Comparison: BTCPay vs Bitcart vs BareBits for merchants taking BTC

[electrumiyut]

Want to take Bitcoin as a merchant? Here's an overview of the self-custody options available to you. A simple wallet may suffice for some merchants, but if you need product management, e-commerce integration, or a web interface, these are your three main options. All of these are fully self-custody.
 
 BTCPay Server:
 - 100% free software, fully sovereign
 - Must run own full node, even pruned node will cost you $20/month in VPS hosting
 - Extensive plugin ecosystem, most well-known software, integrates with every ecommerce platform
 - Full lightning support
 - Funds live on the server
 - Payment server/donate page with basic native e-commerce functionality

 https://btcpayserver.org/
 
 BareBits
 - Open source software, relies on block explorers for confirmation, runs on any web hosting (no VPS required)
 - Full lightning support, connect to your lightning wallet via CLINK, NWC, or LNURL. No port forwarding required.
 - Integrates with Strike for instant fiat conversion in 100+ countries
 - Optional cashu mint support so you can receive payments with no native inbound liquidity
 - Funds never live on the server unless Cashu mint is enabled, they stay safely in your off-server wallet
 - Integrates with all BTCPay-compatible e-commerce platforms (WooCommerce, Magneto, etc)
 - Basic product management, shareable links to pay for a specific product of basket of products, but not a web store
 - 1% fee on incoming transactions

 https://github.com/BareBits/cashupayserver
 
 
 Bitcart:
 - 100% free software, runs Electrum in backend (thin client/SPV for payment verification)
 - Very limited lightning support, no liquidity management
 - Integrates with most common ecommerce platforms (Woocommerce but not magneto)
 - Must run on VPS, approx $5-$10/month
 - Has fully featured built in web store/e-commerce functionality

 https://bitcart.ai/
 

Solution	Pros	Cons
Custodial gateways like OpenNode	Easy setup	Application required, can freeze funds, geographic restrictions
BTCPay Server	Full sovereignty	Needs VPS ($20+/mo), Docker
Bitcart	Full sovereignty, limited lightning support with no liquidity management	Needs smaller VPS ($10+/mo), Docker, ongoing maintenance
BareBits	Works on any web hosting. No application process, trust mint with funds until withdrawal, or go full self-custody	Relies on block explorers for on-chain payment confirmations

[TedMosby]

About BTCPay, I think we should wait for further investigation into the hack that affected their servers, especially for those running version 2.4.1 (July 23, 2026) or older. Here is the official announcement about it on X https://x.com/BtcpayServer/status/2117020340815819262

According to this source https://bitquery.io/investigations/btcpay-server-hack, $1.63 million in BTC and LTC was drained from their merchants' hot wallets. Here is the infographic I generated using AI based on the data and information from that post to make the situation easier to understand.

[ABCbits]

BTCPay Server:
 - Funds live on the server

It's misleading information. That software give you choice not to store the fund on the server.

Select the store, then use Set up a wallet on its dashboard or open Wallets > Bitcoin. Choose one of these approaches:

    Connect an existing wallet to import public wallet data from supported hardware or software wallets. This keeps private keys off the server and is the normal choice when an existing wallet should receive the funds.
    Create a new watch-only wallet to generate receiving data while erasing its private key from the server. Spending requires the recovery seed or an external signer.
    Create a new hot wallet to keep its private key on the server and spend from the BTCPay Server interface. This is convenient but exposes funds if either the account or server is compromised.

The server administrator can disable wallet generation for non-administrators.

About BTCPay, I think we should wait for further investigation into the hack that affected their servers, especially for those running version 2.4.1 (July 23, 2026) or older. Here is the official announcement about it on X https://x.com/BtcpayServer/status/2117020340815819262

There's no need to wait when they already give recommendation on https://blog.btcpayserver.org/btcpay-server-security-incident-2-4-1-and-earlier since 3 days ago.

[electrumiyut]

It's misleading information. That software give you choice not to store the fund on the server.

There is some configuration here. In BTCPay, by default, if you have lightning enabled, those funds sit in a hot wallet. There are ways around that with extensions, but that's the default. The on-chain wallet is off-server by default, but lightning requires an online node somewhere. Bitcart is also a hot wallet for lightning.

BareBits uses a hot wallet for lightning but that wallet does not live on the server and because BareBits connects to your wallet via NWC, CLINK, or LNURL, the web server itself has no ability to spend funds, it can only receive payments/create invoices.