The 9 Best PayPal Alternatives For Business

Being an all-in-one provider of payment processing, eCommerce tools, and POS systems, Square is PayPal’s closest competitor and the subject of many Square vs. PayPal debates. All told, Square is our favorite PayPal alternative for business and one of our favorite merchant services providers period. This is because Square’s top-notch services, transparent pricing, and quality customer service are an ideal fit for a wide variety of business types.

Square’s appeal for small businesses is that it does nearly everything PayPal does — often for less money — while also offering services PayPal doesn’t offer, like industry-specific POS systems and CBD sales. From mobile sellers who just need to process the occasional credit card payment to restaurant owners to omnichannel merchants, Square has something for everybody.

• Instant Signup Available: Yes
• Supports The Following:
  • Payment processing w/ easy setup
  • Buy now, pay later
  • Money transfers
  • A free virtual terminal
  • QR code payments
  • Online ordering for restaurants
• Industry-specific POS/mPOS Systems:
  • Square For Restaurants
  • Square For Retail
  • Square Appointments
  • Square POS (general purpose)
• Additional Features:
  • Square Online (eCommerce store builder)
  • ACH processing
  • Square Invoices
  • Square Inventory
  • Analytics and reporting
  • Numerous integrations

What makes Square such an extraordinary value is the number of features you can get for no cost whatsoever, including basic POS features, a magstripe credit card reader, and a virtual terminal (which PayPal charges $30/month for). What’s more, most Square Online sellers will pay less for payment processing than they would with PayPal.

• Monthly Fee: $0 for most services, advanced services start at $29/month
• Transaction Rates: 2.6% + $0.10 per in-person transaction, 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction
• No setup or application fees

Like PayPal, Square doesn’t make you sign a long-term contract, and there are no early termination fees or monthly minimums. All services are offered on a month-to-month basis, and all paid add-ons come with a 30-day free trial.

Also like PayPal, Square ensures an easy signup process by aggregating accounts together rather than giving every user a full merchant account. This means that while you’ll be approved for an account nearly instantly, you’ll also face a higher risk of a funding hold or account termination than you would with a full merchant account. Most users won’t encounter this, but you should still do what you can to avoid account holds and terminations.

Businesses looking for PayPal alternative that closely approximates PayPal’s range of services will likely find what they need with Square. The company offers a greater range of POS features and options (both free and paid) than PayPal. And unlike PayPal, Square offers an online store, with both a free version (with a free Square domain + Square ads) and a paid version (with your own custom domain + no ads + advanced functionality).

Square also offers POS & online store integrations, a virtual terminal, a card info storage vault, invoicing, and even a consumer wallet (Cash App). Furthermore, Square offers APIs and monthly add-on services, including employee management, payroll, and appointment booking.

Put it all together, and you have perhaps the most complete payments package available for small businesses, making Square our pick for overall best PayPal alternative.

Having started as an eCommerce platform, Shopify’s ecosystem has grown to include the iPad-based Shopify POS system and payment processing in the form of Shopify Payments.

Though Shopify’s services have expanded over the years, its biggest strength remains in eCommerce. Accordingly, Shopify has a lot to offer online vendors seeking a PayPal alternative. You’ll get loads of handy eCommerce features, along with some decent card readers for in-person sales. Plus, you’ll likely save on online processing with Shopify over PayPal, though smaller merchants won’t like Shopify’s monthly fee.

With countless eCommerce features, outstanding international sales capabilities, and an unmatched 2,000+ integrations available, Shopify is a true eCommerce juggernaut. Shopify’s POS products are nothing to sneeze at either, and we love that Shopify doesn’t take a fixed fee from your in-person sales — just a flat percentage.

• Instant Signup Available: Yes
• Supports The Following:
  • Payment processing
  • Buy now, pay later
  • Money transfers
  • Nonprofit rates
  • Advanced customization
  • Integrations with 2,000+ software platforms
  • Easy setup
• Additional Features:
  • POS/mPOS system
  • Online store with professional, customizable themes
  • Shop Pay checkout buttons/accelerated checkout flow
  • Advanced shipping tools
  • Analytics and reporting
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • A Facebook store
  • Order management

Shopify Payments is Shopify’s in-house payment processor, and though you don’t have to use it with your Shopify online store, you’ll have to pay an extra 0.5-2% per transaction if you use another processor.

It’s unfortunate that you can’t sell with Shopify without paying a monthly fee. However, keep in mind that if you go with PayPal and you want a virtual terminal — something many processors include for no extra charge — you’ll be paying $30/month anyway.

• Monthly Fee: Starts at $5/month ($39/month, or $29/month when billed annually, if you want an online store)
• Transaction Rates: 2.4% to 2.7% per in-person transaction, 2.4% + $0.30 to 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction

Like PayPal, Shopify’s services are offered on a month-to-month basis without long-term contracts or early termination fees. Also like PayPal, Shopify Payments is an account aggregator/third party processor, not a full merchant account provider.

Shopify’s stellar eCommerce capabilities make it a formidable alternative to PayPal for online merchants, its POS app is a great tool for retailers, and its easy signup process is great for those who want to start selling quickly. However, all Shopify plans come with a monthly fee, which may deter smaller merchants. On the other hand, the more advanced plans offer discounted per-transaction rates, so higher-volume sellers should see savings over PayPal.

Stripe and PayPal have a lot of similarities — both are payment service providers that target online and in-app payments, work on a global scale, and make it possible to power marketplaces and share information so that merchants can sell on others’ platforms. However, Stripe’s advantage in the Stripe vs. PayPal matchup is that Stripe is built first and foremost for developers, which is ideal if you need a custom payments solution. Stripe also offers ACH payments and greater international currency & payment method acceptance than PayPal.

Stripe’s feature ecosystem isn’t as extensive as PayPal’s, but it has some notable advantages. Stripe accepts many more international currencies (135+) than does PayPal (25) while also supporting more local payment methods used overseas, making Stripe the superior choice for international payment processing. Combine that with Stripe’s industry-leading developer tools, and you have quite a formidable online payment processor in Stripe.

• Instant Signup Available: Yes
• Supports The Following:
  • Payment processing
  • Buy now, pay later
  • Money transfers
  • Nonprofit rates
  • Advanced developer tools
  • Micropayments
• Additional Features:
  • Stripe Terminal for POS payments
  • Invoicing
  • Billing/Subscription Management
  • Dedicated support representative with a Premium support subscription

Smaller-ticket sellers will appreciate the fact that Stripe’s per-transaction fixed fee is the industry-standard 30 cents, which beats PayPal’s 49 cent fixed fee.

• Monthly Fee: None
• Transaction Rates: 2.7% + $0.05 per in-person transaction, 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction

International sellers will be happy to note that Stripe’s cross-border transaction fee (1%) beats that of PayPal (1.5%), as does Stripe’s currency conversion fee (1.5% vs. PayPal’s 3-4%).

As with PayPal and other PSPs, Stripe offers month-to-month billing — no long-term contracts and no early termination fees.

Stripe, like PayPal and Square, is an aggregator/payment service provider and not a full merchant account provider, with all the benefits and drawbacks that entails.

Stripe gives you a lot of bang for your buck. Stripe’s tools allow you to manage and organize data through custom SQL database questions, a prebuilt payments page, billing and invoicing, a POS (Stripe Terminal), and mass payouts to sellers and service providers — all without any monthly fees. While Stripe Terminal isn’t as complete of a POS solution as PayPal Zettle, Stripe’s POS capabilities have been getting stronger in recent years.

Note, however, that unlike PayPal, Stripe is a developer-focused payment processor, and you’ll likely need some tech expertise on your staff to make it work.

Helcim is one of our favorite providers of full merchant accounts. It’s one of the few such providers that does not charge a monthly fee — normally, a lack of monthly fees is the exclusive domain of third-party processors. Helcim also offers a strong lineup of features for both online and retail businesses, and is exceptional in the field of international payment acceptance.

If you want the stability of a full merchant account — something PayPal can’t offer — Helcim is both one of the best options available and offers the accessibility many traditional merchant account providers lack.

Far from being a bare-bones vendor of merchant accounts, Helcim’s feature lineup is quite robust and has a lot to offer, both in terms of eCommerce and in-person sales. Helcim’s international payment acceptance is particularly strong, as you will receive funds in your own currency without requiring currency conversion. What’s more, the Helcim Card Reader is a notably versatile device that can function both as a mobile card reader and as a countertop terminal.

• Instant Signup Available: No
• Supports The Following:
  • Payment processing
  • Money transfers
  • International sales capabilities
  • Customized card payments with the Helcim API
  • Mobile processing with the Helcim Payments app
  • Online food ordering
• Additional Features:
  • Online store builder with hosted payment pages
  • Proprietary POS app that works from any device
  • Developer tools
  • New touchscreen terminal device that runs the POS app natively
  • A virtual terminal

Like many of our favorite merchant account providers, Helcim offers interchange-plus pricing, which tends to be the most merchant-friendly pricing system, even if it requires more explanation than flat-rate pricing.

• Monthly Fee: None
• Transaction Rates: Interchange + 0.20% + $0.10 to interchange + 0.50% + $0.25 per online /keyed transaction, interchange + 0.10% + $0.05 to interchange + 0.30% + $0.08 per in-person transaction

Helcim’s rates scale with your processing volume — the more you take in, the less you pay per transaction and the more you save over a processor with flat-rate pricing.

Like PayPal, Helcim offers processing services on a month-to-month basis with no early termination fee. This is the ideal type of arrangement for businesses and one which many merchant account providers still don’t offer.

Helcim is a reputable merchant account provider, and its all-in-one bundle of merchant services will appeal to those who like the convenience of PayPal’s feature package. Like PayPal, Helcim offers month-to-month billing and transparent pricing, but it also offers the stability of a full merchant account. Helcim’s competitive interchange-plus pricing gets cheaper as your monthly sales volume rises, and what’s more, it’s an ideal processor for those doing business internationally.

We’re naming CDGcommerce as one of our top PayPal competitors largely due to its pricing flexibility. Merchants can choose between flat-rate, interchange-plus, and membership pricing, letting them choose the plan that fits their needs. You can go with flat-rate pricing when you’re just starting out and switch to interchange-plus or membership pricing once your business has hit its stride.

All this comes with excellent eCommerce features, a capable POS, and month-to-month billing with no long-term contracts. What’s not to like?

CDGcommerce is able to offer exceptional account stability (even for a full merchant account provider) due to its hybrid risk structure — essentially, CDGcommerce can override risk decisions made by the back-end processor and assume liability for an account or transaction. Beyond that, CDGcommerce offers an excellent payments package, particularly for small to mid-sized eCommerce businesses.

• Instant Signup Available: No
• Supports The Following:
  • Payment processing, including for some high-risk industries
  • Free terminal with each account (requires $79 annual maintenance fee)
  • Your choice of payment gateways — a proprietary option and several third-party choices are available
  • In-person sales through its PastePay Cloud POS system
• Additional Features:
  • A virtual terminal
  • Recurring billing
  • Additional POS options
  • A security package

With CDGcommerce, you can start out paying no monthly fee and a flat per-transaction rate. Then, once your processing volume hits $10K/month, you can switch to interchange-plus or membership pricing, which entails a monthly fee but offers lower per-transaction rates.

• Monthly Fee: $0 with flat-rate pricing, $19-49 with interchange-plus pricing, $49-199 with membership pricing
• Transaction Rates: 2.90% + $0.30/interchange + 0.30% + $0.15/interchange + $0.05-0.10 per online transaction, 2.75% + $0.30/interchange + 0.25% + $0.10/interchange + $0.05-0.10 per in-person transaction (pricing shown is the flat-rate, interchange-plus, and membership rates)

CDGcommerce offers month-to-month pricing with no long-term contracts, which is what we like to see in a PayPal alternative.

With CDGcommerce, you’ll get the supreme stability of a merchant account with a unique risk management structure, along with a strong online payments package and a solid POS option in PastePay. What’s more, CDGcommerce’s pricing structure is ideal for startups who stand to benefit from a no-monthly-fee plan with flat-rate pricing (akin to PayPal but with a lower online per-transaction rate), but that can save money by moving to interchange-plus or membership pricing later.

Adyen can be a great choice for larger businesses seeking an alternative to PayPal’s high (and sometimes confusing) processing rates. Adyen is most similar to Stripe in its global reach and support for localized payment methods across the globe. Plus, it sports a decent list of supported partners and integrations, though many of them are tailored to enterprise-scale businesses (eBay and Microsoft are among Adyen’s clients).

Adyen’s features are hard to summarize as it offers different feature packages for different types of businesses. What we can say is that Adyen’s strength lies in facilitating marketplace sales, global eCommerce with an eye toward reducing fees, and omnichannel capabilities that allow you to manage your in-store, online, and in-app sales from one dashboard.

• Instant Signup Available: No
• Supports The Following:
  • Payment processing
  • Buy now, pay later
  • Wire transfers
  • Omnichannel payments
  • Advanced developer tools
• Additional Features:
  • POS integrations
  • Advanced chargeback/fraud prevention
  • Dynamic reporting

Adyen’s pricing models are organized by global region, country, and payment type. US merchants are offered a “blend” of interchange-plus pricing and flat rates. All told, this makes it impossible to give a succinct summary of the rates you’ll pay. However, we can say that you won’t pay a monthly fee. However, Adyen requires businesses to have a minimum invoice of $120/month or 1,000 transactions/month to keep their accounts in good standing. This makes Adyen less than ideal for most small businesses and startups.

• Monthly Fee: None
• Transaction Rates: Blended interchange-plus and flat-rate pricing that varies by card network and payment method

Adyen contracts are indefinite, and there is no early termination fee. However, to cancel your account, you’ll need to put your request in writing.

Offering full merchant accounts and a wide range of in-person, online, and global payment processing features, Adyen is an appealing PayPal alternative for larger businesses with the technical expertise to implement it. However, very small businesses will have difficulty meeting the company’s monthly minimum of 1,000 transactions or $120 per month in processing fees.

Dharma Merchant Services is unique in the world of full-service merchant account providers in that it donates a significant percentage of its profits to charity. Related to that, Dharma provides discounted rates for nonprofit businesses’ processing fees. Combine this with competitive interchange-plus rates and discounts for businesses processing more than $100K/month, and you have a processor that deserves our 5-star rating and your consideration as a PayPal processing alternative.

Dharma’s reputation for transparency and ethics is quite an asset in itself, but its feature lineup is nothing to sneeze at, either. With full merchant accounts and an all-in-one online account access and reporting system (MX Merchant) with numerous free and paid services, Dharma has a lot to offer any business looking for a PayPal competitor, not just nonprofit businesses.

• Instant Signup Available: No
• Supports The Following:
  • Payment processing
  • Nonprofit rates and services
  • Buy now, pay later
  • ACH & wire transfers
  • Discounted B2B rates
• Additional Features:
  • “Donate Now” buttons
  • POS and mPOS integrations
  • A virtual terminal
  • Merchant financing

• Monthly Fee: $20-$25/month
• Transaction Rates: Interchange + 0.15% + $0.08 per in-person transaction, int. + 0.20% + $0.11 per online transaction
• Nonprofit Rates: Interchange + 0.10% + $0.08 per in-person transaction, int. + 0.10% + $0.11 per online transaction

Just like PayPal, Dharma offers month-to-month billing — no long-term contracts required. And while there is no early termination fee, there is an “account closure fee” of $25. That’s not too bad, considering that actual ETFs are typically between $295-$495 (the merchant account industry retains some rather unsavory practices).

Dharma’s nonprofit processing rates are some of the lowest you’ll find anywhere. The company also doesn’t charge account update fees, ETFs, PCI compliance fees, or require a monthly minimum. All fees are fully disclosed on its website. In an often opaque industry, Dharma strives to do the right thing with its business practices. Plus, businesses processing over $10K monthly will absolutely save money over PayPal.

If your PayPal account was shut down due to high-risk business activity, you’re likely going to need a specialized high-risk merchant account. One of the best such providers is PaymentCloud. You’ll need to obtain a customized pricing quote, but merchants’ feedback indicates that PaymentCloud’s rates are quite reasonable, and there are no application or account setup fees.

The high-risk payment processing industry is rife with shady operators and exploitation, but PaymentCloud’s reputation in the field is second to none.

PaymentCloud offers many of the same merchant services offered by competing merchant account vendors, but where Paymentcloud truly stands out is its advocacy for high-risk merchants during the application process and the personal guidance it offers merchants after they have an account. Few providers offer such treatment to high-risk businesses. Low-risk merchants will be well-served by PaymentCloud as well.

• Instant Signup Available: No
• Supports The Following:
  • Payment processing
  • High-risk processing
• POS integrations
• Online store integrations
• Mobile payments
• Business loans

Unfortunately, PaymentCloud doesn’t disclose any pricing information. However, this is standard practice for high-risk specialists, as these companies work with multiple back-end processors by necessity — your rates will ultimately depend on which merchant account (or accounts) you get matched with.

Low-risk merchants should be able to get a month-to-month arrangement with no early termination fee. On the other hand, high-risk merchants will likely have to accept a two-year contract with an ETF. However, there’s still a chance you could get a month-to-month deal, so ask to see if this is possible, and if not, see if you can get your ETF waived.

The unfortunate truth is that high-risk merchants nearly always face more onerous merchant account terms than low-risk merchants.

Many high-risk processors take advantage of the tough position high-risk merchants are in. That’s why PaymentCloud is so unique. The level of honest customer support PaymentCloud provides to applicants throughout the application and onboarding process — as attested to by both our readers and merchants on other sites — is an extreme rarity in this field. Lower-risk merchants will find a lot to like with PaymentCloud as well.

Amazon Pay is a payment service provider that lets you easily add Amazon checkout buttons to your business’s website, allowing your customers to pay you through their Amazon accounts. It also integrates with other eCommerce providers (including Shopify) and offers discounted rates to nonprofits.

If you’re an Amaon seller, Amazon Pay is a natural PayPal alternative for processing your payments.

Amazon Pay is a great way to ease the checkout process for your Amazon customers around the world — having fewer steps for your customers to go through in the checkout process is something that will absolutely reduce your abandoned cart rate.

Sadly, Amazon Pay offers no support for in-person sales.

• Instant Signup Available: Yes
• Supports The Following:
  • Payment processing
  • Nonprofit rates
  • Easy setup
  • Online store integrations

Amazon Pay’s pricing couldn’t be simpler.

• Monthly Fee: None
• Transaction Rates: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (in the US)

Amazon Pay can be used on a month-to-month basis, and there is no early termination fee, just as with PayPal.

If you’re already an Amazon seller, there’s no reason not to make use of Amazon Pay. And with the convenience it offers customers who tend to be accustomed to making purchases through Amazon, it’s an appealing option. Without a lot of advanced features or POS capabilities, many merchants won’t find it to be an adequate PayPal alternative, but as a PayPal supplement (or as a supplement to your existing processor), Amazon Pay is ideal.