PayPal
Payment Processing · Free · since 1998
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PayPal is a global payment platform for online and in-person payments, invoicing, and transfers. It handles payments, invoicing, checkout, and global, and it's best suited for businesses wanting universal payment acceptance. It has been around since 1998, giving it a 28-year head start in building out integrations and refining the product.
The free plan offers no monthly fees.
pros
- Includes Payments as a core feature, purpose-built for payment processing workflows
- Includes Invoicing as a core feature, purpose-built for payment processing workflows
- No monthly fees — generous enough for most small teams to get real work done
- Established product with 28+ years on the market and a mature ecosystem
cons
- Free plan exists but key features are locked behind the paid upgrade
- Fewer built-in features means you may need additional tools to cover gaps
- Ecosystem of third-party integrations is smaller than the market leaders in payment processing
- Mobile experience lags behind the desktop version in features and polish
top PayPal alternatives
Stripe Payment processing platform with powerful APIs for online payments, subscriptions, and marketplaces. Free 
Paddle Payment infrastructure that handles tax, compliance, and billing as your merchant of record. Free 
Lemon Squeezy All-in-one platform for selling digital products with merchant of record and tax handling. Free 
Gumroad Simple e-commerce platform for creators to sell digital products, memberships, and courses. Free 
Square Payment processing with point-of-sale hardware, online payments, and business tools. Free PayPal compared
Stripe vs PayPal · Paddle vs PayPal · Lemon Squeezy vs PayPal · Gumroad vs PayPal · PayPal vs Square · PayPal vs Braintree · PayPal vs Adyen · PayPal vs Mollie
more payment processing tools
Stripe Payment processing platform with powerful APIs for online payments, subscriptions, and marketplaces. Free Paddle Payment infrastructure that handles tax, compliance, and billing as your merchant of record. Free Lemon Squeezy All-in-one platform for selling digital products with merchant of record and tax handling. Free Gumroad Simple e-commerce platform for creators to sell digital products, memberships, and courses. Free Square Payment processing with point-of-sale hardware, online payments, and business tools. Free B Braintree PayPal's payment gateway for online and mobile payments with support for multiple payment methods. 2.59% + $0.49