- What are Payment Gateways?
- How Do Payment Gateways Work?
- How to Accept Quick PayPal Payments on Your Website?
- PayPal plugins table
- List of best WordPress PayPal plugins
- Conclusion
- FAQ
Today, more and more people do not spend time to go shopping, but instead, they prefer to shop online. Even older people use online banking to pay for online services. According to the portal Statista, the volume of online payments is growing rapidly.
By 2022, the total number of online transfers is expected to reach $ 5,411,354. This only confirms the fact that your WordPress site requires the PayPal integration of payment modules for the convenient user experience of your customers.
This is a convenient privilege of the modern world. Thanks to online shopping, you can buy anything on the Internet. It also means that every entrepreneur will want to increase sales by integrating payment gateways into their online store. This is one of the popular ways of scaling your store to earn more money. In this article, I will tell you about payment gateways and 12 best PayPal Plugins for WordPress.
What are Payment Gateways?
E-commerce volumes are growing from year to year. The security and convenience of accepting payments to online businesses can provide a payment gateway.
What is a payment gateway? This is a technical solution that allows online business owners to accept payment on the website using bank cards. It verifies customer data in the shortest possible time. This gateway is the link between the site and the acquiring bank partner. This gateway is the link between the site and the acquiring bank partner. A reliable gateway must comply with PCI DSS standards. And all information is encrypted to prevent information leakage.
What features should have payment gateways:
- Information encryption
Security is one of the first parameters that a user pays attention to. No cardholder would like these credit cards to fall into the hands of third parties. Therefore, you should choose a reliable payment gateways with an encrypted and fully protected data transfer system. - Work 24/7
The user should be able to make purchases at any time convenient for him. - Submit authorization request
As soon as the cardholder enters its data, the payment gateway checks if there are enough funds in the card account and if the issuing bank has no restrictions on this credit card. Immediately after receiving a response, the service sends information to the merchant. - Order filling
Depending on what information was received, the order is taken to work or canceled. Confirmation of the status of the order occurs within the payment gateway. - Fight against fraud
The payment gateway should have a system of fraud monitoring, risk assessment, geolocation tracking to secure the funds of the merchant and buyer. - Standards Compliance
PCI DSS rules change every year, becoming stricter. So, you can be sure that a payment gateway that fully complies with these standards is reliable and secure.
How Do Payment Gateways Work?
- The user places an order online and decides to pay by credit card. The “Pay Now” button redirects it to the credit card data entry page.
- Card details are redirected to the payment gateway together with the order amount.
- The following is an authorization request sent by the payment gateway to the acquiring bank, and then to the international payment system (Mastercard / AmEx / Visa) to confirm that the card is valid and the operation does not look like a fraud.
- If the card is protected by 3D Secure, the client will be redirected to a page with a password entry form (to make sure that he is the cardholder). As soon as the password is confirmed, the issuing bank sends a notification to the international payment system (IPS).
- IPS sends the confirmation to the acquiring bank.
- The payment gateway transfers the amount to be debited from the payment card to the acquirer bank.
- The issuing bank checks whether there are enough funds on the customer’s card and sends the necessary amount of money and confirms the IPS transaction.
- Mastercard / AmEx / Visa sends a confirmation to the acquiring bank and payment gateway.
- Within 15 minutes, the merchant receives information on the transaction if it is successful and immediately after that the funds are withdrawn from the cardholder’s account.
- And finally, there is an instant transfer of funds from the buyer's account to the merchant account.
How to Accept Quick PayPal Payments on Your Website?
PayPal is one of the largest online payment services, has always needed easy and enjoyable ways for integration with WordPress websites. And one of the main problems of the developers was the following: how to combine the security of payments and user data with a simple and intuitive interface?
Since PayPal was founded, i.e. since 1998, online payment systems have changed and improved significantly. There are lots of SSL plugins today to make your website more reliable. Although the security issue, because of hacker attacks and theft of card data, still has not lost its relevance. Today it remains the most important issue for both users and developers.
WordPress had to find the best e-commerce solution possible and provide a complete service for its users. WordPress business customers needed to sell products and make PayPal payments using a trusted system.
Nowadays, thanks to the developed PayPal ecosystem, users can easily pay for goods and services on various sites using this payment system. Giving your customers the ability to use a system that they already know about can bring incredible results.
When making a payment through PayPal, users do not need to provide their bank details. Instead, they only need to create an account in the system itself. This platform is especially popular among teenagers, so small companies use it to raise funds and increase profits. At the same time, large companies integrate this payment system as an additional payment method.
In this case, the answer to the question of how to integrate a PayPal payment system into an online store is obvious. This system integrates thanks to WordPress plugins. This is the easiest way to do this.
All you need to do is:
- sing up on PayPal and pick up a plugin
- install plugin
- configure plugin’s settings at WordPress dashboard
- add PayPal email and currency code
- insert a shortcode to your website page
Also, you can add PayPal payment buttons by creating an HTML form. I suppose that such methods can be a little bit confusing for many of you.
That is why I want to present to you the 12 best WordPress PayPal plugins. Some of them free, paid or both. Among them, you will surely find one that is right for you.
PayPal plugins table
| Plugins | Free | Premium | Rating |
| WordPress Simple PayPal Shopping Cart | + | - | 4.6 |
| Easy PayPal Payment Accept | + | - | 4?3 |
| Quick PayPal Payments | + | + | 4.5 |
| PayPal Donations | + | - | 5 |
| CP Contact Form with PayPal | + | +(additional features) | 3.7 |
| Easy Digital Downloads | + | - | 4.7 |
| PayPal Shopping Cart | + | + | 3.9 |
| PayPal Checkout For Woocommerce | + | - | 2.3 |
| PayPal Payments for Gravity Forms | - | + | 4.6 |
| Give WP | + | +(premium add-ons) | 4.8 |
| PayPal Plus | + | - | 3.9 |
| WordPress PayPal | + | - | 4.5 |
In case, you would like to get just a free PayPal plugin, this table will help you to find which one is paid or for free. Also, it is easy to see, which PayPal plugin has a free and premium version. So, if you will be satisfied with a free version, you can get a pro one.
What should the best WordPress PayPal Plugins include?
- built-in payment forms
- multilingual support
- lightweight
- Recurring payments and subscriptions
- Add-to-cart buttons
- Compatible with any WordPress theme
- Express and secure checkout solution
List of the best WordPress PayPal plugins
WordPress Simple PayPal Shopping Cart
This plugin allows you to add a PayPal button to a WordPress site. This can be done for any product or service that you sell directly through the site. The plugin shows the user the contents of the basket and allows you to control the amount of the selected product. If you use shortcodes dynamically, then you can create products without slowing down the site. You will be able to sell e-books, audio files, photos, and other media files through your website, and users will receive them by e-mail.
With its installation, a basket will be added to your website where users can send their desired goods (both physical and digital), and payment will occur through this system.
Key Features:
- Allows you to insert the "Add to Cart" button with various design options;
- Minimalistic approach - facilitates the work with the code and helps reduce load time to a minimum.
Easy PayPal Payment Accept
The Easy PayPal Payment Accept plugin is the best choice for WordPress if you need the “Pay Now” button. It allows you to place up to six widgets and even build your own using a shortcode. You can place it either on the sidebar or any page of the site and installation will not take much time. It also supports multiple currencies and multi-payment, depending on your settings and preferences.
Quick PayPal Payments
This is very simple but at the same time a powerful plugin that makes it easy to accept payments using PayPal. All you need to do is set up a PayPal form and add it to any page of a WordPress site using the shortcode. This plugin has a simple user interface that allows you to customize the appearance of the payment form.
As its name implies, it allows you to set up fast payments and add this feature to your website through shortcodes. The plugin is fully editable, easy to use, supports several languages, and also works with all currencies approved by PayPal.
PayPal Donations
PayPal Donations is a simple plugin that comes with its shortcode, so you can say that it is ready to use. All you have to do is install and activate the plugin, then go to Settings » PayPal Donations to configure it. For example, you can make sure that all users are transferred to the Thank You page after payment.
PayPal Donations is very simple and does what its name promises. Shortcodes and side widgets will be added to your site immediately after installing the plugin. You can choose the design of the donation button yourself and even create your own. Settings of different currencies, locations, types of payments and return pages are also available. The plugin has been translated into several languages, and if yours is not among them, then you can always contribute to this matter. This plugin is an ideal solution for charitable or non-profit sites if this feature was not included in your chosen WordPress charity theme.
CP Contact Form with PayPal
CP Contact Form with PayPal is a great solution if your business needs to collect data, such as details of reservations, reservations, registrations, meetings, orders, etc. The plugin form is connected to PayPal Standard or PayPal Express/Credit payments. PayPal payment form will appear in the WordPress settings area under the “Paid” or “Unpaid” sections with information about the user who confirmed the submission of the form. For example, if you want to use the hub services for SEO resellers, all you need to do is indicate what is needed in the form, enter your details and proceed with payment. Once the payment has been registered, you will receive an email with the purchased SEO phrases. Everything is simple!
Easy Digital Downloads
The Easy Digital Downloads plugin is also one of the popular e-commerce plugins with built-in PayPal support. It allows you to add the functionality of Pay Pal Pro and PayPal Express. It means that customers can pay with a credit card directly on your website. For buyers, this is not only convenient but also more secure than payments via PayPal Standard. It is important to note that PayPal Express is available in most countries of the world. But PayPal Pro is available only in Great Britain, the USA, Canada, and Australia.
Amazon and test payments are supported by default. There are also many premium extensions to help improve the store. Easy Digital Downloads is completely free. It means that the transaction fee does not apply to your sales.
Key Features:
- Test payment function;
- Provides users with complete purchase history, as well as the ability to re-download purchased goods;
- Allows you to set different price options for each product;
- Export data in CSV and PDF format;
- Includes a robust promotional code system.
PayPal Shopping Cart
PayPal Shopping Cart is another payment acceptance plugin that is designed to conduct sales on the site. It allows you to add the "Cart" button to any page on the site, and users will pay for their purchases through PayPal. With it, you can also configure user redirection to the product purchase confirmation page and the thank you page.
It is a plugin that refreshes in its simplicity but lacks some features available in other plugins. If you are looking for a really easy way to get your store from the ground, this is probably a plugin for you. The plugin will automatically use the price parameters defined with each message from ET Settings. Also, a button Add to Cart will work automatically on the page of each post. All you have to do is configure the main parameters of the plugin.
At the moment, the shopping cart plugin for the site is free, only fees for transactions are charged. There is also a PayPal Pro offer that extends the functionality of the plugin and allows you to perform basic settings for buttons, taxes, and discounts.
Key Features:
- The function of creating quick access buttons;
- Supports 25 currencies and 18 languages;
- Includes two button styles, as well as a choice of store URLs and payments.
PayPal Checkout For Woocommerce
This plugin is the most popular WordPress e-commerce plugin. It supports both standard accounts and PayPal Pro API. WooCommerce is perfect for all online stores.
WooCommerce PayPal Checkout allows your store to accept payments through PayPal instead of or in addition to the standard WooCommerce checkout process. Read also 20 best free Woocommerce themes.
After installing and activating the plugin, follow these steps:
- Go to your site’s admin panel> WooCommerce’s Settings> Payments> WooCommerce PayPal Checkout Payment Gateway.
- To configure the Credentials API automatically, click “Set up or link an existing PayPal account” or enter the data manually - “click here to switch the manual entry of API credentials”. Data can be taken from your account at https://www.paypal.com.
- Activate the checkbox “Enable PayPal Payments”
- Save your changes.
PayPal Payments for Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms is one of the most popular tools for creating great contact forms and more. So, with the installation of this plugin, you can accept payments from various forms. For example, there are the order form, the donation form, or the product purchase form, i.e. This plugin can be used for ongoing payments, donations, retroactive payments, etc. There will be no problem with WordPress integration. Additionally, this tool provides lots of add-ons:
- Stripe
- MailChimp
- Emma
- Slack
- HubSpot
There are three packages of add-ons and three plans. Which one you choose depends on your needs and budget. According to the review 2020, it has an overall rating of 4.6. Not bad, isn’t it?
GiveWP
The Give WordPress plugin appeared this week in the WordPress.org plugin directory. The main difference between this plugin and other similar ones is that it does not charge a commission. Any site using this plugin can receive 100% of all donations, as opposed to sites with online donations, where a certain percentage is usually charged in favor of the resource itself.
The Give plugin aims to “democratize generosity,” which echoes the mission of WordPress. The plugin was created so that users and non-profit organizations can publish their donation forms. Which is making it easy to raise funds, create reports and set up letters directly in the WordPress console.
Give supports the creation of flexible forms so that you can accept payments of different amounts or allow users to deposit any amount they want to deposit.
Payment options:
- PayPal Standard (commission-free)
- Test Gateway (use it yourself in a demo version)
- Stripe (2% commission)
- Offline Donations
PayPal Plus
The PayPal module brings you numerous additional functions such as creating credit notes directly from the WordPress WooCommerce shop.
It has never been so easy to integrate PayPal into WordPress WooCommerce. In addition to the additional functions, we provide you with detailed installation instructions for setting up the sandbox and the live account.
PayPal PLUS enables you to offer the four popular payment methods PayPal, direct debit, credit card and invoice. In this case, PayPal assumes the payment guarantee for you - in the event of a payment default or fraud, you are always protected. The setup in the shop is done in a few steps after activating your dealer account for PayPal.
Benefits of Using PayPal Plus:
- Faster payments using the Express Checkout button, right from the page of an individual product or shopping cart.
- PayPal, direct debit, credit card, payment by invoice.
- All payment methods in only one plugin.
- PayPal vendor protection protects against money loss for chargebacks and transaction cancellations for all transactions.
- The immediate transaction.
- The same commission for all payment methods - without registration or monthly fee.
- PCI Compliance
WordPress PayPal
WordPress PayPal plugin will help you to add a PayPal checkout to your website. All you need is to add a shortcode and you will add the PayPal button to a WordPress page.
Types of buttons:
- Subscription button
- Buy Now
- Donation
- Add to Cart
Additionally, you will get multicurrency and multilingual support. There are three subscription plans and quick setting configurations. This plugin allows you to charge tax and shipping on services and products.
Key features:
- PayPal and Credit card payment
- Testing purchases with PayPal Sandbox
- Easy to customize
- Supports many popular languages and currencies
- Dynamic buttons
Conclusion
These 12 PayPal plugins for the site that we covered in this article provide basic functionality. But each of them has own unique functions.
When choosing the appropriate payment method for your site, make sure that you are aware of its features and how they are suitable or not suitable for your business. Sometimes the simplest WordPress plugin is enough, but for more complex actions, a more complex software solution will be required. And the main thing, of course, should be the question of the security of the data of your customers, as this is what worries them the most and this will directly affect your business reputation.
PayPal provides the highest level of payment security. You should choose it as a payment method and provide users with convenient access to its payment system since, even though people are already used to using PayPal, not everyone likes to use it for online shopping.
I hope this article of the best PayPal plugins for WordPress was useful to you and helped you decide on the solution for your site. Remember to test a few before making your final choice.
WordPress PayPal Plugins FAQ
IS A BUSINESS ACCOUNT ON PAYPAL FREE?
PayPal offers three different accounts for personal, premium and business use. Each of them has different features and functionality. You can sign up for each of them for free. The business account includes the most features, for example, multiuser access and merchant services. The only rule is that you may have only one account with personal financial information and a unique email address. But you can upgrade your account at any time. So, if you want more accounts, just make registration on different emails and bank accounts.
WHAT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAYPAL ACCOUNTS?
It is easier to say for whom will every account suit better. For example:
- The business account will suit for big companies and groups.
- As for the personal account, it is great for personal use (individuals).
- The premier account will suit for sellers who just want to pay and receive money. So, if you don’t sell on a going basis, I recommend this type of account.
WHAT PERCENT IS THE PAYPAL FEE?
It depends on how much you sell every month. In common, the fee from each transaction is between 1.9 and 3.4 percent incl. €0.35.
There are five types of merchant rate, you just pick one and keep your account on this payment level. The higher your income is the less is your rate.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAYPAL PRO AND PAYPAL STANDARD?
With PayPal Payments Pro you become the same features that with a Standard one. Additionally, you will be able to accept payments via email, phone calls or fax. It is a great solution for those who want to receive transactions from popular payment types (debit, credit cards, and PayPal credit).
Read Also
Ways to Create a WordPress eCommerce Site | Knowledge Base Guide
100 Best WordPress Plugins Used by the 15 Top WordPress Blogs