You're looking to enter a competitive but lucrative space! Stripe is a dominant player for a reason – their developer-friendly APIs, global reach, and comprehensive suite of services have made them a go-to for many businesses, especially tech startups. To open an online payment processor that's "better" than Stripe, you'll need to identify specific gaps in their offering and cater to a niche or provide a superior experience in key areas.

It's crucial to understand that building a full-fledged payment processor from scratch is an incredibly complex, capital-intensive, and highly regulated undertaking. It's not like launching a typical SaaS product. You're dealing with financial infrastructure, security, compliance, and relationships with major financial institutions.

Instead of building a direct competitor to Stripe for all use cases, you'll likely want to focus on a specific market or feature set where you can genuinely offer a better solution.

Here's a breakdown of what "better than Stripe" could mean and the paths to get there:

What "Better Than Stripe" Could Mean:
"Better" is subjective and depends on the merchant's needs. Here are areas where an alternative could excel:

Niche Focus:

High-Risk Industries: Stripe is notoriously strict with "high-risk" businesses (e.g., adult entertainment, CBD, online gambling, some subscription models). A processor specializing in these areas with robust compliance and risk management could be "better" for them.

Specific Geographies: While Stripe is global, local nuances in payment methods, regulations, or banking relationships might offer an opening for a more localized, specialized processor.

Specific Business Models: Processors tailored for marketplaces, subscriptions, or B2B payments (e.g., invoicing, large transfers) might offer more integrated or cost-effective solutions than Stripe's general-purpose tools.

Pricing Structure:

Lower Fees for High Volume: Stripe's standard 2.9% + $0.30 (for card-present) can become expensive for high-volume merchants. Offering interchange-plus pricing or a subscription model with lower per-transaction fees (like Stax Payments or Helcim) could be more attractive to established businesses.

Transparent Pricing: Some merchants find Stripe's fee structure complex with various add-ons. Simpler, more transparent pricing could be a draw.

Focus on Bank Transfers/ACH: If your target market prefers direct bank transfers over credit cards, a processor specializing in lower-cost ACH/bank payments (like GoCardless) might be "better."

Customer Service:

Stripe is known for being developer-centric, and its customer support can sometimes be perceived as less personalized or slower for non-technical users. Offering 24/7 human support, dedicated account managers, or highly specialized industry support could be a differentiator.

Specialized Features/Integrations:

Fraud Prevention: While Stripe has fraud tools, a processor with more advanced, customizable, or industry-specific fraud detection could be superior.

Built-in Compliance: For complex regulatory environments (e.g., global sales tax, specific industry regulations), a processor that fully handles these aspects could be invaluable.

Accounting/ERP Integration: Deeper, more seamless integrations with popular accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero, SAP) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems could appeal to larger businesses.

Unified Commerce: For businesses with both online and offline presence, a processor that offers truly seamless integration between POS (Point-of-Sale) and e-commerce (like Square) might be "better."

Ease of Use for Non-Developers:

While Stripe excels for developers, a platform that offers incredibly intuitive no-code or low-code solutions for setting up payments might appeal to less technical small businesses or solopreneurs.

Paths to Opening an Online Payment Processor:
Given the complexity, there are generally three main approaches, ranging from extremely difficult to moderately difficult:

Path 1: Become a Full-Fledged Payment Processor / Acquirer (Extremely Difficult & Capital Intensive)
This is the most ambitious and "true" way to be a direct competitor to Stripe. It involves handling the entire payment lifecycle, from authorization to settlement.

Steps:

Legal & Regulatory Compliance (Massive Hurdle):

PCI DSS Compliance: Achieving and maintaining Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Level 1 certification is non-negotiable. This is an incredibly stringent and expensive process.

Financial Licenses: You'll need money transmitter licenses in every state/country you operate in, which involves significant capital reserves, bonding, and regulatory oversight.

AML/KYC: Robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures are required to prevent fraud and illegal activities.

Establish Banking Relationships:

You need to partner with acquiring banks. These banks actually hold the merchant accounts and facilitate the movement of funds from the customer's bank to the merchant's bank. This involves lengthy negotiations and strict due diligence.

Relationships with card networks (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) are also essential.

Build Core Technology Infrastructure:

Payment Gateway: Software that connects the merchant's website/app to the payment processor, encrypting and transmitting payment data.

Payment Processor: The back-end system that handles the actual transaction routing, authorization, and settlement with the banks and card networks.

Fraud Detection Systems: Sophisticated real-time fraud monitoring and prevention tools.

Developer APIs & SDKs: A robust, well-documented set of tools for merchants to integrate with your platform.

Reporting & Analytics: Dashboards for merchants to track transactions, payouts, and chargebacks.

Security: Tokenization, encryption, secure data storage, and constant vulnerability testing.

Operational Overhead:

Support Team: 24/7 customer support, dispute resolution, and chargeback management.

Risk Management Team: Dedicated personnel to monitor transactions for fraud and compliance issues.

Legal & Compliance Team: Ongoing legal counsel and regulatory reporting.

Sales & Marketing: Acquiring merchants is a continuous effort.

Significant Funding: This path requires millions, if not tens of millions, in upfront capital for licensing, technology, and operational costs.

Path 2: Become a Payment Facilitator (PayFac) or Aggregator (Difficult & Capital Intensive)
This is what Stripe itself is. Instead of each merchant needing their own individual merchant account with an acquiring bank, you (the PayFac) hold one master merchant account, and your merchants operate under sub-accounts. This significantly simplifies onboarding for merchants but places a lot of regulatory and financial burden on you.

Steps (similar to Path 1, but with slightly different emphasis):

Register as a PayFac: Register with card networks (Visa, Mastercard) as a payment facilitator. This still requires substantial capital, robust risk management, and compliance.

Partner with an Acquirer: You'll still need an acquiring bank to sponsor your master merchant account.

Build a Platform for Sub-Accounts: Your technology needs to manage hundreds or thousands of sub-merchant accounts, including onboarding, underwriting, payout splitting, and individual reporting.

Enhanced Risk & Compliance: Because you're onboarding many sub-merchants, your KYC/AML and fraud detection must be exceptionally strong to manage the aggregate risk.

Customer Service & Dispute Resolution: You're the front-line for all your sub-merchants' payment issues.

Path 3: White-Label or Partner with an Existing Provider (Moderately Difficult)
This is the most realistic path for many aspiring payment processor founders. You leverage an existing payment infrastructure and brand it as your own.

Steps:

Identify a White-Label Provider or Backend Processor:

Look for companies that offer "Payment as a Service" (PaaS) or white-label solutions. These providers have already done the heavy lifting of compliance, banking relationships, and core technology.

Examples (you'd need to research current white-label offerings as they evolve): Some larger processors or fintech infrastructure companies might offer this. Sometimes, companies like Adyen or Checkout.com might provide more customizable solutions for larger clients that border on white-label.

Define Your Niche & Value Proposition: Even with a white-label solution, you need a clear reason for merchants to choose you over Stripe or other alternatives. This is where your "better than Stripe" angle comes in.

Customize the Frontend and User Experience: You'll build the user-facing dashboards, onboarding flows, and potentially some unique features on top of the white-label backend.

Integrate APIs: You'll integrate with the white-label provider's APIs to process payments, manage transactions, and handle payouts.

Sales & Marketing: Focus on acquiring customers within your chosen niche.

Customer Support: While the backend provider handles the core processing, you'll still need to provide first-tier customer support to your merchants.

Alternatives to Building Your Own Processor:
Before embarking on such a huge venture, seriously consider if there's an existing "better" solution for your specific needs, or if you can build a business that integrates with existing processors.

Some Stripe alternatives that might be "better" for specific use cases (as identified by recent searches):

Square: Best for small businesses, especially those with both online and in-person sales (POS integration).

PayPal (including Braintree): Widespread trust, good for quick setup, and strong for businesses with periodic use or an existing PayPal customer base. Braintree (owned by PayPal) offers more customization for developers.

Helcim: Known for transparent, often lower, interchange-plus pricing, especially for growing businesses.

Stax Payments (formerly Fattmerchant): Subscription-based pricing model, good for established companies with higher transaction volumes who want to avoid per-transaction markups.

Adyen: A global payment platform often preferred by large enterprises with complex international payment needs.

GoCardless: Specializes in recurring bank-to-bank payments (Direct Debit/ACH), which can be much cheaper than card payments for subscriptions or invoices.

Shopify Payments: For businesses specifically on Shopify, it offers seamless integration and can reduce transaction fees (though card processing fees still apply).

Paddle / FastSpring: Merchant of record solutions primarily for SaaS and digital products, handling billing, taxes, and subscriptions globally.

Conclusion
To truly open an online payment processor that's "better than Stripe," you need to solve a specific problem for a specific market segment in a demonstrably superior way. This usually means either:

Massive Investment & Regulatory Navigation: Becoming a full-stack payment processor/PayFac.

Strategic Partnership & Niche Focus: Leveraging a white-label solution or existing infrastructure to serve a targeted market with specialized features and excellent support.

For most entrepreneurs, the second path (or simply integrating with and optimizing existing, powerful alternatives to Stripe) is the more realistic and prudent approach. The payment processing industry is highly complex, regulated, and competitive.