Stripe vs PayPal: Complete comparison for New Zealand

Key takeaways

• When comparing Stripe vs PayPal, look at payment options, checkout tools, transaction fees, chargeback fees, FX fees, and additional payment options.

• Stripe is typically more customisable, lower-cost, and has stronger recurring billing tools. PayPal wins on brand trust and ease of set-up — it's the go-to if you want a quick, consumer-familiar checkout, particularly in markets where buyers are wary of entering card details on a site they don't recognise yet.

• If you're operating across borders, modern fintech platforms like Airwallex go further with multi-currency accounts, interbank FX rates, and global payouts that Stripe and PayPal don't cover natively.

Choosing between Stripe and PayPal shapes more than just your checkout page — it affects your fees, your buyers' experience, and how easily you can collect payments in different currencies. Both are widely used and genuinely capable, but they're built for different types of businesses, and that gap becomes clearest when you're selling internationally.

What is Stripe?

Stripe is a payment processing platform built for online businesses. It lets you accept card payments, digital wallets, and local payment methods through its application programming interface (API) – a set of rules that lets different software talk to each other. For your business, this means you can embed a branded payment flow directly into your website without building the underlying infrastructure yourself.

Stripe is popular with product and engineering teams because of how much you can customise – from the look of your checkout to the logic behind how failed payments are retried.

What is PayPal?

PayPal is one of the world's most recognised payment platforms, used by both businesses and consumers. When a buyer pays via PayPal, they can be redirected to PayPal's own site to complete the transaction before returning to yours, though PayPal also offers on-site checkout options that keep buyers on your website throughout the payment process.

What makes PayPal distinct is that it works as both a payment processor and a consumer wallet. Buyers can store funds in their PayPal account, pay with a linked card, or use PayPal Credit — without entering their card details on your site at all. That's a big part of why PayPal builds trust at checkout, especially with buyers who don't recognise your brand yet.

Stripe vs PayPal at a glance

Before diving into the detail, here's a quick side-by-side reference. Airwallex is included as a point of comparison for cross-border businesses evaluating all their options.

Stripe vs PayPal fees 

When you're selling internationally, fees compound across card types, currency conversions, and disputes. A small difference in rate adds up fast once your transaction volume grows. Here's how Stripe and PayPal compare across the three main fee layers.

Card payment processing fees

If you want to model exactly how Stripe's fees stack up against Airwallex across your actual transaction volume, a Stripe fee calculator makes that comparison straightforward. But PayPal's pricing is more complex than it appears – rates vary depending on whether the buyer pays via their PayPal wallet, enters a card as a guest, or uses PayPal Credit. Stripe uses a simpler flat-rate model across card types, which makes it easier to forecast costs as you scale.

FX and currency conversion fees

An FX fee is the charge added when a payment is converted from one currency to another – for example, when a buyer in Germany pays in euros and you receive the funds in Australian dollars. 

Stripe adds 2% above the base rate for currency conversion. PayPal applies a 3–4.5% mark-up above the base rate. Neither platform offers interbank rates – the rate banks use when trading with each other, with no mark-up added – which means there's always a margin built in. Airwallex converts at interbank rates on eligible transfers, which can save you up to 80% on FX fees compared to traditional providers.

Chargeback and dispute fees 

A chargeback is a payment reversal initiated by a buyer through their bank or card network when they dispute a transaction – for example, claiming they never received an order. Stripe charges a NZ$25 dispute fee, which is returned to you if you win the case; if you lose, the fee is not returned. Stripe Radar, its fraud detection tool, is included at no extra cost for accounts on standard pricing. PayPal charges a NZ$15 dispute fee at the standard rate (higher for high-volume merchants), but if you opt into Chargeback Protection or Effortless Chargeback Protection and meet the evidence requirements for eligible ‘unauthorised’ or ‘item not received’ disputes, PayPal can waive its dispute fee and won’t debit the disputed amount.

How Stripe and PayPal compare on key features

Fees are only part of the picture. The features that shape your day-to-day operations – from how buyers check out to how you manage recurring billing – matter just as much, especially when you're selling across borders.

Supported currencies and local payment methods

Stripe supports 135+ currencies for collection; PayPal supports 100+ currencies for payment acceptance, though account balance currencies are more limited at 25. But there's an important nuance here. Supporting a currency for collection is different from being able to settle in that currency. Your settlement options depend on where your account is registered, not just which currencies buyers can pay in.

Local payment methods are region-specific ways to pay – such as iDEAL in the Netherlands, Alipay in China, or BECS Direct Debit in Australia. Buyers in those markets often prefer them over card payments, and offering a familiar option at checkout directly affects whether they complete their purchase. Stripe supports 100+ local payment methods; PayPal supports 20+ local payment methods, including options like iDEAL and SEPA, as well as digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Airwallex supports 160+ local payment methods across 180+ countries.

Cross-border checkout experience

Stripe keeps your buyers on your website throughout the entire payment process – you can embed a fully branded checkout so they never leave your site. PayPal offers both on-site checkout options and a redirect flow that sends buyers to PayPal.com to complete payment before returning to yours.

The trade-off is real:

• Stripe's on-site checkout: Removes friction and keeps buyers in your brand environment from start to finish.

• PayPal's redirect flow: Can reassure buyers who don't recognise your brand yet – particularly in new markets where the PayPal logo builds confidence.

Neither approach is universally better. It depends on your audience and how established your brand is in the markets you're entering.

Subscriptions, invoices, and recurring billing

Both platforms support recurring billing, but with meaningful differences. Stripe Billing handles complex set-ups – tiered pricing, prorated plan changes (where a customer's charge is adjusted mid-cycle when they upgrade or downgrade), and dunning. Dunning is the automated process of chasing failed payments before cancelling a subscription – for example, retrying a declined card three times over seven days before sending a cancellation notice.

PayPal supports subscriptions and allows price changes to existing plans to take effect from the next billing cycle without requiring cancellation – though more complex plan changes can still run into limits. If subscription flexibility matters to you, Stripe may have the edge here.

APIs, integrations, and developer tools

Stripe's API is developer-friendly – clearly documented and highly flexible – while PayPal is a bit more limited for custom builds. Both integrate with major eCommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, and accounting tools like Xero and QuickBooks.

The key practical difference is that Stripe typically needs a developer to unlock its full capabilities, while PayPal can be up and running without one in minutes.

Payouts, account holds, and fund access

Stripe operates on a rolling payout schedule – in most countries, the standard payout speed is T+3 (three business days after a transaction), though it can apply reserves on higher-risk accounts. PayPal has a documented history of placing holds on funds, particularly for newer accounts or during rapid sales spikes, which can delay access to your money at the worst possible moment.

By default, Stripe settles to your linked bank account in your primary currency, though you can add foreign-currency bank accounts to settle some currencies like-for-like and avoid Stripe’s 2% FX surcharge. PayPal works differently again: it lets you hold balances in 25 currencies inside your PayPal account, but withdrawals to a NZD bank account will still trigger PayPal’s FX mark-up.

Which is better for your cross-border business?

The right answer depends on your business model, your buyers, and how much developer resource you're working with.

Stripe advantages

If your business is product-led, high-volume, or subscription-based, Stripe is likely the stronger choice — though it's worth comparing Stripe against Airwallex on fees and cross-border capabilities before you commit:

• You're building a customised checkout: Stripe lets you embed a fully branded payment flow without redirecting buyers off your site.

• You sell software or subscriptions: Stripe Billing handles complex recurring billing, failed payment retries, and plan changes natively.

• You process high volumes: Stripe's pricing becomes more favourable at scale, and custom rates are available for eligible businesses.

• You have a development team: Stripe's API gives you full control over the payment experience, but you'll need the resource to build and maintain it.

PayPal advantages

PayPal's strengths are real — and depending on how you operate, it could genuinely be the better fit for you:

• Your buyers trust the PayPal brand: In certain markets and demographics, seeing PayPal at checkout drives completions from buyers wary of entering card details on unfamiliar sites.

• You want to go live fast without a developer: PayPal's plug-and-play checkout requires minimal technical set-up and can be running within hours.

• You sell on consumer marketplaces: PayPal integrates natively with platforms like eBay and Etsy, where buyers already expect to pay via PayPal.

• You want to offer buy now, pay later (BNPL) at checkout: PayPal offers Pay Later in select markets; in others, BNPL is typically enabled via third-party options such as Afterpay or Zip.

Need more than Stripe or PayPal? Why businesses choose Airwallex

Here's the question that often comes up after comparing these two – what if your business needs more than a payment processor? If you're collecting payments in euros, paying suppliers in US dollars, and managing a team in Singapore, a payment processor alone won't cover everything.

You also need somewhere to hold multiple currencies, a way to convert at fair rates, and the ability to pay out globally without routing everything through SWIFT – the international messaging network banks use to send money across borders, which is often slow and expensive.

That's where Airwallex goes further. With Global Accounts, you get local bank details in 20+ currencies so you can collect payments as if you had a local presence in each market. FX & Transfers converts between currencies at interbank rates for 90+ currencies, which can cut out the mark-up that Stripe and PayPal both apply. And, you can send funds to 200+ countries – with over 90% going through local rails instead of SWIFT, which can mean faster arrivals and lower costs. Airwallex's Checkout, Payment Links, and Subscriptions products cover payment acceptance directly, so you're not piecing together multiple providers to get the full picture.

Frequently asked questions

Can you use Stripe and PayPal together on the same checkout?

Yes – you can run both to give your buyers more payment options. You can't integrate them directly with each other, so you'd need two separate accounts running alongside each other.

Do Stripe and PayPal charge the same fees for international card payments?

No. Stripe charges 3.50% + NZ$0.30 for international cards while PayPal charges 4.40% + NZ$0.45 for international card payments for New Zealand businesses.

Does Stripe or PayPal let you hold foreign currency without converting it?

PayPal lets you hold balances in 25 currencies in your PayPal account, and Stripe can settle some currencies like-for-like into foreign-currency bank accounts if you configure multi-currency settlement. However, in the default set-up for NZ businesses, both platforms will typically convert back to your account currency and apply their own FX fees unless you take extra steps.

Is Stripe or PayPal more secure?

Both are PCI DSS Level 1 certified – the highest level available – and both use encryption, tokenisation, and real-time fraud detection. 

What's the difference between Stripe and PayPal’s checkout options?

Stripe’s APIs let you embed a fully branded on-site checkout so buyers never leave your site, although Stripe also offers hosted checkout options. PayPal offers both on-site checkout options and a redirect flow that sends buyers to PayPal.com to complete payment before returning to yours. Stripe's approach reduces friction; while PayPal's redirect flow may build trust with buyers who don't recognise your brand.

Sources 

1. https://stripe.com/nz/payments

2. https://stripe.com/nz/pricing 

3. https://www.paypal.com/nz/business 

4. https://www.paypal.com/nz/business/paypal-business-fees

The information in this article is based on our own online research. Airwallex was not able to manually test each tool or provider. The information is provided for educational purposes only and a reader should consider the specific requirements of their business when evaluating providers. This research is reviewed annually. If you would like to request an update, feel free to contact us at [[email protected]]. Airwallex (New Zealand) Limited is registered with the New Zealand Financial Service Provider Register (FSP No. 1001602) to provide a range of financial services in New Zealand.