7 PayPal Alternatives for Small Business (2026)

PayPal is the default way to take money online, and it charges like a default: 3.49% plus $0.49 when a customer pays through the PayPal or Venmo button. Every alternative below beats that rate, or beats PayPal on something else that matters more than a few tenths of a percent: in-person selling, a real online store, transparent wholesale pricing, or a gateway you already own. All rates are US published rates checked 28 October 2026.

Quick verdict

• Cheapest flat rate for online sales: Stripe, at 2.9% plus $0.30 with no monthly fee.
• Best for selling in person: Square, with a free point of sale and in-person rates from 2.6% plus $0.15.
• Best if you already sell on Shopify: Shopify Payments, because it removes Shopify's extra transaction fee on third-party gateways.
• Best for cutting the markup as you grow: Helcim, with interchange-plus pricing and no monthly fee.
• Best for higher volume on a subscription: Stax, with zero markup on interchange for a flat monthly fee.
• Best if you want your own merchant account: Authorize.Net, the classic gateway, from $25 a month.
• Best for selling digital products worldwide: 2Checkout (now Verifone), with global coverage and built-in tax handling at a higher rate.

What PayPal actually charges

PayPal does not have one rate. What you pay depends on how the customer pays, and the difference is large:

• PayPal Checkout (PayPal or Venmo button): 3.49% plus $0.49
• Standard credit and debit card payments: 2.99% plus $0.49
• Advanced card payments (card fields on your own checkout): 2.89% plus $0.29
• Pay Later: 4.99% plus $0.49
• International commercial transactions: add 1.50%
• Chargeback: $20
• Monthly fee: none

So the wallet button most customers recognise is also the most expensive route. A small business doing $10,000 a month in $50 online sales (200 transactions) pays $447 on PayPal Checkout, $397 on standard cards, and $347 on Advanced cards. Keep those three numbers in mind for the comparison below.

The 7 alternatives at a glance

Worked example: $10,000 a month, $50 average sale, 200 transactions

Flat-rate providers, where the table rate is the whole processing cost:

• PayPal Checkout: $447
• PayPal standard cards: $397
• Stripe: $350
• Square Free online: $390
• Square Plus online: $350 plus the $49 plan fee, $399 in total
• Shopify Payments on Basic: $350 plus the $39 store plan, $389 in total
• Authorize.Net all-in-one: $350 plus the $25 gateway fee, $375 in total
• 2Checkout 2Sell: $420

Interchange-plus providers, where the card networks' interchange is added on top:

• Helcim online: $100 in markup and fixed fees (0.50% plus $0.25 per sale) plus interchange
• Stax: $129 (from $99 subscription plus $0.15 per sale) plus interchange

Stripe saves $97 a month against PayPal Checkout at this volume, and $47 against PayPal standard cards. The interchange-plus options look cheaper on the fixed lines, but you cannot compare them to flat rates without your interchange: a debit-heavy card mix keeps interchange low, a rewards-credit mix pushes it up. Ask either provider to price a real statement before you switch.

1. Stripe: the best PayPal alternative for online sales

Stripe charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per successful online card payment in the US, with no setup or monthly fee on the standard plan. International cards add 1.5%, currency conversion adds 1%, and a dispute costs $15 to receive plus $15 if you respond (refunded if you win). In-person payments through Stripe Terminal cost 2.7% plus $0.05.

Why it wins for small online businesses: the rate beats every PayPal route except Advanced cards, which it essentially ties, and you get the strongest checkout tools in the business, including payment links, subscriptions, and invoicing. The trade is support: Stripe is self-serve first, so a business that wants a phone call with a human may prefer Square or Helcim.

Best for: online stores, SaaS, creators, and marketplaces. Skip it if you mainly sell in person and want a counter system out of the box.

2. Square: the best PayPal alternative for selling in person

Square rates depend on the plan, which is the detail most comparisons get wrong. On the Free plan ($0 a month), in-person cards cost 2.6% plus $0.15 and online cards cost 3.3% plus $0.30. On Plus ($49 a month per location), in-person drops to 2.5% plus $0.15 and online to 2.9% plus $0.30. On Premium ($149 a month per location), in-person is 2.4% plus $0.15 and online stays 2.9% plus $0.30. Manually keyed payments cost 3.5% plus $0.15 on every plan.

Why it wins for in-person sellers: the point-of-sale software is free, hardware starts with a low-cost reader, and online and in-person sales live in one dashboard. Note the catch for online-only sellers: on the Free plan, Square online at $390 in the worked example sits between PayPal standard cards at $397 and Stripe at $350, so it is not the cheapest online route. Square earns its place here for counters, not checkouts.

Best for: retail, cafes, salons, market stalls, and services that take payment face to face. Skip it if you sell online only and never touch a terminal.

3. Shopify Payments: the best PayPal alternative if you sell on Shopify

Shopify Payments is not a standalone processor; it is the payment system built into Shopify stores. Online card rates are 2.9% plus $0.30 on Basic ($39 a month), 2.7% plus $0.30 on Grow ($105 a month), and 2.5% plus $0.30 on Advanced ($399 a month). In-person rates run 2.6%, 2.5%, and 2.4% plus $0.10 by plan.

The real saving is what it removes: if you use a third-party gateway on Shopify instead, Shopify adds its own transaction fee on top of the gateway's rate (2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced). A Stripe rate of 2.9% plus $0.30 becomes 4.9% plus $0.30 on Basic once Shopify's surcharge is added. Using Shopify Payments is what makes the advertised plan rate the real rate.

Best for: any store already on Shopify. Skip it if you do not want a Shopify storefront, since the plan fee buys the store as well as the processing.

4. Helcim: the best PayPal alternative for transparent pricing

Helcim passes interchange through at cost and adds its own margin on top, with no monthly fee, no setup fee, and no cancellation fee. At under $50,000 a month in card volume, the margin is interchange plus 0.40% plus $0.08 in person and interchange plus 0.50% plus $0.25 online. The margin steps down automatically as volume grows, reaching interchange plus 0.15% plus $0.06 in person and plus $0.15 online above $1,000,000 a month.

Why it wins: you see exactly what Helcim earns on every sale, and debit-heavy businesses keep far more than on any flat rate, because debit interchange is pennies and Helcim does not mark it up. The trade is that your total bill moves with your card mix, so the headline margin is not the whole cost.

Best for: businesses doing $10,000 a month or more, especially with debit-heavy or large-ticket sales. Skip it if you want one fixed number you can quote from memory.

5. Stax: the best PayPal alternative for higher volume

Stax charges a monthly subscription and zero markup on interchange: interchange plus $0.08 per in-person sale and interchange plus $0.15 per online or keyed sale. The subscription starts at $99 a month, with the price set by processing volume. ACH payments cost 1%, capped at $10.

Why it wins at volume: once the subscription is covered, every sale costs only interchange plus cents. At the worked example above, Stax costs $129 plus interchange, against Stripe's $350 all-in. Whether that wins depends on your interchange, but at $10,000 to $20,000 a month the subscription usually pays for itself. Below about $8,000 a month, the $99 fee is hard to justify against a $0 plan.

Best for: established businesses processing $10,000 a month or more. Skip it if you are just starting out or your sales are seasonal.

6. Authorize.Net: the best PayPal alternative if you want your own merchant account

Authorize.Net is a gateway, not a full processor: it moves card data from your checkout to your merchant account. The all-in-one plan, which bundles a merchant account, costs $25 a month plus 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. The gateway-only plan, for businesses that already have a merchant account, costs $25 a month plus $0.10 per transaction and a $0.10 daily batch fee, with processing priced by your own account provider.

Why it wins: gateway-only lets you negotiate interchange-plus pricing with your own acquirer while keeping a battle-tested checkout, and the all-in-one plan matches Stripe's rate while adding a dedicated account. The trade is age: the tools work, but they are not as modern as Stripe's, and the monthly fee means it costs more than Stripe at low volume.

Best for: businesses that already have a merchant account, or that want a dedicated account rather than an aggregated one. Skip it if you want the simplest possible signup.

7. 2Checkout (now Verifone): the best PayPal alternative for selling worldwide

2Checkout charges no monthly fee and prices by plan: 2Sell at 3.5% plus a fixed fee per sale ($0.35 for US merchants; the pricing page shows the equivalent in local currency), 2Subscribe at 4.5% plus a fixed fee for subscription businesses, and 2Monetize at 6.0% plus a fixed fee for the full merchant-of-record service with global tax collection and remittance. It supports sales in 200-plus countries and territories.

Why it wins for global digital sellers: the higher rate buys something Stripe and PayPal do not bundle, which is tax compliance across jurisdictions and, on 2Monetize, a merchant of record that becomes the legal seller. For a US-only small business, 2Checkout is the most expensive option on this list ($420 in the worked example). For a SaaS company selling into Europe, the tax handling can be worth more than the rate gap.

Best for: SaaS and digital-product sellers with international customers. Skip it if your customers are all in the US.

Verdict: which PayPal alternative should you pick

• Selling online, starting out: Stripe. Lowest flat rate, no monthly fee, best checkout tools.
• Selling in person: Square. Free point of sale and the lowest in-person flat rates.
• Already on Shopify: Shopify Payments. It is the only way to avoid Shopify's third-party surcharge.
• Doing $10,000 a month or more and want the lowest markup: Helcim if you want no subscription, Stax if your volume covers one.
• Want your own merchant account: Authorize.Net gateway-only, paired with an account you negotiate yourself.
• Selling digital products worldwide: 2Checkout, and pay the higher rate for the tax and compliance cover.
• Staying on PayPal makes sense in one case: when your customers already pay with PayPal balances and the wallet button lifts conversion enough to cover 3.49% plus $0.49. Test it against Stripe on your own checkout before assuming it does.

Compare every option in the PSPDex processor directory.

FAQ

Is Stripe cheaper than PayPal?

Yes, for most online sales. Stripe charges 2.9% plus $0.30 against PayPal Checkout at 3.49% plus $0.49, a saving of $97 a month on $10,000 in $50 sales. PayPal Advanced cards at 2.89% plus $0.29 essentially tie Stripe, but Advanced requires card fields on your own checkout.

What is the cheapest PayPal alternative with no monthly fee?

Stripe, at 2.9% plus $0.30 online with no monthly fee, or Helcim, with no monthly fee and interchange-plus pricing whose total depends on your card mix. Square Free has no monthly fee but charges 3.3% plus $0.30 online.

Can I keep PayPal and add an alternative?

Yes. Many stores offer PayPal as one button alongside Stripe or Shopify Payments, so customers who prefer the wallet still convert while card payers go through the cheaper route. You pay PayPal's rate only on the sales that actually use it.

Do I need to leave PayPal to use these alternatives?

No. You can run a second processor in parallel, route new sales through it, and keep PayPal for existing customers or subscriptions until you are ready to migrate. Do not close a PayPal account with pending payouts or open disputes.

Sources

Rates in this post are US published rates checked 28 October 2026 on the providers' own pricing pages: PayPal merchant fees, Stripe pricing, Square pricing, Shopify pricing, Helcim pricing, Stax pricing, Authorize.Net pricing, and 2Checkout pricing. Providers change rates without notice, so confirm the current rate on the provider's site before signing.