Business

Comparing Stripe, Square, and PayPal for International Payments in Canada

Piyush Singh

14.12.23 (updated more than 1 year ago)

Read time 2 minutes

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Stripe®, Square®, and PayPal® are popular payment providers in Canada. You can use each of these platforms to send and receive your money abroad or take international payments from customers.

Let’s take a look at Stripe vs Square vs PayPal in Canada – including everything you need to know about international fees and key features for businesses.

Table of contents
Stripe Square Payments PayPal for Business in Canada

Stripe

Stripe is an online payment processing platform available for businesses in 47 countries, including Canada.¹ Once you’ve set up an account, you can use Stripe to receive international payments from a range of countries and regions, with options to accept physical and digital transfers.

Stripe is currently rated 2.9 on Trustpilot® Canada (as of 16 November 2023), with user-friendly features and convenient integration benefits.²

There are a few key features for international businesses. You can:

use Stripe in 135+ currencies
charge customers in their native currency while receiving funds in Canadian dollars (CAD)³
set up global acquiring to access local transaction rates and multiple Stripe accounts¹
Batch multiple transactions from one customer into a single charge, reducing your fees per transaction¹³

However, you may find that Stripe charges for many transactions. Each successful Stripe card charge costs 2.9% + 0.30 CAD. If currency conversion is required, you’ll also pay an additional 2% charge per transaction.⁴

Square Payments

Your business can use Square for invoicing, online payments, or in-person transactions – with unique reporting tools to track company sales and cash flow.

Rated 3.9 on Trustpilot Canada (as of 16 November 2023), there are a few key advantages to Square for businesses of all shapes and sizes.⁵ Use your Square account to:

take credit and debit card payments from customers – including international cards
offer “Buy Now, Pay Later” with Afterpay®, letting your customers pay in 4 instalments, while you get your money straight away⁶
access financial tools and software to better understand your business cash flow

However, Square may not work for you if you regularly conduct business abroad, as you can only accept card transactions in the country where you first activated your Square account.

You can create multiple Square accounts for payments in different countries, but you’ll need to meet any requirements for each account, such as a valid Social Security Number for your US account.⁷

Square also charges a 2.65% processing fee for any card transactions with major credit cards, including any international cards.⁸

PayPal for Business in Canada

PayPal is a popular payment platform for businesses in Canada, particularly if you regularly send and receive your money across borders.

There are a few great features of PayPal Business, including:

sending and receiving your money in 25 currencies from over 200 markets
accepting multiple payment types, including international credit and debit cards, as well as direct PayPal payments⁹
creating unlimited invoices, with no monthly subscription fees¹⁰

However, PayPal often levies substantial transaction fees, particularly if you’re sending or receiving money abroad. You’ll experience a charge of 3.90% + a fixed fee for any Virtual Terminal US payments. For other international transactions via Virtual Terminal, you’ll be charged 4.10% + a fixed fee.¹¹

These fixed fees can depend on which currency you receive, with each currency experiencing a different fee. For example, payments received in US dollars (USD) experience a fixed fee of 0.30 USD.¹¹

PayPal’s Trustpilot rating is also the lowest of the 3 payment providers, rated 1.3 (as of 16 November 2023).¹² You might consider this when comparing Stripe vs PayPal vs Square.

Sources

Sources verified on 14 December 2023

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This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.