Comparison
Enterprise Pay Gateway vs PayPal
PayPal is the fastest way to accept a one-off payment from someone who already has PayPal. Enterprise Pay Gateway is the better long-term home for a business: your own Stripe account, your brand at checkout, proper recurring billing and reporting, and no reliance on the buyer having an account.
Last updated 9 September 2026
PayPal wins on familiarity and takes minutes to start. What it does not give you is a payment stack you can grow a business on — the brand at checkout is PayPal's, funds sit in a PayPal balance, and account limitations are a well-known operational risk.
Feature by feature
What you get out of the box with each, side by side.
Your own merchant account
Payments settle in an account in your business name, not an aggregator's.
Hosted checkout links per product
A permanent, shareable pay page for anything you sell.
Public storefront page
A ready-made page listing everything you sell, no website needed.
Memberships and recurring billing
Monthly or yearly plans with saved cards and automatic retries.
Invoicing with bank debit (ACH)
Send an invoice with a pay button and take low-cost bank payments.
Staff logins with their own access
Invite your team instead of sharing one password.
Multi-location reporting
Compare revenue site by site.
Dispute tracking with deadlines
Reason, amount at risk, countdown, evidence checklist and private notes.
Payout and fee reports with CSV export
Every payout itemised against the fees deducted from it.
Import your catalogue
CSV, Shopify, Square or WooCommerce, read-only sync.
Transparent, separated fees
Subscription, platform fee and processing shown apart, never blended.
Already on PayPal? You can switch without losing your catalogue — import by CSV or sync it across.
| Enterprise Pay Gateway | PayPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand at checkout | Yours | PayPal's |
| Buyer needs an account | No | Often encouraged |
| Funds settle to | Your bank via Stripe payouts | A PayPal balance |
| Recurring billing | Included | Available, limited controls |
| Invoicing with ACH | Included | Invoicing yes, ACH limited |
| Hosted storefront | Included | Basic buttons |
| Reporting and CSV export | Included | Basic |
| Account limitation risk | Standard Stripe risk review | Frequently reported |
| Software fee | $49–$499/mo + 0.20%–0.75% | None, higher processing rates |
Choose Enterprise Pay Gateway when
- Payments are core to your business, not occasional
- You want your own brand and your own merchant account
- You need subscriptions, invoices, team access and real reporting
Choose PayPal when
- You take a handful of payments a month and want zero fixed cost
- Your buyers strongly prefer paying with a PayPal balance
Common questions
- Can I offer both?
- Yes. Nothing stops you keeping a PayPal option for customers who ask for it while running your main checkout, subscriptions and invoices here.
- Why does the merchant account model matter?
- With your own Stripe account you have a direct relationship with the processor, predictable payouts, and dispute handling in your own dashboard rather than through an aggregator's support queue.
What would we cost you?
Move the slider to your monthly card volume. Stripe keeps billing you its own processing rates directly — this is only what Enterprise Pay Gateway adds on top.
$15,000
Recommended plan
Starter
- Subscription
- $49 / mo
- Platform fee (0.75%)
- $113 / mo
- Total added by us
- $162 / mo
- Effective rate on volume
- 1.08%
Stripe's processing fees are separate and billed to you by Stripe under your own account.
Other comparisons
Third-party pricing and features are typical published figures and change often — verify with each provider before deciding. Our own figures come from the pricing page.