It doesn't always have to be PayPal. There are now many online payment services that are just as uncomplicated for users and can usually be easily integrated into WordPress or WooCommerce via a plugin. From Apple Pay to Google Pay: we present PayPal alternatives for the European and international market.
PayPal is considered number one when it comes to digital payment services. The service is still the most popular online payment method in many countries. But there are good reasons to offer your customers PayPal alternatives. For example, there have been reports of security vulnerabilities or phishing emails at PayPal. The payment service has also been criticized for allegedly arbitrarily freezing its users' accounts. So it's good to be able to switch to one or more other services if necessary.
However, integrating other alternatives can also be a helpful additional service for users so that they have a greater choice between different digital payment options. We will therefore introduce you to the most important PayPal alternatives, look at the advantages and disadvantages of the services and show you how to integrate them into WordPress and WooCommerce.
PayPal
PayPal is still one of the best-known online payment services worldwide. The service can be used very easily on both computers and mobile devices. Users connect PayPal to one or more private bank accounts.
PayPal is generally free of charge for private customers. It is easy to use and, in addition to traditional online shopping, also allows you to send money to friends. PayPal also offers buyer protection, where the service covers the costs of returns or fraud under certain conditions. However, there are numerous restrictions here that you should be aware of as a customer.
However, PayPal is headquartered in the USA, where data protection regulations are not as strict as in the EU. In the event of successful hacking attacks, hackers can also make direct debits without these being protected by additional security measures such as a TAN procedure. Merchants also have to pay fees for using PayPal. However, integration into WordPress or WooCommerce is relatively straightforward.
There are numerous PayPal plugins for WordPress. With these, you can easily integrate payments as well as donation or subscription buttons into your website. The prerequisite for this is that you have a PayPal account. You should test the individual plugins and your shopping cart with PayPal well in advance, on a separate test system. This is because the extensions sometimes interfere deeply with the logic of WordPress and WooCommerce, which can cause a wide variety of errors. This also applies to all other services, which I will list in a moment.
Legal certainty for Europe
Apple Pay
Apple Pay is now also available in Germany. Buyers use the Apple Wallet to make payments. Purchases of apps and payments in online stores are also possible.
A major advantage for users is that they can also use Apple Pay to make contactless payments in stores, which could increase the number of Apple Pay users in the long term. With Apple Pay, payments are not stored on the device. The security standards are generally considered to be high. However, the service is only available to Apple users with an iOS device. Merchants also pay a portion of the sales value per transaction, as is the case with almost all providers.
There is a free Braintree WooCommerce plugin for WordPress that can be used to integrate Apple Pay (Braintree is a PayPal service). You can also use the Stripe gateway service to add Apple Pay as a payment method in WordPress. However, you need a Stripe account to use this service. Here, in turn, you will receive the necessary security keys, which you will need when setting up the service for WordPress.
You then activate the desired payment methods with Stripe - in this case Apple Pay - and shoppers can use this option via their Apple devices. For further solutions for the integration of Apple Pay, see the instructions from the WooCommerce team.
Google Pay
After Google Wallet, Google Pay is Google's next attempt to roll out a mobile payment service. Because more consumers in Germany use Android products than Apple products, Google Pay is definitely relevant for online purchases.
You can also use Google Pay to purchase apps in bricks-and-mortar stores and online stores, provided retailers have integrated the payment option. To use Google Pay, users enter their credit card details once. GooglePay can be used free of charge. The service can also be used independently of Google as a separate app. However, the payment method is not yet very widespread in Germany.
If you want to offer Google Pay on your website with WordPress as a form of payment, you can do this, just like with Apple Pay, via the plugin combination of WooCommerce and Stripe. There is a separate WooCommerce plugin for this. The former WooCommerce plugin for Google Wallet, however, is no longer being developed; alternatively, you can implement the integration yourself.
paydirekt
In Germany, paydirekt is one of the newest PayPal alternatives. The service was created as a conscious effort by various German banks to offer users an alternative to PayPal.
Accordingly, paydirekt requires a German current account that allows online banking. According to the providers, there is also buyer protection here. In addition, paydirekt complies with German data protection regulations. However, paydirekt is not yet as widespread as PayPal.
If you also want to integrate paydirekt under WordPress, the provider provides a free plugin (under "technical connection").
Adyen
The Dutch company Adyen is one of the most successful payment services in the world, although very few people have ever heard of it. Adyen acts as a payment service provider in the background.
Adyen is a great help for merchants, as the service provider takes care of all intermediate steps from bank cooperation to the payment gateway and technical integration. According to the provider, this ranges from checkout and fraud detection to credit checks.
This means that the buyer's money first goes to Adyen. Once the purchase has been verified, the amount is finally transferred to the seller. Major online platforms such as Netflix and Eventim, as well as Easyjet and Flixbus, use Adyen. However, Adyen currently charges a processing fee of 10 cents per transaction, and in some cases there are also fees for the individual payment methods themselves. On the other hand, the service offers a large number of systems that can be integrated.
For merchants who only record a few transactions per month, the service can therefore be more expensive than other digital payment options. Adyen only offers a plugin for WordPress indirectly (there under "Built by the community"). The company lists another direct alternative for WooCommerce here.
giropay
Like paydirekt, giropay is an association of several German banks. Here too, the requirement for buyers is therefore that they must have a current account with one of the participating banks. Anyone paying online via giropay is forwarded directly to their bank account via the service.
giropay is free for customers. No additional registration is required. However, merchants currently have to pay a set-up fee of 99 euros and a monthly fee of 9.90 euros. In addition, fees are charged from the 101st transaction. giropay also lacks buyer protection and returns are not covered. As a company with servers in Germany, the data protection standard is high according to the company, even though phishing attacks are on the increase. For example, there are warnings about e-mails allegedly sent in the name of giropay, but this now applies to almost all credit institutions and payment services.
You can find the giropay plugin here. Once you have installed and activated it, you then define the various payment methods and activate them. The seller ID, project ID and project password must be entered for identification. These can be found in the giropay user account ("girocockpit").
Klarna Sofort
Klarna Sofort (formerly "Sofortüberweisung", in some countries also "Klarna app") is a fast transfer from the customer's bank account to the merchant. Buyers do not have to register separately. The process forwards buyers to their own bank. Users then log in here using their online banking details and process the payment.
Customers do not pay any fees. Merchants, on the other hand, must forward a percentage of the invoice amount and an additional fee per transaction to Sofort. According to the provider, there is also no set-up fee and no monthly payments. Buyer protection is also available in some cases.
Sofort is therefore very easy for buyers to use. The service also partially assumes the credit and fraud risk. One restriction: Klarna Sofort is currently only available for merchants in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Spain and the UK.
The Klarna SOFORT bank transfer plugin for WooCommerce is available for integration into WordPress and WooCommerce. Before you can use SOFORT, however, Klarna must activate you as a merchant.
Amazon Pay
With Amazon Pay, shoppers can pay in online stores by using the payment information from their Amazon account. In addition to payments for Amazon merchants, there are many other stores where shoppers can use the method. These include major brands such as GALERIA Karstadt Kaufhof and cab.eu.
The service is also free of charge for customers. Merchants, on the other hand, pay a commission and a fee per transaction. One of the advantages is that you don't have to enter any new sensitive payment information or set up a new account when paying as a customer. At the same time, you need a customer account from Amazon - and strengthen its market and data power. Data protection concerns also arise because Amazon gains a precise insight into the purchasing behavior of customers outside of its own platform.
Amazon Pay offers an official plugin for WooCommerce. This requires SSL certification, but this must be standard for every (WordPress) store anyway. Installation and integration into the website is therefore straightforward.
In the configuration screen, you link your Amazon merchant account or create a new account. At the end, all you have to do is click the "Transfer Access Key" button to connect your Amazon account to WordPress. In addition to the automated installation wizard, there is also a manual installation.
Conclusion on the PayPal alternatives
Depending on which products you have in your online store and how often you carry out online transactions, one payment service may be more worthwhile for you than another. However, your customers will appreciate having other payment alternatives besides PayPal. This allows you to test other or new providers first to see whether and how they are accepted by your customers.
However, make sure you use reputable providers and keep an eye on current events - for example Wirecard. There is or was also a WordPress integration for the service, which is currently undergoing insolvency proceedings.
