PayPal is the world’s most popular and most used payment gateway in the world. It services hundreds of countries, and everyone who has used it can say that it is safe, fast, and easy to use. However, all of these features come at a price called the transaction fee.
Despite the great service, you may be one of the people who do not like to use PayPal because of the hefty fees you have to pay for every transaction, which can cost more than 3% of the money that you were supposed to receive. This fee does not include yet the cross-border transaction and conversion fees if you are receiving other currencies.
We Tested The Best PayPal Alternatives!
Luckily, there are PayPal alternatives that you can use instead of PayPal, and we will take a look at the 11 best alternatives that we tested our selves! We also tested PayPal with AliExpress, to find out more check out our guide.
1. Skrill
When people hear Skrill, the first thing that they think about is gambling. This is because Skrill was originally known as Moneybookers. It was not really intended to be a gambling payment system, but Skrill was one of the first online payment systems that allowed its system to be used in online gambling facilities.
Today, Skrill is also one of the biggest online checkout systems in the world. It is a great PayPal alternativel because the fees are smaller, and it has been in business since 2001. You can also use it to trade currencies and stocks in different markets, so it serves several purposes apart from getting paid and sending payments.
Pros:
- You can use digital currencies
- You can link Mastercard credit cards
- Supports 20 currencies
- You can get a physical Skrill card or a virtual card
Cons:
- It charges a fee if you send money
The good thing about Skrill is that it does not charge you money if you are the one receiving it. The thing is, the person who sent it is the one who has to pay a fee. The average cost is 1.45% of the money that was sent, or EUR 0.50. This fee applies only if the person sending the money is not using his Skrill balance.
For withdrawal, the best option is to transfer your Skrill funds into a bank account. This transaction is free of charge, but it can take up to three business days before you see it in your bank.
You can use Skrill to receive money from your online store. You will never pay a fee for receiving money, but it is likely that only a few customers will use this. The thing is, people do not like being charged money if they are sending it.
2. Neteller
Neteller is like Skrill. It is one of the most popular online payment systems for online gambling. However, it is also used for online transactions for sales. Neteller used to be a competitor of Skrill, but both companies are now owned by Paysafe.
Neteller has been around since 1999. It was first founded in Canada and then later on moved to the Isle of Man. Neteller is a multi-purpose payment system, and it can be used to transfer funds for Forex trading, gambling, online selling, and even for social networks.
Pros:
- Has a Net+Card that works like a debit card
- Fees can be as low as 1%
- Safe to use
- Has a virtual prepaid card that you can use for other online purchases
- Fast transfers and withdrawal processes
- Lots of ways to deposit funds
Cons:
- You will pay an admin fee if your account is not active
- You will pay a fee if you deposit money to your Neteller account
With Neteller, you can choose from more than 48 ways to fund your account. Just to give you an example, you can use Bitcoin, AstroPay, credit cards, Skrill, banks, and so much more. Each payment type has a different deposit fee. The deposit fees range between 1% and 2.5%.
If you are selling online, you can use Neteller to accept payments, but you need to contact the company so they can help you set it up. In this payment solution, you will be using Neteller’s system to charge your customers for their purchases, but they do not have to sign-up for an account.
If you have a Neteller card, it will charge you a cash advance fee every time you withdraw from an ATM. If you use it in another country, you will pay 3.99% as a foreign exchange fee, and you will also pay 1.75% for withdrawing.
You can withdraw money from Neteller to your bank account. Depending on your country, you will pay as little as 1.9% of the transaction cost. However, this service is limited to Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Argentina. Peru. Mexico and Urugu. The only option you have is to get the Net+ Card, which is powered by Mastercard, to be able to withdraw.
Related: 7 Best AliExpress Alternatives For Dropshipping And The Best Deals
3. Stripe
Stripe is the leading competitor of PayPal. Almost all e-commerce websites have a partnership with Stripe where the merchants can use Stripe’s payment system to charge money from customers who made a purchase.
Apart from using Stripe’s online payment system, you can also use its terminal so you can charge your customers offline. It is like having a credit card hardware that can charge customers’ credit or debit cards without having to be connected to the internet.
Pros:
- Low transaction fees
- Most fees that other companies charge are free in Stripe
- Affordable with no monthly contracts
- Customizable features for your business
Cons:
- Can freeze your account even if you are not violating laws
- Can tag your account as high-risk, and your funds can also be frozen
Like PayPal, the standard fee for receiving money with Stripe is 2.9% + $0.30. The main difference is that PayPal charges $30 per month from merchants if these merchants accept payments from credit cards of buyers who have no PayPal account, while Stripe is free.
Also, Stripe does not charge any fee for the following things:
- International cards
- Authorize card
- Recurring Billing
- Advanced Fraud Protection
- Accept Apple Pay
- Charge cards from your website
PayPal, on the other hand, charges fees for all of that.
Stripe is a very powerful platform, and you can use it to set up recurring billing payments from your customers. This is great for those who sell online courses or services that require a monthly fee. You no longer have to worry about reminding your customers to pay because Stripe remembers their payment details, and the system will charge the card automatically.
Here are the other features of Stripe that will help you decide that it is a great alternative to PayPal:
- Supports 135+ currencies
- Has local payment methods
- Highly secure platform
- Real-time reporting
- 24/7 support
- Can add users and manage their roles and permissions
- Has dispute handling process
Stripe is growing fast, and it is not a wonder if it overtakes a lot of payment gateways out there. It has a solution for every payment problem, and the costs are far more affordable than its competitors.
4. Amazon Pay
Amazon has gone a long way from being a simple bookstore. Now, it even has its own payment system that works on both mobile and desktops. It even has a Voice payment feature where the customer just gives a command to Alexa to pay the merchant.
Pros:
- Has three channels of payment on the web, mobile, and voice
- Fast and easy checkout system
- Provides a guarantee for your customers
- Has lots of payment structures and models
Cons:
- Chargeback dispute is high at $20
- Charges a fee for foreign currencies
Amazon Pay charges the same standard as PayPal at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. It accepts major credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. Since it is Amazon, one should not be surprised that it is easy to set-up in many e-commerce platforms.
The supported platforms are:
- BigCommerce
- Magento
- Shopify
- OpenCard
- PrestaShop
- 3dcart
- Lemonstand
- Miva
- Shopsite
- xCart
Amazon Pay is not limited to one type of transaction. It can also process recurring bills. Below are the types of transactions you can do with amazon Pay if you are a merchant.
- Immediate Charge – this is the simplest form of payment where a customer pays with his card or Amazon Pay balance. It works great if you have an online store or if you are selling digital goods.
- Deferred Payments – this is a kind of payment that is late, and will only be completed if a milestone is met like if the product has been delivered or picked up, or if there is a pre-order and the payment will only be charged if the product is delivered.
- Split Payment – a kind of payment where the customer has to pay in installment.
- Recurring Payments – this is a monthly payment system that works best if you need to charge your customers a subscription fee.
- One-off purchase with subscription – this is a combination of recurring payments and immediate charge. An example is if you sold a single product and then you would charge for a monthly refill.
- Refund – this is the system that allows you to issue either a full or partial refund, and Amazon pay will recognize that as such, and therefore also cancel the fees.
Overall, Amazon is a big company that will one day also become a global payment system, especially for merchants online who need PayPal alternatives for charging their customers.
Top PayPal Alternatives That We Tested (Our Favourites)
5. 2CheckOut
2CheckOut is one of those big companies that stay silent. You rarely hear about this because while it processes online payments, it does not show its name or brand. Unlike PayPal, this company offers a full suite of services for merchants who want to get paid.
It is one of the best payment gateways for e-commerce platforms, and the service is not limited to one-time charges. Like Amazon Pay, you can also set-up a recurring billing payment structure on this payment platform.
Pros:
- Can be integrated with many e-commerce platforms
- Offers different types of payment services
- Secure transactions
Cons:
- High fees for subscription and digital downloads
- Requires a lot of documents before you can make it work
Here are the main services that you can get from this payment system:
- Global Payments – this is the main payment system where your customers type their credit card details to pay you.
- Digital Commerce – a feature where you can choose your online shopping cart design. This is best used by people who understand computer coding like API systems.
- Subscription Commerce – charge recurring payments from your customers through the web or from your app.
- Reporting – you will have access to a dashboard that will tell you how much you have sold, how your sales are performing over time, and so much more.
- Tax Management – with the company being global, it has a system that will help you manage your taxes for your sales, especially if you are charging Value Added Tax in the European Union. All of these are automatic, and all you need to do is to click the right options depending on which country you are.
2CheckOut has different price points, and the cost of the service depends on the one that you will use.
The fees are shown below.
- Online sales –3.5% + $0.35 per transaction
- Subscription – 4.5% + $0.45 from every successful sale
- Digital Goods – 6.0% + $0.60 for every digital download sold
The great thing about 2CheckOut is that it does not require you to add a credit card. It will charge you the fees only when you make a successful sale. Unlike PayPal, you do not have to pay a monthly fee of $30. You are not locked in any contract, so you will only pay a fee if you made a sale, which you can bake into the price of your goods.
Related: 11 Best Online Selling Websites Like eBay (eBay Alternatives)
Top PayPal Alternatives For Beginners
6. Braintree
Braintree is not just a payment system. It helps you boost your sales by increasing your conversion. Braintree is able to do this because the customer who is shopping at your site will not have a hard time completing the checkout process.
One thing you should know, though, is that Braintree is a division of Paypal. While PayPal is focused on peer-to-peer money transfers, Braintree is its division that focuses on e-commerce payment systems. Braintree has been around since 2007, and PayPal acquired the company in 2013.
Pros:
- Allows you to accept payment on different e-commerce platforms
- Has an all-in-one payment solution product
- Can be used to authorize third-party apps to charge money
- You can allow the buyer to pay how they want
Cons:
- Can freeze your account without even contacting you
- Can cause issues where you do not get paid
Braintree has a fixed fee of 2.9% + $0.30. It is like PayPal in that sense, but it does offer you more value for your money.
Below are the features of the service if you use Braintree as your payment processor:
- Merchant account and payment gateway
- Basic fraud tools
- Data encryption via the Braintree Vault
- Phone and email support
- Data migration assistance
- Reporting
- Recurring Billing
- Third-party integrations
- Advanced fraud tools
- Integration support
- Interchange plus pricing options
With Braintree, your customers do not even have to sign-up for an account. As the merchant, you can charge them directly with their credit cards, or they can use an existing e-wallet that they prefer to use. For example, a customer goes to your website and uses PayPal, he can use PayPal to pay you via Braintree. He does not have to enter his credit card number anymore.
Customers can check out in your system with Venmo, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. During checkout, they just need to choose how they want to pay.
The benefit of this feature is that as a merchant, you no longer have to sign-up for each of those payment systems. You just need Braintree, and you can charge money from different platforms already.
7. Payoneer
This company has been around since 2005. It is focused on serving large companies like Amazon, Fiverr, Google, and Upwork because these companies need to send mass payouts to its users. Today, the company has expanded to service people who need to charge their customers online.
Now, you can use Payoneer to charge digital payments, and even for working capital. You can receive funds in your bank account, and you can also use its re-loadable prepaid Mastercard.
Pros:
- Works in 200+ countries
- Can be integrated with e-commerce platforms
- Can be used to accept payments for monetization of websites
- Has a prepaid card that allows you to withdraw your funds easily
- Can be used to accept payments from major marketplaces like Amazon, Shopee, Lazada, and even for 2CheckOut payments
Cons:
- No 24/7 support
- Card renewal has a high fee
If you use Payoneer, receiving money is free if the payment is sent to you by another Payoneer user. If you charge using the Receiving Accounts feature, you will be charged 1%, and then 3% from credit card transactions.
Payoneer also allows e-check transactions, which means that your customers can send you electronic checks, and the fee for this is 1%.
If you withdraw money from your Payoneer Mastercard, you will be charged $3.15 per transaction. If the ATM declines your card, you will again pay a fee of $1. The same thing goes with the balance inquiry. The replacement card costs $12.95, and then you have an annual card fee of $29.95.
With Payoneer, you can enjoy the following features as a merchant:
- Mobile App – it has an app where you can do business and also see your account history; the app works only on Android and iOS.
- Multiple Currencies – you can charge in 20+ currencies and maintain these currencies in your Payoneer account.
- Bank withdrawal – you can transfer money directly to your bank account if you do not want the card; the transaction will take up to three business days before you can see the funds in your bank.
8. Venmo
Venmo is a company that introduced a new evolution in spending online. It allows peer-to-peer payment without big companies like credit card and banks messing up with the process. You can send money with Venmo, and you can also receive money from your sales with this system. Venmo even allows people to split their bills if they had dinner at a restaurant.
Pros:
- You can transfer money from Venmo to your bank account
- Highly secure
- Trackable payments in one app
- You can register using your Facebook account
- Has a Venmo Mastercard that you can use to withdraw and make purchases
- Does not charge fees on many services
Cons:
- Charges $2.50 for ATM withdrawal for banks that are not in the network of Venmo or Mastercard
- Charges up to 3% if you send money to people’s Venmo account or bank
- Few integrations available
Venmo was made for friends so they can send and receive money between them. It has a different program for businesses called Venmo Business. If you choose this, you can charge your customers with the Venmo checkout system. In it, the customer can pay on your online store or on your app.
Since Venmo is also owned by PayPal, you can only integrate it with PayPal and Braintree. What happens is that you need to use the PayPal Checkout system so the customer will be able to pay you via Venmo directly.
If a customer has no Venmo account, he will have to create one before you can charge him for his purchase. This works great only as an PayPal alternative to other payment methods, and only if you are targeting users of Venmo.
As far as fees are concerned, Venmo charges only for three things:
- ATM withdrawal – the fee $2.50 for out of network withdrawals
- Electronic withdrawal – 1% or $0.25, whichever is higher
- Sending a money – 3% of the transaction cost
For standard bank transfers, you will not pay any fee. The 1% electronic withdrawal only applies to the instant transfer. It is free to receive money from people, but remember that your customer is that one who will be charged because he is the one sending you money.
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Best PayPal Alternatives For Beginners
9. Square
Square started back in 2009. A year later, it already had an app that allowed its users to send and receive payments online. Six years after its founding, the company went public, and it is now one of the biggest online payment systems in the world.
Currently, there are more than two million businesses that accept Square. The payment system works on mobile or tablet, through online invoicing, on the desktop or laptop, and even on the merchant’s website.
Pros:
- Offers business loans
- Has an app where you can set up your POS
- Has a card reader but you need to buy this hardware
- No monthly fees or contracts if you charge credit cards offline
Cons:
- The card reader has a cost
- You cannot control the emails that Square sends you about transactions
Square can also work as a POS system. In this system, you need to download the app and enter the details of your products, plus their prices. Once a customer orders in your store, like a restaurant, you just have to tap this, and then the app will automatically calculate the customer’s bill.
You can charge the customer via cash, or you can use the Square card reader, so you just have to swipe the card. The app can be shared, and you can create a user access for an employee, so you know who was in charge of a specific transaction.
The app has a powerful dashboard that:
- Shows you important statistics about your business
- Shows which products have the most sales
- Provides an overview of your gross income
Square also has a payroll system that will help you manage how you pay the salary of your employees. Some of the features of the payroll system are:
- Pay employees and contractors.
- Pay salaried and hourly employees
- Offer health and other benefits
- Give employees online accounts
- Track employee hours
- Import timecards and tips
- Pay your team with our mobile app
- Access our U.S. based support
- Send unlimited payroll runs
- Get automated tax filings
Overall, Square has a complete payment system that you can use on your website or offline. There is no monthly fee to use this service, but Square charges 2.75% per transaction.
11. Google Pay
This is huge, and since it is owned by Google, it works best on anybody who is on the Android environment. All people who have ever made a purchase on YouTube or on any Google platform can easily use this payment system, and they no longer have to create new passwords.
What this means is that anyone who is on Android is a potential customer and user of this payment app. As a merchant, you can use this in apps, websites, and even in your brick-and-mortar store. People who are on the Google Pay app can send money and even get cash rewards from merchants.
Pros:
- Has NFC-based payment, which means a card reader of the merchant can communicate with the customer’s smartphone
- Has gift card and loyalty program management system
- Has online and in-app payment capability
- Highly secure encryption system
Cons:
- Difficult to implement
- You need a software programmer who knows API to get it to work
Like Square, Google Pay has a loyalty rewards management system. You can offer the following things:
- Gift cards
- Special offers
- Tickets
- Boarding passes
Google Pay is different from Google Play, and these two should not be confused. Google Play is the app platform where you can sell digital goods, including apps and eBooks and games. The fee for this is 30%. The fee for Google Pay is only 3% if you charge a customer’s credit card via this platform.
It is a better alternative than PayPal because billions of people are already on the Android platform. Also, transferring funds to your bank account is free, and the banking transfer limit is high at $9,999 per transaction.
11. Shopify Payments
The last best alternative is Shopify payments. If you are an online seller, chances are you have already heard about this. All you need to do is to sign-up for a Shopify account, and then you can use its system to process payments.
You do not need to build a Shopify store to use its payment gateway. It offers a POS system that you can use offline, which you can also integrate with your social media stores.
Pros:
- Easy to set-up
- Works anywhere, anytime
- Low credit card transaction fees
- Highly secure system; rated Level 1 PCI DSS compliant
Cons:
- The card reader only works on iPhones
- In some countries, it can only work on Shopify stores
- No fixed fee; the fees vary according to your Shopify plan
If you use this platform, you can also enjoy the Shopify POS system. On average, the fee that you have to pay for every transaction is 2.9% + $0.30. If you use the POS, you will have your own credit card terminal, you can offer gift cards, accept offline payments, and even take partial payments.
Summary
PayPal is not the only payment system out there. Out of these PayPal alternatives, there surely is one that can provide what you need to ensure that your customers can experience a seamless checkout. On top of that, all of these companies offer high levels of security, and your customers’ financial information is safe.