Comparison · Updated November 13, 2026
KOMOJU vs PAY.JP (Japan, online payments)
KOMOJU
B-
KOMOJU is a Japanese payment service that lets online shops take the payment methods Japanese shoppers actually use: cards, convenience-store (konbini) payments, bank transfer, Pay-easy, PayPay and other wallets, carrier billing and prepaid e-money, plus local methods in South Korea, China, Southeast Asia, Europe and Brazil. It is run by KOMOJU Co., Ltd. of Musashino, Tokyo, which was called DEGICA Co., Ltd. until March 2026 and is registered with Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) to sign card merchant contracts. As of October 2026, on its Japan price list cards cost 3.25%, konbini 2.75%, bank transfer 1.4%, and PayPay and similar wallets from 3.5% for physical goods. Those rates exclude Japan's 10% consumption tax, which is added for Japan-registered merchants. There is no setup or monthly fee, but each payout carries a bank transfer fee of 220 to 410 yen in Japan or 2,500 yen to an approved overseas account. Payouts are monthly, by the end of the following month, or weekly on request. The marketing says you can cancel anytime. The merchant terms set a one-year term that renews automatically, ask for three months' written notice to end early, and let KOMOJU withhold funds for six months when it sees chargeback risk. Independent merchant reviews are scarce.
PAY.JP
B-
PAY.JP is an online card payment API for businesses in Japan. It is run by PAY, Inc. (PAY株式会社) in Tokyo, a wholly owned subsidiary of the listed e-commerce company BASE, Inc. Merchants integrate it with an API, client libraries and mobile SDKs, and accept Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners Club and Discover in Japanese yen, plus Apple Pay and, through API v2, PayPay. Pricing is published in full. As of November 2026 the free Standard plan charges 3.3% on every card brand. The Business plan charges 2.78% for ¥20,000 a month, and the Enterprise plan charges 2.59% on Visa and Mastercard and 2.7% on other brands for ¥50,000 a month. There is no setup fee, no refund fee, and refunds cancel the processing fee. Each payout costs ¥250. Funds are paid slowly by international standards: with the default monthly cycle, a month's sales arrive at the end of the following month, and a twice-monthly cycle is available. PAY.JP signs the card companies' merchant agreements on your behalf as your agent, so you never deal with an acquirer directly. It serves only Japanese companies and residents, and it does not accept adult, gambling, crypto or tobacco merchants. Public review data is thin.
VS
Overview
We compare the two for a business registered in Japan that sells online in Japanese yen, on each provider's standard published pricing: KOMOJU's single price list and PAY.JP's free Standard plan, with PAY.JP's paid Business plan noted where it matters. Figures come from each company's pricing page, merchant terms and help centre, read on 13 November 2026. Tax treatment is the first thing to get right. KOMOJU quotes its rates before Japan's 10% consumption tax and adds the tax for Japan-registered merchants, so its 3.25% card rate costs 3.575%. PAY.JP's card fees have been exempt from consumption tax since 1 January 2024, so its 3.3% is what you pay. A business registered for consumption tax can normally offset the tax on KOMOJU's fees against its own tax bill using the qualified invoice KOMOJU issues, which leaves KOMOJU slightly cheaper on cards (3.25% against 3.3%); a business that is not registered pays the tax as a cost, which makes PAY.JP the cheaper of the two. Beyond cards the two are built for different jobs. KOMOJU is a multi-method service: konbini cash payments, bank transfer, Pay-easy, PayPay and other wallets, Paidy, carrier billing and prepaid e-money through one contract, plus plug-ins for Shopify, WooCommerce and other carts. PAY.JP is a developer API for cards, Apple Pay and PayPay only, with built-in recurring billing and a marketplace product, PAY.JP Platform. KOMOJU pays out weekly or monthly; PAY.JP monthly or twice a month. Both pay to your own Japanese bank account. KOMOJU's terms set a one-year, auto-renewing contract with three months' notice to leave early, while PAY.JP's run with no fixed term and 30 days' notice. KOMOJU Co., Ltd. (called DEGICA Co., Ltd. until March 2026) does not publish its shareholders; PAY, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the listed company BASE, Inc. KOMOJU disclosed in October 2026 that a third party had gained unauthorised access to its systems. Its final report of 13 November 2026 says about 4,100 records in its payment system and about 12,400 in its customer-enquiry (CRM) system, some including bank account details and ID documents, were or may have been viewed, along with some merchants' API secret keys and its own credentials for connecting to payment-method providers. It says no card data was involved and it found no unauthorised payments.
Key Takeaways
- ✓It depends on how your customers pay. KOMOJU is the choice if they want konbini cash, bank transfer, Pay-easy, Merpay, Rakuten Pay, Paidy or carrier billing; PAY.JP offers none of these, only cards, Apple Pay and PayPay.
- ✓On cards, which is cheaper depends on your consumption-tax status. PAY.JP's 3.3% is exempt from consumption tax, while KOMOJU's 3.25% has 10% tax added for Japanese merchants (3.575%). For a business not registered for consumption tax, ¥1 million a month in card sales paid out monthly costs about ¥33,250 at PAY.JP against about ¥36,160 at KOMOJU. A registered business can normally deduct KOMOJU's tax, which makes KOMOJU slightly cheaper (about ¥32,910 against ¥33,250).
- ✓PAY.JP cancels its fee when you refund a sale; KOMOJU keeps its fee. PayPay costs the same on both: 3.5% plus tax for physical goods, 9% plus tax for digital content.
- ✓KOMOJU pays out faster and from a lower threshold: weekly, from ¥1,000, against PAY.JP's twice-monthly at best, from ¥10,000.
- ✓PAY.JP's contract is easier to leave: no fixed term and 30 days' notice, against the one-year auto-renewing term and three months' notice for early termination in KOMOJU's terms (its help centre says there is no minimum term, so get it confirmed in writing).
KOMOJU
KOMOJU suits a Japanese online shop, or a cart-based store on Shopify, WooCommerce or similar, whose customers want to pay in ways other than cards: konbini cash, bank transfer, Pay-easy, Japanese wallets, Paidy or carrier billing. Expect cards to cost 3.25% plus 10% consumption tax, fees kept on refunds, a one-year auto-renewing contract in its terms, and a provider that disclosed a security incident in October 2026. In return you get weekly payouts from ¥1,000 and the widest choice of Japanese payment methods of the two.
PAY.JP
PAY.JP suits a Japanese company or sole trader with a developer, building its own site, app or subscription service, that needs cards, Apple Pay or PayPay, particularly one not registered for consumption tax. Card fees are tax-exempt at 3.3% on the free Standard plan, or 2.78% for ¥20,000 a month on Business, fees are cancelled on refunds, and the contract ends on 30 days' notice. It offers no konbini or bank-transfer payments and no cart plug-ins, pays out at most twice a month with a ¥10,000 minimum, and its parent is the listed company BASE, Inc.
The Verdict
It Depends on Your Needs
Why?
Pick by how your customers pay. If they want konbini cash, bank transfer, Pay-easy, Japanese wallets beyond PayPay, Paidy or carrier billing, or you sell through a cart such as Shopify or WooCommerce, KOMOJU is the only one of the two that offers them, and it also pays out weekly from ¥1,000. If cards, Apple Pay and PayPay are enough and you have a developer, PAY.JP is cheaper on cards for a business not registered for consumption tax, because its 3.3% is exempt from the tax while KOMOJU adds 10% tax to 3.25%; a registered business that deducts that tax pays slightly less at KOMOJU. PAY.JP also cancels its fee on refunds and can be left on 30 days' notice. Before signing with KOMOJU, read its final report on the October 2026 security incident and get its contract term confirmed in writing.
Feature by feature
Detailed Comparison
Filter Options
Card pricing (Japan, online, JPY, November 2026)
| Feature | KOMOJU | PAY.JP |
|---|---|---|
| Visa and Mastercard | 3.25% + 10% tax (3.575%) | 3.3% (tax-exempt) |
| KOMOJU's terms (fee table, PDF dated 30 September 2026) list 3.25% excluding consumption tax and say KOMOJU invoices the 10% tax on top where it applies; its help centre says the tax is added for Japan-registered merchants and gives its own example of ¥14 tax added to a ¥138 fee (fee and tax are each rounded per transaction). Overseas-registered merchants pay no tax on the fee. PAY.JP's pricing page says card fees are non-taxable (非課税), and its help centre says that has applied since 1 January 2024. A business registered for consumption tax can normally deduct the tax on KOMOJU's fees using the qualified invoice KOMOJU issues each month, leaving 3.25% against 3.3%; a business that is not registered cannot. Which is cheaper depends on your tax status, so there is no winner. | ||
| JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Discover | 3.25% + 10% tax (3.575%) | 3.3% (tax-exempt) |
| Both charge one rate across all six brands on these offers. PAY.JP's Business plan charges 2.78% on all brands; its Enterprise plan 2.59% on Visa and Mastercard and 2.7% on the other brands. Same tax caveat as above, so no winner. | ||
| Lower card rate | Negotiated above $150,000 a month | 2.78% for ¥20,000 a month |
| KOMOJU publishes one price list and offers volume pricing to businesses processing more than $150,000 a month. PAY.JP publishes a Business plan (2.78%, ¥20,000 a month including tax, recommended from ¥4 million a month in sales) and an Enterprise plan (2.59% on Visa and Mastercard, 2.7% on other brands, ¥50,000 a month). PAY.JP's pricing page and help centre say plan fees are offset against sales, but its legal-notice page still says monthly fees are paid by credit card. KOMOJU's lower-rate small-business programme applies to in-person card payments, not online. The mechanisms differ, so there is no winner. | ||
| Setup and monthly fee | None | None (Standard plan) |
| KOMOJU's help centre lists no setup fee, no monthly fee and no fixed per-transaction fee. PAY.JP's pricing page lists ¥0 setup, ¥0 refund and ¥0 per-transaction fees, and no monthly fee on Standard. | ||
| Fee on a refunded sale | Kept by KOMOJU | Cancelled Winner |
| KOMOJU's terms (fee table, paragraph 5) say its fee is not refunded on a refund or chargeback, and paragraph 6 adds a ¥300 fee (including tax) per refund of a konbini, bank-transfer or Pay-easy payment. PAY.JP's help centre says the processing fee is cancelled in full on a full refund and on the refunded portion of a partial refund. | ||
| Worked example: ¥1 million a month in card sales, business not registered for consumption tax | About ¥36,160 a month | About ¥33,250 a month Winner |
| One monthly payout to a Japanese bank account, published prices only. KOMOJU: ¥32,500 fee + ¥3,250 consumption tax + ¥410 payout fee. PAY.JP Standard: ¥33,000 fee + ¥250 payout fee. KOMOJU rounds fee and tax per transaction, so the real figure can differ by a few yen. For a business registered for consumption tax, which can normally deduct the tax it pays on KOMOJU's fees, the order reverses: about ¥32,910 at KOMOJU against ¥33,250 at PAY.JP, before reclaiming the small amount of tax inside each payout fee. PAY.JP's Business plan would cost ¥48,050 at this volume (¥27,800 + ¥20,000 + ¥250) and only beats Standard above about ¥3.85 million a month. | ||
Visa and Mastercard
KOMOJU
3.25% + 10% tax (3.575%)
PAY.JP
3.3% (tax-exempt)
KOMOJU's terms (fee table, PDF dated 30 September 2026) list 3.25% excluding consumption tax and say KOMOJU invoices the 10% tax on top where it applies; its help centre says the tax is added for Japan-registered merchants and gives its own example of ¥14 tax added to a ¥138 fee (fee and tax are each rounded per transaction). Overseas-registered merchants pay no tax on the fee. PAY.JP's pricing page says card fees are non-taxable (非課税), and its help centre says that has applied since 1 January 2024. A business registered for consumption tax can normally deduct the tax on KOMOJU's fees using the qualified invoice KOMOJU issues each month, leaving 3.25% against 3.3%; a business that is not registered cannot. Which is cheaper depends on your tax status, so there is no winner.
JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Discover
KOMOJU
3.25% + 10% tax (3.575%)
PAY.JP
3.3% (tax-exempt)
Both charge one rate across all six brands on these offers. PAY.JP's Business plan charges 2.78% on all brands; its Enterprise plan 2.59% on Visa and Mastercard and 2.7% on the other brands. Same tax caveat as above, so no winner.
Lower card rate
KOMOJU
Negotiated above $150,000 a month
PAY.JP
2.78% for ¥20,000 a month
KOMOJU publishes one price list and offers volume pricing to businesses processing more than $150,000 a month. PAY.JP publishes a Business plan (2.78%, ¥20,000 a month including tax, recommended from ¥4 million a month in sales) and an Enterprise plan (2.59% on Visa and Mastercard, 2.7% on other brands, ¥50,000 a month). PAY.JP's pricing page and help centre say plan fees are offset against sales, but its legal-notice page still says monthly fees are paid by credit card. KOMOJU's lower-rate small-business programme applies to in-person card payments, not online. The mechanisms differ, so there is no winner.
Setup and monthly fee
KOMOJU
None
PAY.JP
None (Standard plan)
KOMOJU's help centre lists no setup fee, no monthly fee and no fixed per-transaction fee. PAY.JP's pricing page lists ¥0 setup, ¥0 refund and ¥0 per-transaction fees, and no monthly fee on Standard.
Fee on a refunded sale
KOMOJU
Kept by KOMOJU
PAY.JP
Cancelled
Winner
KOMOJU's terms (fee table, paragraph 5) say its fee is not refunded on a refund or chargeback, and paragraph 6 adds a ¥300 fee (including tax) per refund of a konbini, bank-transfer or Pay-easy payment. PAY.JP's help centre says the processing fee is cancelled in full on a full refund and on the refunded portion of a partial refund.
Worked example: ¥1 million a month in card sales, business not registered for consumption tax
KOMOJU
About ¥36,160 a month
PAY.JP
About ¥33,250 a month
Winner
One monthly payout to a Japanese bank account, published prices only. KOMOJU: ¥32,500 fee + ¥3,250 consumption tax + ¥410 payout fee. PAY.JP Standard: ¥33,000 fee + ¥250 payout fee. KOMOJU rounds fee and tax per transaction, so the real figure can differ by a few yen. For a business registered for consumption tax, which can normally deduct the tax it pays on KOMOJU's fees, the order reverses: about ¥32,910 at KOMOJU against ¥33,250 at PAY.JP, before reclaiming the small amount of tax inside each payout fee. PAY.JP's Business plan would cost ¥48,050 at this volume (¥27,800 + ¥20,000 + ¥250) and only beats Standard above about ¥3.85 million a month.
Best For Your Business
Recommendations based on your business type
Online shop whose customers pay at convenience stores or by bank transfer
Recommended
KOMOJU
KOMOJU takes konbini payments at six chains (2.75% plus tax), bank transfer (1.4%) and Pay-easy (2.75%). PAY.JP offers none of these.
Shopify or WooCommerce store in Japan
Recommended
KOMOJU
KOMOJU lists plug-ins for Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, Magento and other carts. PAY.JP is an API with no cart plug-ins listed, and says third-party cart support depends on the cart.
Small business not registered for consumption tax, taking mostly card payments on its own site or app
Recommended
PAY.JP
PAY.JP's 3.3% Standard rate is tax-exempt, against 3.575% at KOMOJU once tax is added: about ¥33,250 against about ¥36,160 a month on ¥1 million in card sales, paid out monthly. Fees are also cancelled on refunds.
Subscription or SaaS business with its own developers
Recommended
PAY.JP
PAY.JP has built-in monthly and annual recurring billing for cards, tax-exempt card fees, a 2.78% Business plan once card sales pass about ¥4 million a month, and a contract you can end on 30 days' notice. Its subscription API is not yet on API v2, so it cannot bill PayPay. KOMOJU also supports subscriptions, so pick it instead if you need konbini or wallets too.
Marketplace or matching platform
Recommended
PAY.JP
PAY.JP Platform handles settlement to sellers, with a Marketplace model for business sellers and a Payouts model for consumer-to-consumer services. Its help centre still labels it beta, and it does not yet run on the API v2 that PayPay needs. We found no marketplace product at KOMOJU.
Seller of games or digital content to Japanese buyers
Recommended
KOMOJU
KOMOJU adds prepaid e-money (WebMoney, BitCash, NET CASH) and carrier billing to cards and wallets. Check the digital-content rates first: 9% on PayPay, Merpay and Paidy, and up to 15% on au PAY, d-Barai and carrier billing, all plus tax.
KOMOJU: Best for 3 use cases
PAY.JP: Best for 3 use cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this comparison
On cards, for a business not registered for consumption tax, yes. As of November 2026 PAY.JP's free Standard plan charges 3.3% on all six card brands, and card fees are exempt from consumption tax. KOMOJU charges 3.25% before 10% consumption tax, or 3.575% for a Japan-registered merchant. A business registered for consumption tax can normally deduct that tax using KOMOJU's qualified invoice, which leaves KOMOJU slightly cheaper at 3.25%. PayPay costs the same on both: 3.5% plus tax for physical goods. For konbini or bank transfer there is no comparison, since PAY.JP does not offer them.
KOMOJU does. Its rates exclude tax, and it adds 10% for merchants registered in Japan but not for overseas-registered merchants. It issues a qualified invoice each month. PAY.JP's card fees have been non-taxable since 1 January 2024, so it issues no qualified invoice for them; its PayPay fees and monthly plan fees do carry tax.
No. PAY.JP's help centre says it offers cards (Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Discover), Apple Pay and PayPay, and no other payment methods. KOMOJU takes konbini payments at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Lawson, Ministop, Daily Yamazaki and Seicomart for 2.75% plus tax.
KOMOJU pays monthly, by the end of the following month, or weekly, with Saturday-to-Friday sales paid the next Friday. Payouts to a Japanese account cost ¥220 under ¥30,000 and ¥410 from ¥30,000, with a ¥1,000 minimum. PAY.JP pays monthly at the end of the following month by default, or twice a month if you choose it (PayPay sales are paid monthly only), for ¥250 per payout with a ¥10,000 minimum. Both pay to your own Japanese bank account.
PAY.JP's terms let either side end the contract on 30 days' notice and name no termination fee. KOMOJU's pricing page says "Cancel anytime" and its help centre says there is no minimum term and no cancellation fee, but its merchant terms set a one-year term that renews automatically and require three months' written notice to end early. Ask KOMOJU to confirm in writing which applies to you.
KOMOJU reported unauthorised access to its systems on 22 October 2026, with a second report on 26 October and a final report on 13 November 2026. The final report says a third party got into a non-production pre-release environment from the evening of 13 October, through misconfigured authentication settings, logged in to KOMOJU's internal admin console and some systems, and used an API key stored on its systems to reach its CRM. It says about 4,100 records in the payment system (consumers' email addresses, with names and phone numbers in some) and about 12,400 records in the CRM (enquiry history and contact details of merchant staff, payment partners and consumers who had contacted KOMOJU, with bank account details and ID documents in some) were or may have been viewed, as were some merchants' API secret keys and the credentials KOMOJU uses to connect to payment-method providers. It says the exposed information included no card data and it found no unauthorised payments, refunds or changes to settlement accounts. It has rotated and restricted the exposed credentials, is rotating its payment-provider credentials in stages, and has reported the incident to Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission. The credential rotation disrupted some KOMOJU Shopify payment apps on 16 October and some 7-Eleven konbini barcodes on 19 October.
KOMOJU is run by KOMOJU Co., Ltd. of Musashino, Tokyo, which was called DEGICA Co., Ltd. until 5 March 2026; it does not publish its shareholders. PAY.JP is run by PAY, Inc. (PAY株式会社) of Roppongi, Tokyo, a wholly owned subsidiary of BASE, Inc., the company behind the BASE online-shop builder.