PayPal has a long-standing reputation for being a trusted online payment gateway. Opening in 1998 as Confinity, it grew in popularity due to its revolutionary processing methods and close links to eBay, which was undergoing a boom in popularity at the time. This means many people have had a PayPal account and are now familiar with the system, making it an excellent choice for any web app or business.
With so many payment processing options on the market, it may seem like PayPal is losing ground to competitors. Yet this could not be further from the truth, as it is undergoing huge changes in performance and integration. Below are our reasons you should consider PayPal as the payment choice for your app.
# | Stripe | Paypal |
|---|---|---|
| Ideal For | Online businesses seeking a customizable platform for international commerce. | Businesses that want to accept PayPal transactions |
Both Stripe and PayPal offer reasonably-priced payment processing.
Paypal and Stripes are giants in the online payment processing space. But Paypal vs Stripe: which one is right for your business, and are there any good alternatives? Stick around to find out. A slew of interconnected products ranging from mobile payments to financing services, it’s safe to say that PayPal is a household name. Whereas stripe, while more of a behind-the-scenes processor with less brand recognition, also has a long list of very popular clients and partners. Both are popular ways of processing payments for ecommerce. You’ve probably used them both, but which is better for your business?
Let’s dig into the details.
Stripe and PayPal are both online credit card processors primarily focused on ecommerce both support invoicing and recurring billing PayPal is a trusted name is incredibly easy to use. Still, stripe offers a deeper feature set thanks to powerful developer tools.
Stripe is also cheaper for many merchants on a per transaction basis though some merchants will end up paying a bit less per transaction with PayPal, whose pricing has become more complex as of late stripe is an all-in-one payment processor combining a payment gateway with third party payment processors functionality focused on e-commerce.
Fees and other comparisons of Paypal and Stripe
| Service | Stripe | PayPal Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Fee per Transaction* | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Nonprofit Discount* | 2.2% + 35¢** | 2.2% + 30¢ |
| Setup Costs or Monthly Fees | No | No |
| Contract Required | No | No |
| Micropayments (<$10) | 5% + 10¢** | 5% + .05¢ |
| Recurring Billing | 0.5%+ | No |
| Chargeback Fee | $15 | $20 |
| Refunds | No Fees Returned | No Fees Returned |
| Customer Support | Email, Help Center, 24/7 Phone & Chat | Email, Help Center, Phone & Chat |
| Ease of Use | Easy | Easy |
| Ease of Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| PCI Compliance | Yes | Yes |
| Countries Available | 32+ | 200+ |
| Access to Funds Times | 2 Days (Average) | Immediate |
| Data Portability | Yes | No |
| Online Invoicing | Free for your first $1M in sales | Free |
| In-Person Card Readers | Paid | Free & Paid |
| Payments Handled 100% on Your Site | Yes | No |
PayPal Market Share
Despite stiff competition, PayPal is still the most used online payment processor. It has a market share of just over 52%, followed by Stripe with 15%. The rest consist of a combination of Amazon Pay, Braintree, Shopify Pay, and smaller processors. It remains the favored method by some way due to its security and ease of use.
Advantages of PayPal
Several factors are advantageous for choosing PayPal as a merchant, developer, or consumer. Below, we have selected the most vital ones you must consider.
Fraud Prevention
PayPal has a robust system in place for the prevention of fraud. In many ways, they operate this facet of their business like a bank. If payments are made that end up being fraudulent, then the PayPal customer is often reimbursed.
The result of this is that PayPal has a reputation for security and fairness, which has not gone unnoticed by several industries that are often considered high risk for payments. Several high-profile iGaming providers, such as Betway and BetMGM operate several of the best PayPal casinos. US Casino, a ranking site for PayPal casinos, states that this is because of PayPal’s easy deposits and fast withdrawals without fees.
This has also filtered through to Bitcoin exchanges, an industry with its mission statement built on security. If a PayPal account is hacked, PayPal will replace any crypto lost as a result. Combined with low fees, it is an attractive option for providers.
Ease of Use
Part of PayPal’s appeal and growth has been down to its ease of use for buyers and sellers. As a customer, you can send money to friends, and family or make payments without a fee. Once you verify your bank account, funds can transfer to physical bank accounts so money can be withdrawn with a debit card.
As a merchant using PayPal, their business interface is also easy to use. Once you log in, it shows all your transactions, fees, money in the account, and funds that have gone out. All statistics and KPIs are easy to access and download, making accounting and bookkeeping swift.
PayPal also has several features that make getting payments from customers easier and quicker as well. For example, they can provide you with QR codes and only charge a nominal fee.
Fees
For customers, PayPal has no fees. Opening an account costs nothing, and fees can be immediately delivered to their physical account by hooking up their bank account.
As a merchant, fees are a little more stringent but still an attractive offer. PayPal checkout has a 3.49% charge plus a fixed fee, depending on the currency used. Standard credit and debit card payments are 2.99% with the same fixed fee. No other payment types cross this 3.49% threshold.
Integration
Integrating PayPal into an app is easy, due to its wide range of developer tools and resources. It is a simple case of adding a login, getting the access token, and testing. For any developer, this should not take long at all. HTML codes are provided, or it is easy to create a custom installation for those who sell a large number of products and require a custom shopping cart.
The Future of PayPal
The final reason to consider PayPal is that it is consistently improving. They recently introduced Xoom, a sister service that allows people to send money abroad to almost any bank account. Expanding their service to make global payments easier can only have the outcome of attracting more consumers to the service. When it comes to processing, PayPal has a promising future.
