Paypal vs Stripe: Which is Better?

If the vast world of online payment processing has ever grabbed your interest, then you must be aware of the two most popular platforms for this purpose; PayPal and Stripe. Both these platforms hold immense popularity all across the globe; however, when it comes to distinguishing the two platforms to identify which one is most suitable your you, then you need to be aware of the key differences between the two.

In this article, we closely observe the two most popular payment processing platforms and compare them with respect to various significant aspects to conclude which one is the best option for you. We’ll also take at different scenarios where one platform should be preferred over the other.

With that said, let’s not waste any more time and get straight into the article!

What is PayPal?

In case you aren’t already aware, PayPal is unarguably one of the most popularly used payment processing platforms. With over 360 million active users spread over 200 different countries, PayPal continues to dominate the vast world of digital payment.

So what is PayPal and how does it work? For starters, PayPal is an online payment platform that makes the process of sending, receiving, and storing money much simpler and safer. PayPal allows you to directly link your online wallet with your bank accounts, making the transfer of funds incredibly efficient. Furthermore, debit and credit cards can also be linked to your online PayPal wallet, leading to efficient ATM transactions, online shopping, and more!

This payment processing service is incredibly popular among individuals as well as businesses. PayPal offers a variety of different services for business and individual accounts. If you choose to go ahead with PayPal for your business, you’ll acquire the various features and benefits listed below.

1. Payment buttons on business websites that redirect users to the PayPal platform.
2. Customize your checkouts that can be integrated within your PayPal website.
3. Variety of payment options for users, including credit card, debit card, PayPal balance, and bank transfers.
4. Different bank withdrawal options for different locations.
5. PayPal provides support for both one-off and recurring payments.

Before finalizing a payment processing service for your business, it’s essential for you to understand that Stripe offers significantly more payment options for users than PayPal, with the support of third-party wallets. On the other hand, several users prefer paying through PayPal because of its support of payments through cryptocurrency.

Another major edge that PayPal has over Stripe is that it offers services in nearly 161 countries all across the globe, which implies that you can use PayPal to make transactions from almost any region of the world.

What is Stripe?

Stripe is a payment infrastructure platform that supports the transfer of funds from the user’s bank account to the business’s bank account. Similar to PayPal, Stripe also provides support for individual users as well as for business purposes. The primary method of transaction supported by Stripe Payments is with the use of credit and debit cards. Stripe offers a safe and secure payment processing service, allowing you to eliminate the possibility of fraud occurring inside your business.

Although online payment processing continues to be the primary purpose of Stripe Payments; however, this isn’t the only aspect where this platform could benefit you. Here are some major pros that you’ll notice if you decide to use Stripe as your business’s primary payment processing tool.

1. Support for both one-off and recurring payments.
2. Support for several payment methods.
3. Multiple payout options, including the support for different currencies.
4. Payment pages hosted by Stripe.
5. Integrated payment processing within the Stripe website.

Unlike PayPal, Stripe supports a variety of payment options and methods for users, including debit cards, credit cards, and multiple online wallets, such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, WeChat Pay, Venmo, and more!

If you’re an individual user, then Stripe provides the option to cash out your online wallet directly into your personal bank account without any hassle. A downside to using Stripe for payment processing services for your business is its limited international availability. At the moment, Stripe offers payment processing services in nearly 44 countries.

PayPal Vs Stripe: Which Is The Better Option For You?

Now that you’ve comprehended how both online payment processing platforms work, it’s essential for you to understand how these services distinguish from each other. To identify which payment processing service is most suitable for your business, you need to compare PayPal and Stripe with respect to various significant factors and aspects.

With that said, let’s understand the major differences between the two platforms.

1. International Availability & Multicurrency Support

PayPal differentiates from every other online payment processing tool on the grounds that it offers unparalleled international availability. PayPal is a nearly worldwide platform with its services available in 161 countries spread all over the globe. If you’re running an international business, then PayPal can help you expand your business to different regions of the world.

Even though PayPal hosts its services in numerous areas, it’s important to note that it doesn’t offer its full range of services in every country. Take as an example, the service of receiving payments from PayPal isn’t supported in almost 83 different countries worldwide. Such countries may only use PayPal for sending payments by linking their credit or debit cards.

On the question of multicurrency support, it’s important to note that PayPal only provides official support for 25 different currencies. If you want to make payments in a currency that isn’t officially supported, you’ll have to pay a conversion fee of 2.5%.

On the contrary, Stripe only provides its payment processing services in 44 different countries, which is much lower than PayPal. However, this gap is restored by the fact that Stripe provides official support for more than 135 currencies. Although most currencies are supported, users are still required to pay 1% conversion fees when transferring an amount from one currency to another.

2. Plans & Pricing

Pricing is another major aspect that can be used to differentiate between the two payment processing platforms. To begin, both platforms allow users to create an account for absolutely free. Stripe gives users the option to choose from an Integrated or a Customized account. With Integrated accounts, users get to benefit from all the services and features offered by Stripe. Moreover, with this account, you would also experience the standard pricing fees and charges suggested by Stripe.

Standard pricing and charges associated with Stripe Payments include a 2.9% plus $0.30 for every transaction made from credit cards or online wallets. For debit cards and bank transfers, Stripe charges 0.8% plus a flexible fee of $5 for each transaction.

On the other hand, a customized account lets you choose the services that you require, and can lead to lower fees. However, custom plans are only offered to businesses with a certain number of transactions in the past.

PayPal, on the other hand, offers a bit more complex pricing system with two main account types available for businesses. The PayPal Payments Standard only redirects users to the PayPal website for payment processing.

On the other hand, the PayPal Payments Pro allows you to process sales over your phone or a virtual terminal. This account type costs an additional $30 per month and lets you include a personalized checkout page on your business website.

PayPal charges 2.90% plus $0.30 for all credit card transactions. Additionally, PayPal charges as extra $1.50% for international transactions.

3. Payment Methods

When it comes to the variety of payment methods that each platform supports, Stripe has an edge over PayPal because of the several online wallets that it supports. PayPal supports payments through credit cards, debit cards, bank debit, cryptocurrency, Venmo digital wallet, and loans or credits offered by PayPal itself.

On the other hand, Stripe supports payments through credit cards, debit cards, bank debit, loans or credits offered by Stripe, and various digital wallets (including Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, WeChat Pay, Microsoft Pay, and more).

4. User Friendliness

When comparing the two platforms on the grounds of ease of use, it can be safely concluded that PayPal is the more user-friendly option among the two. If you don’t have extensive experience with online payment processing tools, you’ll notice that PayPal is much easier to use than Stripe. PayPal also offers an incredibly user-friendly dashboard, allowing you to navigate to the desired pages with ease.

On the contrary, Stripe is a much more intricate command center with multiple complexities, including third-party integrations, in-depth reports, developer resources, and more!

Takeaway

To sum up, it can be safely concluded that both Stripe and PayPal are ideal payment processing platforms with varying preferences in different scenarios. If you’re new to online payment processing and don’t want to get involved in the complexities of the entire process, then PayPal is a much-desired alternative for you. On the other hand, if you’re looking for more advanced and a greater variety of payment processing features for your business, then you are suggested to go ahead with Stripe.