PayPal vs Stripe Fees (2026): Which Is Cheaper?

By the Profitvana Editorial Team · Updated September 2026

PayPal and Stripe are the two most common ways to take card payments online. On published US rates Stripe is cheaper at every price point, PayPal wins on buyer familiarity, and the real gap opens up on international payments and currency conversion. Here is the full 2026 comparison, verified against both companies' fee pages in September 2026.

PayPal fees

For US goods and services payments through standard PayPal Checkout, PayPal charges 3.49% + $0.49 per transaction. Payments taken through PayPal's advanced card fields (where the buyer types a card number rather than logging into PayPal) are 2.99% + $0.49. QR-code payments and some in-person rates are lower, and micropayment pricing (4.99% + $0.09) exists for sellers who apply and whose orders are mostly under $10.

Two surcharges matter more than the headline for anyone selling abroad. A cross-border fee of 1.50% is added when the payer is outside the US, and if PayPal converts the currency it applies a conversion spread of 3–4% above the wholesale rate (3% in most of Europe, 4% in the Middle East and Africa, 3.5% in Mexico and Brazil). A $100 payment from a European buyer converted from euros can therefore cost roughly $8 rather than $3.98.

Stripe fees

Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 for a US card paid online, with no monthly fee, no setup fee and no minimum. Cards issued outside the US add 1.5%, and currency conversion adds a further 1% on top of the mid-market rate — a total of about 5.4% + $0.30 on a converted international card payment, against PayPal's roughly 8%.

Stripe's published rates also differ by country: about 1.5% + €0.25 for European cards in the EU, 1.5% + 20p for UK cards, 3.99% in Brazil and 3.6% in India. Stripe keeps the fee on refunds; PayPal keeps the fixed portion.

Head to head

The US comparison has no crossover: Stripe's percentage and fixed fee are both lower, so it is cheaper on a $5 order and on a $5,000 order. The gap grows with price — about $0.33 on $25, $0.78 on $100 and $3.14 on $500 — which is roughly 0.6 to 0.8 points of revenue. On $10,000 a month of sales that is $60–80 a month, or the price of a modest software subscription.

Internationally the gap roughly doubles. In the eurozone PayPal charges five different domestic rates (2.90% + €0.35 in France and Spain, 2.99% + €0.39 in Germany, 3.40% + €0.35 in Italy and the Netherlands) while Stripe charges about 1.5% + €0.25 for a European card, so a French merchant saves close to 1.5 points per sale by routing cards through Stripe.

Sale	PayPal (3.49% + $0.49)	Stripe (2.9% + $0.30)	Stripe saves
$25	$1.36	$1.03	$0.33
$100	$3.98	$3.20	$0.78
$500	$17.94	$14.80	$3.14
$100, EU buyer, converted	≈ $8.47	≈ $5.70	≈ $2.77

What PayPal's extra 0.8 points buy

Conversion. Buyers recognise the PayPal button, many will not type a card into an unfamiliar site, and PayPal's Pay Later and buyer-protection badges reassure first-time customers. Stores that removed PayPal to save fees commonly report a drop in completed checkouts larger than the fee saving, especially on impulse purchases and from buyers in Germany, where PayPal is the default online wallet.

PayPal also runs its own dispute process and seller protection, holds funds in a wallet you can spend directly, and needs no developer to set up. Stripe's equivalents — Radar for fraud, chargeback handling, Stripe Checkout — are as capable but assume you or your platform has integrated them.

Which should you use?

Run Stripe (or Shopify Payments, which is Stripe underneath) as your default card processor and keep PayPal as a second button. Price on the assumption that the share of orders paid with PayPal costs about 0.8 points more in the US and 1.5 points more in Europe. If a large share of your customers are abroad, the currency-conversion line is where the money goes: hold foreign-currency balances and convert deliberately, or invoice in the buyer's currency through Stripe, rather than letting PayPal convert each payment at 3–4%.

Freelancers invoicing clients have a third option. PayPal and Stripe both charge their full rate on invoices; Wise and Payoneer receive bank transfers for a fraction of that cost, so for clients who can pay by bank the cheapest path is usually neither of the two card processors.

Frequently asked questions

Is Stripe cheaper than PayPal?

Per transaction, yes. On a US $100 online payment Stripe takes $3.20 (2.9% + $0.30) while PayPal takes $3.98 (3.49% + $0.49). The gap widens on larger amounts.

Why use PayPal if Stripe is cheaper?

Buyer trust and convenience — many customers already have PayPal accounts and convert better with the familiar button. Many sellers offer both and let the customer choose.

Can I use PayPal and Stripe at the same time?

Yes. Most checkout platforms and invoicing tools support both side by side; a common setup is Stripe as the default card processor with PayPal as an additional option.

Which is cheaper for international payments?

Stripe, by a wider margin than on domestic sales. Stripe adds 1.5% for a non-US card and 1% for conversion; PayPal adds a 1.50% cross-border fee and a 3–4% conversion spread. On a $100 converted payment that is roughly $5.70 against $8.47.