Estonian payment gateways in Shopify: Montonio, Maksekeskus or Shopify Payments?

Every merchant launching a Shopify store in Estonia runs into the same question sooner or later: how do I let customers pay the way they actually want to? If an Estonian shopper doesn't see the familiar Swedbank, SEB or LHV button at checkout, a meaningful share of orders simply never gets completed. Bank links — pangalingid — are not a niche preference here; they are a habit you should work with, not against. There are three serious options on the table: Maksekeskus, Montonio and Shopify Payments. Let's walk through them calmly.

Shopify Payments now works in Estonia

Let's start with the freshest fact, because the internet is misleadingly out of date on this one. Forums, older blog posts and even some agency sales pitches still repeat that Shopify Payments is unavailable in Estonia and that an Estonian company must use a third-party payment provider. That advice is outdated. Shopify Payments is available for Estonian businesses — with 3D Secure authentication that meets European PSD2 requirements, and with support for local payment methods.

In practice this means two things. First, payment happens directly inside the Shopify checkout, with no redirect to an external page and back. Second, Shopify does not charge its extra transaction fee on its own gateway — the fee it adds to every order processed through a third-party provider. If an old guide or a well-meaning consultant tells you otherwise, double-check: the rules changed, and much of the advice online hasn't caught up.

The three options side by side

Maksekeskus

Maksekeskus (MakeCommerce) is the best-known local payment solution in Estonian e-commerce — the checkout window shoppers have seen for years. Its strongest card is bank links with every Estonian bank: Swedbank, SEB, LHV, Coop Pank and Luminor are one click away. It also offers hire-purchase partners, so a pricier basket can be split into monthly payments, and card payments come in the same package. It connects to Shopify through a ready-made app, and support answers in Estonian.

Montonio

Montonio is the younger, more technically modern player. It covers bank links across the whole Baltic region: if you also sell to Latvia and Lithuania, one contract gives you bank payments for all three markets. For financing, Montonio offers instalments directly at checkout, and pricing starts from 0.79% + €0.10 per transaction with no hidden monthly fees. Developers get a modern API and solid documentation; merchants get a clean dashboard where refunds and reporting take care of themselves.

Shopify Payments

Shopify Payments is the platform's own solution: card payments and local methods live natively in the checkout, and everything is managed from the same admin as the rest of your store. No separate contract, app or development work — it switches on in a few clicks. Most importantly, Shopify adds no transaction fee when you use it, so compared with a third-party provider you keep more of every sale. For a store with international ambitions it is the lowest-friction choice.

Comparison at a glance

	Maksekeskus	Montonio	Shopify Payments
Best for	stores focused on Estonia	stores expanding across the Baltics	internationally oriented stores
Bank links	all Estonian banks	Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian banks	local methods available
Instalments	via partners	built into checkout	—
Setup	ready-made Shopify app	ready-made app + modern API	native, a few clicks

Which one should you choose?

There is no single right answer — there is a right answer for your store's profile.

If you sell mainly in Estonia and your customers expect a bank link, start with Maksekeskus. The familiar payment window builds trust with first-time buyers, and hire-purchase partners help close bigger orders — often decisive for furniture or electronics.

If you plan to sell across the Baltics, pick Montonio: three markets, one contract, transparent pricing. Instalments work the same way in every country, and the API leaves room for custom work.

If you are targeting international buyers, Shopify Payments is the natural pick — fast checkout, cards and local methods, no extra fees.

For many Estonian stores, though, the best answer is a combination: Shopify Payments for cards plus one bank-link provider for local habits — you lose neither type of buyer. Before deciding, compare fees against real revenue: at €10,000 a month, every tenth of a percent is hundreds of euros a year.

Payments are the one place in e-commerce where you shouldn't experiment: an abandoned checkout is the most expensive mistake a store can make. If you want bank links, instalments and Shopify Payments configured correctly in one go, see our Shopify development and integrations service — we set up payments together with shipping and checkout as a single project.