Stripe vs PayPal vs Coastal Pay How to Cut Hidden Gateway Fees on Online Payments

Let’s Define What You Really Pay for When You Take Online Payments

Online payments involve three distinct services, often packaged differently across providers. Understanding what each one does makes the comparisons that follow much easier to read.

• Payment gateway: The technology that securely transmits card data from your website to the card networks. Standalone gateways (Authorize.net, NMI) charge a monthly subscription. Bundled gateways are included with the processor.
• Processor or acquirer: The entity that actually moves funds between the customer’s card issuer and your merchant account. This is where percentage and per-transaction fees originate.
• Platform: Optional layered software for billing, invoicing, tax, fraud, or marketplace payouts. Stripe Billing, Stripe Connect, and PayPal’s advanced products fall here.

Common Line Items on a Merchant Statement

• Per-transaction percentage (e.g., 2.9%)
• Per-transaction fixed fee (e.g., $0.30)
• Monthly gateway fee (e.g., $25, sometimes invisible inside an “all-in” rate)
• PCI compliance fee ($5 to $20 monthly or annual)
• Statement fee, batch fee, IRS reporting fee
• Cross-border or currency conversion fees
• Platform feature fees (subscription billing, advanced fraud, tax)
• Chargeback fees ($15 to $25 per dispute)

The number that actually matters is your effective rate: total fees divided by total card volume. Two merchants with the same headline rate can have very different effective rates depending on which line items their provider stacks on top.

Here’s How Stripe, PayPal, and Other Platforms Typically Add Gateway Costs

Each provider bundles processing, gateway, and platform fees differently. Here is the practical breakdown for U.S. online businesses.

Stripe

Stripe’s standard online card processing rate is 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge. The gateway is included in this rate, which is one reason Stripe has been the developer-default for the past decade. However, additional fees stack quickly:

• +0.5% for manually entered cards
• +1.5% for international cards
• +1% for currency conversion
• Platform feature fees: Stripe Billing (0.5% to 0.8% of subscription revenue), Stripe Tax (0.4% to 0.5%), Stripe Connect (variable platform fees)
• ACH at 0.8% capped at $5 (a meaningful discount on large invoices)

For straightforward U.S. card processing, the 2.9% + $0.30 baseline is competitive. Once you layer Billing, Tax, or Connect onto it, the effective rate climbs.

PayPal

PayPal’s pricing is fragmented and varies by product. Common ranges:

• PayPal-branded checkout (wallet button): approximately 3.49% + $0.49
• Standard online card processing: approximately 2.99% + $0.49
• International transactions: approximately 4.4% + fixed fee plus a 3% to 4% currency conversion spread
• Platform features (advanced invoicing, recurring billing): may incur additional charges

PayPal’s wallet button drives meaningful conversion lift on consumer-facing sites due to brand recognition. The trade-off is a higher rate on those branded-checkout transactions and a more fragmented fee structure overall.

Other Common Gateways

• Authorize.net / NMI: Standalone gateways layered on top of a separate merchant account. Typically $15 to $25 monthly gateway subscription plus per-transaction gateway fees of $0.05 to $0.10. Add this to your processing rate to get the true cost.
• Braintree (PayPal-owned): Roughly 2.9% + $0.30 for cards, plus access to PayPal and Venmo. Cleaner developer experience than legacy PayPal.
• Adyen: Interchange-plus pricing for mid-market and enterprise. Usually requires meaningful scale and a more involved onboarding process.
• Shopify Payments: Powered by Stripe with similar rates; if you use a third-party processor on Shopify, an additional Shopify transaction fee applies.

What You Need to Know About “No Extra Gateway Fee” Pricing

Two pricing models dominate the U.S. online payments market.

The Stacked Model

You pay a per-transaction percentage plus per-transaction fixed fee, then add a monthly gateway subscription, then potentially add platform feature fees. A typical small-business stacked stack:

• 2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction
• $25/month standalone gateway (Authorize.net or NMI)
• $10/month statement and PCI fees
• $30/month for billing/subscription tooling if needed

On $20,000 monthly card volume, this stack runs approximately $660 per month, an effective rate of 3.3%. The headline rate (2.9%) does not capture what you actually pay.

The Bundled Model

You pay a single per-transaction rate that includes processing and gateway. Platform features are either included or available with no required subscription.

Coastal Pay charges a flat 2.5% + $0.15 per successful transaction with no separate gateway fee. The Coastal Pay Gateway is included at $0 monthly when you process through Coastal Pay. The same rate covers credit cards and ACH inside the gateway, and alternative payment methods (Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Klarna, Afterpay, Coinbase) are bundled in at no additional subscription cost.

On the same $20,000 monthly card volume, Coastal Pay’s flat 2.5% + $0.15 produces approximately $560 in fees – a meaningful drop from the stacked example, with no separate gateway, statement, or platform line items.

How Does Coastal Pay Compare to Stripe and PayPal on Real Statements?

Headline rates only tell part of the story. Here are concrete numerical examples on the same volume, including the gateway and platform fees that often hide in real statements.

Scenario 1: Consumer DTC Store ($50 Average Ticket, 1,000 Transactions/Month, $50,000 Volume)

On this scenario, Coastal Pay saves approximately $350/month vs Stripe and approximately $835/month vs PayPal branded checkout, before factoring in any platform fee differences. That is over $10,000 per year in retained margin against PayPal’s branded checkout – on identical volume.

Scenario 2: B2B Invoicing ($1,000 Average Ticket, 100 Transactions/Month, $100,000 Volume)

For B2B and high-ticket invoicing, the savings compound. Coastal Pay saves approximately $415/month vs Stripe cards and $524/month vs PayPal cards. With dual pricing applied where appropriate, the net processing cost can effectively go to zero.

Coastal Pay quick takeaway: 2.5% + $0.15 with no extra gateway fee. Cards and ACH on the same gateway. Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Klarna, Afterpay, and Coinbase included. Approved in approximately 2 minutes.

Get a Free Statement Comparison

When Should You Stay on Stripe or PayPal and When Should You Switch?

Stripe and PayPal are excellent products. The question is not whether they work – it is whether you are leaving money on the table when better-fit alternatives exist for your specific profile.

Stay on Stripe If

• You are an early-stage SaaS or marketplace using Stripe Billing, Stripe Connect, or Stripe Tax in critical workflows where ripping these out costs more than the rate savings
• You are a developer-first company where your team values the API and SDK ecosystem above all else
• Your monthly volume is under approximately $5,000 and the operational lift of switching outweighs the incremental savings

Keep PayPal If

• The PayPal wallet button drives meaningful incremental conversion on your consumer-facing checkout
• You sell to international consumers who specifically prefer or trust PayPal in their region

Clear Triggers to Switch (or Add Coastal Pay)

• Steady monthly volume above $10,000 in card sales: The fee gap becomes meaningful
• Visible gateway or platform line items on your statement: If you see Authorize.net, NMI, Stripe Billing, or PayPal advanced product fees stacking up, the bundled model saves money
• Effective blended rate above 2.7%: Calculate total fees divided by total volume on your last statement; anything above 2.7% has room to come down
• Multiple processors and ACH providers: Consolidating into one Coastal Pay account simplifies operations and removes duplicate subscription costs
• You sell B2B or high-ticket items: ACH within Coastal Pay at no extra subscription beats card-only setups significantly

The Phased Approach

Many merchants do not switch entirely; they consolidate. Keep PayPal as an alternative wallet button for buyers who prefer it, and shift primary card processing and gateway traffic to Coastal Pay. This captures the conversion benefit of PayPal where it exists while moving the bulk of card volume to lower-fee processing.

What Makes Coastal Pay a True Stripe and PayPal Alternative?

Coastal Pay is not a discount alternative with fewer features. It is a full-service processor and gateway built for businesses that have outgrown the friction of stacked vendor stacks.

Integration Parity

Coastal Pay connects to 2,000+ software integrations, covering the major categories you would expect from any modern processor:

• E-commerce: Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Wix, Squarespace
• POS: Clover, Lightspeed, Toast, and 2,000+ other POS systems
• CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive
• Accounting: QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks
• ERP and Vertical Software: Healthcare, hospitality, B2B, and specialty platforms

Payment Method Parity

Cards, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Klarna, Afterpay, and Coinbase – all on a single account. You do not lose payment flexibility by leaving Stripe or PayPal; in many cases, you gain coverage you did not have before (notably PayPal and Venmo together on the same gateway).

Differentiators That Matter for Growing Businesses

• Instant boarding: Most U.S. merchants approved in approximately 2 minutes
• No standalone gateway fee: Eliminates the most common hidden cost
• Flat 2.5% + $0.15 pricing: Lower than Stripe, Square, and PayPal standard rates
• Dual pricing program: Eliminate processing cost on card transactions where applicable
• Surcharging support: For businesses preferring to pass card fees to cardholders
• Centralized management: Multi-location, role-based access, consolidated reporting
• Backed by named acquiring banks: Wells Fargo and Axiom Bank, not a PayFac sub-account that can freeze without warning
• Reliability scale: $1.6B+ processed, 27M+ transactions, 13 acquiring bank relationships, 4,962+ active merchants

Coastal Pay is the practical alternative when Stripe’s stacked platform fees stop making sense and PayPal’s branded checkout rates start eroding margins.

Here’s How to Test Coastal Pay Side by Side With Your Current Provider

You do not need to migrate everything to evaluate the savings. A 30 to 60 day side-by-side test gives you real data with minimal risk.

The Three-Step Test Plan

1. Request a Coastal Pay quote. Share your last one or two processing statements with a Coastal Pay specialist. The team will calculate your current effective rate and project savings under Coastal Pay’s flat 2.5% + $0.15 with no gateway fee. This step takes one short call.
2. Get approved through instant boarding. Most U.S. merchants are approved in approximately 2 minutes. Once approved, you have a live Coastal Pay merchant account ready to process.
3. Route a slice of volume through Coastal Pay for 30 to 60 days. Set up the Coastal Pay Gateway alongside your existing Stripe or PayPal integration on your e-commerce platform or POS. Route a percentage of new transactions, or a specific channel (e.g., online deposits, B2B invoices, or one product line) through Coastal Pay. Compare effective rates, authorization rates, and operational experience.

What to Measure

• Effective rate: total fees divided by Coastal Pay volume vs the same calculation for Stripe/PayPal
• Authorization and approval rates
• Settlement timing and consistency
• Chargeback rate and dispute handling experience
• Operational ease: dashboard, support response time, integration stability

Quick Switch Checklist

1. Pull your last 2 processing statements
2. Identify these 3 lines: per-transaction percentage, gateway/platform fees, and effective blended rate
3. Request your free Coastal Pay quote and savings estimate

Get Approved in 2 Minutes

Or call: 888-266-1715

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Coastal Pay a Stripe or PayPal alternative?

Yes. Coastal Pay is a full-service payment processor and gateway competing directly with Stripe and PayPal for U.S. businesses. It supports cards, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Klarna, Afterpay, and Coinbase through a single account, charges a flat 2.5% + $0.15 per transaction with no separate gateway fee, and integrates with 2,000+ e-commerce, POS, CRM, and accounting platforms.

When should I switch from Stripe or PayPal to Coastal Pay?

Switch when you have steady monthly card volume (typically $10,000 or more), are paying separate gateway or platform line items on your statement, see an effective blended rate above 2.7%, or want to consolidate multiple processors and ACH providers into one account. Many merchants keep PayPal as a wallet option while moving primary card processing to Coastal Pay.

Does Coastal Pay charge a separate gateway fee like Authorize.net or NMI?

No. The flat 2.5% + $0.15 per transaction includes the Coastal Pay Gateway at no separate monthly cost. There is no standalone gateway subscription, no setup fee, and no platform-feature add-on fees on top of the per-transaction rate.