PayPal Invoice Fees and Stripe Invoicing Fees Compared

A $2,500 invoice costs your business about $72.80 to $87.74 in fees when the customer pays by card, and about $10 to $17.50 when the customer pays by ACH bank transfer, on the published rates of PayPal, Stripe, Square and QuickBooks. On a $250 invoice the card fee is $7.48 to $9.22. The platform you pick matters less than the payment method your customer is nudged toward, because card fees scale with the invoice and bank transfer fees are capped. For a team that sends 40 invoices of $2,500 a month, the gap between all card and mostly ACH is more than $2,000 a month.

The figures below come from the pricing pages the providers publish for US businesses. Square's table and Stripe's Invoicing page we read directly. PayPal and Intuit block automated reads of their fee pages, so their numbers are the rates widely reported and cross-checked on several fee guides, and we mark them as such. Rates change and differ by plan and account, so use the tables to rank the options and confirm the final rate on the provider's page before you commit. A dash means the provider does not publish that line.

PayPal invoice fees, Stripe invoicing fees and the rest at a glance

Every platform here charges a percentage of the payment plus, in most cases, a fixed amount. Stripe adds a separate invoicing fee on top of the card or bank rate. Square folds invoices into its online rate. The table lists what a US business pays when a customer pays an invoice.

Two rows deserve a second look. Stripe looks cheapest on its headline until you add the invoice fee, and Square's Free plan looks cheapest until you see that it charges 0.4 points more on every card payment than its paid plans. We read Square's rates on its pricing page and Stripe's on the Invoicing pricing page.

What each provider costs on a $250 and a $2,500 invoice

A percentage rate means little until you apply it to your own invoice size. Here are the fees on two typical sizes, a $250 service invoice and a $2,500 project invoice.

How we got the Stripe numbers: on $2,500, Starter charges 0.4 percent ($10.00) for the invoice, and the card adds 2.9 percent plus $0.30 ($72.80), so $82.80 in total. For ACH, the $10.00 invoice fee plus 0.8 percent capped at $5.00 gives $15.00. For PayPal, 3.49 percent of $2,500 is $87.25, plus $0.49. Notice what the table says. On $250 the best and worst card prices differ by $1.74. On $2,500 they differ by $14.94, and every ACH option beats every card option by at least $55.

What it costs a month at 40 invoices of $2,500

An invoice team does not pay a fee once. It pays it forty times. Take 40 invoices of $2,500 a month, which is $100,000 billed.

• All paid by card: $2,912 on Square Plus, $3,312 on Stripe Starter, $3,010 on PayPal paid by card, $3,510 on PayPal with PayPal.
• Everything on ACH: $400 on Square or QuickBooks, $600 on Stripe Starter.
• 30 percent on ACH (12 invoices) and 70 percent on card (28): $2,158 on Square Plus and $2,498 on Stripe Starter. That mix saves about $750 to $815 a month against all card.

The takeaway is practical. Compare the platforms on your expected card share, because a business that bills large invoices to other businesses can move most payments to ACH and make the card rate almost irrelevant. A business that bills many small consumer invoices cannot, and there the fixed $0.30 or $0.49 starts to matter more than the percentage.

Who pays the fee on a PayPal invoice?

The seller pays. PayPal deducts its fee from the amount the customer pays, so a $2,500 invoice paid with PayPal leaves you $2,412.26 after the 3.49 percent plus $0.49. The customer sees the invoice total and nothing else. If you want to recover the cost, you have to build it into your price or add a line item, not expect PayPal to bill the customer separately.

Does Stripe charge per invoice?

Yes. Stripe Invoicing charges 0.4 percent per paid invoice on Starter and 0.5 percent on Plus, which adds quotes, and says no fixed or upfront fees apply. The normal Stripe Payments rate is billed in addition. So an invoice paid by card carries the invoicing percentage and the card percentage together, which is why Stripe costs more than its card rate suggests.

Can I pass invoice payment fees on to my customer?

Often yes, for card payments, but with limits. Card networks cap a surcharge at about 3 percent, a few states restrict or ban surcharging, and some processors require you to disclose it on the invoice. A safer option is a small discount for paying by ACH, which is legal everywhere and steers customers toward the cheapest method. Check your processor's terms and your state's rules before adding a surcharge line.

What the percentage does not show

Four costs sit outside the rate card, and any of them can change which platform wins for you.

Payout speed. Standard payouts are free everywhere, but instant payout costs extra. QuickBooks lists instant deposit at roughly 1.75 percent, which on a $2,500 invoice is $43.75 for getting the money a day or two sooner. If the invoice is the bill that pays your payroll, that may be worth it. If not, wait.

Disputes. A card chargeback costs a flat fee and the lost sale on top. Stripe and PayPal charge a flat dispute fee on top, and optional protection products, such as the one QuickBooks reports from 0.99 percent, charge a share of each payment. Bank transfers carry return risk instead. Our guide to chargeback management pricing shows what it costs to fight one, and the Stripe chargeback protection guide prices the insurance.

Currency. PayPal adds 1.50 percent when the payer is outside the US and a currency conversion spread on top. If one in five clients is abroad, that line can outweigh the base rate gap.

The work after the payment. The cheapest fee still costs money if someone has to match a payout to six invoices. Stripe auto-reconciles invoices paid by ACH credit or wire. If your invoices live in your accounting system, the question is which tool reconciles the payout to the right invoice without a person doing it. Our guide to accounts receivable software covers that side, and the ACH origination fee guide covers what your bank charges when you push payments out instead of collecting them.

Which platform fits which business

• Mostly large B2B invoices: ACH is your cheapest lane on every platform. Square and QuickBooks cap it at about $10, Stripe at $5 plus the invoicing fee. Choose the one your accounting system reconciles best.
• Freelancers and small projects under $500: the fixed fee and the percentage both matter. QuickBooks and Square Plus are lowest on a $250 card invoice among these four.
• International clients: price PayPal's 1.50 percent plus conversion against Stripe's international card rate before you decide.
• Quotes and a customer portal: Stripe Plus adds quotes for the extra 0.1 percent per invoice, worth it only if you send many quotes that convert.

The first invoice is usually the one a new client questions, so the way you present payment options matters. Teams that run a clean handover at signup, like those who use a tool such as Onboardingcustomers to walk new clients through the first steps, tend to see ACH adopted earlier because the choice is explained once, not on the first overdue notice.

How to compare your own invoice fees in 15 minutes

1. Pull your last 90 days of invoices and compute the average and median invoice size.
2. Estimate the share a customer would pay by ACH if you made it the default and offered a 1 percent discount.
3. Apply the card and ACH rates above to your median invoice, then multiply by your monthly count.
4. Add the instant payout, dispute and currency lines you actually use.
5. Check the provider's current page for your plan and country, and keep the printout with the date.

Frequently asked questions

How much does PayPal charge to send an invoice?

Sending the invoice is free. PayPal charges when the customer pays it, reported at 3.49 percent plus $0.49 for a PayPal payment and 2.99 percent plus $0.49 for a card payment in the US, plus 1.50 percent when the payer is outside the US. There is no monthly fee on the basic invoicing product.

Is Stripe invoicing cheaper than PayPal?

For card payments they are close. A $2,500 invoice costs about $82.80 on Stripe Starter and $75.24 to $87.74 on PayPal. For bank transfers Stripe wins clearly, at $15 against no ACH option on PayPal invoices. Stripe is also more transparent because it separates the invoicing fee from the processing fee.

What is the cheapest way to get paid on an invoice?

ACH bank transfer. On a $2,500 invoice it costs $10 to $17.50 in fees against $72.80 to $87.74 by card, because the bank rate is capped. The cheapest card option is Square's paid plans at 2.9 percent plus $0.30, but a bank payment still saves more than $55 per invoice.

The short version

On the four platforms priced here, a $2,500 invoice costs $72.80 to $87.74 by card and $10 to $17.50 by ACH, so the payment method decides your cost more than the logo on the invoice. Pick the platform your accounting system reconciles cleanly, make ACH the default for invoices above a few hundred dollars, and confirm the live rate for your plan before you commit.

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