PayPal vs. Stripe - which is better for your SaaS
From a solopreneur who tried both
In the last few months I have implemented a payment system using PayPal and Stripe.
I also had many email exchanges, a few calls and a cooperation opportunity with one of the companies.
And don’t get me wrong, both will provide you with exactly what you need, but one is way better than the other for solopreneurs.
Before we get started, if Stripe is not available in your country, you can either go with lemonsqueezy, which are way more expensive, or pay $500 and get Stripe Atlas (That’s what I did).
P.S.
This article is for solopreneurs who develop SaaS products.
P.S. 2
I am not going to go into the horror stories and inner problems of each company. I write it purely from a technical perspective.
P.S. 3 (last, I promise)
If you’re looking for the generic tables, like pricing comparison, I’ll add a few of those at the end of the article.
User Interface (UI)
PayPal: PayPal’s user interface for customers looks outdated and is extremely hard to navigate through.
First, you have both a client account and a business account.
And that’s not all.
After you create an app, you get an example business account and an example customer account, so you can test everything.
Total: 4 accounts.
BUT WAIT. That’s not all.
In order to be able to navigate through that complex system, you have to switch your account to business account.
Now, after you figure this out, here’s a walkthrough on how to create a subscription plan:
Now you need to fill up forms and click buttons over 5 different pages to create a product and offer that product as a subscription plan.
Time to create a subscription plan: 3 minutes if you know exactly what to do.
I paid a freelancer $60 to guide me through the process of creating a subscription plan.
Verdict: 1/10.
Stripe: When you start using Stripe, especially after using PayPal, you finally see a company that has UX on a very high priority.
1 Account, 1 button to switch from sandbox to live. That’s it.
Figuring out how to create a subscription plan will take you 30 seconds if you’re new.
Almost everything is smooth and easy to use.
One thing that I found quite annoying is finding niche things, like your client keys which are hidden in:
Settings→Connect→Oboarding options→OAuth.
Verdict: 9/10
Winner: Stripe
Support
PayPal: In order to contact PayPal you can either have a paid account and get live assistance, or you can create a ticket.
And honestly,
Verdict: 3/10
Stripe: I am not sure about Stripe’s website support, but their Discord support is just amazing.
Real Stripe developers will have a chat with you and they will have answers to all of your questions.
I was amazed by how deep their knowledge is.
But it’s not 24/7, so pay attention to their working hours.
Verdict: 9.5/10
Winner: Stripe
Documentations
I’ll keep it short here.
PayPal: 0 SEO. If you’re going Google some guides on how to use their API, you’re not going to find any official PayPal documentations.
And if you’re looking for them, good luck finding them.
Verdict: 0/10
Stripe: Try to Google anything related to Stripe. They’re the first results, every time.
Like every other docs, they have to be extensive and long. But the important things are highlighted and easy to find.
Verdict: 8/10
Winner: Stripe.
API
PayPal: PayPal have an SDK for the frontend. It’s a buttons component that has several callbacks you need to implement in order to process payments.
onCreate, onApprove, onError, onCancel.
Now, although it seems easy to use, and without talking about the bugs I encountered, implementing the backend logic becomes a mess real quick.
There’s no SDK for the backend and you’ll need to know and learn many endpoints, how to structure their body and hope to god everything works.
Because the errors you’ll get are usually a mystery. Good luck finding a fix.
Verdict: 6/10
Stripe: Stripe’s API is the industry standard. It’s logical and consistent.
And the most important thing: they have an SDK for the backend.
Literally any functionality you’re going to need is included, in a very intuitive library. I didn’t use the documentations for it once.
Verdict: 10/10
Winner: Stripe
Webhooks
PayPal: Setting up the webhooks manually is just as easy to do as in Stripe. The problems begin when you try to use their API.
You’ll get endless errors which you have no idea how to fix. I gave up trying to make it work.
So if you’re looking to implement dynamic logic with their webhooks, I wish you good luck.
Verdict: 6/10
Stripe: When I think about it, setting a webhook manually on PayPal is a little bit easier.
But when it comes to setting it up programmatically, Stripe’s SDK has everything you’ll need.
And if you’ve got something wrong, the errors you’ll get will direct you in the right direction.
Verdict: 9/10
Winner: Stripe
Summary
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Yeah it's absolutely brutal. And their CEO doubled down on it after it came to light. Disgraceful.
After the Honey Scam from PayPal I don't think I would use them even if the positions here were switched, but great data nonetheless! I love that Stripe embraced the Discord model.