Stripe vs PayPal vs Wise: fees on a $3,000 client invoice

On a $3,000 invoice from an international client, PayPal takes about $240, Stripe about $147 and Wise roughly $13 to $24, going by each company's published fees. Wise is the cheapest at receiving and converting, Stripe gives the client the easiest card checkout, and PayPal costs the most on cross-border work.

What the three fee pages say

Start with the sticker prices, because the gap comes from the extras added to them.

PayPal's business fees page lists PayPal Checkout at 3.49% plus a fixed fee, which is $0.49 for US dollars. Invoices are charged at the same rate. Commercial cross-border payments add 1.50% on top. If a currency conversion is involved, the spread is 3.00% for most transactions and rises to 4.00% in some cases, such as when the payer and recipient end up in different currencies than the listing.

Stripe's pricing page showed me its UAE rates: 2.9% plus AED 1.00 for domestic cards, plus 1% for international cards, plus 1% when a currency conversion is needed. Standard payouts arrive on a rolling, weekly or monthly schedule at no charge. Instant payouts cost 1.5% with a minimum of AED 2. Stripe sets prices by country, so the US, UK and EU pages differ. Open the page for your own country before you copy any figure from this post.

Wise's business pricing page says converting money starts from 0.23%, depending on the currency, and there is a one-time setup fee of $31 that covers every Business feature. It lists local account details in 22 currencies. Wise's receiving money page shows that domestic ACH into a USD account is free, while receiving a USD wire carries a fixed fee of $6.11.

Three companies, three different ways to charge. PayPal and Stripe charge a percentage of the sale. Wise charges for the conversion and for some transfer types, and does not charge a percentage of every sale.

The $3,000 worked example

Take a service business in the UAE that invoices a US client $3,000 and wants the money in dirhams. The client pays by card on the invoice.

Stripe, using the UAE rates above:

• Card fee: 2.9% is $87.00, plus about $0.27 for the AED 1.00 fixed fee.
• International card: 1% is $30.
• Currency conversion: 1% is $30.
• Total: about $147, or 4.9% of the invoice.

PayPal, using the US business fee page:

• Checkout fee: 3.49% is $104.70, plus $0.49.
• Cross-border: 1.50% is $45.
• Conversion spread: 3.00% is $90.
• Total: about $240, or 8.0% of the invoice.

Wise, with the client sending a bank transfer:

• Conversion at the lowest listed rate of 0.23% is $6.90. A more expensive currency pair at 0.6% would be $18.
• Receiving the money by USD wire adds $6.11. If the client can pay by ACH, that part is free.
• Total: roughly $13 to $24, depending on the pair and the payment type.

These are illustrations, not quotes. Each company changes prices, and the rate you get depends on your country, your account type and the currency pair. The pattern is what matters. On the same invoice, PayPal costs about $227 more than Wise. A business sending 30 such invoices a year is looking at close to $6,800 of difference.

Who pays the conversion fee

The conversion line is where most of the money goes, so it is worth understanding who bears it.

On Stripe, the 1% conversion fee comes out of your payout. There is also Adaptive Pricing, which shows the client the price in their own currency. According to Stripe's Adaptive Pricing documentation, the business pays 0% and the customer pays 2 to 4%, built into the exchange rate. The client does not pay that fee if they pick the currency you invoiced in, though their own bank may still charge for the conversion.

On PayPal, the spread is built into the exchange rate, so it does not show up as a separate fee line. You see a smaller amount land in your account and have to work backwards to find the cost.

On Wise, the conversion fee is shown before you confirm. That visibility is the reason accountants tend to like it.

Whichever you use, one habit saves money: invoice in the currency you actually want to hold. If your costs are in dirhams and your client is happy to pay in dirhams, no conversion happens at all.

Speed and client experience

Cost is one input. The other is whether your client will actually pay through the option you give them.

Cards are the least friction for clients. They click the link, type the card number and finish. Stripe is built around that flow, and many clients prefer it to logging into an account. PayPal works well when the client already has a balance or a saved card there, and it is familiar in some markets. It stalls when a client has no account and does not want to make one.

Bank transfers suit larger, repeat invoices. They are cheaper for you, but they ask more of the client: they need your bank details, they type in a reference, and they wait for it to clear. Some corporate payers prefer this because it fits their payables process.

Payout speed varies by account, country and risk review. Stripe's standard schedule is set by your country, and PayPal moves money to a bank on its own timetable. Check the payout section for your own account rather than trusting a single number from a blog post.

Which one to use

Pick by what you sell and who pays you.

Use Stripe when clients pay by card and you want a clean checkout on the invoice itself. The extra cost over a bank transfer buys a faster yes from the client and fewer chasing emails. Our post on payment links vs invoices covers how to present the payment step.

Use PayPal when a client asks for it, or when you sell into a market where it is the trusted option. Do not make it the only choice, because it is the most expensive on cross-border work in the example above.

Use Wise when you have repeat clients paying large invoices in one currency pair. Holding balances in the currencies you spend in avoids converting twice. If you are comparing Wise with other receiving accounts, our post on Payoneer vs Wise vs Deel goes further.

Most businesses end up with two options on every invoice: a card option and a bank transfer option. The client picks, and you stop losing 8% to a method you did not choose.

How Delivvo keeps these fees yours to choose

Delivvo does not sit between you and the money, so every fee above is the one you chose, with nothing added by Delivvo. You connect your own gateway, the client pays through it, and the money goes straight to you. Delivvo takes 0% of the payment and is never the merchant of record.

Here is the flow:

1. You send a quote from your packages and add-ons. The client accepts, signs the contract and pays the deposit from one link.
2. In your payment settings you connect the gateways you already hold accounts with. Stripe and PayPal are there, and the payments page lists the rest.
3. Each invoice shows your Pay button. The client pays on your gateway, using the fee schedule you already read above.
4. The payment shows next to the invoice, and a payment schedule of up to 12 payments can split a large project into stages.
5. Late payment reminders go out at 7, 14 and 30 days and stop once the invoice is paid.

The concrete detail a competitor will not give you: the tool does not take a cut on top of the gateway. On a $3,000 invoice, your cost is the gateway fee and nothing else. On a plan that charges a platform percentage, the same invoice would cost more than the table above. The no transaction fees page explains how that works, and the Stripe page shows the connection steps.

Delivvo does not move your money into a Wise account for you. You choose where each gateway pays out.

For the wider picture, see how payments work and the CRM for service businesses.

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