Best PayPal Alternatives for Businesses

PayPal is the most popular payment gateway online, and for a good reason. It is reliable, fast, and as secure as a Swiss Bank account. It was one of the most revolutionary pieces of technology in the world when it was introduced.

Its popularity grew exponentially when PayPal started to offer an exceptionally safe mode of money transfer. Now almost every online business accepts PayPal as a payment method, even I do. However, PayPal has some drawbacks as well.

For example, it doesn’t offer protection for users selling digital services and products. It has also been known to freeze accounts for up to six months without warning. Plus the fees are outrageously high for international transfers. For any business with several payments a day, these fees take a heavy toll.

This is exactly why you'd need a PayPal alternative.

Best PayPal Alternatives

Today, there are quite a few other PayPal alternatives that offer superior customer service, lower rates, and much better interfaces.

These strive to rectify the flaws that drive PayPal users to look for alternate modes of payment.

In this article, I have listed such 8 best PayPal alternatives for Businesses in 2024.

1. Stripe

Stripe PayPal Alternatives

Stripe is the undisputed champion of PayPal alternatives, especially when it comes to e-commerce businesses. Several prominent organizations worldwide, including Shopify and Squarespace, use it as their preferred payment processor. The main virtue of Stripe is that it does away with the requirement for a gateway and merchant account. It handles everything from collecting payments to sending them to the bank.

As one of the most streamlined PayPal alternatives, it has grown exponentially in popularity. It allows you to accept payments from individuals and companies worldwide and like PayPal, it can automatically transfer the earnings into a bank account.

It supports mobile payments and real-time fee reporting as well. Its charges are reasonable and bear no hidden monthly or setup fees.

2. Wise

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Wise is a highly popular money transfer service created by the team behind Skype and backed by Richard Branson. Many users prefer Wise over PayPal because of Wise's low transaction fees and currency conversion changes.

Wise claims to offer the “real” exchange rate without inflating it with additional hidden fees. It is 19 times cheaper than PayPal and 8 times cheaper than regular bank transfers!

Moreover, their new borderless account allows you to hold and transfer between more than 40 currencies. With Wise for business, you can invoice your customers in a suitable currency.

3. Payoneer

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Cross-border payments continue to be a daunting and irritating task. Payoneer has been working hard to rectify this by empowering online sellers, businesses, and freelancers to conveniently get paid globally.

Payoneer is, in simple words, an “all-in-one platform for global growth” designed for the modern world. Its goal is to empower businesses to “go beyond” limits, borders, and expectations.

A Payoneer account makes global money transfer extremely simple and is a great resource for companies that regularly need to send money to international contractors, freelancers, and vendors. You can also get a debit card to go with your account and use it to withdraw cash from ATMs or banks.

4. Google Pay

Although this article mainly focuses on payment processing services for e-commerce platforms, I must mention that Google Pay is an unmatchable option for everyday payments. It is highly recommended if you need a place to store and use your credit and debit cards. With its help, you can easily send out or receive payments within moments on websites, in-store, and using POS systems.

Google Pay is quite simple to use – you just need to download the app, connect your credit or debit card, and use your phone to make payments for online shopping, in apps, or even at local stores. Moreover, there is no transaction limit of any kind. The app protects your payment details with multiple layers of security, like a robust onion of sorts.

You can safely use Google Pay to store boarding passes, train tickets, or loyalty cards. It also keeps track of your payments and lets you see how much you spend and where. 

Fast and convenient, it is available on both Android and iOS devices. Although it isn’t a full-scale solution like PayPal, it comes in handy for making regular payments.

5. Authorize.Net

Authorize.Net extends Visa’s payment services that help smaller businesses receive payments. It can help you out with everything from mobile payments to full e-commerce solutions.

You can accept debit cards, e-checks, PayPal, and other popular payment options using an Authorize.net merchant account. Using their encrypted card reader, you can also turn your computer into a virtual point-of-sale machine.

This solution has everything you’d expect from a great payment platform – free invoicing, fraud protection, and the ability to set up recurring billing and subscriptions.

Authorize.net helps you “sell more, sell faster, and sell safely.” Remember, though, that Authorize.Net is meant solely for business owners. If you need a platform for personal use, you should consider choosing one like Stripe.

6. Square Payments

Although Square has recently expanded to online payments, it largely deals with point-of-sale transactions. That undoubtedly serves as their bread and butter, and their hardware for that purpose is top-notch.

Currently, they have three payment systems – the Square Reader, Square Stand, and the Square Terminal. You might have come across at least one at your local restaurant or charity shop if you are in the top cities of the USA.

With the help of these systems, you can accept contactless, EFTPOS card transactions and apps like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Using the Square app, you can also send invoices, track inventory in real-time, manage employees, and automate various time-consuming processes.

7. Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay is an effortless payment solution and PayPal alternative that comes pre-activated with your Amazon account.

It charges customers no additional transaction, currency conversion, or processing fees.

You can use Amazon Pay to optimize the payment process and give customers a familiar and trustworthy option. You will, however, need to utilize your coding skills to use them to their fullest.

Amazon Pay includes dedicated solutions for small, medium, and enterprise businesses. Thus, regardless of the size of your business, you can be assured of precise support and a flexible payment system.

8. 2Checkout

2Checkout is another all-in-one platform that aims to maximize revenue and facilitate global sales for everyone from startups to Fortune 500 companies. It focuses mainly on international transactions and offers a solution for everything from subscription billing and global payments to global tax and even risk management.

The platform presently offers three different services:

  • 2Monetize,
  • 2Sell, and
  • 2Subscribe.

Each of them covers a different part of e-commerce. All three of them are displayed in a modular interface that is easy to handle and readily adapted to your business.

In terms of pricing, 2Checkout is quite similar to PayPal. However, it does charge lower fees for international transfers.

Conclusion

After reading this article, you can see that there’s no shortage of excellent PayPal alternatives, whether you require a full-scale e-commerce solution or simple payment processing for your website.

All of them have their own unique features, strengths, and weaknesses. You need to go through the list and find the best PayPal alternative that fits your specific needs.