PayPal payments review: Which is best for your business?

PayPal is one of the most popular and powerful payment providers in the world. It’s the default choice for many business owners, but that doesn’t mean it’s obvious which of the company’s payment solutions is right for you.

PayPal offers three core payment options: Standard Checkout, Express Checkout, and Payments Pro. In our PayPal payments review, we’ll examine each option and cover everything you need to know to help you decide which is best for you.

PayPal Standard Checkout

PayPal Standard, also called PayPal Checkout, is PayPal’s primary payment gateway. It’s available in over 200 countries and accepts payments in 25 different currencies.  

With PayPal Checkout, customers complete their payments on PayPal’s website. Buyers can log into their account or pay with a credit or debit card without signing up. PayPal Checkout charges 3.49 percent plus 49 cents per transaction, but there’s no monthly fee.

PayPal Checkout is the first choice for a good reason. “PayPal Standard is one of the most popular gateways for merchants,” writes Beka Rice at e-commerce email marketing company Jilt, “as there are no setup fees, termination fees, or merchant accounts needed to get set up — all you need is a PayPal Business account.” 

Express Checkout

PayPal Express Checkout is a solution offered alongside PayPal Checkout. With this option, PayPal will charge you the same fees as the standard checkout solution (3.49 percent plus 49 cents per transaction), but your customers receive an upgraded experience. 

With PayPal Express Checkout, customers aren’t redirected away from your site, and there’s no need for them to enter payment details. If they’re PayPal customers and use PayPal’s One Touch option, they just have to confirm the purchase.   

There are no monthly fees or setup charges with PayPal Express Checkout. Better still, the improved checkout process and in-context payment have the potential to increase your conversion rates. 

Payments Pro

PayPal Payments Pro is the heavyweight of the company’s payment gateway solutions. It’s packed with features and gives merchants everything they need to deliver an enterprise-level e-commerce experience. The transaction fee is 2.89 percent plus 49 cents, and there’s a $30 monthly fee. 

For that, you’ll get a completely customizable checkout experience. PayPal Payments Pro integrates with every major e-commerce platform, has an optimized mobile checkout experience, and provides more fraud protection than the other options mentioned above.

Pro is the perfect solution for heavy-duty users, writes entrepreneur and host of the Mastermind.fm podcast Jean Galea. Users benefit from lower rates and a fully customized checkout process — which means customers can purchase from your site without being redirected to the PayPal site.

What else do you need to know about PayPal?

PayPal makes collecting payments relatively easy, but there’s much more you need to know about using the platform. 

There are even more ways to pay

PayPal offers even more ways to get paid than the three core solutions listed above. These include

• Point-of-sale solutions
• Social media sales tools
• QR codes
• Virtual terminals
• Invoicing

PayPal also offers financing solutions — like PayPal Working Capital and PayPal Business Loan — to accelerate the growth of your business.

PayPal favors buyers in disputes

Most businesses find PayPal to be a safe and acceptable payment provider, writes certified financial planner Justin Pritchard. But it’s really easy for buyers to dispute charges. That’s one of the reasons the platform is so popular with buyers in the first place. 

“Customers can claim that goods never arrived or that you did not deliver what you promised, and then dispute or attempt to reverse the transaction,” he writes. “You can plead your case, but you’ll need solid proof to get PayPal to decide in your favor.”

It offers platform and app integrations

You don’t have to worry about cross-platform compatibility when you use PayPal as your payment gateway. PayPal integrates with virtually every major app and platform, writes software engineer and cloud architect Ehi Kioya. That includes membership sites, e-commerce platforms, and email service providers. 

There’s a Jotform integration

PayPal’s integrations include Jotform. If you’re a PayPal merchant, integrating your favorite payment solution into your forms is easy. 

With PayPal and Jotform, you can sell products, collect donations, and accept custom payments. And you can connect all of the payment solutions we’ve discussed in this PayPal payments review using Jotform’s payment integration wizard. Find out how to connect your payment solution with our handy guide. 

How do you choose which option is best?

Choosing a payment provider is a big decision, says Alyssa Gregory, senior digital strategist at IBM. The choice can impact your business, which is why it’s important to explore your options before you decide.

With that in mind, it’s a good idea to check out our list of payment gateways and read our guide about accepting payments online.