For a US business accepting a $100 domestic online card payment at the standard published rates modeled here, Stripe’s fee is $3.20 and PayPal’s standard card-payment fee is $3.48. Stripe is $0.28 lower on that transaction.
That is a clean fee comparison, but it is not a complete processor decision. A freelancer who sends four large invoices has a different cost profile from a shop processing hundreds of $12 orders. PayPal also separates PayPal Checkout, wallet-funded Goods and Services, card payments, and Pay Later into different fee rows. Stripe can add product fees for services such as Invoicing even when its standard card-processing rate stays the same.
The useful question is not “Which logo has the lower headline rate?” It is “Which setup costs less for the payment method, invoice flow, customer location, transaction size, and features this business actually uses?”
Start with the same payment—not two unrelated headline rates
Stripe’s US pricing page lists 2.9% plus $0.30 for a successful domestic online card transaction. PayPal’s July 15, 2026 US Merchant Fees schedule lists standard credit and debit card payments at 2.99% plus the commercial fixed fee, which is $0.49 when the payment is received in US dollars.
Those two rows describe reasonably comparable online card-processing scenarios. PayPal Checkout at 3.49% plus $0.49 is a different product row. Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services at 2.99% with no fixed fee is also different. Using the lowest PayPal row in one paragraph and PayPal Checkout in the next makes the comparison look dramatic without helping a business predict its bill.
Sources: Stripe Pricing (United States) · PayPal Merchant Fees (United States)
Stripe vs PayPal fees on $10, $100, and $1,000
The fixed fee matters most when the ticket is small. The percentage rate matters more as the payment grows. Under the standard US domestic online-card assumptions above, Stripe has the lower percentage and fixed fee. Its processing estimate therefore remains lower across these examples.
| Payment | Stripe fee | PayPal fee | Difference | Stripe net | PayPal net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10 | $0.59 | $0.79 | $0.20 | $9.41 | $9.21 |
| $100 | $3.20 | $3.48 | $0.28 | $96.80 | $96.52 |
| $1,000 | $29.30 | $30.39 | $1.09 | $970.70 | $969.61 |
- Stripe · 2.9% of $100
- $2.90
- Stripe fixed fee
- $0.30
- PayPal card · 2.99% of $100
- $2.99
- PayPal fixed fee
- $0.49
- Difference on $100
- $0.28
On this narrow rate comparison, the difference is $0.19 per payment plus 0.09% of the amount. For a business processing 500 domestic online card payments averaging $100, that arithmetic produces an estimated $140 difference before any other product, refund, dispute, or payout costs are added.
Do not turn that example into a savings promise. Your actual mix may include PayPal wallet payments, international cards, card-present sales, custom pricing, or software fees. A proper monthly comparison uses transaction count and average ticket size, not revenue alone, because every fixed fee is charged per transaction.
For freelancers, the invoice workflow can change the answer
Freelancers often care about three things. How quickly can they send a professional payment request? What can the client use to pay? How much remains after the fee? The applicable fee row depends on how that workflow is configured.
PayPal’s US schedule separates invoicing transactions by payment type. PayPal Checkout or Guest Checkout through an invoice is listed at 3.49% plus the fixed fee, while a standard credit or debit card payment through an invoice is listed at 2.99% plus the fixed fee. The word “invoice” alone does not identify the rate; the client’s payment method does.
Stripe’s standard domestic online-card processing rate is 2.9% plus $0.30. Stripe’s pricing page separately lists a 0.4% charge for one-off post-payment invoices, capped at $2 per invoice. Stripe Billing and other invoicing configurations can have their own pricing. A freelancer comparing Stripe Invoicing with a basic PayPal payment request should include those product charges instead of comparing card-processing rates alone.
Sources: PayPal Merchant Fees: invoicing transactions · Stripe Pricing: post-payment invoices
Small businesses should model the payment mix
A small business rarely has one universal transaction. It may take domestic cards online, send invoices, accept a few international cards, issue refunds, and use instant payouts during a cash crunch. Build a one-month model from actual or expected transactions and keep each type in its own row.
Start with gross volume, number of successful payments, and average ticket. Then separate domestic cards from international cards and currency conversion. Add any invoicing, recurring billing, fraud, dispute, chargeback-protection, terminal, or payout products the business expects to use. The total divided by processed volume is the effective processing rate.
This approach can reverse the conclusion from a headline-rate comparison. A processor that is a few cents cheaper per card transaction may be more expensive after a necessary software add-on. A processor with a higher fee may still earn its place if customers prefer its checkout, it improves payment completion, or it replaces another paid tool. Those benefits should be measured, not assumed.
A reproducible monthly cost model
The examples below use the published standard domestic online-card rates for every successful payment. We round each transaction fee to the nearest cent, then add the fees. Each row is an independent scenario, not a savings forecast. It excludes invoicing products, disputes, refunds, payout fees, currency conversion, tax, and negotiated pricing unless the row says otherwise.
Transaction count matters in the small-ticket scenario. One hundred separate $20 payments produce a larger fee gap than ten $1,000 payments. Yet the second business processes five times as much revenue. The mixed international scenario keeps the transaction count and ticket size constant. It then applies the published international-card additions to ten of the 100 payments.
| Scenario | Processed volume | Stripe fees | PayPal fees | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 payments × $20 | $2,000 | $88.00 | $109.00 | $21.00 |
| 50 payments × $100 | $5,000 | $160.00 | $174.00 | $14.00 |
| 10 payments × $1,000 | $10,000 | $293.00 | $303.90 | $10.90 |
| 100 × $100; 10% international cards | $10,000 | $335.00 | $363.00 | $28.00 |
International cards widen the comparison
For US accounts, Stripe lists an additional 1.5% for international cards. It adds another 1% if currency conversion is required. PayPal’s US Merchant Fees schedule adds 1.50% to international commercial transactions. PayPal currency conversion can also affect the exchange rate. There is no single percentage that can be safely added to every PayPal transaction.
A business with meaningful cross-border volume should model card origin and settlement currency separately. “International” is not a complete input. Start with the merchant account’s registered country and the customer’s or card’s location. Then identify the charge currency, settlement currency, and any custom cross-border terms.
Sources: Stripe Pricing: international cards and currency conversion · PayPal Merchant Fees: international transactions
Look beyond the successful-payment fee
Refund economics matter when returns are common. For most payment methods under Stripe’s standard pricing, there is no separate fee to issue a refund. The original processing fees are not returned. Bank transfers, IC+ pricing, and some regions or payment methods can have different refund fees. PayPal does not charge a separate fee to refund a commercial transaction. However, it does not return the original fees paid to receive the payment. Partial refunds do not erase the original processing cost either.
Disputes, chargeback tools, instant payouts, and currency conversion can add costs that never appear in the basic card formula. Payout timing and reserve policies can also affect cash flow even when they are not transaction fees. Read the account-specific terms and compare a statement after the first full month.
Sources: Stripe: fees for refunded payments · PayPal Merchant Fees: commercial transaction refunds
Which processor should a freelancer or small business choose?
Choose from the workflow backward. If clients routinely ask to pay with PayPal, removing that option to save a few cents can create friction. If the business needs an API-first card checkout, subscriptions, or tightly integrated software, Stripe may fit the operating model better. Some businesses offer both and route customers according to preference.
Before deciding, run the same month through both options and answer the following questions.
- What payment method will customers actually use: card, PayPal wallet, invoice, payment link, or subscription?
- How many payments occur each month, and what is the average ticket?
- What share of customers or cards is international, and will currency conversion occur?
- Which paid products are required for invoices, recurring billing, fraud controls, reporting, or faster payouts?
- How often are payments refunded or disputed?
- Does either account have custom or negotiated pricing?
- Does checkout preference or integration effort produce measurable value beyond the fee?
Sources and review
Fee schedules change. We use official sources and show the latest verification date above.