How to Accept Crypto Payments Without a Payment Processor
Updated November 13, 2026
Payment processors and platforms can hold your payouts, freeze your balance or close your account, often with little warning and no clear way to appeal. Accepting crypto payments yourself takes them out of the picture. Customers can pay in Bitcoin or in stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, payments settle in seconds over Bitcoin's Lightning Network, fees are small, and nobody has to approve you before you can receive money. Here's how to set it up, and the tools we recommend for each way of getting paid.
How to accept crypto payments, step by step
- Decide how customers will pay you. A Lightning address or payment link covers tips, invoices and one-off sales. A store needs a checkout on its website.
- Choose who holds the money. A hosted account is the quickest start; a self-custodial wallet keeps the keys with you. The difference is explained below.
- Set up a wallet and get your Lightning address. Rizful takes a few minutes in a browser. Alby Hub and Lexe let you hold your own keys.
- Add a checkout to your website if you sell online. OpenReceive takes Bitcoin, USDT and USDC and pays everything into your wallet as Bitcoin.
- Keep records and move savings offline. Note each payment for taxes, and keep money you won't spend soon in a hardware wallet.
| Tool | Best for | Who holds the money | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
 Rizful | The quickest start: a Lightning address in minutes | Rizful (hosted account) | Free to receive; 0.1% plus routing fees to send |
 OpenReceive | Accepting crypto payments on your own website | You: payments go straight to your wallet | Free and open source |
 Alby Hub | Self-custody that works with your apps | You | Free to self-host; Alby Cloud is a subscription |
 Lexe | A self-custodial phone wallet that's always online | You | 0.5% per payment, no subscription |
 Megalith | People running their own Lightning node | You (your own node) | Opening a channel to it is free; LSP channels are paid |
Who holds the money
Every tool here is either hosted or self-custodial, and the difference matters. A hosted account works like a bank account: it's the easiest way to start, but the company holds your balance. A self-custodial wallet keeps the keys with you, so nobody else can freeze or spend your funds, but you're responsible for your own backup. Many people use both, a hosted account for everyday payments and a self-custodial or hardware wallet for savings.
Get a Lightning address in minutes: Rizful
Rizful is a free, browser-based home for Bitcoin on Lightning. You sign up with an email address, claim your own @rizful.com Lightning Address, and can take payments from anyone within minutes, with nothing to install. It works on any phone, tablet or computer, connects to the hundreds of apps that support Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC), and can send and receive ordinary on-chain Bitcoin too. Receiving is free; sending costs 0.1% plus the network's routing fees.
Why we recommend it: Rizful comes from the team behind the Megalith node, one of the largest routing nodes on Lightning, so payments usually settle in about a second. It can also give you a receive-only NWC code for taking payments on a website: the code can create invoices but can never send money. Because Rizful is a hosted account, it holds your balance. As its own FAQ advises, keep it for money you plan to spend and put long-term savings in a hardware wallet.
Accept crypto payments on your website: OpenReceive
OpenReceive is free, open-source payment software that runs on your own server. It adds a checkout to WordPress with WooCommerce, BTCPay Server, Laravel, Next.js, Django, Rails and many other platforms. Customers can pay in Bitcoin or in stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, and every payment reaches your own wallet as Bitcoin over Lightning, usually within seconds.
Why we recommend it: there's no application to approve, no account to open and no API key, so no company sits between you and your customers or can switch your checkout off. It's deposit-only: OpenReceive connects to your wallet with a receive-only code, so even a hacked server can't spend your funds. It works with Rizful, Alby Hub or any other wallet that gives you an NWC code.
Self-custody that works with your apps: Alby Hub
Alby makes open-source Bitcoin wallets and tools. Its main product, Alby Hub, is a self-custodial wallet that you can run on your own hardware or in the cloud with an Alby Cloud subscription. You open it in any browser with a password, get your own Lightning address, and connect web, desktop and phone apps for in-app payments. Alby Go, its phone app, puts the wallet in your pocket.
Why we recommend it: you keep control of your keys, and every app you connect gets a budget you set, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, so a misbehaving app can't drain your wallet. Sub-wallets for family members and automatic swaps between Lightning and on-chain Bitcoin make it a good home base once you outgrow a hosted account.
A phone wallet that's always online: Lexe
Lexe is a self-custodial Bitcoin and Lightning wallet for iPhone and Android. Your Lightning node runs on Lexe's servers inside secure hardware that Lexe itself can't access, so it stays online around the clock and can receive payments while your phone is off. Lexe also handles channels and inbound liquidity for you. There's no subscription; Lexe charges 0.5% per payment.
Why we recommend it: self-custody on Lightning usually means keeping a node online yourself, and Lexe does that part for you without holding your keys. Backups go to your own cloud storage, so you can recover your funds yourself even if Lexe were to disappear. You can also post a BOLT 12 offer, a reusable payment code, on your website as an always-on tip box.
For people running their own node: Megalith
Megalith is one of the biggest and most stable routing nodes on the Bitcoin Lightning Network. If you run your own node, a channel to a large, well-connected peer helps your payments find a route, and you can open a channel to Megalith without paying it anything beyond the usual network fee. Its Lightning Service Provider, Megalith LSP, sells inbound channels, the capacity to receive, so a new node can take payments right away.
Why we recommend it: a routing node is only as useful as its uptime, and Megalith has run continuously since 2023, with its LSP in continuous operation since 2024. That record matters most when you're the one receiving: a payment that can't find a route is a sale you don't make.
How we chose
We looked for tools that need nobody's permission to receive a payment, use open standards such as Lightning and NWC so you can switch providers without starting over, say plainly who holds your money, and have a record of staying online. Fees and features come from each tool's own site and can change, so check them before you sign up.
Before you switch
- Bitcoin's price moves. It can rise or fall quickly, so think about how long you'll hold what you receive.
- Taxes still apply. In many countries, receiving or spending Bitcoin is a taxable event, so keep records of your payments.
- Keep savings offline. A hardware wallet is the safest place for money you won't spend soon. See our ranking of the best Bitcoin wallets.
- This page is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice.
If a platform has already cut you off
Payments are only part of the problem. If YouTube has terminated or demonetized your channel, our free YouTube censorship report tool drafts complaints to lawmakers and regulators.