Top 15 PayPal Alternatives 2020
As you probably already know, PayPal is an American company that provides online money transfer and online payment services all over the world. PayPal works as a processor for online vendors, auction sites, and many other online transaction-related services. A small fee is taken for these services. There was a time when PayPal was considered the most revolutionary piece of technology in the world. You can send and receive money to your family, friends, or for buying and selling purposes. PayPal was also considered a safer option when compared to other available options. PayPal has solid invoicing, eCommerce, payment processing, and reporting tools. By using PayPal services, you can accept payments for services and products without any issue. Don’t get me wrong, It is still a market leader, and its customer base is still very high despite some disadvantages of using PayPal, like Customer service. PayPal could actually be a lot better.
The verification process takes a lot of time which can be frustrating. If you process a non-PayPal payment from PayPal services, it is very expensive, and you will be charged a heavy transaction fee. PayPal has strict rules such that any form of suspicious activity will get your money locked for verification. This period is usually very long and sometimes can take months. There are PayPal alternatives available, offering good customer support, lower rates, and better interface. Some of them are discussed below.
Payoneer
Payoneer was founded in 2005. Payoneer is a financial services company that offers digital payment services and online money transfer to its customers. Headquarter of Payoneer is located in New York City. Every newbie gets $25 while joining Payoneer. Currently, Payoneer is serving 4 million customers all over the world. Payoneer opens a virtual bank account in the USA; that account can be used for different purposes by its customers like receiving money from PayPal and Amazon, etc. Payoneer users from the US and UK can integrate their accounts with PayPal, Google AdSense, and other big companies.
Pros
The signup process is easy and simple. You can directly send money into your bank account from your Payoneer account. You can use Payoneer MasterCard anywhere in the world.
Payoneer is a fast way to receive money. Sometimes they send money faster than expected in your account. Payoneer also offers a Master card, you can use this master card for online shopping, or withdraw cash from the Payoneer account using its Master card from a local ATM. The annual fee for the Payoneer Master card is $29.95. One of the big advantages of Payoneer is that there is no hidden fee or taxes like PayPal. Payoneer shows you all details of the transaction. If there is any fee for the transaction, Payoneer will notify you. If you want to transfer money from one Payoneer account to another, it’s totally free. Almost every freelancing platform like Fiverr, Upwork, Guru, People per hour, and many more supports Payoneer. Online or in-store purchases are free; there is no transaction cost. If any customer is facing some kind of issue regarding services or any transaction issue, in this case, Payoneer is offering great customer support. You can approach Payoneer customer support by call, email, or Live chat.
Cons
Live chat and customer support via phone is not available 24/7. You have to pay an annual fee of $29.95 every year for using Payoneer MasterCard. If you want to withdraw money using an ATM, you will be charged $3.15.
Skrill
Skrill is a UK based money transfer company that was founded in 2001, and formerly it was known as Moneybookers. By using Skrill money transfer, you can send money to a beneficiary internationally. Skrill allows you to send money directly into a bank account or in a mobile wallet. Skrill offers a fast, reliable, and hassle-free online payment solution for personal or business purposes.
Pros
Skrill is very reliable in the sense of data security, funds, and customer details; both are well looked after. Payment transfer through Skrill works very fast. Skrill supports 200 countries and 40 currencies. Skrill also offers Skrill MasterCard for its user, Annual fee for Skrill MasterCard is €10. You can send or receive money using the Skrill MasterCard. If you want to withdraw cash by using Skrill MasterCard, you will be charged 1.75% of the withdrawal amount. The only drawback of Skrill is that a small transaction Fee is applicable while making deposits or withdrawing money.
Cons
If a customer wants to transfer his money from Skrill to his bank account, Skrill will charge for this transaction. Skrill prohibits money transfer to some other payment systems. The account verification process is very slow; those who want to access their funds quickly; it can be frustrating for them.
Amazon Pay
Amazon Pay is an online payment processing service that is owned by Amazon. Amazon Pay allows its users to pay external merchant websites by using Amazon accounts. Amazon pay is the best payment option for e-commerce stores. Third-party e-commerce stores can add Amazon Pay buttons on their stores. If any customer wants to pay using Amazon Pay, he will enter his Amazon Account details and will make payment through it. He will receive a receipt when a payment is completed. Amazon Pay charges 2.9% + $0.30 per domestic transaction. Amazon Pay transactions typically settle the same day. Amazon pay is the trusted option for buyers, and e-commerce stores can increase their number of sales. As Amazon pay is a secure payment method, any customer who selects Amazon to pay as the payment method will have security about his payment; in case the customer is not satisfied, he reports the problem to Amazon. Amazon will make a full or partial refund after evaluating the issue.
Pros
Amazon Pay makes it easy for customers to buy online, on mobile, and even via voice — like through an Amazon Alexa device — through the same eCommerce innovations that power Amazon.com.
Amazon’s pay is more advanced than its competitors. Working with Amazon pay is simple and easy. It is easy for your customers to pay by using Amazon pay service.
One big disadvantage of Amazon pay is that it supports fewer payment methods. Amazon charges random fees like processing Fees and crosses border processing fees.
Cons
If you want to integrate Amazon pay with your store, you are required to have a little programming knowledge.
Transferwise
Transferwise is a UK based online money transfer service founded in 2001. Sending money by using Transferwise services cheaper than sending money through banks. The transaction cost is transparent. It usually takes 24 hours to complete the transactions. While transactions from the UK to Europe take a few seconds, the transfer transaction fee is 80p/1 euro+ 0.35% of the transfer amount.
Pros
This is the best service for individuals and businesses with a high volume of international transactions. If someone needs a lot of international transfers, transfer wise is a cheaper and fantastic PayPal alternative.
Transferwise is offering a borderless account, the account holder gets a debit card, and he can manage money in more than 40 currencies. For business, Transferwise is offering a free business account to send and receive multiple currencies with the real exchange rate. Unlike PayPal, Transferwise doesn’t make money on exchange rates. Plus, the percentage charge on the overall transfer is minimal. Whereas let’s take invoicing on PayPal as an example, these funds will be charged anywhere between 3.4% to 1.9%
You may have experienced that while transferring money from one country to another country, the bank offers a low exchange rate than the real exchange rate, but Transferwise offers higher exchange rates than banks. Transferwise verifies all the details of the business and customers to keep the process secure on both ends to protect against frauds and money laundering. Transferwise supports 750 currency routes worldwide.
Cons
Although Transferwise is a great money transfer service, it has a few cons; one con of Transferwise is that it charges between 0.3% to 0.5% of the transferred amount that means if the transferred amount goes up, the Transferwise fee will also increase. Transferwise only offers bank account transfer, and there are no cash or cheque pickup. After doing a specific amount of transactions, Transferwise will request for additional documents and ID, if someone fails to provide these documents transferwise will deactivate that account.
2checkout
2checkout is one of the famous PayPal alternatives as it accepts payments globally. PayPal is not available in a few countries, while 2checkout is available worldwide. 2checkout charges the same fee as PayPal in the USA, while customers from other countries are getting better rates while receiving payments from their customers. 2checkout allows its users to accept payments for their goods and services. 2checkout enables you to receive payments from every corner of the world.
2checkout offers eight payment methods:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- Discover
- American Express
- Diners
- JCB
- PIN debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo
- Debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo
- PayPal
There are many pros of 2checkout like there is no monthly fee or setup fee. All major payment methods like PayPal, credit cards, Debit cards are accepted. 2checkout supports 85 currencies, eight payment types, and 15 languages. To avoid fraud, 2 checkout also have security features.
Pros
2checkout offers customizable checkout options that are mobile friendly and localized. 2checkout transactions are secured, and there is very little or no risk of fraudulent activity. 2checkout customer support is 24/7 available for technical issues of general issues. You can integrate your Payoneer account with 2chechkout.
Cons
There are few cons of 2checkout, like a 1% fee is applicable to the payments received from a customer that is outside of the USA. On a chargeback, a 20% fee is applied to your account. The average fee for currency conversion is 2–5% above the daily bank exchange rate. It takes months to get approved for 2chechkout partners. Sometimes they reject the website without explaining the reason for rejection.
Stripe
Stripe is an American company based in San Francisco, California. Stripe handles everything from collecting money to sending it into bank accounts.
Most e-commerce platforms prefer using stripe as a payment option. Shopify is using stripe for Shopify payments. Square space has been using stripe for a long time. Stripe eliminates the need for a merchant account and a gateway.
Pros
Strips also offer mobile payments; people all over the world can send and receive money. Anyone can instantly set up stripe payments; there is no setup fee or monthly fee. There is no refund fee. One of the best features of the stripe is that it enables the user to stay on-site while making a payment, and the user will not get redirected to any other website. Stripe has built-in tools to stop fraud. Stripe also supports android and apple pay. There is no hidden or special fee; everything is transparent.
Cons
Transaction declining rates of the stripe are higher due to banks declining the transaction. Generally, it takes a few days to get the money. Merchant accounts are not available globally; they are available just for America, Canada, and European countries. If you are using International cards, it will cost you 1% additional transaction fee. Stripe charges a flat rate of 2.9%+30 cents on every successful transaction. This rate varies from country to country, but it’s always flat. They don’t disclose any special high volume rates. Real-time fee reporting is available. Only pay for what you use. Sign up, and the user account is easy. There is no fee for account set up, cancellation, or for account maintenance..
Google Pay
Same like Apple pay (for iPhone users), Google has introduced Google to pay a digital wallet for Android users. By using Google pay, you can purchase in-store, online, and within apps without using your debit or credit card. Google wallet and android pay have been re-branded as Google pay. Google pay is accepted worldwide in millions of places. By using Google pay, you can make purchases online without entering your card information.
Google pay supports following payment services
Supported networks
- Visa / Visa Debit / Visa electron
- MasterCard / Debit MasterCard
- American Express
- Discover
- Diners Club
- JCB
- Maestro
- PayPal in the US, Germany
- EFTPOS in Australia
- Interac in Canada
- Nanaco stored-value card in Japan
- Edy stored-value card in Japan
- Suica stored-value card in Japan
- WAON stored-value card in Japan
- Unified Payments Interface in India or Rupay
Pros
Google pay works on all android devices having operating system 4.4 KitKat or above. Google pay gives you ease to spend your money online or spending money at physical locations. Merchants can use Google businesses to receive payments from their customers. You can send or receive money in a few moments. Google pay has solid security. There are no Fees; your customers will not pay anything extra. Google pay is secure than cash or cards; you can travel without credit/debit cards.
Cons
Google pay does not work on the iPhone; it only supports Android devices. Not every bank supports Google pay; there are limited banks supporting Google pay. Google pay is available only in limited countries. If you lose your phone, it can be very risky.
World Pay
World pay is a payment processing company formerly it was known as RBS world Pay. World pay started functioning in 1997 as the multi-payment currency system. World pay also supports hosts of payment options, including credit cards and debit cards. Due to its vast network, world pay can be considered as a major competitor of PayPal.
Pros
World pay supports both online and offline payments. You can use world pay in e-commerce business as well in stores the same as PayPal. You can access daily reports to maintain your balance. World pay is cheap and reliable, and you can easily access it by using a computer or mobile. The refunding process is quick and easy. Customer service of world pay is considered good for handling issues.
Cons
There are very limited customizing solutions available in world pay. The dashboard interface is complicated and crowded. It takes a long time to connect with wireless card readers, and sometimes it fails many times.
WePay
WePay is an online payment service provider which is based in the USA, WePay provides integrated and customizable payment solutions through its APIs to platforms such as crowdfunding sites, marketplace, and business software companies. WePay was launched to compete with PayPal. WePay works great with third-party payment services, but WePay does not accept payments from PayPal.
WePay charges 2.9%+$0.30for each transaction. WePay supports payments made using domestic and international cards with a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover logo.
Pros
WePay offers a flexible API, Setting up an account, and using it is quick. WePay is the top option for crowdfunding platforms. WePay supports many online payment options. There is no monthly or annual fee for using Wepay. It is easy to use and to understand, has good tools and features. It doesn’t charge the user no matter how long you use it.
Cons
There are a few cons of using WePay, like in-store card processing, which is not offered by WePay. WePay does not allow accepting payments from PayPal. The e-commerce features of WePay are not as strong as PayPal’s. WePay randomly decides that one of their payments is fraud and reverses the charge and charges me exorbitant fees because their fraud department flags a transaction. Customer service is available but not too cooperative, like others.
Braintree
Braintree is a money Services Company based in Chicago, Braintree offers mobile and web payment systems for e-commerce companies. This company was founded in 2007 and was acquired by PayPal in 2013. Braintree offers payment gateway, recurring bills, and provides a way to store credit cards the same like Google Pay. Although Braintree is owned by PayPal, it works as an independent company. Braintree’s standard processing fee is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
Pros
Braintree has excellent integration with e-commerce platforms; you can add Braintree as a payment method just in a few clicks. Pricing is simple and straightforward. It offers more advanced features than PayPal. Braintree has very strong customer support. Braintree allows both online and mobile payments.
Cons
If you want to implement Braintree on your website, then you must have some programming knowledge. There are many fees that you have to pay for using Braintree services other than the transaction fee.
Dwolla
Dwolla is a US-based e-commerce that provides an online payment system and mobile payments. It works almost similar to PayPal. It allows you to send and receive payments from companies and individuals. The best thing about Dwolla is that the company specializes in ACH bank transfers. For each payment, you send Dwolla charges 0.5% of the transaction amount.
Pros
Tools offered by Dwolla are powerful and easy to use. Bank transfer is very easy. The transaction fee maximum is $5. For example, a $100 transaction fee is $0.25, and PayPal will charge $3.20 for a transaction of $100. Dwolla also offers instant cash. Mass payouts can be automated if you are running a market place. Sending a payment is easy, and the receiver will get notified by an email. There is no chance of your personal information theft as the sender or receiver will share his personal information and details; just an email address is required. Dwolla to Dwolla transfers are quick and get processed without any delay.
Cons
You can only make the payment if the sender and receiver both are users of Dwolla. Dwolla is only available for US residents; you cannot use Dwolla if you are living in the US. For business users, there is a monthly fee, and this monthly fee is not cheap. There is a very small number of companies and people using Dwolla. One thing that may not be ideal is that you cannot add a credit card as a backup funding source. Time taken to transfer money is 2–3 days for the bank and 2–4 days for outside of bank transfer, which is too much.
Authorize.net
Authrize.net is a payment gateway that allows merchants to accept credit cards and electronic check payments through the website over an IP (inter protocol) connection. But this platform does not allow sending and receiving payments from friends and family. This most used gateway for payment solutions in the world. Authorize.net also offers fraud protection services, recurring billing subscriptions, and simple checkout options. Authorize.Net has the most customers of any payment processor and has been described as one of the more senior players in the payment processing industry, retaining a “decent portion” of the industry’s market share. Authorize.net has been working since 1996.
Pros
More than 400,000 merchants Authorize.net, this is most reliable, secure, and above than competitors. A free mobile app and swiper are available for your business. You can quickly sync with QuickBooks. For merchant accounts and payment gateways, there is no fee. They provide a ton of free add-on features, including fraud prevention filters, a simple checkout system, subscription/recurring billing and customer information storage for shipping addresses and payment info so your customers won’t have to reenter it every time. Authorize.net offers 24/7 free support. They also provide e-check processing (even without a merchant account) for an extra fee. When there is some kind of issue, they notify their users. Authorize.Net does not limit the size of transactions.
Cons
You have to pay a $25 monthly gateway fee. For international business, 1.5% is charged as an assessment fee for international transactions; therefore, it is considered an expensive service than other options. Website quality is not user friendly, the website style is outdated, and their homepages need some major improvements. Although they offer free customer support, you can stick if you need any help from their end. Authrize.net supports only three countries: the USA, Australia, and Canada.
Failed Payments: On average, 5–10% of your payments will fail every month due to changed credit card numbers, expiration dates, and accounts overdrawn.
Payline
Payline is a typical e-commerce checkout system. Payline works great for in-store payments. Payline does not charge a static fee for all business, and it offers solutions through an interchange-plus pricing system. The fee varies based on the type of cards being used for processing. It is a cheaper and very flexible option than PayPal. Payline has a well-designed website that is professionally developed, and it is very easy to find the information you are looking for. For e-commerce merchants, there are 175 cart options available; they can integrate their website with any of Pay line’s third-party shopping cart partners. Payline offers customer support for helping its users.
Payline offers the following features
- Merchant AccountsHigh-Risk Accounts
- Nonprofit Accounts
- Payment Gateway
- Virtual Terminal
- Credit Card Terminals
- POS Systems
- Mobile Payments
- Shopping Cart Integration
- QuickBooks Enterprise & Premier Integration
- eCheck (ACH) Services
- Fraud Protection
- Payline API
- Business Loans
Pros
For high volume business, it is a cheaper option as they need to process a lot of transactions per month. One of the unique features of Payline is that it approves high-risk merchant accounts. Most of the others don’t work with risky clients. You can use Payline for free in the 1st month’s trial. Payline offers a user-friendly interface. Funds get deposited just in 2 days. You also get account security and protection against fraud. You can choose monthly billings with zero cancellation fees. Payline also supports mobile payments. The transaction fee of Payline is way cheaper than PayPal. Free gateway, Free virtual terminal, and eCheck processing are also offered by Payline. With all pricing plans of Payline, it also offers anti-fraud features that are designed to lower the risk of chargeback. Payline also offers small business loans that are funded by the Lendio Company.
Cons
Payline is only available in the USA. Payline offers an interchange pricing system, so it is difficult to calculate the fee. E-commerce features of Payline are not up to mark if we compare it with PayPal e-commerce features. You have to pay a monthly fee for using Payline services. Although customer support is offered by Payline it is limited (not 24/7) customer support and it works from 8 am-5 pm from Monday to Friday and a few customers are not satisfied with support staff as they sometimes fail to make their customer happy or they are unable to recommend any solution for complainants.
Shopify Payments
This is the default payment processing system that is built-in for the Shopify platform. Shopify offers online retailers a suite of services, “including payments, marketing, shipping, and customer engagement tools to simplify the process of running an online store for small merchants. Shopify payments eliminate the hassle of setting up a merchant account with any third party payment provider you can directly view payouts in your Shopify admin. As Shopify offers three plans for e-commerce store owners using Shopify as a platform, these pricing plans are
- Shopify Basic costs $29 per month, with 2.9% + 30¢ per online transaction.
- The main Shopify plan costs $79 per month, with 2.6% + 30¢ per transaction.
- Advanced Shopify costs $299 per month, with 2.4% + 30¢ per transaction.
- Shopify payments support 15 currencies and more than 100 payment providers all over the world.
Pros
Shopify payments are built-in, so it offers a seamless payment management experience. It removes an extra transaction fee from your account. It offers predictable flat-rate pricing. All in one payment solution is offered. Easy to use. Customers can save their details and information. Shopify offers a transparent fee; there is no hidden fee. Shopify charges 0.5%-2% for each transaction, but if you are using Shopify payments, it waives this fee. Shopify payments customer support is 24/7 available through call, email, or live chat. They are offering ideal customer service and instantly accessible.
Cons
It is available in the limited countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States (including Puerto Rico). The payout period is two days, but if you are selling risky products, then it will take 30 days waiting period for clearing funds, and Shopify will directly notify you. If there is any charge-back, they will deduct $15 from your account. Shopify instantly approves accounts later that can create term issues which leads to the risk of frozen funds and closed accounts and sometimes accounts can be frozen and investigated without any warning.
Square
Square was founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey. Square is considered one of the prominent alternatives while comparing PayPal with other options. Square is not just a regular payment processor; it gives online stores plus domain for free and combines that with shopping cart integrations. Square is not as popular as PayPal, only merchants from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Japan can accept credit card payments. But still, there is a large number of users using Square. Especially small business owners use Square because of invoicing, card info storage vault, and terminal virtual features. Square charges 2.75% for all transactions; this fee is the same for all cards and business types. While payments without cards cost 3.5%+15cent per transaction. As a payment processing solution Square is providing great value to its users.
Pros
It takes less than 10 minutes to set up, and it starts accepting credit cards. There is no contract for Square; it accepts all major credit cards. There is no monthly fee or subscription fee, and all credit cards are processed for a flat rate; it is an affordable option for new business. As Square is offering a fixed rate, small transactions with Square affordable like a transaction of $10 will cost $0.37 while a transaction of $1000 costs $26.10. Square card readers can be installed or plugged into mobile or tablet devices and can be used anywhere you want. It offers a user-friendly interface. All features can be accessed by one click. It allows you to make offline payments. A quick deposit takes just two days. To grow your business, you can also add extra services. Square is comprehensive all in one payment solution. Offers free tools for selling online. Customer service support is offered by Square for its customers.
Cons
It is available in very few countries as a payment gateway. Square accounts can be unstable considering a 3rd party aggregate. Square is not a suitable payment option for huge volume merchants or for companies with huge transactions. There is a stability issue in some accounts. Not suitable for high-risk merchants. It costs a lot for using an ad on services. Customer support is weak.
There are many other PayPal alternatives available in the market, but due to a small number of users, they are not very popular; some of them I am discussing below.
Best card payments: This service helps businesses to process credit cards, business loans, gift cards, and more. It is a cheap and affordable service.
BluePay: This company is offering payment solutions like batch processing, large ticket processing, mobile card processing, e-commerce, and many more. This company has been working since 2002, but its total customers are just 42000.
The card connects: Card connects helping merchants in the US with its patented tokenization. They assist in online monitoring and in electronic payments, including automatic deposit.
Cayan Merchant services: Cayan is a fully integrated multi-channel customer engagement platform solution. It offers credit card processing solutions for all businesses.
Circle: It allows people to send money by email or text to credit/debit card or bank account. This service is available for ios and android users.
EPX: EPX is an international payments company which is offering credit/debit card, eCheck processing, e-commerce processing, mobile payments, virtual terminals, and reporting services for merchants all over the world.
Facebook Messenger: All of us use Facebook for chatting or for marketing purposes, but this can be a new thing for most of us that Facebook messenger app can be used to send or receive money, and there is no issue about security as funds are transferred through bank accounts.
Fattmerchant: This flat-rate service provider that offers unlimited payment processing without any markup, no ancillary fee or contract.
FIS Global: This is a financial solutions company that is offering a platform for digital payments, enterprise payments, corporate payments, and credit/debit card processing.
Gravity Payments: The purpose of gravity payments was to help small businesses by charging the most transparent and fair pricing for credit card processing. Now this company is offering a point of sale, gift/loyalty cards, and working capital solutions.
iPayment: iPayment is offering payment solutions, retail solutions, e-commerce tools, cash advance programs, and many more programs for merchants and business owners.
Leaders Merchants service: This is a California based company specialized in credit/debit card processing. They offer a payment processing service which enables the merchant to process both traditional card (swiped) or keyed transactions.
In the presence of too many options still, some users prefer to go with PayPal because of compatibility issues. Compatibility is not an issue anymore; there are hundreds of solutions available for doing business across the world.
Some of the options discussed above are best for personally sending and receiving (family, friends), while others are best for an e-commerce platform. If you want to choose a PayPal duplicate, then you should choose Dwolla or Skrill. Whatever payment method you choose, you must conduct research before going for it. Analyze fee, processing time, risk rate, and all possible features. By doing so, you can save a lot of money and time. You can use Google and check reviews of what other users are saying about these companies, what are possible pros and cons of a payment solution company. You must make sure that this company is legal and is conducting business in a fairway. Most importantly, this company fulfills your demands; for example, if you are an e-commerce store owner, you must check that this company allows you to receive payments from foreign countries. A company working in the US can be best for citizens of the US, but if a Chinese citizen uses this company, he may not experience the same quality due to the principles affecting these companies.
