Japan code-payment operator 2025 market share matrix

Confidence: Likely Updated 2026-05-25 Review by 2026-11-25 Sources 21 Machine-translated Original (JA)
#payments#code-payment#QR-payment#wallets#market-share#matrix
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This entry sits under payments index as the operator-level 2025 share matrix that pairs with Japan code-payment competitive map for the strategic lanes view, Japan payment scheme economics matrix for the cross-scheme economics view, funds transfer service providers Japan index for the EPI / licensing view, prepaid payment instrument issuers Japan index for the prepaid-balance view, FamiPay ValuCreate strategy for the FamiPay-specific entry, and cashless JP landscape for the macro context. Operator anchors are PayPay, PayPay FG, Rakuten FG, Rakuten Edy, NTT docomo FG, au PAY, au Financial Holdings, Merpay, Mercari HD, FamiMa Digital One, Mizuho FG (J-Coin Pay), and Yucho Bank (ゆうちょPay).

TL;DR

Japan’s code-payment market in 2025 is a clear oligopoly with PayPay holding majority transaction share, Rakuten Pay and d-Barai (NTT docomo) competing for the strong second tier, and au PAY (KDDI), Merpay (Mercari), and FamiPay (FamiMa Digital One) holding meaningful niche-segment positions. METI’s 2025 cashless data release (published 2026-03-31) puts code-payment value at 16.6 trillion yen, or 10.2% of cashless payment value, in a market with 58.0% overall cashless ratio (new domestic indicator; the legacy international-comparison indicator is 46.3%) and ¥162.7 trillion total cashless value. (Note: the earlier METI release of 2025-03-31 reported the 2024 figures — 42.8% ratio / ¥141.0tn / code ¥13.5tn / 9.6% — so the 58.0% / ¥16.6tn / 10.2% set here is specifically the 2025 data from the 2026-03-31 release, not the 2024 release.) The Cashless Promotion Council’s quarterly code-payment trend survey publishes store-value / count / remittance / balance / MAU breakdowns. PayPay leads on every dimension (registered users, MAU, TPV, merchant acceptance), but Rakuten Pay has the strongest ecosystem-anchor advantage via Rakuten Card linkage and Rakuten Point integration, d-Barai has telecom-billing advantages from NTT docomo, au PAY has the bank-anchor advantage via au Jibun Bank, Merpay has the marketplace-anchor + バーチャル credit advantage, and FamiPay has the retail-anchor convenience store advantage. J-Coin Pay (Mizuho) and ゆうちょPay (Japan Post Bank) operate bank-anchored wallets at materially smaller scale. Seven Pay is included historically as a 2019-discontinued operator. This matrix puts all nine side-by-side along the operator dimensions that determine 2026 competitive position.

Why this matrix matters

Three claims commonly muddle code-payment analysis. First, “PayPay won” — true at the aggregate transaction-share level, but the ecosystem-anchored competitors (Rakuten, NTT docomo, KDDI, Mercari, FamiMa) maintain structural defensibility through cross-product attachment that pure-share data doesn’t capture. Second, “MAU equals economic share” — MAU and registered-user counts don’t directly translate to TPV or revenue; high-frequency low-ticket usage at PayPay differs in economics from credit-anchored higher-ticket usage at Rakuten Pay. Third, “all code-payment operators have the same business model” — they differ significantly on EPI vs banking-license structure, deposit attachment, point-integration economics, and merchant-fee approach. This matrix surfaces all three for direct read with the most recent 2025 verifiable disclosures.

Big nine-operator comparison matrix

DimensionPayPayRakuten Payd-Barai (NTT docomo)au PAY (KDDI)Merpay (Mercari)FamiPay (FamiMa)J-Coin Pay (Mizuho)ゆうちょPay (JP Bank)Seven Pay (discontinued)
Operator entityPayPay 株式会社 (PayPay)楽天ペイメント 株式会社 (Rakuten FG)株式会社NTTドコモ (NTT docomo FG)au ペイメント 株式会社 (au PAY)株式会社メルペイ (Merpay)株式会社ファミマデジタルワン (FamiMa Digital One)みずほ銀行 / J-Coin Pay 運営 (Mizuho FG)株式会社ゆうちょ銀行 (Yucho)株式会社セブン・ペイ (dissolved 2019)
Parent groupSoftBank Group + Z Holdings / LY Corporation; PayPay FG umbrellaRakuten Group (Rakuten FG)NTT Group / NTT docomo (re-consolidated under NTT 2020)KDDI Group (au Financial Holdings)Mercari Inc. (Mercari HD)伊藤忠商事 + ファミリーマート (ITOCHU group)Mizuho Financial GroupJapan Post GroupSeven & i Holdings
Launch year2018-102016-10 (Rakuten Pay)2018-042019-042019-022019-07 (FamiPay app)2019-032018-052019-07 (closed 2019-09)
License / regulatory basePrepaid Payment Instrument (EPI; 前払式支払手段) + Funds Transfer Service (資金移動業; PayPay マネー) + acquirerEPI + Funds Transfer (Rakuten Pay balance) + Rakuten Card acquirerEPI + Funds Transfer (d-Barai balance) + telecom-billingEPI + Funds Transfer (au PAY balance) + au PAY Card acquirerEPI + Funds Transfer (Merpay) + バーチャルカード (issued via JCB)EPI (FamiPay balance)EPIEPI + bank-account linkedEPI (closed)
2025 registered users~70 million (2025-07, PayPay)n.d. (Rakuten Pay user count not disclosed; Rakuten ID base larger)~68 million d払い (2025-06, NTT docomo)~37 million au PAY (2025-03, KDDI)~18.7 million Merpay (2024-12, Mercari)~26 million cumulative downloads (2025-06, FamilyMart)n.d.n.d.n/a
2025 MAU / active usersn.d. (per-operator MAU not publicly disclosed)n.d.n.d.n.d.n.d.n.d.n.d.n.d.n/a
2025 TPV (transaction value)¥12.5 trillion FY2024 GMV (PayPay); leading share of total code-payment valuen.d. (Rakuten Pay GMV not officially broken out)¥3.4 trillion FY2024 (NTT docomo)n.d. (au PAY GMV not officially broken out)n.d. (Merpay GMV not officially broken out)n.d. (FamiPay GMV not officially broken out)n.d.n.d.n/a
Settlement frequency to merchantConfigurable: daily / weekly / monthly; small-merchant fast optionsConfigurable; Rakuten-card anchored monthly typicalConfigurableConfigurableConfigurable; Mercari-marketplace internalT+M typical at FamiMa internal; configurable for externalBank-rail next-day optionsBank-railn/a
Merchant fee structureInitially zero-fee promo (2018-2021); per-transaction MDR 1.60% (with PayPay マイストア ライトプラン) or 1.98% standard, from 2021-10Tiered MDR; Rakuten-ecosystem merchants get preferred termsTiered MDR; docomo-channel merchants get preferred termsTiered MDR; KDDI-channel merchantsTiered MDRTiered MDR; FamiMa-internal rates differ from externalBank-rail ratesBank-rail ratesn/a
Merchant acceptance breadthLargest Japan code-payment merchant footprint (10 million+ merchant locations, 2025, PayPay)Broad — Rakuten ecosystem + generalBroad — docomo channel + generalMid-broad — KDDI channel + generalMid — marketplace anchored + general via NetstarsLargest FamiMa retail anchor + external expansionLimitedLimitedn/a
Deposit / funding sourcePayPay マネー (Funds Transfer balance, withdrawable) + PayPay マネーライト (prepaid, non-withdrawable) + linked credit cards + bank accountRakuten Cash (prepaid) + Rakuten Card + bank accountd-Barai balance + telecom-billing add to monthly bill + linked credit cards / bank accountau PAY balance + bank account + au PAY CardMerpay balance (marketplace sales proceeds) + バーチャル credit (Merpay Smart Pay) + bank accountFamiPay balance (prepaid) + bank account + FamiMa T-cardJ-Coin Pay balance + Mizuho bank account directゆうちょ銀行 account directSeven Bank linkage
Bank attachmentPayPay Bank (former JNB; majority-owned via SoftBank, mass-renamed 2021)Rakuten Bank (Rakuten group bank)docomo-Mizuho cooperation (no direct docomo bank)au Jibun Bank (KDDI-MUFG JV bank, au FH)Mercari Bank (planned; banking license ambition)UFJ-cooperation (no FamiMa bank)Mizuho Bank directJapan Post Bank directSeven Bank-affiliated
Point integrationPayPay ポイント (own) + Yahoo! Japan ポイント convergence; broad earn-redeem at PayPay merchantsRakuten ポイント (best-established in Japan); broad earn-redeem across Rakuten ecosystem + Rakuten Pay merchantsdポイント (NTT docomo); broad earn-redeem; integration with dカードPonta ポイント (via KDDI-Ponta partnership); WAON-adjacentメルカリ ポイント; marketplace-internal mostlyFamiPay ポイント; FamiMa-internal + adjacentn/an/an/a
Credit / BNPL adjacencyPayPay クレジット / PayPay あと払い (PayPay Card)Rakuten Card integration (deep)dカード (docomo group)au PAY カードMerpay Smart Pay (バーチャル credit issued via JCB)FamiMa T-card (Saison-affiliated)n/an/an/a
Distinctive strategic anchorLargest user base + SoftBank / Z Holdings ecosystem + LINE convergenceRakuten ecosystem (EC, points, card, bank, securities)Telecom-billing + dポイント + docomo customer baseTelecom-billing + Ponta + au Jibun BankMarketplace-anchored proceeds + バーチャル creditConvenience store retail anchor + ITOCHU groupBank-anchored consortium productPostal-network reachn/a (closed)

PayPay (PayPay 株式会社 / PayPay FG umbrella)

PayPay is the dominant Japan code-payment operator by every metric — registered users, MAU, TPV, and merchant acceptance. Launched 2018-10 by the SoftBank Group + Yahoo! Japan / Z Holdings (now LY Corporation) joint venture, with aggressive launch promotions (¥100 億 あげちゃう キャンペーン) that drove early user-and-merchant acquisition. The operator holds EPI registration (前払式支払手段) for PayPay マネーライト (the prepaid balance, non-withdrawable to bank) and Funds Transfer registration (資金移動業) for PayPay マネー (the withdrawable-to-bank balance), distinguishing the two product lines by regulatory class — see funds transfer vs prepaid boundary for the structural distinction.

PayPay’s distinctive position: largest scale + SoftBank ecosystem + LINE convergence. The 2023-2024 LY Corporation merger (Z Holdings + LINE) brought LINE Pay into the PayPay orbit (LINE Pay JP service migrated to PayPay during 2025), further consolidating PayPay’s user-base lead. PayPay also has a banking-license adjacency via PayPay Bank (the rebranded Japan Net Bank, majority-owned via SoftBank Group) and credit-card adjacency via PayPay Card. The 2025 TPV is the leading share of the 16.6 trillion yen total code-payment market.

Rakuten Pay (楽天ペイメント 株式会社 / Rakuten FG)

Rakuten Pay launched 2016-10 (predating PayPay by two years) and benefits from the strongest ecosystem-anchor in Japan code-payment via Rakuten ID, Rakuten Card, Rakuten ポイント, Rakuten 銀行, Rakuten 証券, and the Rakuten EC marketplace. Rakuten Pay’s TPV is materially smaller than PayPay’s but the ecosystem-attachment economics differ: Rakuten Pay users are typically Rakuten Card holders earning Rakuten Points across multiple ecosystem touch-points, creating cross-product LTV that pure code-payment TPV doesn’t capture.

Rakuten Pay’s distinctive position: deep ecosystem integration + Rakuten Point economics. The merchant-fee structure favors Rakuten-ecosystem merchants, and the credit-card linkage via Rakuten Card means Rakuten Pay transactions can also generate Rakuten Card interchange revenue that pure-prepaid PayPay transactions don’t. Rakuten Edy (Rakuten Edy) is a separate Rakuten-group e-money product (Felica-based prepaid) that pre-dated Rakuten Pay and continues to operate as a complementary product.

d-Barai (d払い, NTT docomo)

d-Barai (d払い) launched 2018-04 by NTT docomo, distinguished by telecom-billing integration: code-payment transactions can be added to the user’s monthly mobile bill, creating an effective post-pay code-payment lane that pure-prepaid operators don’t offer. The dポイント program is well-established and a meaningful point-economics layer alongside d-Barai. The 2020 docomo re-consolidation under NTT (NTT made docomo a wholly-owned subsidiary) and the 2026 reorganization under NTT docomo FG re-positioned d-Barai within a broader telecom-financial ecosystem.

d-Barai’s distinctive position: telecom-billing + dポイント + docomo customer base. The structural advantage is the captive docomo customer base of tens of millions of mobile subscribers, plus the telecom-billing rail that converts code-payment into a non-card / non-bank funding source. The structural constraint is that d-Barai does not have the same level of bank-anchor (no docomo-direct bank) or credit-card-anchor (dカード is operated separately by MUFG NICOS in cooperation with docomo) that PayPay or Rakuten Pay have.

au PAY (au ペイメント 株式会社 / KDDI)

au PAY launched 2019-04 by KDDI as a code-payment product that integrates with the KDDI customer base, au Jibun Bank (the KDDI-MUFG JV bank), and au Financial Holdings‘s broader financial product stack. The Ponta point alliance (KDDI joined Ponta in 2020 as part of the Loyalty Marketing Inc. realignment) gives au PAY a point-program lane that converges with Lawson, Geo, KFC and broader Ponta merchants.

au PAY’s distinctive position: telecom-billing + Ponta + au Jibun Bank. The bank-anchor (au Jibun Bank) gives au PAY a deposit / withdrawal rail that pure-prepaid wallets don’t have, and the Ponta integration gives au PAY a point-program that competes structurally with dポイント and Rakuten ポイント. The 2025 TPV is smaller than PayPay / Rakuten / d-Barai but the KDDI ecosystem attachment is comparable in structural shape to docomo’s.

Merpay (株式会社 メルペイ / Mercari HD)

Merpay launched 2019-02 by Mercari as a code-payment product that converts Mercari marketplace sales proceeds into a directly-spendable balance, distinguishing it from operators where users fund the wallet from a separate income source. The Merpay balance can be spent at code-payment merchants or via Merpay バーチャル credit card (issued via JCB). Merpay Smart Pay is the post-pay / BNPL product that lets users pay later for purchases, regulated as 包括信用購入あっせん.

Merpay’s distinctive position: marketplace-anchored proceeds + バーチャル credit + BNPL. The structural advantage is that Mercari marketplace sellers naturally accumulate balances they can redirect to consumption rather than withdraw to bank, creating a captive funding source that operators without marketplace anchors don’t have. Mercari’s stated banking license ambition (Mercari Bank in development) further extends the funding-source stack.

FamiPay (株式会社ファミマデジタルワン / FamiMa Digital One)

FamiPay launched 2019-07 as part of the FamilyMart app, operated by FamiMa Digital One under the FamilyMart / ITOCHU group umbrella. The FamiPay balance is funded primarily through the FamilyMart retail-store channel, with deeper retail-anchored economics than PayPay / Rakuten Pay’s general-merchant footprint. FamiPay also operates a tight integration with the FamiMa T-card / Saison-affiliated credit card line.

FamiPay’s distinctive position: convenience store retail anchor + ITOCHU group. Covered in depth at FamiPay ValuCreate strategy. The structural advantage is the FamilyMart retail-network captive funding-and-spending loop; the structural constraint is that FamiPay has historically been narrower in external-merchant acceptance than the major general-purpose code wallets, though external expansion has accelerated through 2024-2025.

J-Coin Pay (Mizuho Financial Group)

J-Coin Pay launched 2019-03 by Mizuho FG as a bank-anchored code-payment wallet with direct Mizuho Bank account integration. The product is structurally distinct from PayPay / Rakuten Pay in that funding flows directly from the user’s Mizuho Bank account rather than through a separate prepaid-balance intermediation layer. J-Coin Pay was initially positioned as a “bank-consortium product” with potential participation from regional banks, though the consortium structure evolved through the 2020-2024 period.

J-Coin Pay’s distinctive position: bank-anchored consortium product. The TPV and MAU are materially smaller than the leading wallets, reflecting the narrower distribution channel (Mizuho customer base + regional-bank participants) and the absence of point-program-driven user acquisition.

ゆうちょPay (Japan Post Bank)

ゆうちょPay launched 2018-05 by Japan Post Bank as a postal-network-anchored code-payment wallet with ゆうちょ Bank account integration. The product has historically targeted ゆうちょ account holders, particularly older / non-urban / postal-banking-centric customer segments that the major urban-tech wallets (PayPay, Rakuten Pay) reach less efficiently.

ゆうちょPay’s distinctive position: postal-network reach + older customer segment. The structural advantage is the very broad ゆうちょ Bank account base (tens of millions of account holders, with strong rural / older-customer coverage); the structural constraint is that this customer segment has been slower to adopt code-payment generally, limiting realized TPV.

Seven Pay (discontinued 2019)

Seven Payment Service / Seven & i Holdings launched Seven Pay 2019-07 as a code-payment product for the 7-Eleven retail network, but shut the service down in 2019-09 after a security breach exposed cardholder credentials within days of launch. The Seven Pay shutdown is included in this matrix as a historically important case of code-payment operator failure — the brand / parent / retail anchor was strong, but the operational / security execution failure was severe enough to force closure. The 7-Eleven retail network later integrated PayPay / Rakuten Pay / d-Barai / au PAY / メルペイ acceptance via PSP gateways rather than re-launching its own wallet.

Verifiable 2025 market-size data points

The following figures are sourced from METI’s cashless-payment releases and Cashless Promotion Council publications. Two distinct METI releases must not be conflated: the 2025-03-31 release reports 2024 data (42.8% ratio / ¥141.0tn / code ¥13.5tn / 9.6% share / +23.9% YoY), while the 2026-03-31 release reports 2025 data (58.0% domestic ratio / 46.3% international ratio / ¥162.7tn / code ¥16.6tn / 10.2% share). These are the most defensible aggregate numbers; per-operator TPV / MAU figures vary by reporting period and disclosure surface, so per-operator numbers in the main matrix above are shown only where an official operator disclosure exists and marked n.d. (データ未公開) where the operator does not break the figure out.

Metric (2025)ValueSource
Overall cashless ratio (2025)58.0% (new domestic indicator); 46.3% (legacy international-comparison indicator)METI 2026-03-31 release (2025 data)
Total cashless payment value (2025)¥162.7 trillionMETI 2026-03-31 release (2025 data)
Code-payment value (2025)¥16.6 trillionMETI 2026-03-31 release (2025 data)
Code-payment share of cashless (2025)10.2%METI 2026-03-31 release (2025 data)
Code-payment breakdown (2025)クレカ 82.7% ¥134.6tn / デビット 3.4% ¥5.5tn / 電子マネー 3.7% ¥6.0tn / コード 10.2% ¥16.6tnMETI 2026-03-31 release (2025 data)
— reference: 2024 figures (prior release)42.8% ratio / ¥141.0tn / code ¥13.5tn / 9.6% / +23.9% YoYMETI 2025-03-31 release (2024 data)
Code-payment merchant locations (estimated)Several million across major walletsCashless Promotion Council survey
Largest single code-payment operator (by TPV)PayPayMETI / CPC consistent

For per-operator numbers, see operator IR disclosures: PayPay (https://about.paypay.ne.jp/news/), Rakuten Group IR (https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/investors/), NTT docomo IR (https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/info/news_release/), KDDI IR (https://www.kddi.com/corporate/ir/), Mercari IR (https://about.mercari.com/ir/), FamilyMart IR (https://www.family.co.jp/ir.html).

Licensing / regulatory class side-axis

The operators in this matrix split across regulatory classes in a way that affects what each can do with stored balances and how they interact with cross-operator transfer or withdrawal:

OperatorEPI (前払式支払手段)Funds Transfer (資金移動業)Banking licenseBNPL / 信用購入あっせん
PayPayYes (PayPay マネーライト)Yes (PayPay マネー)Via PayPay Bank affiliateVia PayPay Card
Rakuten PayYesYes (Rakuten Pay balance)Via Rakuten Bank affiliateVia Rakuten Card
d-BaraiYesYesVia docomo-Mizuho cooperation; no docomo bankVia dカード (MUFG NICOS cooperation)
au PAYYesYesVia au Jibun Bank affiliateVia au PAY Card
MerpayYesYesMercari Bank in developmentMerpay Smart Pay (包括信用購入あっせん)
FamiPayYesLimitedNoneVia FamiMa T-card (Saison affiliate)
J-Coin PayYesLimitedMizuho Bank directLimited
ゆうちょPayYesLimitedJapan Post Bank directLimited
Seven PayYes (closed)n/an/an/a

This regulatory-class structure is the principal determinant of whether a wallet can be used as a remittance rail (Funds Transfer registration required) versus a pure-payment rail (EPI sufficient). See funds transfer service providers Japan index for the licensing-list view.

Settlement-and-funding structural comparison

OperatorPrimary funding railSettlement-to-merchant baselineAcceleration optionBank-account withdrawal
PayPayBank account + linked card (V/MC/JCB/AMEX where supported) + PayPay マネー balanceConfigurable (small merchants can get daily)AvailableYes (from PayPay マネー only, not マネーライト)
Rakuten PayRakuten Card + Rakuten Cash + bank accountConfigurableAvailableYes (from Rakuten Cash with conditions)
d-BaraiTelecom-billing + linked card + bank accountConfigurableAvailableYes (from d-Barai balance)
au PAYBank account + au PAY Card + balanceConfigurableAvailableYes (from au PAY balance)
MerpayMarketplace proceeds + bank account + バーチャル creditConfigurableAvailableYes (Mercari balance withdrawal)
FamiPayFamiMa store top-up + bank account + FamiMa T-cardT+M typicalLimitedLimited
J-Coin PayMizuho Bank directBank-rail next-day optionsn/aYes (Mizuho Bank direct)
ゆうちょPayYucho Bank directBank-railn/aYes (Yucho direct)
Seven PaySeven Bank linkage (closed)n/an/an/a

Merchant-acceptance overlap and PSP routing

Many merchants accept multiple code-payment wallets simultaneously via PSP / aggregator routing rather than direct contract with each wallet. The principal multi-wallet aggregator is Netstars (via StarPay), and the merchant-side PSPs (GMO-PG, SBPS, DGFT) typically route multi-wallet acceptance for their merchant base. Covered in Japan merchant PSP competitive scorecard.

WalletDirect-merchant model strengthMulti-wallet aggregator dependency
PayPayStrong (direct sales force; largest merchant footprint)Moderate (also accepts via aggregators)
Rakuten PayModerate (Rakuten-ecosystem direct; external via aggregator)Higher for non-Rakuten merchants
d-BaraiModerate; via aggregator dominant for non-docomo channelHigher
au PAYModerateHigher
MerpayLimited direct; via aggregator dominantHigh
FamiPayFamiMa-internal strong; external limitedModerate
J-Coin PayLimitedHigh
ゆうちょPayLimitedHigh

Cross-references with other matrices

Sources


[!info] Source-attribution correction (2026-05-30) The aggregate values cashless ratio 58.0% / code payment ¥16.6兆 / code-payment share 10.2% are the correct values for the 2025 年data, but the old version attributed these to the “METI 2025-03 release.” This is incorrect — the release published 2025-03-31 reported the 2024 年data (ratio 42.8% / ¥141.0兆 / code ¥13.5兆 / 9.6% / +23.9% YoY). 58.0% / ¥16.6兆 / 10.2% are attributable to the release published 2026-03-31 (2025 年data, total ¥162.7兆). 58.0% is the new domestic indicator, while under the legacy international-comparison indicator it is 46.3%. This correction clarifies the source attribution of all aggregate values to the “2026-03-31 release (2025 data)” and the “2025-03-31 release (2024 data)” (consistency confirmed via METI publications, 2026-05-30).