Stripe vs PayPal Fees: Which Is Cheaper?

Stripe vs PayPal fees look simple on the pricing pages — Stripe 2.9% + $0.30, PayPal Checkout 3.49% + $0.49 — and on a single $100 sale Stripe wins by $0.78. But nobody runs a store on a single sale, and the answer changes with your order value, your international share and your currency-conversion share. Run your own numbers in our free Stripe vs PayPal fee calculator before deciding: on $65 average orders at 300 orders a month with 10% international and 5% converted, Stripe costs $694.50 a month and PayPal Checkout costs $890.93 — a $196.43 monthly gap.

The Headline Rates, Side by Side

Stripe's US online rate is 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card charge, with no monthly fee. PayPal Checkout — the PayPal button — is 3.49% + $0.49 for US commercial transactions, also with no monthly fee. On a $100 sale that is $3.20 against $3.98, a $0.78 gap. On a $10 sale it is $0.59 against $0.84, a $0.25 gap that is proportionally much larger, because the fixed fees ($0.30 vs $0.49) dominate small tickets. The first lesson of fee comparison is that there is no single gap: the gap scales with your average order value, which is why a calculator fed with your order value beats any headline comparison. Our Stripe fee calculator and PayPal fee calculator price each processor alone; the Stripe vs PayPal fee calculator prices both on the same order mix.

International Cards and Currency Conversion: Where the Gap Moves

Both processors add 1.5% for cards issued outside your country. Then they diverge: Stripe adds 1.0% when currency conversion is required, while PayPal's conversion spread runs roughly 3–4% over the base exchange rate. At 10% international and 5% converted, Stripe's effective rate on a $65 order is 3.10% and PayPal Checkout's is 3.815% — a $0.65 per-order gap. Raise international share to 40% and conversion share to 25% and the gap grows to about $0.98 per order, or roughly $294 a month at 300 orders. The more international your traffic, the more the processor choice matters, and the less the headline rates tell you. US-only stores can nearly ignore this section; international stores should start here.

PayPal Checkout vs Card Fields: The $0.50 Most Comparisons Miss

PayPal sells two different ways to take a card. Checkout — the PayPal button — costs 3.49% + $0.49. Card fields embed card inputs on your own checkout, processed by PayPal, at 2.99% + $0.49: the same card, 0.50 percentage points cheaper — $0.33 less per order on $65 orders, or $97.50 a month at 300 orders. The trade-off is conversion, not price: some buyers trust the PayPal button more than a card form, and if card fields measurably lowers completion, the $0.33 saving buys fewer completed orders. The honest way to decide is to run both modes in the Stripe vs PayPal fee calculator and then A/B test the winner — rate first, conversion second.

The Monthly Gap: Why Single-Sale Comparisons Mislead

A $0.65 per-order gap sounds trivial until it is multiplied: at 300 orders a month it is $196.43, at 1,000 orders it is $654.75, and over a year at 300 orders it is $2,357.10. That annual figure is a real budget line — hosting, apps, email tooling — and it is the number that justifies (or kills) a processor switch in a finance review. Single-sale comparisons also hide the fixed-fee effect: low-ticket stores pay proportionally more to both processors, and PayPal's higher fixed fee ($0.49 vs $0.30) punishes them hardest. If your average order is under $20, run the numbers before assuming the headline percentages describe your bill.

When PayPal Still Wins (and When to Run Both)

Rate is not the only variable. PayPal's brand recognition lifts conversion for some stores, especially with buyers who distrust entering card numbers on unfamiliar sites — and a 2% conversion lift on 300 orders dwarfs a $0.65 fee gap. PayPal also simplifies payouts for sellers who live in its ecosystem, and its buyer-protection reputation reduces pre-purchase hesitation. The common winning setup is Stripe for cards plus PayPal as an additional option: the calculator's monthly gap then prices exactly what the PayPal volume costs (about $65.48 per 100 PayPal Checkout orders instead of Stripe on the defaults), so you can judge whether the conversion those orders bring is worth it. Refunds deserve a footnote: Stripe keeps its original fee on refunds, and PayPal's refund treatment varies by payment type — if your refund rate is high, add actual refund fees to the monthly totals before deciding.