2Checkout vs PayPal: Which Payment Provider Is Best for Your Business?

Please note that the information about the companies in this article was sourced from their respective websites as of May 2025. This information may be subject to change.

Choosing the right payment provider can be a headache. Between endless setup steps, hidden fees, and clunky user experiences, it’s easy to feel stuck. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling fast, the wrong payment system can eat into your profits and frustrate your customers.

In this article, we compare 2Checkout vs PayPal—two very different approaches to online payments—so you can cut through the noise and pick the solution that actually works for your business. We also offer some smarter alternatives for UK-based e-commerce merchants.

2Checkout vs PayPal: Quick Overview

2Checkout Review for Online Payments

2Checkout was acquired by Verifone in August 2020 and now runs as part of Verifone’s global payments platform. The provider gives e-commerce merchants a few ways to set up checkout:

• Hosted checkout: Customers are sent to a 2Checkout page to pay. Merchants can customise the look, language, currency, and more.
• 2Checkout API: Payment API if you want to build and customise the whole checkout experience yourself.
• E-commerce platform plugins : Via shopping cart integrations, merchants can use checkout plugins for platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Ecwid.

2Checkout payouts have the following restrictions: To get paid by 2Checkout, your account must have at least £50 if you're using a 2Sell or 2Subscribe account. If you're a reseller using the 2Monetize package, you need at least £100. Payouts can take up to 2 days.

2Checkout does not offer payment links. But they also offer tools for upselling, cross-selling, and A/B testing, plus analytics integration with Google Analytics. It also provides an Affiliate Network for extra revenue and a Partner Control Panel to manage resellers.

Worth noting: 2Checkout offers both the merchant of record services and payment provider services. Merchant of services means they handle payments, taxes, invoicing, compliance, and local laws for merchants.

2Checkout Fees

For transactions, 2Checkout charges businesses based on the plan they have chosen, with the following fees below. They do not reveal charges for chargebacks, disputes, and payouts.

Read: How to Reduce Card Processing Fees

PayPal Review for Online Payments

PayPal is best known as a digital wallet, but it also provides payment services for businesses. This article focuses on PayPal’s business payment tools—not the digital wallet.

PayPal Checkout is an online payment gateway that supports various digital payment methods—like card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Pay in 3 (its BNPL option), and other local methods depending on the region. In some countries, PayPal offers pay-by-bank through its partnership with Tink. It also handles recurring payments for subscriptions, and offers shareable payment links.

PayPal offers several integration options. Merchants can use e-commerce plugins for major platforms or build a custom checkout using APIs and the JavaScript SDK.

PayPal Fees

For its payment processing services, PayPal charges the following monthly fees:

• Website Payment Pro plan is £20 per month
• Virtual terminal comes at £20 per month 
• Recurring payments cost £20 per month

Below are also transaction fees that'd be added on top of the monthly fee.

Read: Full Breakdown of PayPal Fees

Better Payments with Noda’s Open Banking

Tired of high fees, slow payouts, and complicated setups with PayPal or 2Checkout? They still rely mostly on outdated card networks—with all the costs and delays that come with them.

Noda is a PayPal & 2Checkout alternative that’s built differently. We specialise in pay-by-bank checkout—a fast, secure open banking payment method that skips the card networks entirely. That means no card fees, no chargebacks, superior UX, instant payments and payouts at no extra cost.

How Open Banking Payments Work

1. Your customer selects pay-by-bank at checkout
2. They choose their bank (Noda connects to 2,000+ banks across the UK and Europe)
3. They confirm the payment in their banking app using multi-factor authentication: Face ID, fingerprint, or passcode
4. You get paid—instantly

Why Switch to Pay-by-Bank with Noda

• Regulated under PSD2 and built on secure bank APIs.
• Pay-by-bank is loved by Millennial and Gen Z customers with already 14+ million users in the UK.
• Easy setup: use our e-commerce plugins for major platforms, payment links, QR codes or full Open Banking API.
• Superior UX: Customers don’t have to enter lengthy payment details, which means smoother payment flow and less shopping cart abandonment.
• Need card payments too? We've also got card payments with smart routing and fraud monitoring.

Differences between PayPal and 2Checkout

While both PayPal and 2Checkout help you take payments online, they work quite differently. PayPal is known for its fast setup, payment links, and wide range of digital wallets like Apple Pay and Pay in 3. It’s a good fit for businesses that want something recognisable and don’t mind higher fees for international payments and instant payouts.

2Checkout, on the other hand, is designed more for global e-commerce, and also offers merchant of record services. It offers tools for subscriptions, upselling, and partner management—but no payment links, and payouts can take longer. It's more flexible if you're selling internationally, but also more complex to set up.

PayPal vs 2Checkout Fees

Both PayPal and 2Checkout come with noticeable costs—but in different ways. PayPal hits you with monthly fees for extras and adds charges depending on how your customers pay. 2Checkout avoids monthly fees but builds the cost into higher per-sale percentages, especially for subscriptions.

Conclusion: If you're processing a high volume of smaller transactions, neither option is particularly cost-effective. For businesses focused on keeping more of what they earn, especially at scale, pay-by-bank providers are a better option as they avoid card network fees.

PayPal vs 2Checkout for Online Payments

Not all payment providers are built the same. Here’s a quick actionable overview of our 2Checkout vs PayPal comparison, to help you choose the right one for your business.

Go with 2Checkout if you run a global e-commerce store and need tools for subscriptions, upselling, and partner management. It's got solid integrations for e-commerce platforms, but no payment links or instant payouts, and fees can get pricey, especially for subscriptions.

Choose PayPal if you want a well-known, trusted name and need no-code tools or a payment gateway with popular digital wallets. Note that fees add up quickly, especially for international payments. Instant payouts are possible, but only if you pay extra.

Switch to Noda if you want faster payments across Europe and the UK, lower fees, no chargebacks, and a modern checkout. It’s built for the digital age with open banking tech—no card networks involved, but you can also mix-and-match our Card API and Open Banking API together. Plus, you can get started easily with plugins, payment links, or full API control.