Product details — Payments & Billing APIs
PayPal
This page is a decision brief, not a review. It explains when PayPal tends to fit, where it usually struggles, and how costs behave as your needs change. This page covers PayPal in isolation; side-by-side comparisons live on separate pages.
Quick signals
What this product actually is
PayPal Commerce Platform provides merchant APIs to accept PayPal, cards, and digital wallets. Leverages PayPal's consumer brand trust with 430M+ active accounts for higher checkout conversion rates.
Pricing behavior (not a price list)
These points describe when users typically pay more, what actions trigger upgrades, and the mechanics of how costs escalate.
Actions that trigger upgrades
- Transaction volume exceeds $100K/month - negotiate volume discounts available
- International sales growth - multi-currency pricing can reduce 3.9% international fees
- Need PayPal Payflow Gateway ($25/month) for direct card processing without PayPal button
- Require dedicated account management - available at enterprise tier
- Advanced fraud tools needed - PayPal Fraud Protection costs extra
When costs usually spike
- Account reserves unpredictable - PayPal can hold 10-30% of revenue for 90+ days
- Disputes favor buyers heavily - seller protection limited in digital goods cases
- Micropayments require separate pricing (5% + 5¢) - standard rates punitive under $10
- PayPal Credit financing costs passed to merchant (5.99% + 30¢ per transaction)
- API rate limits not publicly documented - can throttle at high volume
- Refunds do not return transaction fees ($0.30 lost per refund)
Plans and variants (structural only)
Grouped by type to show structure, not to rank or recommend specific SKUs.
Plans
- Standard Pricing - 2.9% + 30¢ domestic, 3.9% + fixed international - Instant activation, no monthly fees
- Micropayments - 5% + 5¢ per transaction - For transactions under $10
- PayPal Credit - 5.99% + 30¢ per financed transaction - Merchant cost for financing
Enterprise
- Enterprise - Custom pricing - Volume discounts, dedicated account management
Costs & limitations
Common limits
- Developer experience significantly weaker than Stripe - less documentation clarity
- Account holds and freezes common - PayPal reserves right to hold funds for 21-180 days
- Limited customization of checkout flow compared to modern payment APIs
- International transactions expensive at 3.9% + fixed fee (vs Stripe's 3.4%)
- Currency conversion adds 3-4% on top of base rates (worse than Stripe's 1%)
- Chargeback fees $20 per dispute regardless of outcome
What breaks first
- Account holds triggered by sudden volume spike or high refund rate (>5%)
- Chargeback ratio above 0.5% forces account review or termination
- International expansion hits 3.9% + currency conversion (7%+ total) making it uneconomical
- Custom billing logic (usage-based, tiered) impossible to implement cleanly
- Developer frustration with API limitations forces migration to Stripe or Adyen
Fit assessment
Good fit if…
- E-commerce businesses where PayPal button increases conversion significantly
- Merchants selling to consumers who strongly prefer PayPal checkout
- Small businesses prioritizing brand trust over API flexibility
- International sellers where PayPal's consumer familiarity offsets 3.9% fees
- Businesses wanting built-in financing (PayPal Credit) without third-party integration
- Merchants needing quick setup without technical resources (15-minute integration)
Poor fit if…
- Developer-first teams wanting modern API experience (use Stripe or Checkout.com)
- SaaS businesses needing advanced subscription billing features
- High-volume merchants seeking interchange-plus pricing (use Adyen or Checkout.com)
- Platforms building embedded payments (use Stripe Connect or Finix)
- Businesses with frequent chargebacks or high-risk categories (account holds common)
- Need predictable cash flow - PayPal reserves can freeze working capital unexpectedly
Trade-offs
Every design choice has a cost. Here are the explicit trade-offs:
- Consumer brand trust (higher conversion) → Weak developer experience and API quality
- Fast 15-minute setup → Limited customization and control over checkout experience
- Built-in buyer protection → Seller-unfriendly dispute resolution and account holds
- No monthly fees → Higher per-transaction costs than IC+ pricing at scale
- Instant access to PayPal Credit → Merchant pays 5.99% for financing transactions
Sources & verification
Pricing and behavioral information comes from public documentation and structured research. When information is incomplete or volatile, we prefer to say so rather than guess.