Question 1

What is the difference between GoCardless and PayPal?

Accepted Answer

GoCardless covers 39 countries and PayPal covers 187; they overlap in 39, with 0 served only by GoCardless and 148 only by PayPal. GoCardless supports 10 payment methods and PayPal 9, 0 of them in common. GoCardless publishes its pricing, while PayPal quotes fees per merchant.

Question 2

Which covers more countries, GoCardless or PayPal?

Accepted Answer

PayPal has more: GoCardless covers 39 countries and PayPal covers 187. Only PayPal serves Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda and 142 more.

Question 3

Does GoCardless or PayPal support more payment methods?

Accepted Answer

GoCardless has more: 10 for GoCardless against 9 for PayPal, with 0 in common. Only GoCardless offers ACH, BACS, Direct Debit, EFT Pre-Authorized Debit, Faster Payments, Instant Bank Payments and 4 more. Only PayPal offers Apple Pay, BLIK, Bank Transfer, Google Pay, Mastercard, PIX and 3 more.

Question 4

Is GoCardless cheaper than PayPal?

Accepted Answer

GoCardless publishes its pricing (1%–2.4% + 0.2 GBP per transaction). PayPal quotes fees per merchant. Which is cheaper depends on your payment methods, countries, volumes and risk profile, so compare quotes from both for your own mix.

Question 5

Can you use GoCardless and PayPal together?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Many merchants use more than one payment provider — to cover countries or payment methods only one of them offers, or as a backup if one has an outage. A payment orchestration platform can route each payment to whichever provider suits it best.

	GoCardless	PayPal
Type	Provider	Provider & method
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Founded	2011
Part of	Mollie
Countries covered	39	187
Payment methods	10	9
Currencies	8 — AUD, CAD, DKK, EUR, GBP, NZD…	24 — AUD, BRL, CAD, CHF, CNY, CZK…
Pricing	1%–2.4% + 0.2 GBP per transaction	On request
Settlement	Bacs payouts about five working days after creation; same-day settlement for eligible UK merchants
Regulators	Financial Conduct Authority, Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR), FinCEN
Categories	ACH, Bank Transfer, Direct Debit, Gateway, Open Banking, PayTech	ACH, BNPL, Bank Transfer, Cards, Crypto, Direct Debit, Open Banking, Remittance, Wallet
Industries	Charity, Fintech, SaaS, eCommerce	Charity, Cosmetics, Crypto, Food & Drink, Forex / CFD, Healthcare, SaaS, Travel, eCommerce, iGaming

GoCardless vs PayPal

GoCardless and PayPal at a glance

Countries

Only GoCardless

Only PayPal

Payment methods