shops in Austria and Germany, Mollie is a good choice: no subscription, transparent fees per payment and the payment methods that customers in German-speaking countries actually use.

I use Mollie in many WooCommerce projects. In this article I show you when Mollie suits small businesses, when it does not, and how the setup works.

The short answer

• Mollie has no base fee and no minimum term for online payments. You only pay for successful transactions.
• EPS, Klarna, credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, SEPA Direct Debit: all through one provider and one plugin.
• Setting it up in WooCommerce is doable without programming knowledge. Realistically, allow one to three days for the account, the verification and the plugin, not ten minutes.

You will find a general overview of Mollie in What is Mollie? Payment methods and fees.

Why Mollie is a good fit for small businesses

As a small business owner, you do not want to spend time on payment technology. You want customers to be able to pay the way they are used to, and the money to arrive reliably in your account.

That is exactly where Mollie is strong. Instead of connecting PayPal, Klarna and a card provider separately, you have one contract, one dashboard and one payout. If you want a new payment method, you activate it in the dashboard. You do not need a new plugin for it.

The second point is cost. With low turnover, a monthly base fee is a nuisance, because it is charged even in weak months. For online payments, Mollie only charges per successful transaction.

What Mollie costs

For online payments, Mollie has no monthly fee, no setup fee and no lock-in. Mollie’s Austrian pricing page lists, among others, these fees (prices as of October 2026):

Payment method	Fee per transaction
Visa / Mastercard, consumer cards from the EEA	1,80 % + 0,25 €
Visa / Mastercard, business cards from the EEA	2,90 % + 0,25 €
EPS (Austria)	1,50 % + 0,25 €
Klarna (Germany, Austria, Switzerland)	2,99 % + 0,35 €
SEPA Direct Debit	0,35 €
Bancontact (Belgium)	1,40 % + 0,25 €
PayPal	PayPal fee + 0,10 €
Apple Pay / Google Pay	depends on the card used

Then there are payouts: with less than 500.000 € in annual turnover via Mollie, up to five payouts per month are free, and each additional one costs 0,25 €. For a small shop, a weekly payout is usually perfectly sufficient.

A note so you are not confused: the pricing page also shows packages with a monthly fee. Those apply to card terminals in a physical shop, not to your online shop.

Work out the fees using your typical basket. With a basket of 30 €, the fixed portion of 0,25 € is noticeable; at 300 € it hardly matters. Check the prices on Mollie’s website before signing up, as they change from time to time.

Which payment methods matter for customers in Austria and Germany

You do not have to offer everything. Too many options make the checkout cluttered. For most small shops, a selection is enough:

• Austria: credit card, EPS, PayPal and possibly Klarna for pay-by-invoice.
• Germany: credit card, PayPal, Klarna, possibly SEPA Direct Debit for regular customers.
• Belgium and the Netherlands: if you sell there, Bancontact and iDEAL are practically a must. This is where Mollie is particularly strong, as it originally comes from the Netherlands.

Which payment methods make sense in WooCommerce in general and what they cost is something I compare in detail in WooCommerce payment methods compared.

Setting up Mollie in WooCommerce

The technical setup is simple. But getting there involves a few steps you should know about:

1. Create a Mollie account: you register and provide your company details, bank details and an ID. Mollie is a regulated financial institution and has to verify you. That usually takes one to two working days.
2. Provide your website: Mollie reviews your shop. Your legal notice, terms and conditions, cancellation policy and shipping information should therefore already be online.
3. Install the plugin: in WordPress, go to Plugins, search for “Mollie Payments for WooCommerce”, install and activate it. The plugin is free.
4. Enter the API keys: copy the test key and the live key from the Mollie dashboard into the plugin settings.
5. Activate payment methods: first enable them in the Mollie dashboard; they then appear in WooCommerce and can be switched on and off there.
6. Test: in test mode, run through every payment method once, including a cancelled payment. Only then switch to live.

A typical stumbling block: if your website has password protection or maintenance mode during setup, Mollie cannot report the payment status back. Orders then stay on “Pending payment”. For live tests, the shop has to be reachable.

Small business VAT exemption: what to bear in mind

Many of my clients use the small business scheme (Kleinunternehmerregelung) and do not charge VAT. For Mollie itself, that changes nothing. Mollie processes the amount your shop passes on.

What matters is the setting in WooCommerce: disable taxes or set them to 0 %, and display the appropriate notice about the small business scheme in the shop. You will find Mollie’s fee invoice in the dashboard every month. How these invoices are to be booked and what obligations arise from them is something to clarify with your tax adviser. That is not a topic on which I want to give you a general answer.

When Mollie is not the best choice

To be honest, Mollie is not right for everyone. If you mainly sell outside Europe, especially to the USA, Stripe is usually better positioned. If you need complex subscription models with lots of special cases, it is also worth looking at Stripe. You will find the direct comparison in Stripe vs. Mollie.

And if you still have questions about data protection, read Security and data protection with Mollie. There I also explain why you generally do not need a data processing agreement with Mollie for payment processing.

My conclusion

For a small shop with customers in Austria, Germany or the Benelux countries, Mollie is one of my standard recommendations. No subscription, fair fees, the relevant payment methods and a solid WooCommerce plugin.

If you would like support with the setup, I am happy to go through it with you, remotely and on your own shop. An hour with me costs € 109,–.

Frequently asked questions

Does Mollie have a monthly base fee?

Not for online payments. You only pay per successful transaction. Monthly fees only apply to certain packages for card terminals in physical shops.

Can I use Mollie as a small business without charging VAT?

Yes. Mollie processes the amount your shop passes on. You make the tax settings in WooCommerce. How to book Mollie’s fee invoices is something to clarify with your tax adviser.

Does Mollie support EPS for Austrian customers?

Yes. EPS is available with Mollie and, according to the Austrian pricing page, costs 1,50 % + 0,25 € per payment (prices as of October 2026).

How long does it take to set up Mollie in WooCommerce?

The plugin is set up in half an hour. Mollie’s account verification usually takes one to two working days. So allow a few days’ lead time.

Is Mollie cheaper than Stripe?

That depends on your payment methods. For local European payment methods such as EPS or Bancontact, Mollie often has the edge. Do the maths with your typical basket.