Best Payment Processor for Small Business in 2026
Comparing Stripe, Square, PayPal, and others on fees, features, and ease of use for small businesses.
2 min read · Updated
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Short answer
Stripe is the best for online-only businesses. Square is best if you take in-person payments too. PayPal is best as a secondary option because so many customers prefer it.
Comparison
| Processor | Online fee | In-person fee | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.7% | Online businesses, developers |
| Square | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.6% + 10¢ | In-person + online combo |
| PayPal | 3.49% + 49¢ | 2.29% + 9¢ | Supplemental option |
| Shopify Payments | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2.7% | Shopify store owners |
Stripe — Best for online businesses
- Excellent documentation and developer tools
- Handles subscriptions, one-time payments, invoices
- Works in 135+ countries
- No monthly fee
- Dashboard is clean and easy to use
- Payouts in 2 business days
Square — Best for hybrid businesses
- Free card reader for in-person payments
- Great for retail, food, and service businesses that operate both online and in-person
- Free POS app
- Payouts next business day
PayPal — Good as a supplement
- Many customers specifically want to pay with PayPal
- Higher fees than Stripe/Square
- Can receive money instantly to a PayPal balance
- Add as a secondary checkout option alongside Stripe
What to avoid
- Avoid long-term contracts — some processors lock you in with early termination fees
- Avoid monthly fees for basic processing — Stripe and Square have no monthly fee
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