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Hi Folks,
I represent Showwcase, which is a network built for coders.
We're introducing a paywall for content creators on the platform to start accepting payments from their Followers for premium and unique content over and above the general free content. We are internally considering either Stripe or PayPal to handle this for us.
If we take the pricing out of the debate, what's the go-to choice when choosing which to integrate? Our current standpoint is that Paypal has wider consumer adoption, and since most creators are individuals, it makes sense to just use Paypal because they already have an account. However, our business uses Stripe, and so it makes it easier if both the platform (Showwcase) and creators to be on the Stripe platform. That being said, if creators don't already have an account, they will need to sign up with Stripe on the spot, which is a friction point.
I would like to hear the pros and cons in developer environments as well as any other things we might not know.
PayPal is a dinosaur and a nightmare to work with, both in terms of API as well as on the business side. We support both because our A/B tests showed a material increase in conversions by offering both, but I would drop PayPal in a heartbeat if I could. Stripe is a joy to work with.
I prefer Stripe for developers' ease of integration and PayPal for providing the simplest user experience (i.e., improved revenue.) In my experience, neither platform requires a user register to pay via credit card. However, as noted, many people have a PayPal account, which allows quick and easy payments through a "more" trusted name.
I used Stripe and Paypal and settled on Paypal for the customer. However, the PayPal web hook back end is a complete mess (at least in PHP). Unless they have improved very recently, PayPal web hook integration is poorly documented and barely supported with bits and pieces of important code on GitHub and elsewhere. I can't speak for other languages. But given the popularity of Paypal (i.e., improved revenue), I decided to keep using Paypal after I got the web hook integration worked out.
Stripe is strong because of their security. It is difficult for the programmer to install it, and in my case was impossible since my hosting provider did not have up-to-date software that it requires. I had to use another program on top of it as the shopping cart instead of using Stripe's shopping cart. But Stripe integrates with everything if you can get it to install, and is stable.
The big reason to go with PayPal is the 6 months same as cash or multiple payments over weeks for your clients. Some clients need this and you will lose them without PayPal. PayPal may change their policies, so in my opinion, PayPal is not as stable as Stripe. Some clients refuse or can't use PayPal, where Stripe is available to everyone with a credit card.
In summary, I set up both for my clients. And I used Zoho for everything else - shopping cart, accounting, CRM, banking, etc. It integrates with both Stripe and PayPal and pretty much anything else you use.
Be sure to read the Terms of both Stripe and PayPal, and I think that will help you with your decision.
After the initial investigation on which platform to use to process our payments, Stripe was a total no brainer.
We are heavy users of Stripe Connect, which allows us to collect payments on behalf of our client restaurants. Connect makes it super easy to collect, payout and manage any fee structure.
At the time that the platform was written it was also the only platform that was working flawlessly with Google Pay and Apple Pay on the Web.
Today we also give out to our clients Terminals from Stripe, allowing us to process all payments under a single unified interface.
We are looking forward to further integrations, like with AliPay and other local payment methods.
I used (tried to use) PayPal on one project and it was a total nightmare. At the time there was no cohesive "one" web-based product, you had to choose between three and the lines between them were very muddled. We reached out to developer support several times and they were no help at all. The documentation was old (incorrect) and confusing. Granted this was several years ago, but the pain remains. Given a choice of using PayPal and sticking hot needles in my eyes, I would first ask "How big and hot are these needles we're talking about?" Stripe is SO much easier!
Not only is ReCharge more interoperable with Shopify services and apps, thereby reducing the amount of work required to implement it, but it's also more cost-effective than ChargeBee.
At least with regard to handling physical products, I find ReCharge to be superior and cleaner. Their customer service is kinder AND they even let you try them out for the first $100k worth of recurring revenue, so you can really get a feel for whether or not it will be a good tool for your organization in the long run.
If you use Shopify, sell physical goods, and have complex subscription needs, ya can't go wrong with ReCharge. Plus, the cost is reasonable, so give it a go!
If you're in the SaaS business, ChargeBee may be more appropriate though.
Pros of Chargebee
Pros of PayPal
- Most known service196
- Consumers know it135
- It's available for many countries113
- Easy70
- Best way to get paid outside US54
- Most widely used payment processor35
- Express Checkout25
- Consumers trust it16
- Flexible and secure15
- Digital Goods for Express Checkout6
Pros of Zuora
- Well documented API1
- Recurring billing1
- Reliable1
- Extensive Documentation1
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Cons of Chargebee
Cons of PayPal
- Not well written recurring payment api1
- Less countries supported1
- Harder to get started with1
Cons of Zuora
- Pricing1
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