PayPal is usually referred to as venture capitalist and billionaire Peter Thiel’s “first child”. Some of the big founders and investors of YouTube, Yelp, Tesla, Linkedin, or Facebook all have PayPal in common. Nevertheless, over the years, other great PayPal alternatives have emerged and for good reasons.

So, is PayPal the best way to pay online nowadays? We should see, or better, let us help you be the judge of that!

What started as a company creating security software for handheld devices in 1998 later turned into a digital wallet and one of the first electronic payment systems out there. PayPal has had an ace up its sleeve all these years: the ease of use.

It seems everyone has a PayPal account for transferring money or for digital wallet use, especially freelancers who have to collect payments for their diverse services every month. But it also seems people are constantly looking for PayPal alternatives as well.

One big advantage PayPal has for freelancers is that they don’t have to share their financial information with other contractors. Moreover, you don’t need a credit or debit card to withdraw funds. A regular bank account is enough.

PayPal also offers a lot of services for business es . It can also be a reliable payment gateway for merchants, offering integrations via shopping carts, customizable checkout, and all the rest.

Why check other PayPal alternatives?

PayPal’s taxes and fees are very transparent, so you know what you’re in for from the beginning. However, some companies might not like them, nor do they enjoy PayPal’s customer service.

This is where it becomes a “love-hate” relationship. PayPal is known to be a “whimsical” partner sometimes, locking accounts and then asking questions. Their customer service has got a bad reputation and is one of the main reasons why it has fallen out of fashion with many individuals and businesses over the years.

The second biggest reason is that there are great PayPal alternatives out there. So, we’ve compiled the best 20 of them.

These PayPal alternatives might not all offer the whole range of services PayPal does , but they’re worth looking at just in case you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket.