PayFast vs Yoco for freelancers: which to accept on invoices
Side-by-side comparison of PayFast and Yoco for South African freelancers — fees, payout speed, setup, and which one to put on your invoices.
Both PayFast and Yoco let you take card payments online. For freelancers issuing invoices, the right answer is usually: connect both. Here's why, and how they actually differ.
Fees (the short version)
- PayFast: ~3.5% + R2 per transaction on cards. EFT and Instant EFT slightly cheaper.
- Yoco: ~2.95% per online transaction, no fixed fee.
On a R1,000 invoice the difference is R5–R10. On a R20,000 invoice it's R100+. For larger invoices, Yoco's percentage-only model usually wins.
Payout speed
PayFast pays out on a rolling 2–3 business day cycle. Yoco offers next-business-day payouts as standard, with same-day available on certain plans. If cashflow matters, Yoco wins here too.
Customer experience
PayFast has more payment methods (Instant EFT, SnapScan, Zapper, debit orders). Yoco is card-only online but the checkout is faster and feels more modern.
Setup
Both are free to open and KYC takes a day or two. Yoco's signup is slightly smoother. Either way, once you have credentials you connect them in LekkerVoice's payment connections and they appear as a Pay Now button on every invoice.
Our recommendation
Connect both. PayFast for clients who insist on Instant EFT or SnapScan; Yoco as the default card option because the fees and payouts are better. Your client picks whichever they prefer from the public invoice page — you don't have to choose for them.
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