As your business grows, you may want to think about offering more payment options to your customer base. Using services like Authorize.net and PayPal can provide greater flexibility in terms of accepting payment installment plans, multiple currencies, and touchless payments.
Learning about the pros and cons of each platform, along with its pricing range, can help you decide which option is a better fit for your business.
Contents
Authorize.net is a payment gateway that allows eCommerce businesses to accept transactions through a payment processor. On the other hand, PayPal is a comprehensive payment processing service that combines a payment gateway with providing payment processing in-house.
Authorize.net provides users with two different plans for payment processing, one with a payment gateway only and one with a merchant account and a payment gateway. It integrates with plenty of popular platforms, including BigCommerce and Magneto.
This plan is ideal for small businesses looking for a complete solution. It comes with automated recurring billing, which is useful for businesses that sell subscription-based goods and services, but they charge extra for ACH payments.
For those who already have a merchant account, Authorize provides this option. It allows you to combine all your transactions from a single day into a batch that is sent to payment processing networks. It comes with automated recurring billing, but you will also need to pay extra for ACH.
PayPal offers two plans for small businesses: PayPal Payments Standard and PayPal Payments Pro. PayPal’s services are also compatible with many eCommerce platforms such as Wix, BigCommerce, and Shopify.
To integrate PayPal payments without a web developer, all you’ll need to do is copy and paste their code or use a plug-in with an existing shopping cart which can take about 15 minutes all in all.
For a more advanced payment solution, this plan gives you a virtual terminal so you can accept cards through mobile and other devices that don’t have a card reader and accept phone payments as well.
| Authorize.net | PayPal |
| Monthly fees | |
| $25 per month | PayPal Payments Standard charges zero monthly feesPayPal Payments Pro costs $30 per month. |
| Transaction fees | |
| 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction with a merchant account.10 cents per transaction and 10 cents daily batch fee for payment gateway only account. | PayPal offers discounted pricing for nonprofits, but transaction fees are variable according to their website. |
| Other fees | |
| Custom pricing is available for businesses that process sales volumes of over $500,000 per year. | Add-on recurring billing services cost $10 per month.Add-on Fraud Protection Services cost $10 per month plus 5 cents per transaction. |
Quick heads up Learn 6 PayPal Alternatives for Business Owners
These answers can help you understand the basics of payment processing for Authorize.net and PayPal.
Authorize.net can hold funds due to chargeback reasons and other factors.
PayPal sellers have the ability to cancel a PayPal order or authorization unless the payment has already been completed.
Yes, Authorize.net is a subsidiary of Visa and was initially acquired in 2010.
Ideally, PayPal is the best fit for small online businesses with customers from around the world. However, Authorize.net provides more affordable pricing for businesses on a budget.
Feel free to check out our comparison of top online payment processors at Processing Card today!
