Stripe vs PayPal – Which One Is Better? (Pros and Cons)

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Are you comparing Stripe vs PayPal to decide which platform to use to collect payments or donations on your website?

Since Stripe and PayPal are the most popular online payment gateways, your decision to pick a payment provider for your site probably comes down to these two options.

And I can help guide you through the decision.

In this post, I’ll compare the pros and cons of both payment gateways, so you can decide if it’s Stripe or if it’s PayPal that works best for you to accept online payments for your business.

Accept Stripe + PayPal on Your Forms Now

Stripe vs PayPal – Which One Is Better? (Pros and Cons)

Stripe and PayPal stand out as leading payment solutions, as both allow seamless online money collection.

Who Are These Comparisons For?

Collecting payments on your website is easy with WPForms for many types of businesses, including:

  • Freelancers
  • Brick-and-mortar shops who want to also sell online
  • Nonprofits collecting donations
  • eCommerce companies
  • Agencies
  • Online marketplaces
  • Entrepreneurs
  • And more

Stripe vs PayPal at a Glance

Before getting into the specifics of each payment gateway, let’s compare the basics.

Service Stripe PayPal
Fee per Transaction* 2.9% + 30¢** 2.9% + 49¢
Nonprofit Discount* 2.2% + 35¢*** 1.99% + 49¢
Setup Costs or Monthly Fees No No
Contract Required No No
Micropayments (<$10) 5% + 10¢*** 4.9% + .09¢
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 Instant Instant
Data Portability Yes No
Online Invoicing Paid Free
In-Person Card Readers Paid Free & Paid
Payments Handled 100% on Your Site Yes No
*US-based only. Fees vary by country.

**In Lite to Plus versions of WPForms, there’s a 3% charge + Stripe fee per transaction. The 3% charge is removed for Pro and above users.

***Includes RADAR fee. See below for more info.

WPForms integrates with Stripe, Authorize.Net, Square, and PayPal for accepting payments. The Stripe integration is available in both free and paid versions of WPForms, while PayPal is for Pro and above only.

Be sure to take a look at our documentation to learn how to use Stripe with WPForms Lite.

About Stripe

Navigating the Stripe website homepage

Stripe is an online payment platform that lets people accept and send money over the internet, and its popularity is growing in the eCommerce world.

Stripe is especially liked by code-savvy people or teams with in-house programmers because of its customizable development tools.

Stripe Pros and Cons

Using Stripe comes with a handful of pros and cons, which we’ll go over here.

Stripe Pros

  • Flat, predictable rates
  • Easy for your customers to use
  • Keep and move your customer data
  • Funds are available immediately in your account
  • Nonprofit discounts
  • No contract required
  • Lower chargeback fee ($15)
  • 24/7 support
  • Multiple support options (help center, phone, live chat, and email)
  • Developer live chat support for complex issues
  • PCI Compliant

Stripe Cons

  • Isn’t as user-friendly to set up
  • Not as well-known or a household name like PayPal
  • No fees returned with refunds
  • Inconsistent support quality
  • Available in fewer countries than PayPal
  • Online invoicing isn’t free

About PayPal

Navigating the PayPal website homepage

PayPal is a payment solution that lets users make and receive payments online, and it’s very popular. PayPal claims to have over 346 million customer accounts in over 200 markets.

Nearly everyone has a PayPal account these days, and it’s easily one of the most recognizable names in the eCommerce payments industry.

PayPal Pros and Cons

Like any payment platform, PayPal comes with its own set of pros and cons.

PayPal Pros

  • Flat, predictable rates
  • Easy to set up an account
  • Easy for your customers to use
  • Integrations with some POS systems if you want to sell in-person
  • Customers are familiar with and trust PayPal
  • Funds are available immediately in your PayPal account
  • Nonprofit discounts
  • No contract required
  • Multiple support options (help center, phone, live chat and email)
  • PCI Compliant
  • Available in 200+ countries
  • Free online invoicing
  • Free card readers for your storefront

PayPal Cons

  • Can’t move all your customer data to another payment processor
  • Higher chargeback fee ($20)
  • Inconsistent support quality
  • No fees returned with refunds

Further Details of Stripe vs PayPal

Let’s take a look at the closer details and further comparisons of these two online payment options.

Cost: Stripe Fees vs PayPal Fees

Both Stripe and PayPal are very transparent about their fees, which is one of the reasons why they’re leaders in the online payments industry. Both offer plans with no setup costs, basic monthly fees, or contracts.

Navigating the Stripe pricing page

Plus, with both Stripe and PayPal, your business is eligible for lower pricing if you hit a certain number in monthly sales.

And with Stripe, you can customize your pricing based on your sales volume and business model. As for PayPal, discounted pricing happens at a much lower sales volume of $3,000 per month.

Navigating the PayPal pricing page

Both companies offer nonprofit discounts, which makes them a great choice if you’re trying to build nonprofit donation forms for WordPress.

Here’s a further breakdown of additional fees:

  • Stripe RADAR Fees: Stripe also charges a RADAR fee of .05¢ for every transaction attempted. The RADAR fee will be charged even if the payment fails. For example, if a user enters the wrong expiry date, you will be charged a RADAR fee for that attempt. If they then try again, you’ll be charged a second RADAR fee, and so on. This fee is waived on Standard accounts. But if you are a nonprofit, you will be charged RADAR fees.
  • Micropayments: If you’re processing transactions of less than $10, you’ll be charged a different rate. PayPal’s micropayment rates are 4.9% + .09¢ per transaction. At Stripe, you will be charged the micropayment rate of 5% + .05¢, plus a .05¢ RADAR fee per attempt on top.
  • Chargebacks/Refunds: A chargeback is a charge reversal that happens when somebody contacts their bank and reports a transaction on their card that they don’t agree with or think is fraud. They exist to protect cardholders, but are sometimes over-utilized which can be frustrating since your business will pay a fee for each chargeback that happens. Stripe has a chargeback fee of $15, while PayPal’s chargeback fee is $20. Also, if your customer gets a refund, you won’t get your processing fees back from Stripe or PayPal.

Usability

Both Stripe and PayPal are known for being super easy to use. Both companies have made it really simple for customers to pay online.

Seeking answers for Stripe features in the documentation

Stripe has several ways to get in touch when you have questions including a help center, social media, and chat support channels (with support reps or developers), plus phone and email support.

PayPal has multiple ways to get answers to your questions from their customer support team like a community forum, a help center, and social media, plus email, live chat and phone support.

Seeking answers in the PayPal help center

Even with all these ways to get your questions answered, users still say that the quality of customer service from both Stripe and PayPal can vary from good to poor and is frustrating at times.

However, Stripe recently added 24/7 access to both phone and chat support while PayPal’s support still goes dark at some hours of the day.

Take a look at this list of additional usability features found with each platform:

  • Ease of Setup: Stripe is more customizable over PayPal. However,  to embed a feature like a “Pay With Card” button on your site, Stripe requires a bit more development knowledge and can sometimes be tricky for non-technical users.  WPForms is the best Stripe plugin for WordPress, so integrating with Stripe and PayPal is a breeze. They’re both available in our pre-built form templates with the Stripe and PayPal Commerce addons.
  • Availability: PayPal is available in many more countries than Stripe. Currently, PayPal is offered in 200+ countries while Stripe has just 46 countries (and growing).
  • Access to Funds: Both payment platforms allow you to access your funds anytime, and you can withdraw your funds or transfer them to your account instantly. However, both Stipe and PayPal come with a charge of 1.5 % of the amount transferred.
  • Compatibility: You can use both Stripe and PayPal with WordPress, and both products are integrated with WPForms. Check out our list of PayPal integrations for more information.
  • Online Invoicing: Stripe and PayPal both have customizable online invoicing. This is free with PayPal, but a paid service with Stripe.
  • Card Readers: If you’re a brick-and-mortar store adding an online presence and want to use the same payment processor for your storefront and your website, you can do just that with both Stripe and PayPal.

PayPal has integrations into many popular Point of Sale systems, and both Stripe and PayPal offer their own physical card readers. PayPal will give you free card readers and also has paid card readers you can buy, while Stripe only offers paid card readers.

Peace of Mind

Stripe and PayPal offer a couple of different ways to provide you with peace of mind.

  • Security: Both Stripe and PayPal’s services are PCI Complaint. In other words, they meet the strict standards of the Payment Card Industry and your cardholder data is stored securely.
  • Data Portability:  At some point, you may want to move all your data to another payment processor that is not Stripe or PayPal. This is known as Data Portability. Stripe values Data Portability, so they’ll help you move your credit card data in a PCI Compliant way. PayPal won’t give you this data if you try to switch processors, which can be a headache. For some people, it’s important to have the choice to be able to move their payment data if they want.

Migrating billing data in Stripe processing

When it comes to security for money, data, and private information, these features are incredibly important in a payment processor.

Stripe vs PayPal – My Verdict

So which online payment gateway should you use?

The answer depends on your business’ individual needs including your industry, the type of customers you have, and what you’re selling. One type of merchant may prefer to go with one payment solution over another.

If you’re an eCommerce business and consistently processing credit card transactions, then the flexibility and support offered by Stripe might be for you. On the other hand, your business may require the online and in-person capabilities of PayPal, or you might prefer the more popular brand.

It’s important to note that with WPForms, you don’t have to select just one payment solution to accept payments on your website. If you’d like to utilize both payment gateways, you can.

And there you have it! You can now make an educated decision about whether Stripe vs PayPal will be a better fit for your business to collect payments or donations online, based on their individual pros and cons.

Accept Stripe + PayPal on Your Site Forms Now

FAQ

We get a lot of questions about Stripe and PayPal from customers who want to accept payments from their forms. Check out some of our most commonly asked questions below.

Is Stripe or PayPal better for online payments?

If you’re a business owner, you know that you need a reliable payment gateway. Either payment gateway is a good choice. PayPal is better known to consumers. Stripe, on the other hand, has a simpler pricing structure. Stripe’s tools and reporting are also stronger than PayPal’s.

Can I use Stripe and PayPal together?

Yes, you can use Stripe and PayPal on your site at the same time. Businesses often use both payment gateways to give their customers more options.

Is Stripe or PayPal better for recurring payments and subscriptions?

If you want to offer subscriptions or the ability to make recurring payments or donations, you probably want to go with Stripe. This functionality is where Stripe shines, as it offers tools like customer and payment reports.

Do Stripe and PayPal have invoicing?

Both payment options have invoicing, but Stripe is the better option. Its built-in features let you easily bill customers and track invoices.

How soon can I expect to receive funds?

With both Stripe and PayPal, you can typically expect to see funds arrive in 2-5 business days. Or, you can pay an additional fee for instant payouts.

Next, Collect Payments With Stripe

Now that you know all about collecting payments with Stripe and PayPal, it’s time to add a payment processor to your small business website.

Take a look at our helpful tutorial on how to accept payments with Stripe to get started!

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Comments

  1. The information about PayPal refunds is not accurate – PayPal returns the percentage, but not the fixed fee. The article mentions the other way around.

    1. Hi Sergey!
      I wanted to let you know, that we have contacted PayPal to check this with them and currently edited this article.
      Thank you for reporting this!
      Have a good one 🙂

    2. Since March 2020 Paypal does NOT REFUND anything. They keep the fixed fee AND the percentage. This was a recent change.
      It was waived then until May 31 for COVID-19 help.

      Again now you are not refunded ANY fees from paypal, they keep ALL OF IT.

      1. Hey Bodo- Thank you so much for the great information! This is really helpful!

        Thanks and have a good one 🙂

  2. Iam going to start an online business on eBooks but I just have a quick question.

    If I use Paypal as the payment gateway on Kartra ( or any other similar click funnel) will customers be able to purchase the digital products with their Credit or Debit cards? or they only will be able to use their Paypal to buy the products?

    1. Hi Ehsan – In PayPal, as long as you have a business account you can give your customers the option to purchase with just a card (even if they don’t have a PayPal account). If you have any other questions about PayPal, Stripe, or purchase forms, please reach out to our support team — we’d be happy to help 🙂

  3. Say I want to start selling digital art and am not going to have a brick and mortar store. Will customers see my actual address with Stripe or PayPal? I can’t tell.

    1. Hey Sabrina, PayPal and Stripe both have a good amount of flexibility in terms of what info you want to show in your invoice. I have seen some digital goods companies using an email address on the invoice instead of a physical address. It might also depend on the country where you are situated and where your customers are. As most of the payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe have some specific regulations for each country, it would be best if you reach out to their support and confirm more info about it.

      Wish you all the best for you digital art site 🙂

  4. Hi,
    What if a person creates a Stripe or PayPal account and does not make a transaction for months. Will there be still any monthly charges?

    1. Hi Shahid!
      The user will be charged for it automatically once there are enough funds in their account. If a user wants to cancel their subscription, they can do this in their account anytime.
      I hope this helps.
      Have a good one 🙂

      1. Hey Steven – Thanks for chiming in and for the useful info. Would you mind providing some link on the Stripe website mentioning this info so that users can see the source of info for their reference?

        Thanks again for the details!

  5. One different for 501(c)3 nonprofits is that PayPal offers their nonprofit discount for all payments to the nonprofit, while with Stripe, at least 80% of payments to the nonprofit’s account must be donations (not tickets or tuition or memberships or anything else), or you get no nonprofit discount on any payment.

    1. Hey Steven – Thanks for such insights, could you please provide some source of this info, like a page link on Stripe, maybe we can update that in the article as well and users can see the good info with its source as well.

      Thanks!

  6. Be carefull, you are given FALSE Information on this website about micrpayment:
    Citation “If you’re processing transactions of less than $10, Stripe offers micropayment support with the same flat rate as your standard fee per transaction. Paypal’s micropayment rates are 5% + .05¢ per transaction.”

    Stripe Micropayment is EXTREM bad solution.
    Details:
    a) The rate is 5% + 5 Cent, but only up to 5$ (not 10)
    +
    b) You will fall out of the “standard rate” when you switch to micropayment rate, that MEANS, that stripe will charge you RADAR FEES. The RADAR fees are applied to ALL your transactions(!), that means also transactions above 5$.
    RAdar fees are 5 Cent for EVERY credit-card check.

    THIS will become VERY expensive.
    First: The standard rate is no longer 5% + 5Cent, it is at least 5%+10Cent, or 2.5%+30 Cent (your normal rate will ALSO increse by 5 Cent)
    Second: RADAR is also charged for FAILED payments or DELCINED cards.

    I had days where I had NO PAYMENT at all, but I was charged like 0.20$ RADAR fees because 1-2 customers tried to pay with credit card and failed.

    STRIPE for MICROPAYMENT IS DANGEROUS! Their fees are very strange. AND Stripe is HIDING the RADAR fees (you do not see them with your normal transaction, there is an EXTRA form that just shows you a daily summary for RADAR fees) You will think that you are NOT CHARGED for RADAR, but at the end of the month you see maybe a 100$ missing!

    1. Hey Bodo – Thanks for the details, could you please provide some source link for this info? then maybe we can update the details in our article itself.

      Please let me know!

  7. Source for Micropayment fees with Stripe:

    Stripe Pricing:
    https://stripe.com/pricing

    It is VERY HARD to understand the stripe pricing because their rules are not clear, scroll to RADAR fees, see they are 5 Cent, see they are WAIVED for STANDARD accounts (2.9%+30 Cent). so normal you do not pay for RADAR.
    Understand: Micropayment is NON-Standard fee, that means: RADAR is no longer waived. Ok?
    That means:
    Standard RATE becomes 2.9%+35 Cent)
    Micropayment RATE = 5% + 10 Cent

    REALITY: You are charged RADAR MORE often than you have successfull transactions (Radar BLOCKS declined payments, but you PAY for every BLOCKING).
    In my case it was +6 Cent for Radar, not +5 Cent, because about 20% of all payments are BLOCKED or FAIL (also a WRONG INPUT from the Customer is a BLOCK and will cost you 5 Cent, for example if the customer types in a WRONG ZIP CODE first, you pay 5 CENT, then he types in the CORRECT ZIP code, you are charged 5 CENT again because these are 2 checks) – thats why about 20% of all payments first fail, then people re-try and only 5% or so fail… You understand?

    RAdar is very expensive because you also PAY it for every standard-transaction.

    I am a little bit pissed of by Stripes pricing. There is a way to work-around the radar fees for standard-rate of course – 2 accounts.

    1. Hey Bodo- Thank you so much for the detailed information on Stripe information! This is really helpful!

      Thanks and have a good one 🙂

  8. If someone pays through Stripe, and does not receive the package, does Stripe try to help the customer?

    1. Hey Carolyn -Thanks for reaching out!

      Regarding the package delivery and other services, I’d recommend you to get in touch with Stripe’s support and double-check 🙂

      I hope this helps!

  9. This article should be update to note that recurring billing, aka Stripe’s Billing (or Subscriptions), is no longer a free add-on. To use Stripe’s recurring billing features now costs an additional .5% per transaction. See: https://stripe.com/billing/pricing

    That said, I’ve been a Stripe customer for many years, and imo their recurring billing features are worth the +.5%

    1. Hey David — thanks for the heads up here! I’ve highlighted this to our blogging team and we’ll get that updated soon!

      Thanks again, and have a good one!! 🙂

  10. There are some things not mentioned here, against Paypal and in favor of Stripe.

    First of all, the Paypal claims (people asking for a refund) and the way decisions are made are very unclear with Paypal. This has cost me quite a bit of money over the past few years. Never with Stripe so far.

    Second… I receive money in different currencies on my Paypal account. USD, EUR etc. At Stripe I can have my money transferred to a Euro account, a USD account. Whatever I want. With Paypal I can only link an account in GBP (I have a UK LTD as a company). As a result, I have to have my USD and EUR converted to GBP by Paypal before I can transfer the money. After transferring the money, I have to convert the GBP back to EUR or USD.

    I understand that Paypal wants to make extra money by forcing you to convert your money at an unfavorable exchange rate. But all in all, the total costs for a Paypal payment are close to 10% for me. With Stripe less than 3%.

    1. Hi D! Thanks for sharing your insight and experience regarding PayPal and Stripe with us and our other users 🙂

  11. Is there a workaround in adding a government issue ID for non-profit organizations? Our CPA and Board of Directors feel this is a conflict of interest in that there is no owner of a non-profit.

    1. Hi Lesey, I’m sorry but I’m not sure I quite understand your question. Are you referring to the application form for a WPForms non-profit license? If this is the case, what we’re looking for is a document that verifies your organization’s non profit status, and are usually provided by either your tax agency or where your organization is registered.

      I hope this helps to clarify 🙂 If you have any further questions about this, please contact us.

  12. Could you compare and comment on their privacy policies also, please? It seems they have access to all your website searches once you subscribe for their services (according to the privacy policy statements of one of them).

    1. Hi S P! Thanks for your suggestion, we’ll make a note of this to our writing team for consideration 🙂

  13. All i want to know in NGO project :
    1. Which one is suitable for international transactions -(Stripe or paypal)
    2. (info )The receiving account is in India
    3. Is their a limit per transaction to send donations For ngo belongs to india ?
    Thanks
    Atin

    1. Hi Atin,

      Paypal can be a good option for International Transactions. Here is an article from PayPal regarding the cost for nonprofits and charities.

      Also, for more details, I would also recommend you to consult your respective bank on transactional fees.

      Hope this helps! 🙂

  14. How do I open a verified stripe account?

    I want my my business to go international

    I’m not in the US

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