Payment Methods in Germany: PayPal, Invoice & SEPA (2026)

Germany still uses a lot of cash, but the balance has tipped. In the Bundesbank's 2025 payment behaviour study, published in June 2026, cashless methods were used for 55% of everyday payments. That was the first time they passed half. Cash covered the other 45%. The girocard, Germany's domestic debit card, was by far the most used debit card, and mobile payments rose to 10% of all payments.

Online, people pay differently. In the same study, internet payment methods such as PayPal were used for 50% of online payments, ahead of direct debits and bank transfers (30%) and credit cards (15%). The EHI Retail Institute, which surveys retailers rather than shoppers, ranked PayPal first by online turnover in 2025, with 28.7%. Invoice purchase came second with 26.1%, then direct debit with 14.4% and credit and international debit cards with 13.7%.

How people pay in Germany

Popular offline payment methods in Germany

• Cash: used for 45% of all payments in 2025, and still the most used method by number of payments (Bundesbank).

• girocard: used about 8.3 billion times in 2025, up from 7.9 billion in 2024 (girocard annual figures).

• Visa Debit and Debit Mastercard: up 2.5 points to 9.4% of in-store retail turnover in 2025 (EHI).

• Credit cards: 8.2% of in-store retail turnover in 2025 (EHI).

• Mobile payments: led by Apple Pay, used for 13% of payments in shops and petrol stations in 2025 (Bundesbank).

• PayPal at the till: possible through a virtual card PayPal added in 2025, but still under 1% of shop payments (Bundesbank).

List of payment methods in Germany

Cash

Cash is still the most used way to pay in Germany by number of payments. In the Bundesbank's 2025 study it covered 45% of payments but only 23% of the money spent. It is strongest for small amounts: two thirds of payments under €5 in shops and petrol stations were made in cash. Cash was accepted in 94% of in-person purchases, and 80% of respondents said keeping the option to pay in cash matters to them.

girocard

The girocard, formerly called the EC card, is the shared debit card of the German banks and savings banks. In the Bundesbank's 2025 study, 90% of people with a current account had one, and the girocard alone accounted for 20% of all payments. In December 2025, around 88.5% of girocard payments were contactless. A girocard can also carry a second scheme, such as Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit, which takes over where girocard is not accepted, for example abroad. The older Maestro co-badge is being phased out.

PayPal

PayPal is the leading online payment method in Germany. Shoppers choose PayPal at checkout and pay from a bank account or card linked to their PayPal account. In EHI's 2026 study, PayPal took 28.7% of the online turnover of the retailers surveyed in 2025, and the Bundesbank ranks it third for everyday purchases, behind only cash and the girocard. In the Bundesbank's 2025 survey, 77% of internet users with a current account had tried or set up PayPal. PayPal also offers pay in 30 days and instalments in Germany.

Invoice (Kauf auf Rechnung)

With invoice purchase, the shopper receives the goods first and pays afterwards. In EHI's ranking it is the second biggest online payment method by turnover, with 26.1% in 2025, and it led that ranking until PayPal overtook it. Klarna and PayPal both offer a similar pay-later option. With Klarna's "pay in up to 30 days", Klarna pays up front, the 30 days start when the order ships, and there is no interest or fee if the shopper pays on time. PayPal lets shoppers pay 30 days after the purchase.

SEPA Direct Debit (Lastschrift)

With a direct debit, the shopper authorises the merchant to collect the payment from their bank account. It ranked third by online turnover in 2025, with 14.4%, down almost three points on 2024 (EHI). Among traditional methods for online purchases, the Bundesbank found direct debit is used much more often than bank transfer. Direct debit is also used for recurring bills, such as electricity and gas, which the Bundesbank's payment diary leaves out.

Credit cards

About half of adults in Germany have a credit card, and ownership has been falling slightly since 2020 (Bundesbank). Credit cards were used for only 5% of everyday payments in 2025, but for 15% of online payments. In EHI's retailer survey, credit and international debit cards together took 13.7% of online turnover in 2025, the biggest gain of any online method. The most common credit and debit cards in people's digital wallets are Visa and Mastercard.

Apple Pay and Google Pay

Apple Pay is the most used mobile payment method in German shops, the Bundesbank found in its 2025 study. In shops and petrol stations, Apple Pay was used for 7% of payments, banks' own apps for 3% and Google Pay for 2%. EHI says Apple's partial opening of the iPhone's contactless interface gave mobile payments a further boost. Participating banks and savings banks offer a digital girocard in Apple Pay, and girocard says support for Google Pay is planned. Online, EHI listed Apple Pay separately for the first time in 2025, at 1.3% of online turnover.

Visa Debit and Debit Mastercard

International debit cards from Visa and Mastercard are spreading in Germany. Some large direct banks, including DKB and ING, issue a Visa debit card as standard with a current account. In the Bundesbank's 2025 study, 25% of people with a current account had a Visa debit card and 10% a Mastercard debit card, with younger people more likely to have one. In shops, their share of retail turnover rose to 9.4% in 2025 (EHI). Online they were used for only 4% of payments, even though they usually work for internet purchases.

Bank transfer (Überweisung)

A bank transfer is sent by the payer from their own account to the payee's. Transfers tend to be used for larger amounts: in the Bundesbank's 2025 study they were 2.9% of payments but 18.5% of the money spent. EHI groups them with prepayment (Vorkasse), where the shopper pays before the goods are sent. Since 9 October 2025, every bank in the euro area must offer instant transfers, at a price no higher than standard ones. The Bundesbank reports that instant transfers are increasingly used for online shopping, and they can speed up orders because the merchant receives the money almost in real time.

Klarna

Klarna offers several ways to pay in Germany: pay now, pay in up to 30 days, three interest-free instalments, and financing over 6 to 36 months. In the Bundesbank's 2025 survey, 48% of internet users with a current account had tried or set up Klarna. Klarna bought Sofort (Sofortüberweisung) in 2014, and in July 2024 moved it into its "pay now" range. Shoppers now need a Klarna account to use Sofortüberweisung, and Sofort is being discontinued as a standalone payment method: businesses using Stripe, for example, could no longer accept it from 31 March 2025.

Wero

Wero is a wallet from the European Payments Initiative (EPI), backed by European banks and payment providers, and it runs on SEPA instant transfers. It has been available in Germany since late 2024, first for payments between people. Banks offering it include the Sparkassen, Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken, Deutsche Bank, Postbank, ING and others, and there is also a separate Wero app. Online payments launched in Germany in November 2025, and shops such as Eventim and dm now accept it. The Bundesbank's study cites operator figures of over 50 million users in Europe, about 7 million of them in Germany. EPI says in-store payments will follow in 2026.

Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay lets shoppers pay on other websites using their Amazon account. Amazon says the Amazon Pay button is on tens of thousands of websites and stores. Amazon itself is the market leader in German online retail, and in 2025 EHI noted that PayPal's share would be much higher if Amazon offered it. In July 2026, PayPal and Amazon announced that PayPal's instalment option, PayPal Ratenzahlung, would roll out on Amazon.de from August.

paysafecard

With paysafecard, shoppers pay online with a prepaid code instead of a bank account or credit card. They buy the code at a sales outlet, such as a petrol station, supermarket, drugstore or Deutsche Post, and enter the 16-digit code at checkout. It is issued by Paysafe Prepaid Services Limited, which is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

giropay and paydirekt (discontinued)

giropay, the German banks' shared online payment method, no longer exists. In 2021 the banks merged paydirekt, giropay and Kwitt under the giropay brand. In June 2024 the shareholders of Paydirekt GmbH decided to shut giropay down, and the service ended on 31 December 2024.

Accepting payments from customers in Germany

Shuttle Links Checkout gives you a branded payment page that you can send by email, SMS or chat. It works with any compatible payment provider. Talk to us.

Accepting payments in Germany as a platform

If you run a software platform with merchants in Germany, your merchants may already have a payment provider. Shuttle is a payment layer. You integrate once, and each merchant connects a compatible gateway. Shuttle supports 40+ payment providers, including PAYONE, Adyen and Stripe. Merchants keep their own provider agreements and rates.

See how Shuttle works for platforms or book a discovery call.