Stripe has a strong claim to being the best payments infrastructure in the world. Its APIs are clean, its subscription billing is mature, and developers like building on it. For Indian businesses selling abroad, though, Stripe’s India setup comes with limits that push a lot of founders and agencies to look elsewhere: cross-border access is invite-only, it is built around card payments, and it does not issue the FIRA that Indian exporters need for every receipt. This article goes through six Stripe alternatives that Indian businesses use in 2026, grouped by what they actually do. Some are card gateways, one is a merchant of record for software sellers, and some are receiving accounts for invoice-based exports.