Stripe vs PayPal: A comparison

Being able to process payments reliably and consistently is a big part of running a business. In addition to accepting cards (both online and in person), it also affects everything from customer experience to international sales and currency conversions, which have a direct impact on your profits and margins.

This guide looks at Stripe vs PayPal from a Philippine business point of view, covering the things that matter most, like supported payment methods and how easy each platform is to integrate, to help you decide which is the better fit.

What is Stripe?

Stripe is a global payment service provider that gives businesses the tools to take online payments in 195+ countries and set up merchant accounts in 46 markets¹. It positions itself as a full “financial infrastructure”, rather than a simple plug-and-play checkout, which makes it popular with ecommerce sites, SaaS companies (and other platforms) that want to build custom payment flows.

Stripe’s strength is in the range of tools it offers, and its powerful APIs and integrations. Beyond core payments, it has products for billing, invoicing, card issuing, fraud prevention, and even global payouts and financing, all built on the same infrastructure¹.

Is Stripe available in the Philippines?

At the time of writing, Stripe doesn’t directly support businesses incorporated in the Philippines². To access Stripe, many PH business owners instead opt to establish a company in the US through Stripe Atlas³, which helps entrepreneurs to incorporate in the state of Delaware and open the accounts required to access key services.

For global businesses, this may be worthwhile, but it does add initial setup costs and more compliance responsibilities.

What is PayPal?

PayPal is one of the world’s largest digital payment platforms and is fully supported in the Philippines, making it ideal for MSMEs and ecommerce sellers that want a simple, ready-to-use way to get paid. It’s best known for its quick setup and flexibility – PayPal says you can “sell just about anywhere”¹⁶. There are also built-in tools to manage disputes and keep transactions secure.

For small businesses, PayPal offers three main product categories¹⁷: Accept Payments, Business Operations, and Resources, covering everything from online checkout and invoicing to sales insights and risk management.

Feature comparison: Stripe vs PayPal

Both Stripe and PayPal excel at payment acceptance, but they’re built with different audiences in mind.

For those looking for an overall comparison between the providers globally, here’s a side-by-side feature comparison for the two platforms.

As you can see, there is an overlap in many of the core products and services, but the two platforms differ in how ‘deep’ they go, with Stripe being bigger on customization and developer control, and PayPal more focused on simplicity and easier access for small businesses.

Let’s look at how PayPal vs Stripe compare for specific features in more detail, starting with currencies.

Supported currencies

With Stripe, you can take payments in 195+ countries in 135+ currencies, and there’s local acquiring in 46 markets, which can reduce cross-border costs¹. If you’re selling in multiple regions across Asia and globally, Stripe’s multi-currency tools, like multi-currency settlement (an add-on service)⁸, give you lots of control over how you charge and settle funds.

PayPal also has a broad reach – PH business accounts can receive payments in 25 currencies across 200+ markets¹⁹. This should be more than enough for most small businesses selling to customers in Asia, Europe, and the US.

Accepted payment methods

For payment methods, Stripe supports a wider mix of cards, wallets, bank-based payments, and alternative methods. PayPal keeps things simpler, covering the everyday options most small businesses actually use.

PayPal offers these methods in the Philippines¹⁶:

• Credit and debit cards
• Apple Pay
• PayPal balances

While Stripe doesn't offer an account in the Philippines, the accepted payments in the US include⁹:

• Credit and debit cards - Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover
• Digital wallets - Apple Pay, Google Pay, Cash App Pay, Amazon Pay
• Bank-based payments - ACH Direct Debit, USD bank transfers
• Buy now, pay later - Klarna, AfterPay/ClearPay, Affirm
• Cash-based vouchers - Multibanco and PaySafeCard (External)¹⁰
• Crypto payments - Stablecoins

In addition, Stripe also supports GCash through its local wallet integrations⁹.

Integration

Stripe is generally regarded as the more developer-friendly option. It gives you a big set of APIs and SDKs to play with¹¹, plus a huge catalogue of third-party apps via the Stripe App Marketplace¹². If you’ve got someone technical on your team, you can pretty much shape the checkout how you want, building your own flow and plugging it into most of the tools you already use.

With PayPal, there are two ways to integrate: either through an ecommerce platform (no code), such as Shopify or WooCommerce, or by using the platform’s REST APIs and JavaScript SDK to create a custom checkout¹⁸. The latter requires more technical expertise. For in-person payments, you can use Payment Links and QR codes. PayPal also has simple tools for things like invoicing and basic business insights, so you can handle the essentials without extra software.

Customer support

PayPal has multiple business support options and resources²⁰. There’s a full Help Center with guides on payments, disputes, account limits, fees, and linking banks or cards. If you need to fix something on your account, the Resolution Center is where most issues get handled. You can also use the Message Center to talk to support directly when you’re logged in.

Stripe also has a Support hub with articles and guides covering 15 different topics, including getting started, disputes, billing, and taxes¹³. You can also talk to developers on an official Discord channel and use live chat to contact support directly 24/7.

Safety

Stripe and PayPal both explain how they handle security and compliance. But for PH businesses, the main difference is that PayPal is locally regulated**,** while Stripe leans on its global certifications and security standards.

Stripe is certified to PCI Service Provider Level 1 and regularly undergoes SOC, SOC2, and SOC3 audits – these are independent checks that its systems and controls are doing what they’re supposed to. It also follows the NIST cybersecurity framework and uses very strong encryption standards¹⁴.

Meanwhile, PayPal is regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as an Operator of Payment Services under the National Payment Systems Act, and offers its robust Seller Protection on eligible transactions¹⁶. There’s also 24/7 risk monitoring and machine-learning-based fraud tools²³ (Stripe has this too with Radar).

Fee comparison: PayPal vs Stripe

Now, let’s compare pricing. Because Stripe isn’t directly available in the Philippine-registered businesses, any fee comparisons need to be weighed against the extra cost of setting up and running a foreign entity business through Stripe Atlas.

For Philippine businesses, business would have to account for:

• Stripe Atlas setup costs - a USD $500 one-off setup fee³
• US company maintenance costs
• Accounting and compliance requirements
• International banking arrangements

Exchange rate

For exchange rates, Stripe keeps things pretty simple: if a payment needs converting, it just adds a 1% currency conversion fee on top of the normal transaction fee – this is the only FX detail Stripe publishes on its pricing page¹⁵.

PayPal handles things differently. Instead of a flat add-on, it uses a markup on top of the base exchange rate, with the exact percentage dependent on the region. For the Asia Pacific region, which includes the Philippines PayPal's exchange-rate markup is typically 4% for payment-related currency conversions, although certain activities—such as converting account balances or received payments into another currency—may be charged a lower 3% markup instead²¹.

Review comparison: PayPal vs Stripe

Both PayPal and Stripe have a ‘bad’ Trustpilot rating based on the 1-5 scoring system.

Optimize your Stripe and Paypal payouts with Wise Business

A Wise Business account helps solve the friction of international platform payouts by giving you local account details in 8+ major currencies like USD, EUR, and GBP. You can route your earnings directly into Wise Business, where currency conversions occur at the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden markups and a low transparent fee.

Get started with Wise Business

If you're a business in the Philippines trying to go global, you've probably hit a wall of confusing foreign exchange fees when collecting payments from international customers. Wise Business helps you cut through all that complexity—be it a local bank transfer or a wire transfer. By simplifying how you receive payments, you're free to pursue what matters—growing a local brand with global sights.

• Obtain account details to receive payments in USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, HKD and more for a one-time fee of 1,400 PHP.
• Simply share your account details with customers or add them to invoices.
• Zero fees when you get paid via ACH, FAST, InstaPay/PESONet, & other local transfers.
• Full fee transparency when clients pay you via Wire / SWIFT.
• Hold, send, and convert money at the mid-market rate in one account.
• Accept payments from customers and payment service providers (PSPs) like Stripe and Amazon.

➡️Get started with Wise Business today

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Wise Pilipinas Inc. is regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. You may visit the BSP website for more information about its regulatory framework and consumer protection policies. To reach Wise, visit help center here.

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Sources:

1. Stripe- Global Businesses
2. Stripe- Global Availability
3. Stripe- Atlas
4. Stripe- Features
5. Stripe- Custom Checkout
6. Stripe- Terminal
7. Stripe- Managed Payments
8. Stripe- Multi-currency Settlement
9. Stripe- Payment Methods
10. Stripe- External Payment Methods
11. Stripe- Developer Resources
12. Stripe- App Marketplace
13. Stripe- Support
14. Stripe- Security
15. Stripe- Pricing & Fees
16. PayPal PH- Accept Payments
17. PayPal PH- Business Page
18. PayPal PH- Checkout
19. PayPal PH- List of Countries and Currencies
20. PayPal PH- Help Center
21. PayPal PH- Merchant Fees
22. Stripe- Payment Links
23. PayPal- Secure Technology
24. Trustpilot - PayPal
25. Trustpilot - Stripe