Braintree and Paypal both offer extensive payment solutions to businesses of varying sizes and industries. Braintree is completely integrated into the PayPal ecosystem and both of them run on similar infrastructure. However, there are still some distinctions between the two online merchant account providers. In this article, we will analyse the differences between Braintree and Paypal.
Points of Difference Between Braintree And PayPal
Braintree is a better option for voluminous businesses that demand custom control over their payment processes. PayPal is simple and easy to use and is a better option for small businesses with modest eCommerce requirements. The differences between the two can be categorised in the following points-
- Payments
Braintree is complex, and is not a good option for beginners. If you have a developer on your team and you require extensive functions, Braintree can be highly useful to you. It has excellent developer tools, individual merchant accounts, comprehensive payment type support and much more to offer to businesses.
On the contrary, PayPal is one of the most widely used payment gateways, given its ease of use and accessibility. It is simple, quick and easy with an intuitive interface. It is a third-party processor (unlike Braintree) and is an all-in-one payment system ideal for low-volume merchants.
- Features
The functionality and features of the two are quite similar, as their infrastructure is quite indifferent. Some features include-
- Merchant Accounts- Braintree offers dedicated merchant accounts to every customer and PayPal combines the accounts into a super account for customer access.
- Payment Methods- Braintree can conduct ACH payment processing and accept ACH direct debit, local payment methods and digital wallets (including PayPal). PayPal is known to accept only credit, debit and PayPal transactions.
- Developer Tools- The developer tools of Braintree are extensive and developer-centric while those of PayPal is easy to use and intuitive.
- Pricing
The pricing model of Braintree and PayPal merchant account provider is also quite similar. Their pricing scheme is flat-rate, which starts at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. However, the advanced packages of Braintree are fixed, and those of PayPal are à la carte.
- Customer Support
Both PayPal and Braintree offer multiple customer support options to the customers such as phone calls, emails or a ticket. However, as PayPal is a third-party processor, it often struggles to help the customer. They have to witness a frozen account until help arrives. On the contrary, Braintree is well-known for its strong live customer service.
Final Takeaways
Therefore, we can conclude that if you have a developer and want a dedicated merchant account, you must go for Braintree. However, PayPal is one of the best merchant account providers for small business!