PayPal Fee Calculator: What PayPal Takes, and What You Keep
Enter a payment amount and choose how you were paid. The calculator shows PayPal’s fee, what you receive, and what to charge if you need to receive an exact amount. Below it, see what PayPal costs a business over a year.
What PayPal costs your business
Over five years: $59,700.
PayPal side: PayPal’s published US commercial transaction rates, checked September 2026, with the 1.5% international fee when selected. Currency conversion, disputes and instant transfers are not included. Interchange-plus side: a 2.25% blended interchange typical of what we see in audits, about 0.14% in card network fees, about 2 cents per sale in network per-item fees, and a 0.05% markup. In-person sales usually carry lower interchange than that default. Estimates only.
A $100 PayPal Checkout payment costs $3.98. The same $100 through a Stripe online checkout costs $3.20, and on interchange plus 5 basis points about $2.46. PayPal’s 49-cent fixed fee and 3.49% rate make its checkout one of the most expensive ways for a business to take an online payment.
PayPal fees in 2026
These are PayPal’s standard US rates for business payments, as published on its business fees page when we checked in September 2026.
| Payment type | Rate | Fixed fee |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal Checkout and Guest Checkout | 3.49% | 49¢ |
| Pay with Venmo | 3.49% | 49¢ |
| Standard credit and debit card payments | 2.99% | 49¢ |
| Advanced credit and debit card payments | 2.89% | 49¢ |
| Send and receive money for goods and services | 2.99% | None |
| QR code and in-person card payments | 2.29% | 9¢ |
| PayPal Pay Later | 4.99% | 49¢ |
| Micropayments | 4.99% | 9¢ |
| Invoicing, paid by bank (ACH) | 1%, capped at $10 | None |
On top of those rates: PayPal adds 1.5% when the buyer is outside the US, and applies a currency conversion spread, typically 3% to 4%, when a payment has to be converted. It charges $20 for a chargeback and $15 for a dispute, or $30 for sellers with high dispute volume. An instant transfer to your bank costs 1.5% of the amount, with a 50-cent minimum.
Source: PayPal’s published US business fees page, checked September 2026. This calculator covers business payments. Sending money to friends and family is priced on PayPal’s separate consumer fees page.
How to calculate PayPal fees
The fee on a payment is the payment times the rate, plus the fixed fee. A $100 PayPal Checkout payment costs $3.49 plus $0.49, or $3.98, and you receive $96.02.
To receive an exact amount, add the fixed fee to the amount you want, then divide by one minus the rate. To receive $100 through PayPal Checkout, charge ($100 + $0.49) ÷ (1 − 0.0349), which is $104.13.
The fixed fee is why PayPal hurts most on small payments. On a $20 checkout payment, PayPal takes $1.19, which is almost 6%.
What PayPal costs a business
For a business taking $50,000 a month at a $50 average sale, which is 1,000 payments a month, the payment type matters more than most sellers realize.
| How the business is paid | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| PayPal Checkout (3.49% + 49¢) | $2,235 | $26,820 |
| PayPal standard card (2.99% + 49¢) | $1,985 | $23,820 |
| PayPal advanced card (2.89% + 49¢) | $1,935 | $23,220 |
| Interchange + 5 bps | $1,240 | $14,880 |
Online, the gap between PayPal Checkout and interchange plus 5 basis points is about $12,000 a year for this business. PayPal’s in-person rate of 2.29% plus 9 cents is much lower than its online rates. For in-person sales, compare it against your own card mix, because in-person interchange usually runs below the 2.25% default we use here.
Buyers like PayPal, and some businesses keep it as one checkout option for that reason. The question is how much of your volume runs through it. Every sale that could have been a card payment on interchange plus pricing costs more on PayPal.
A low rate is not the same as a low cost
The interchange-plus figures on this page assume an account priced honestly: real interchange, network fees passed through at cost, and a 5 basis point markup. That is the benchmark, explained in full in our guide to interchange plus pricing.
Processors can quote a low discount rate and win the money back elsewhere. They mark up the network fees that are supposed to pass through at cost. They add fees with official-sounding names that no card network charges. They raise fees a few months after the contract is signed, when nobody is watching the statement.
Card processing pricing is largely unregulated, and overbilling is common. Negotiating a lower rate does not stop any of it.
We explain how that works in How can I have the lowest discount rate and the worst deal?
Run your own numbers
For how PayPal behaves as a company, including holds, reserves and complaints, see our PayPal rating. The Stripe fee calculator and the Square fee calculator run the same comparison for those providers, and the credit card processing fee calculator works from any processor’s statement.
Common questions
How much does PayPal charge per transaction?
For business payments in the US, PayPal charges 3.49% plus 49 cents for PayPal Checkout and Venmo, 2.99% plus 49 cents for standard card payments, 2.89% plus 49 cents for advanced card payments, and 2.29% plus 9 cents for QR code and in-person payments. Buyers outside the US add 1.5%.
How much is the PayPal fee on $100?
On a $100 PayPal Checkout payment, the fee is $3.98 and you receive $96.02. On a $100 goods and services payment, the fee is $2.99. On a $100 standard card payment through PayPal, the fee is $3.48.
How do I calculate PayPal fees?
Multiply the payment by the rate and add the fixed fee. To work out what to charge so you receive an exact amount, add the fixed fee to that amount and divide by one minus the rate. To receive $100 through PayPal Checkout, charge $104.13.
What is the PayPal fee for goods and services?
PayPal charges 2.99% with no fixed fee to receive money for goods and services, according to its published US business fees.
Does PayPal charge a chargeback fee?
Yes. PayPal charges $20 for a chargeback and $15 for a dispute, rising to $30 per dispute for sellers with high dispute volume.
How can a business pay less than PayPal’s fees?
By moving card payments to an interchange-plus account priced at interchange plus about 5 basis points, with network fees passed through at cost. For a business taking $50,000 a month online, that is roughly $12,000 a year less than PayPal Checkout. The account has to be priced honestly, so check the statement.
Cite this page
How these figures were built. PayPal rates are taken from PayPal’s published US business fees page as checked in September 2026. Worked examples apply those rates to the amounts shown. Interchange-plus figures use the blended interchange weAudit typically sees in client audits, with estimated network fees. Results are estimates, not quotes.
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