PayPal Fee Calculator
Calculate PayPal fees for payments, transfers, and international transactions. See what PayPal's published fees come to for business and personal accounts before you send or receive money.
Visit Official PayPal WebsitePayPal: PayPal Checkout
3.49% + $0.49
Paying or getting paid across borders?Wise Business isn’t a card processor. It’s for the other side of the money: hold and convert 40+ currencies, and pay overseas contractors or suppliers, with the fee shown before you convert.
See Wise BusinessPayPal is everywhere. With 400 million users, it is the default for online payments, eBay sellers, freelancers, and anyone who needs to send or receive money. Its fees are easy to underestimate because there is no single PayPal fee: the same $100 can cost nothing or several dollars, depending on whether it is a gift or a sale, what pays for it and which country it ends up in.
International transfers are where it gets expensive. PayPal adds its published 4% currency conversion spread on top of its regular fees, so sending $500 to a friend in Europe costs $4.99 in fees plus about $20.00 lost to the spread, about $24.99 in all. That is why the fee structure is worth knowing, and why it pays to price a money-transfer specialist before sending abroad.
The calculator above runs any amount through those published fees before you hit "Send", whether you are working out what a client's payment will leave you or what a card-funded payment to a friend will cost.
Want the full breakdown of every PayPal fee? Read how PayPal fees work. Our guide covers Friends & Family vs Goods & Services, instant transfers, and international costs. Just sending to friends or family? Use our PayPal Friends & Family calculator instead.
PayPal Fees at a Glance (2026)
| PayPal Checkout (selling on a website or app) | 3.49% + $0.49 |
| Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services | 2.99% |
| Micropayments (by application) | 4.99% + $0.09 |
| QR code / in-person | 2.29% + $0.09 |
| Friends and Family (bank or balance) | Free |
| Friends and Family (card) | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| International commercial | 4.99% + $0.49 |
| International Friends and Family | 5% (min $0.99, max $4.99) |
| Currency conversion spread | 4% paying or sending in another currency; 3% otherwise |
| Instant transfer to bank/card | 1.75% (min $0.25, max $25) |
| Standard withdrawal to bank | Free |
| Monthly / account fee | $0 |
US account pricing, in US dollars. PayPal sets the fixed part of a commercial fee by the currency you receive, so a sale paid in euros or pounds carries its own fixed fee rather than the $0.49 shown here.
How PayPal Fees Are Calculated
A commercial PayPal fee usually has two parts: a percentage of the payment and a fixed amount on every transaction. The percentage grows with the sale, but the fixed part is what decides how much a small payment loses. On a $5 Checkout sale the fee is $0.66, about 13.2% of the sale; on $500 it is $17.94, closer to 3.6%.
Selling to a buyer abroad stacks the charges. PayPal's international fee of 1.5% goes on top of the Checkout rate, and when the payment also changes currency, a conversion spread is taken out of the exchange rate. That spread never appears as a line of its own, so the way to see it is to set the rate PayPal used beside the mid-market rate for the same day.
Example Calculation:
PayPal Checkout sale of $500:
- • Payment amount: $500
- • Percentage fee: 3.49% = $17.45
- • Fixed fee: $0.49
- • Total PayPal fee: $17.94
- • Amount received: $482.06
Using the PayPal Fee Calculator
Pick the payment type first, since it moves the result more than the amount does. A personal payment is priced from the sender's side, so the card option shows what you pay on top for your friend to receive the full sum. Every seller option works the other way round and shows what is left after PayPal takes its cut.
If you sell, set your prices from that second figure rather than the sticker price. The fee comes off every sale before it reaches you, so a price that looks right before fees can leave too little after them.
Comparing PayPal with Other Options
What a seller buys with PayPal is familiarity: buyers recognize the button, and many already have an account and a saved card, so they can pay without typing anything in. Whether that is worth 3.49% + $0.49 on every Checkout sale comes down to what a card processor would charge you for the same order, which the $100 table further down helps you test.
If you also hold money in Skrill, another online wallet, our Skrill fee calculator breaks down its deposit, withdrawal and transfer fees.
Tips to Save on PayPal Fees
For Personal Use:
- • Pay friends from your PayPal balance or bank account rather than a card
- • Cash out with a standard transfer, which is free, unless you need the money today
- • Check which currency a payment to someone abroad will arrive in before you send it
For Business:
- • Ask a client you bill directly to send the payment as Goods and Services, not through a checkout link
- • Apply for micropayments pricing if most of your orders are only a few dollars
- • Invoice clients abroad in US dollars where you can, so any currency conversion happens on their side
PayPal Pros and Cons: Should You Use It?
Advantages
- ✓Trusted at checkout: shoppers who would hesitate to type a card number into a small shop's site will often pay with an account they already have
- ✓Buyer protection: an eligible purchase that never arrives, or arrives not as described, can be claimed back through PayPal
- ✓Quick to start: a business account, a payment button or an emailed request needs no developer
- ✓One wallet for both sides: the same account pays friends, shops online and takes payments from customers
✗Disadvantages
- ✗Account limitations: PayPal can limit an account and hold its balance for up to 180 days while it investigates
- ✗Disputes: buyer protection works against the seller when a claim is false, and the seller has to prove delivery
- ✗Support: getting a person on the phone about a held payment can take a long time
PayPal vs. Stripe vs. Square: What PayPal Costs on $100
Here is what each kind of PayPal payment costs on a $100 sale, a figure to hold up against the same $100 on our Stripe, Square and Shopify Payments calculators:
| Processor | Fee Structure | Fee on $100 | You Receive |
|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal Checkout | 3.49% + $0.49 | $3.98 | $96.02 |
| PayPal Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services | 2.99% | $2.99 | $97.01 |
| PayPal In person (QR code / card reader) | 2.29% + $0.09 | $2.38 | $97.62 |
| PayPal International sale | 4.99% + $0.49 | $5.48 | $94.52 |
Verdict: on $10,000 of monthly sales made up of $100 PayPal Checkout payments, PayPal's fees come to $398.00 a month. Many sellers offer PayPal next to a card processor rather than as their only checkout, so the buyers who want it can use it and everyone else pays by card.
When to Use PayPal (And When to Avoid It)
PayPal Makes Sense For:
- • Clients who already pay by PayPal, where asking them to switch costs you more than the fee
- • Small shops that want a payment button without building a card form
- • Freelancers cashing out marketplace earnings to a PayPal balance
- • Splitting a bill with friends, paid from a bank account or balance
- • Online purchases from a seller you don't know, where buyer protection matters
- • Donations through a donate button on a website
Avoid PayPal For:
- • Sending money to family abroad → both the fee and the conversion spread come out of what your family receives
- • Large invoices → the percentage grows with the bill: a $5,000 payment through Checkout loses $174.99, so ask a regular client to pay by bank transfer
- • Holding working capital → a limited account can't move money out until PayPal lifts the limitation
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does PayPal charge for payments?
That depends on what kind of payment it is, because PayPal prices each kind separately. An online checkout sale costs the seller 3.49% + $0.49, money sent to you as Goods and Services costs 2.99%, and a sale taken in person by QR code or card reader costs 2.29% + $0.09. A personal payment from a bank account or PayPal balance is free inside the US.
Are PayPal personal transfers free?
Inside the US, yes, as long as the money comes from your PayPal balance or a linked bank account. Fund the same payment with a credit or debit card and the sender pays 2.9% + $0.30; send it to someone abroad and 5% (min $0.99, max $4.99) applies, plus the conversion spread if their currency differs from yours. Keep Friends and Family for people you know: it carries no buyer protection, so it is the wrong way to pay a seller.
What are PayPal international transfer fees?
International payments cost more. An international sale through PayPal Checkout is 4.99% + $0.49 (the 3.49% + $0.49 Checkout rate plus 1.5%), and an international Friends and Family payment adds 5% (min $0.99, max $4.99). On top of that, PayPal's published currency conversion spread is 4% when you pay, or your recipient receives, another currency (3% on other conversions). A money-transfer specialist shows its exchange rate and fee before you send, so compare what arrives. On a $500 transfer from the US to a euro bank account in France, paid from a bank account, Wise's own quote came to about $3.16 all-in, Remitly's to about $2.90 and Western Union's to about $6.23, in quotes collected November 12, 2026.
Does PayPal charge monthly fees?
No. A personal account and a business account both cost nothing to open and nothing to keep, with no monthly charge and no minimum balance. PayPal is paid per transaction, through the fees in the table above.
How much is the PayPal fee for $100, $500 or $1,000?
For a Goods and Services payment (2.99%): $100 costs $2.99 (you net $97.01), $500 costs $14.95 ($485.05), and $1,000 costs $29.90 ($970.10). Through PayPal Checkout (3.49% + $0.49) the same amounts cost $3.98, $17.94 and $35.39. For any other amount or payment type, the calculator above does the sum.
Who pays the PayPal fee - the sender or the receiver?
For a Goods and Services payment or a PayPal Checkout sale, the receiver (seller) pays the fee: it is deducted from the amount they receive, so a $100 payment nets them $97.01 as Goods and Services or $96.02 through Checkout. For a card-funded Friends and Family payment, the sender pays the fee. PayPal does not officially let you pass the Goods and Services fee to the buyer, though some sellers build it into their price.
What is the PayPal Goods and Services fee?
In the US it is 2.99% of the payment with no fixed part: PayPal's "Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services" rate, paid by the person the money is sent to. It is not the same as the Checkout rate a website sale pays (3.49% + $0.49), which catches out sellers who assume every business payment costs the same. Sellers with many small sales can apply for micropayments pricing of 4.99% + $0.09, which works out lower than Checkout only on sales under about $26.67.
Do you have to pay to use PayPal?
Not to buy something. When you pay a business with PayPal, the business pays the fee (a purchase in another currency does carry PayPal's conversion spread), and a personal payment from your bank or balance is free as well. The charges that fall on you are for funding a personal payment with a card, sending money abroad, and moving your balance to your bank instantly (1.75%) instead of waiting for the free standard transfer.
Last Updated: Fees checked October 2026 against PayPal's merchant and consumer fee pages | PayPal US: Goods & Services 2.99%, Checkout 3.49% + $0.49 (receiver pays), Friends & Family free from bank/balance (card 2.9% + $0.30), international sales +1.5%, international Friends & Family 5% (min $0.99, max $4.99), instant transfer 1.75% (min $0.25, max $25). No monthly fee. Verify on PayPal's fee page. How we check figures
Related Guides
Credit Card Processing Fees Explained
How card processing fees actually work (interchange, assessments, and processor markup), plus pricing models and ways to lower your effective rate.
Stripe Fees Explained
What Stripe really charges in 2026 (the 2.9% + $0.30 base plus ACH, international, keyed, instant payouts and disputes) and how to lower your bill.
Stripe vs PayPal Fees
Which is cheaper in 2026? A side-by-side of online, in-person, international and ACH fees, with worked examples and a clear pick for each business type.
International Money Transfer Guide
Complete guide to sending money abroad safely. Learn about services, safety tips, regulations, and how to avoid scams.