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Stripe or PayPal: which should I connect first?
Connect Stripe first. It covers more currencies and connects in one authorisation, while PayPal also needs notification settings configured inside PayPal itself. Add PayPal second, as an extra button for buyers who prefer it.
Where both of them are connected
Click your profile picture, open Settings, then Payment gateways in the left menu. Stripe and PayPal each have a Connect button there.
Stripe sends you to a Stripe login, asks for the country your business is registered in and the type of business, then asks you to verify your personal information. The last button reads Authorize access to this account, and it hands you back to systeme.io.
PayPal opens in a new tab and asks for the email address and password on the account, plus a security code if two-factor authentication is switched on. A permission screen follows with an Allow button, then Return to systeme.io. The connection is finished when a PayPal Merchant ID is showing.
The two side by side
| Stripe | PayPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Account required | A Stripe account | A PayPal Business account |
| Currencies | 46 | 25 |
| Buyers | Worldwide | Worldwide |
| Subscriptions | Yes, in all 46 currencies | Yes |
| Extra setup after connecting | None documented | Instant Payment Notifications, configured inside PayPal |
| Fields your order form must carry | Email and first name | Email, first name and last name |
A personal PayPal account can be converted to a Business account instead of opening a new one. systeme.io's guide notes that it is free.
What the currency numbers actually mean
Both lists are published in full, and every one of PayPal's 25 also appears in Stripe's 46. So the currencies are not a trade-off. Anything PayPal will take, Stripe will take as well.
The gap is what Stripe adds on top. INR, ZAR, NGN, AED, SAR, TRY, IDR, VND, EGP, XAF and XOF are all on Stripe's list and none of them is on PayPal's.
Stripe is not only cards
Connecting it brings six payment methods, each with its own rules about who can pay and in what.
| Method | Who can pay with it | Currencies |
|---|---|---|
| Card | Worldwide | All 46 |
| Apple Pay | Worldwide, on supported Apple devices and wallets | The same 46 |
| iDEAL | Buyers in the Netherlands | EUR only |
| Bancontact | Buyers in Belgium | EUR only |
| Multibanco | Buyers in Portugal | EUR only |
| Klarna | Buyers in Klarna-supported countries | Depends on the merchant's country, under Klarna's rules |
All six take recurring payments. iDEAL and Bancontact run them through a SEPA mandate, which has to be enabled inside the Stripe account first. Multibanco generates a payment voucher with a 10-day due date for every billing cycle.
The step PayPal needs and Stripe does not
PayPal tells systeme.io about a payment through Instant Payment Notifications, and you switch those on yourself inside PayPal.
Sign in to PayPal, click the profile icon, then Account settings. Scroll down to Notifications, click Update in the Instant payment notification section, then Choose IPN settings.
Two values go in, then Save.
| Field | Set it to |
|---|---|
| Notification URL | https://systeme.io/payment/webhook/listening-paypal |
| IPN messages | Receive IPN messages (Enabled) |
Miss that and PayPal payments can fail to appear in your systeme.io transaction list. systeme.io says single payments do not need the webhook to show, so the problem typically does not occur with them. Payment plans and subscriptions are the ones that need it, because systeme.io uses the notification to process the request and generate the invoice.
What that looks like when it goes wrong
PayPal can take up to 72 hours to confirm a payment, so a transaction missing for an afternoon is normal.
PayPal also fails to send the notification occasionally, even with the settings right. The fix is to resend the notification messages by hand from inside PayPal for the payments concerned, after which the transaction and its invoice are generated.
Two error messages point at PayPal rather than at systeme.io: PayPal keys are incorrect, and Can not set up integration with PayPal. PP returned error #10002: Account is restricted. Both show up while an account is being verified or is restricted by PayPal, and systeme.io's advice on each is to contact PayPal support.
You are not choosing one forever
Which gateways appear on a page is set per funnel, not per account. Under Sites, open Sales funnels, click the funnel, then Funnel settings. systeme.io's article on it lists a tick box for Credit card or debit card, a separate tick box for PayPal, and a Save button.
Tick both and a buyer picks.
What rides on Stripe
Apple Pay runs through the Stripe integration rather than as a gateway of its own, and it needs a custom domain. Once Stripe is connected, the domains on your account are added to Apple Pay and validated automatically.
Stripe Radar, the fraud screening tool, is also Stripe only. Its rules live in the Stripe dashboard, and systeme.io cannot configure them for you.
The path inside Stripe is Payments, then Radar, then Rules, then Add rule. systeme.io's own worked example blocks payments over $5,000 from customers whose account was created in the last day, written as :amount_in_usd: > 5000 and :hours_since_customer_was_created: < 24. A Test rule button shows the effect before the rule is switched on.
The rule that catches people out in India
systeme.io supports the Indian Rupee with a limit on each side. PayPal supports it only for domestic transactions, meaning payments between two PayPal India accounts. Stripe does not support American Express cards for transactions in Indian Rupees.
A third restriction sits on the merchant rather than the buyer. A Stripe account registered in India cannot offer Apple Pay at all.
The gateways that are not these two
systeme.io supports others as well: Razorpay, Flutterwave, Mercado Pago, Mollie, GoCardless, Xendit, Secure and Pay and Paystack. Cash on delivery is on the gateway list too, for physical products only.
They matter when Stripe or PayPal does not serve your country or your buyers' preferred method. For a first funnel, the two main gateways are the shorter road.
How I checked this answer
Nothing on this site is written from memory. These are the sources I checked to write this answer, and the date I checked them.
- How to connect your Stripe account to systeme.iohelp.systeme.io, article 225
- How to integrate PayPal with systeme.iohelp.systeme.io, article 132
- How to activate payments by Stripe or Paypalhelp.systeme.io, article 307
- Why aren't my PayPal payment transactions appearing?help.systeme.io, article 314
- How to integrate Apple Pay on systeme.io via Stripehelp.systeme.io, article 3813
- How to use Stripe Radar for fraud protectionhelp.systeme.io, article 4450
- Restriction on the use of Indian rupee currencyhelp.systeme.io, article 296
- How to set up cash on delivery payment on systeme.iohelp.systeme.io, article 2223
- What happens when a customer's subscription payment failshelp.systeme.io, article 1661
Checked on
From my own use
I connected Stripe first, then PayPal, and I would not skip PayPal. In my experience a lot of buyers, especially in the US, would rather pay with PayPal than type their card details in. I have also found that Visa blocks a lot of overseas payments, and PayPal saves me most of those headaches.
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