Brazil is a market where a card-first payment strategy can quickly fall short.
Pix, the instant payment system launched by Banco Central do Brasil in November 2020, has changed how people move money and pay businesses. More than 170 million individuals now use Pix, representing around 80% of Brazil’s population, and more than 7 billion Pix transactions were made in January 2026 alone.
Its impact extends directly to ecommerce. In 2025, Pix accounted for 42% of ecommerce transactions in Brazil, overtaking credit cards according to data cited by Gr4vy in its 2026 Pix Automático announcement.
That does not mean cards have become unimportant. Brazil still had 253.8 million active credit cards at the end of the second half of 2025, and paying for purchases in installments remains deeply embedded in consumer behavior.
For international businesses, the result is a payment market that looks quite different from the US or much of Europe. Pix, credit card installments, Boleto Bancário, wallets, local acquiring, Brazilian reais and payment-provider coverage all affect how a checkout performs.
Understanding these differences is essential when deciding which payment methods in Brazil to support and how to build the infrastructure behind them.
How Brazilians pay online in 2026
Brazil has developed one of the world’s most active digital payment markets. Pix sits at its center, but consumers move between instant bank payments, cards, installments, wallets and Boleto depending on what they are buying and how they want to pay.
That makes payment-method preference more contextual than a simple ranking.
Someone buying a relatively inexpensive item on their phone may choose Pix because the transaction can be completed immediately through their banking app. A customer making a much larger purchase may prefer a credit card because it allows the cost to be divided across several monthly payments. A recurring service faces another set of requirements entirely.
This is why businesses expanding internationally need to understand how payment preferences differ by country rather than treating cards and a handful of global wallets as a universal checkout.
Brazil is also highly connected. The U.S. International Trade Administration estimates that more than 94% of the Brazilian population uses the internet and describes Brazil as the world’s fifth-largest internet economy.
That digital reach has created favorable conditions for mobile-first payment methods. Pix was designed around instant account-to-account transfers that can be initiated through a smartphone, while digital banking and wallet providers have made managing different payment methods from a phone increasingly familiar.
The important point for an ecommerce business is that localization in Brazil goes deeper than translating the checkout and displaying prices in reais. The payment mix itself needs to reflect how Brazilians actually transact.
Pix: Brazil’s leading payment method
Pix is an instant payment system created and managed by Banco Central do Brasil. It allows funds to move between participating accounts in seconds and operates 24 hours a day, including weekends and holidays.
Its adoption has been unusually fast. By the fifth anniversary of Pix in November 2025, Banco Central reported nearly 170 million users. The system had processed BRL 11 trillion in transactions during 2024 alone.
For anyone entering Brazil, Pix is no longer an alternative payment method sitting beside the main checkout options. For many transactions, it is the expected way to pay.
How Pix payments work
At checkout, a business creates a Pix payment request. The customer can typically complete it by scanning a QR code or using a Pix copy-and-paste code in their bank or payment app.
The customer authenticates the transaction within that environment. Once approved, the payment moves through the Pix infrastructure and the recipient receives the funds almost immediately.
This changes the checkout flow compared with a card transaction. There is no card number to enter, expiry date to validate or card authorization request to send through an issuer and card network.
Banco Central designed Pix for a broad range of uses, including ecommerce and mobile commerce, person-to-person payments, business payments, bills and government payments. Its payment messages also support information that can help businesses reconcile transactions received through the system.
For an online seller, the practical advantage is that the payment status can be confirmed quickly. Inventory, order confirmation and fulfillment logic can respond to that confirmation rather than waiting for a slower bank-transfer process.
Why Pix became so popular
Pix addressed several points of friction at once.
It made immediate transfers available around the clock. It allowed customers to initiate payments using familiar identifiers and QR codes. It was built into banking and payment apps consumers were already using.
Its reach is now difficult to separate from Brazil’s broader financial system. Banco Central has linked Pix adoption with the financial inclusion of more than 70 million people who had not previously used traditional electronic transfers.
For ecommerce, familiarity matters. Asking Brazilian customers to use Pix does not require introducing an unfamiliar fintech product at checkout. The payment happens through institutions and apps that are already part of their financial lives.
Pix costs and settlement compared with cards
Pix can also change the economics of accepting a payment.
A traditional card transaction involves several participants and potentially multiple fees. Pix uses an account-to-account model with a different cost structure and fewer steps between payer and recipient.
That does not mean Pix is always free for businesses. Banco Central allows financial and payment institutions to charge business customers for Pix services, and institutions must disclose those charges. Actual merchant costs therefore depend on the provider and commercial agreement.
The more important difference is structural. Businesses can evaluate Pix alongside cards based on payment cost, conversion, customer preference, settlement and operational requirements instead of assuming the same method should handle every transaction.
Pix Automático for recurring payments
For years, one of the clearest limits of Pix in ecommerce was recurring billing. Standard Pix transactions generally required the customer to actively approve the payment.
Pix Automático changes that model.
With Pix Automático, the payer grants an authorization once. A business can then submit future recurring charges according to that authorization, while the customer’s financial institution schedules and executes payments under the agreed rules. Banco Central positions the system for recurring expenses such as subscriptions, insurance, schools, gyms, utilities and other regular bills.
That opens Pix to business models where cards have historically been much easier to use.
Gr4vy added support for Pix Automático for recurring payments through its dLocal integration in May 2026. Once a customer provides the initial authorization, merchants can manage recurring Pix transactions and mandates within their orchestrated payment environment.
For subscription businesses entering Brazil, this matters. Supporting local payment preferences no longer has to mean restricting Pix to one-time purchases while pushing recurring customers toward cards.
Credit cards and installments in Brazil
Pix may lead the market, but credit cards remain central to Brazilian commerce.
Banco Central reported 253.8 million active credit cards at the end of the second half of 2025.
One reason cards remain important is parcelamento, the practice of dividing a purchase into monthly installments.
Installments are common enough that a business can lose more than a payment method when it fails to support them. It can remove a purchasing option customers rely on to make more expensive products affordable within their monthly budget. The U.S. International Trade Administration identifies monthly installment payments as a key feature for Brazilian consumers.
Why parcelamento matters
Brazilian card installments are especially relevant for higher-value purchases.
Instead of paying the full purchase price in a single billing cycle, a customer may be offered several installments at checkout. A R$1,200 purchase, for example, might be presented as six monthly payments rather than one R$1,200 charge.
From the customer’s perspective, the decision is therefore not simply “card or Pix.” The question can become “pay R$1,200 now with Pix or spread the purchase over several card payments.”
That changes how payment-method performance should be analyzed.
Pix may have a strong overall transaction share while card installments remain highly important for a particular product category, average order value or customer segment.
Businesses unfamiliar with the model should first understand how installment payments work and then confirm exactly how their Brazilian acquirer or payment provider supports parcelamento.
How card installments work for merchants
Installment implementation depends on the acquiring and payment-provider setup.
The customer sees the number of installments available during checkout and selects an option. Behind that interface, the merchant needs a provider capable of processing the transaction correctly under the relevant Brazilian card and acquiring arrangement.
This is one place where copying a checkout configuration from another market can cause problems. A card integration that technically accepts a Brazilian credit card does not automatically recreate the local experience customers expect.
Businesses should decide how many installments to offer, whether interest applies, how installment options interact with order value and how those transactions appear in reporting and reconciliation.
Pix versus cards for higher-value purchases
Businesses should resist treating Pix adoption as evidence that cards can be pushed to the side.
Pix is strong when a customer wants an immediate account-to-account payment. Cards can serve a different financial need by giving customers access to credit and installment options.
That means the right payment mix depends partly on ticket size.
For lower-value purchases, an immediate Pix payment may be an easy choice. At higher values, the ability to split the purchase can materially change the appeal of a card.
The useful metric is therefore not simply which payment method has the greatest national market share. Businesses need to see conversion, average order value, payment cost and approval performance for their own transactions.
Boleto Bancário
Boleto Bancário has been part of Brazil’s payment landscape for decades.
A boleto is a standardized payment document that contains the information required to pay a bill or purchase. Historically, customers could pay boletos through banks, online banking, ATMs and other authorized channels.
For ecommerce, Boleto offered an important option to customers who did not have a credit card or did not want to use one online.
Its role has changed as Pix has expanded.
Pix gives consumers many of the benefits that made Boleto useful while adding immediate payment confirmation. A traditional boleto does not offer the same instant experience, creating more time between checkout and confirmation and increasing the possibility that a customer generates the boleto but never completes the payment.
Boleto has not disappeared, however. It continues to be part of Brazil’s payment infrastructure and can still be relevant for particular customer groups, billing scenarios and business models.
The distinction between the two methods has also become less rigid. Banco Central modernized boleto rules in 2025 so that a boleto can include a QR code allowing the customer to make the payment through Pix.
That is a useful example of how Brazil’s local payment infrastructure is evolving rather than simply replacing one method with another.
For international businesses, the broader lesson is why local payment methods versus international card schemes cannot be assessed only by global brand recognition. A locally familiar method may solve a specific checkout, access or billing problem that an international card does not.
Digital wallets and other payment methods in Brazil
Digital wallets also form part of the Brazilian checkout.
Local platforms such as Mercado Pago have helped make wallet-based payments familiar, while bank apps increasingly bring several financial functions into a single mobile experience.
The category can be difficult to separate neatly from the underlying payment rails.
A customer may think of a wallet or banking app as the way they pay, while the actual transaction uses a stored card, account balance or Pix. For a merchant, those distinctions matter because each route can produce different costs, authorization behavior, settlement processes and data.
This is another reason a payment strategy based on a static list of logos can be misleading.
Businesses should look at which methods customers select, how those payments actually move, where transactions fail and whether adding another visible option creates incremental conversion or simply shifts volume between methods already available.
How to accept payments in Brazil as an international merchant
Knowing which payment methods Brazilians use is only the first part of the problem.
The next question is how an international business gives customers access to those methods without creating an isolated Brazilian payment stack that becomes difficult to operate.
Provider coverage, local acquiring, currency, settlement, local requirements and reporting all need to be considered.
Local entity and payment-provider considerations
An international merchant does not necessarily have one universal route for accepting Brazilian payment methods.
Requirements depend on the payment method, provider, acquiring arrangement and business model. Some providers specialize in giving international businesses access to local payment methods and handling parts of the cross-border flow. Other setups may involve a local entity or local acquiring relationship.
This should be established before checkout development begins.
A business can otherwise reach the end of an integration only to discover that the desired local method is unavailable under its existing contract, settlement country or legal structure.
Pix is a good example. The consumer-facing experience may look simple, but an international merchant still needs a payment provider or partner that gives it appropriate access to Pix acceptance.
Local versus cross-border acquiring
Cards introduce another decision.
With cross-border acquiring, a transaction from a Brazilian-issued card may be processed through an acquiring relationship outside Brazil. Local acquiring processes the transaction through a domestic setup.
The distinction can affect how a transaction is routed, the currencies involved, processing costs, settlement and authorization performance.
There is no rule that every transaction must use the same arrangement. Businesses with sufficient volume may use different acquiring relationships based on market and transaction characteristics.
Understanding local versus cross-border acquiring is therefore part of building a Brazilian card strategy rather than a separate infrastructure discussion.
Accepting Pix
To accept Pix online, the checkout needs to connect to a provider that supports the payment method and the merchant’s operating model.
Gr4vy currently supports one-off Pix payments in Brazil through Adyen and recurring Pix Automático payments through dLocal.
With an orchestration layer, local methods can sit alongside cards and other payment services rather than requiring the merchant’s ecommerce platform to maintain separate payment logic for every provider.
That becomes increasingly useful as the payment stack grows. The business can introduce a Brazilian method while keeping payment data, routing logic and transaction visibility within the broader payment environment.
Currency, settlement and reconciliation
Brazilian customers generally expect a localized purchase experience, including clear pricing in Brazilian reais.
Behind that experience, an international merchant needs to understand what happens after the customer pays.
Which currency is processed? Which currency is settled? Does conversion happen before or after settlement? Which provider handles foreign exchange? How quickly are funds available? How are refunds returned? How does the finance team reconcile Pix, cards, installments and Boleto in its reporting?
These questions have direct operational consequences.
Pix can confirm in seconds. A card has its own authorization, capture and settlement lifecycle. Boleto may behave differently again. Installment transactions introduce information that finance teams need to understand when matching customer purchases with payment and settlement records.
The best practices for international payments therefore include the processes behind the checkout as well as the methods displayed to customers.
Which payment methods should you offer in Brazil?
There is no single payment mix that works for every business in Brazil.
Pix and cards are strong starting points for most ecommerce operations, but the weight given to each should reflect what the business sells and how customers buy it.
For everyday ecommerce purchases, Pix provides a locally familiar, immediate payment experience. Cards remain important for customers who prefer card rewards, credit or a familiar stored credential.
For higher-ticket retail, card installments deserve particular attention. A checkout that accepts cards but does not provide the installment experience customers expect may technically support the payment method while still being poorly localized.
For subscriptions and memberships, cards remain relevant, but Pix Automático creates a new option for recurring bank-based payments. Businesses that previously excluded Pix from subscription checkout because of repeated customer authorization can now reassess that decision. Banco Central designed Pix Automático specifically to automate recurring charges after the customer provides an initial authorization.
Boleto can remain useful where the customer base or billing model supports it, although businesses should measure actual usage rather than include it only because it has historically been associated with Brazilian ecommerce.
The same principle applies to wallets. Add them where customer demand and performance justify the integration.
For global companies, the infrastructure behind these choices matters. Connecting each Brazilian payment provider directly to the checkout can create another set of integrations, reporting workflows and dependencies for engineering teams to maintain.
Payment orchestration provides another model. Businesses can connect providers through a common layer and change the payment mix as local requirements evolve. That makes adding local methods without separate integrations easier as the company enters new countries or changes providers.
The objective is not to show every possible payment method. It is to give Brazilian customers the right options for the transaction they are trying to make.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most popular payment method in Brazil?
Pix is Brazil’s most widely used electronic payment method by transaction count and has more than 170 million individual users. Banco Central reported more than 7 billion Pix transactions in January 2026. In ecommerce specifically, data cited by Gr4vy put Pix at 42% of Brazilian ecommerce transactions in 2025.
Is Pix more popular than credit cards in Brazil?
Pix has overtaken cards by transaction count and has become central to Brazilian ecommerce, but credit cards remain widely used. Brazil had 253.8 million active credit cards at the end of the second half of 2025. Cards are particularly important for purchases where customers want to pay in installments.
Can international businesses accept Pix?
Yes. International businesses can accept Pix when they work with a payment provider or payments setup that supports Pix for their business model and operating structure. The exact requirements depend on the provider. Gr4vy, for example, supports one-off Pix transactions through Adyen and Pix Automático through dLocal.
Do you need a Brazilian bank account to accept Pix?
Not in every commercial setup. Cross-border payment providers can enable international merchants to offer Brazilian payment methods without requiring the merchant to build the same banking and acquiring setup as a domestic company. Requirements vary by provider, settlement arrangement and legal structure, so businesses should confirm them before integration.
What is Boleto Bancário?
Boleto Bancário is a standardized Brazilian payment document used to pay for goods, services and bills. Customers can pay a boleto through supported banking and payment channels. Updated Banco Central rules also allow boletos to include QR codes for payment through Pix.
Why are installments popular in Brazil?
Installment payments allow customers to spread the cost of a purchase over several monthly payments and are a well-established part of Brazilian card usage. They can be particularly relevant for higher-value purchases where paying the entire amount immediately would be less attractive. The U.S. International Trade Administration describes monthly installments as a key feature for Brazilian consumers.
Does Pix support recurring payments?
Yes. Pix Automático allows recurring payments after the customer provides an initial authorization. Businesses can then submit recurring charges according to that mandate without asking the customer to manually approve every payment.
What is the difference between Pix and Pix Automático?
A standard ecommerce Pix payment is typically initiated and approved by the customer for an individual transaction. Pix Automático adds a mandate-based model for recurring billing. The payer authorizes the arrangement once, after which future payments can be executed automatically under the conditions of that authorization.
Are credit cards widely used in Brazil?
Yes. Credit cards remain one of Brazil’s major payment methods despite the rapid growth of Pix. Banco Central recorded 253.8 million active credit cards at the end of the second half of 2025.
What currency is used for ecommerce payments in Brazil?
Brazil’s currency is the Brazilian real, or BRL. International businesses selling to Brazilian customers should consider displaying and accepting local currency where their payment setup allows it, while also reviewing how their provider handles foreign exchange and settlement.
Build a payment strategy for Brazil
Entering Brazil requires more than enabling international cards and translating a checkout.
Pix has reshaped everyday payments. Installments continue to influence how Brazilians use credit cards, particularly for larger purchases. Boleto remains part of the local ecosystem, while Pix Automático is extending instant payments into subscriptions and other recurring business models.
The right setup depends on the customers you serve, what you sell and how your payment providers operate in Brazil.
Gr4vy gives businesses a way to manage those choices through a single payment orchestration layer, including support for one-off Pix payments through Adyen and Pix Automático through dLocal. As payment preferences or provider requirements change, merchants can adapt their payment stack without rebuilding the checkout around each individual provider.
If Brazil is part of your expansion plans, contact Gr4vy to discuss how to build a localized payment setup around the methods Brazilian customers actually use.
