Paypal Alternatives and Competitors

January 27, 2021

PayPal digital wallet and payment gateway solution that can perform overseas money transfer services for individuals and businesses. As an individual, you can send money to another PayPal user using no more than the recipient’s email address. To find alternatives to PayPal for payment gateway services you need to use the iCompareFX payment gateway comparison interactive tool.

See the list below for alternatives to PayPal that offer cheaper internatioanl money transfers.

Transparent fee structure
Send money to email addresses
Multicurrency account with debit card
Multilingual website & app

low

Fees

fast

1-2 days

Go to Site

high

Fees

medium

2-3 days

Go to Site

Low Transparent fee structure
Forward contracts
Scheduled transfers
Dedicated account manager
Live chat support

low

Fees

fast

1-2 days

Go to Site

0.4% margin for new customers referred by iCompareFX
Fee-free transfers
Scheduled transfers
Online and phone transfers

low

Fees

medium

2-3 days

Go to Site

Jump to an alternative provider

TransferWise

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Payoneer

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WorldFirst

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OFX

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TransferWise

This alternative to PayPal, TransferWise is headquartered in the UK, and also has offices in the U.S., Hungary, Estonia, Ukraine, Hong Kong and Singapore. You may sign up with TransferWise as an individual, a business or an online seller. The company operates dedicated websites for different regions, and you may access them in local languages. The Borderless Account is designed for businesses and online sellers.

Use your Google or Facebook account to register

UK-based, offices also in the U.S., Hungary, Estonia, Ukraine, Hong Kong and Singapore

Dedicated multilingual websites for different regions

Depending on where you live, you may pay using credit cards

The Borderless Account comes with free receiving accounts in USD, EUR, GBP, AUD and NZD

Access money in your Borderless Account by using the TransferWise Mastercard

Not all currency-pairs supported by its peer-to-peer network

Does not provide market orders, forward contracts or scheduled transfers

The currencies being traded, the payment method, and the transfer method might affect the fees you need to pay

Payoneer

Payoneer is a U.S.-based alternative to PayPal that lets its customers send and receive money to and from different countries. However, both functionalities are not available in all the countries it supports. Depending on where you live, you may get access to receiving accounts in different currencies through the Payoneer Global Payment Service. As an online seller, you may benefit by using the services of this company to receive payments from most prominent e-commerce platforms.

Serves individuals and businesses

Get receiving accounts in GBP, EUR, USD, CAD, AUD, CNY, and JPY

Hold funds and transacts in multiple currencies

The Payoneer Mastercard provides easy access to funds in your Payoneer account

Make payments using debit cards, credit cards or bank account transfers

Allows transfers only between Payoneer users

Option of sending money not available in all countries

You pay an annual fee for the Payoneer Mastercard

WorldFirst

You can register with WorldFirst as an individual, a business or an online seller. This UK-based PayPal competitor also has offices in Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. It operates multilingual region-specific websites. With the World Account, you get access to free receiving accounts in different currencies.

Provides services for individuals, businesses and online sellers

Headquarters in the UK, offices also in Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore

Follows a transparent pricing band that applies on existing real/interbank exchange rates

Operates multilingual region-specific websites

Choose from forward contracts and scheduled transfers

Get free receiving accounts in USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD and NZD by signing up for the World Account – save on currency conversion fees when you reconcile payments using matching currency accounts

Integrate the World Account with Xero in minutes

Initiate your transfer online or over the phone

Transfer limits may vary depending on where you live

Residents of the U.S. cannot use its services to send money

No cash transfers

OFX

Headquartered in Australia, this Paypal alternative began operations in 1998, as OzForex. It rebranded itself as OFX in 2015. The company has offices in New Zealand, the U.S., Canada, the UK and Hong Kong. Access to the OFX website comes only in English. It lets you register as an individual, a business or an online seller.

Provides services to individuals, businesses and online sellers

Dedicated websites for Australia, the U.S. and the UK

Headquarters in Australia, offices also in New Zealand, the U.S., Canada, the UK and Hong Kong

Provides local phone support in various countries

Fee-free thresholds on personal transfers

Send funds online or over the phone

Choose from forward contracts, limit orders and scheduled transfers

Lets you trade some currencies only over the phone

Website access only in English

No cash pickup centers

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using PayPal?

Advantages of using PayPal as a consumer

As a consumer PayPal allows you to receive money from friends locally and to purchase online with PayPal Checkout. This is all free and very handy. No banking details are needed to send money back and forth between friends, just the person's PayPal ID (usually their email address). You can link your local bank accounts to PayPal and then withdraw money from your PayPal digital Wallet. You can also link credit or debit cards to your PayPal ID so that you can buy stuff online. This means that your card details are private and there is a single place to update them. This is a real time saver. Moreover, if you attach a frequent flyer credit card to PayPal it makes it easier to earn points when shopping online.

Disadvantages of using PayPal as a consumer

Two factor authentication is available for your PayPal ID to secure your account. But not many consumers do this. This is quite dangerous as once your PayPal credentials has been taken from you through common phishing attacks, your digital wallet and credit cards for spending is exposed. So please please, if you are using PayPal, please enable two factor authentication.

Currency conversion is very very expensive on PayPal, it can cost up to 3% of the money you are sending or spending overseas. This is why iCompareFX has listed and detailed PayPal alternatives at the start of this page. So, if you are sending money overseas. Don't use PayPal. Use a cheaper PayPal competitor shown here. Not just sending, but buying something online that is displayed in a foreign currency also costs you quite a bit. For foreign online purchases, choose a FX optimised travel card. TransferWise Borderless Debit Card can also be used to significantly reduce currency conversion fees when buying online in a foreign currency or spending overseas.

Advantages to businesses using PayPal as a payment gateway option

PayPal is a known and trusted brand. Millions of people use PayPal as their digital wallet for online purchases. Using PayPal Checkout can improve customer conversion at checkout as they can simply sign in to PayPal and purchase in few steps that finding their credit card and entering the information.

Disadvantages to businesses using PayPal as a payment gateway option

If your online business is primarily operating in a foreign market, PayPal a very expensive option to accept payments. PayPal currency conversion is very expensive and PayPal is actively limiting ways businesses can bypass their high foreign exchange fees.

Comparing payment gateways and PayPal competitors can save money for international online sellers. Another option is to provide both PayPal and another payment option through another payment gateway for credit cards may overall reduce transaction fees.

Who is PayPal's biggest competitor?

Consumers: According to Statica, as of Q3 2020, PayPal has 361 million active accounts worldwide. Statica shows that at the end of Q3 2020, ApplePay has 506 million active users wordlwide. This makes ApplePay the biggest competitor for their consumer service.
Merchants: PayPal payments volume in Q3 2020 was US$247 billion. With no firm numbers available, it can be said that Stripe would be the biggest threat to PayPal for their merchant space. Stripe's open platform and low fees compared to PayPal, Stripe is the one to watch.

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