PayPal shook the world of e-commerce and currency transfer when it first landed on the scene in 2000. Instant monetary transfers, which had been difficult to come by for your average American as bank transfers without hefty fees have never been commonplace, could take place over the internet with the company itself only taking a comparatively small fee off of the back of the transaction. Because of this relatively simple business model, it exploded in popularity and boasted a yearly revenue of over 20 billion in 2020. It remains the most popular payment app in the entire world, but in the proceeding twenty years, many services have come out that, taken point by point, are simply better than PayPal. Whether it be superior customer service, lower rates, or even an improved and more intuitive interface, read on to find ten of the best PayPal alternatives payment methods to PayPal for both personal and professional use.
Shopify Payments- PayPal alternatives
Shopify Payments is Shopify’s built in payment alternative that’s packaged in with the rest of the platform. This is one of the best solutions possible for payment processing, assuming your shop is already running on Shopify’s site. There’s no need to worry about embedding some sort of external online payment plugin, since it’s all already right there. While PayPal transactions through Shopify stores are subject to a transaction fee that can be up to 2% (and that’s on top of card processing fees!), payments run through Shopify Payments have no transaction fee at all. And if that weren’t enough for you, it only takes approximately 3 business days to receive your payouts. PayPal typically takes anywhere from 5-7.
Wise
Formerly known as Transferwise, Wise carves out a very specific niche in the group of apps, websites, and services that are similar to PayPal. Focusing on international money transfers, it allows customers and businesses to spend, save, and move money across the globe for relatively little in the way of fees. Their operational model is the real trick— if, say, you’re an American sending money to someone else (or yourself) in Italy, you pay money into Wise’s American bank account, and then their European affiliate pays money into the Italian account. All this happens in seconds, so quickly you’d barely even notice.
Square
Square is one of the best PayPal alternatives for merchants specifically. Although it’s only available in a few countries (the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and Japan to be exact), it’s managed to attract a healthy number of users due to its extensive set of features and benefits for small business owners. Although its fees are similar to PayPal’s, it’s a highly competitive payment system thanks to its excellent offering of software plugins that allow for things such as appointment booking and payroll.
Google Pay- PayPal alternatives
An excellent choice if you enjoy the capacity to store credit and debit cards for easy access. Not only is it a snap to complete transactions online, but you can even store your cards on your phone to make contactless payments at supporting physical locations as well. Google’s products pride themselves on top-notch security, so there’s no need to worry about any funny business, and it has the added benefit of incurring no added fees so your customers don’t have to pay extra to get their hands on your products.
2Checkout- PayPal alternatives
2Checkout is another payment system very similar to PayPal, but with a twist. It’s all about accepting payments globally, which means you don’t have to worry about which countries you’re restricted from in regards to selling. Their US fees are pretty much on par with PayPal’s, but those living in other countries enjoy slightly better rates. 87 currencies, eight payment types, and 15 languages are currently offered, with more planned. The main drawback is that currency exchanges are charged anywhere from 2-5% above the daily bank exchange rate.
Payoneer
Payoneer provides customers with a debit card and an online account, allowing you to shop online, make payments in brick and mortar stores, and send and receive money in only a few clicks. You can even take cash out at an ATM, which is a service that very few sites like PayPal offer for the time being. Payoneer can be used anywhere in the world, so it’s especially useful for international payments or digital nomads and freelancers who move a lot from place to place.
Skrill
Skrill has an incredibly easy setup and, much like Payoneer, provides you with a debit card and the capacity to make and receive payments across the globe. All that’s needed to set up an account is an email address, making it incredibly accessible. Its fees are very similar to PayPal’s so it’s easy to draw comparisons between the two payment platforms, but Skrill’s capacity to take cash from ATMs makes it more of a hybrid between a traditional bank account and an online payment processor.
Stripe
Stripe is probably the most popular alternative to PayPal listed here, with many companies and e-commerce channels listing the service as a preferred partner. Shopify and Squarespace, for instance, both offer direct integration with Stripe, which can even process ACH and bitcoin transactions, if you’re into that sort of thing. Although the basic transaction fees are more or less identical to PayPal, Stripe is an up-and-coming competitor that’s beginning to garner some real momentum and recognition of its own.
Amazon Pay
If you already have an Amazon account or sell products through Amazon’s storefront, setting up and integrating an Amazon Pay account is dead simple. Its security is a main feature, boasting considerably stronger encryption than a lot of other services, and processing is heavily expedited assuming you have it integrated into all of your other favorite Amazon tools. There are a few random fees such as cross-border processing fees, but these can become fairly predictable after a bit of time using the service.
Dwolla
Dwolla specializes in ACH bank transfers, making it your best option if you have to send or receive a lot of them. Unlike PayPal, it’s not a card processing service. It accomplishes its operations by directly linking with your bank account, keeping the costs of transactions as low as possible. Under a ceiling of $10, Dwolla won’t even charge a fee for processing the transaction, making it ideal for small purchases and inexpensive goods. The main issue is that, as of right now, it’s only available in the United States, limiting its utility to transactions performed inside America.
PayPal is a juggernaut in the payment processing industry, and it’s not going away anytime soon. Many merchants and customers may be hesitant to move away from a service that’s been around for over 20 years now, and that is a mainstay of the e-commerce landscape. However, most businesses can find cheaper fees and better customer service by looking elsewhere, especially considering the number of scandals PayPal has been involved with over recent years. Whether you’re looking for a specialist in ACH transfers, currency exchange, international payments, or storing cards, these ten alternative services like Paypal are bound to have something that fits your needs.
