Best Payment Processors · alternatives
Best PayPal alternatives (2026)
7 alternatives to PayPal in payment processors, ranked by entry price. PayPal starts at —/mo. Every figure links to the vendor's own page and the date we captured it.
Key takeaways
- Free alternatives: Square.
- Closest by price: Authorize.net ($25/mo), Stax (by Fattmerchant) ($99/mo), Adyen (—/mo).
PayPal alternatives compared
| # | Alternative | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Authorize.net | $25/mo | No | No | Established SMBs wanting a gateway-only solution with their own merchant account | authorize.net |
| 2 | Stax (by Fattmerchant) | $99/mo | No | No | Established SMBs processing $120K+/year wanting to eliminate percentage markups | staxpayments.com |
| 3 | Adyen | — | No | No | Large enterprise and global retailers needing unified commerce | quote-only |
| 4 | Braintree (a PayPal service) | — | No | No | Enterprise merchants wanting PayPal/Venmo alongside cards in one integration | quote-only |
| 5 | Helcim | — | No | No | Small and mid-size businesses wanting transparent interchange-plus pricing | quote-only |
| 6 | Square | — | Yes | Yes | Small and mid-size retail, food & beverage, and service businesses | quote-only |
| 7 | Stripe | — | No | No | SaaS and subscription businesses | quote-only |
Data current through 2026-06-13. Compare any two directly on the Payment Processors index.