Business

PayPal vs Maya: Features & fees comparison for PH businesses

Karthik Rajakumar

11.08.26

Read time 7 minutes

Philippine businesses need a dependable way to make and take payments and keep daily operations running smoothly. That’s why many merchants look for a reliable platform that can handle everyday transactions, both online and in-store.

PayPal and Maya (formerly PayMaya) are two of the most widely used digital payment platforms in the country, offering fast, convenient ways to get paid. This guide compares PayPal vs PayMaya from a Philippine business perspective, covering key features and fees so you can decide which to choose.

Table of Contents
What is PayPal? What is Maya? Feature comparison Supported currencies Accepted payment methods Integrations Customer support Safety Fee comparison Review comparison Wise Business: Manage global business finances in one place

What is PayPal?

PayPal is one of the world’s largest digital payment platforms and is fully supported in the Philippines. It’s best known for its quick setup and global reach, supporting payments from customers in 200+ markets and offering simple ways to send and receive money without needing complex integrations¹.

One of PayPal’s slogans is “payments made easy”². It has a feature set built specifically for small businesses to back this up across three core categories: Accept Payments, Business Operations, and Resources². Within these, you’ll find tools for online checkouts, sales insights, invoicing, risk management, and more.

Because it’s widely recognized and trusted by international customers, it’s often the default choice for PH businesses selling to buyers in the US and Europe, and across Asia.

What is Maya?

Maya, formerly Paymaya, is an “all-in-one” digital banking and payments app in the Philippines that combines a mobile wallet with services from Maya Bank³. It operates nationwide and is used for everyday payments, transfers, and online purchases.

For businesses, Maya Business provides a full suite of payment and financial tools: QRPh acceptance, online checkouts, invoicing, business deposits, loans, credit lines, supplier payments, and integrations with platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce⁴. Maya says “hundreds” of merchants use it, including local startups and government agencies⁵.

Overall, Maya positions itself as a flexible “money app” – part digital bank, part wallet – aimed at Filipinos who want a single place to spend, save, send, and manage their money.

Feature comparison: PayPal vs PayMaya

While PayPal and PayMaya are two different services, there are overlaps in some key features. They both serve the PH market, with tools to accept payments and set up things like subscription billing, but they diverge in the scope of services and the types of businesses they’re built for.

Here’s an overview of what the two platforms offer:

Feature	PayPal	PayMaya (Maya)
Available to PH incorporated businesses	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Online payment processing	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
In-person payments	✅ Yes, Payment Links and QR codes⁶	✅ Yes, QRPh, POS partners, Maya Business tools
Card-present hardware	❌ Not offered	✅ Maya Terminal⁷
Subscription billing	✅ Yes⁸	✅ Yes (via Maya Business)⁹
Business banking	❌ No	✅Yes (Maya Bank)¹⁰
Loans & credit	Limited (PayPal Working Capital not in PH)	✅ Yes – Maya Advance, Flexi Loan¹¹
Multi-currency settlement	✅ Yes, supports multiple currencies	❌ No, PHP only
Fraud protection	Seller Protection tools, built-in for eligible purchases¹²	Fraud Protection (platform-level screening)¹³

As you can see, PayMaya aims to empower local small businesses, while PayPal has most things in place to take payments in the Philippines and elsewhere for those selling internationally. Now, we’ll compare PayPal vs PayMaya across several core categories, starting with currencies.

Supported currencies

PayPal supports 25 currencies in 200+ countries and regions globally, which should cater to the needs of most small businesses targeting international customers, as well as freelancers and ecommerce sellers¹⁴.

Maya keeps its focus domestically, supporting just the Philippine peso (PHP) and the US Dollar (USD) at online checkouts¹⁵. Maya notes that USD isn’t supported through Payment Links. This means the platform is quite limited for any overseas transactions – you won’t be able to hold multiple currencies.

Accepted payment methods

There’s no shortage of card and wallet payment options with Maya, though**,** which makes it easy for customers to pay using the method they prefer. This matters in the Philippines, where only 58% of adults have a formal financial account¹⁶. Offering a mix of payment options is usually ideal.

Across its products – Checkout, Payment Links, Digital Invoice, Maya Terminal, and Static QR, businesses can accept¹⁷:

Debit and credit cards - Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, and BancNet
QR-based payments - Maya QR and QR Ph
Popular e-wallets - GCash, WeChat Pay, and ShopeePay

These methods give businesses a flexible way to accept both card and wallet payments.

PayPal also covers the everyday options most small businesses need, but again, with a more international slant, so you can tailor checkouts for customers in different regions. It supports¹⁸:

Credit and debit cards - Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, Discover
PayPal Wallet
Apple Pay (for eligible devices)
PayPal Pay Later (in supported markets, not PH)

This makes PayPal a stronger fit for businesses selling overseas, where these payment methods are commonly used.

Integrations

Maya lists Integrations as one of its main services, with three specific plugin categories: Shopify, WooCommerce, and ChatGenie. Each of these has a product page with step-by-step instructions to get set up quickly¹⁹. If you want to dig a little deeper, Maya also has a huge Developer hub with Docs and APIs, which can be used to “build memorable commerce experiences”²⁰.

PayPal also has no-code integrations with plugins for Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, and other major e-commerce platforms. There’s also a second way to integrate: using the platform’s REST APIs and JavaScript SDK to create custom checkouts, which will likely require some in-house technical expertise²¹.

Customer support

On the support side, PayPal has a Business Resource Center with ‘expert’ guidance for merchants, plus a full Help Center with advice on things like disputes and account limits. If something needs fixing, the Resolution Center handles most issues, or you can reach support directly through the Message Center (when logged in)²².

While PayPal is primarily a payment processor, Maya is more of an all-round business platform, providing:

Business support, onboarding assistance, and merchant tools
Additional financial services like loans specifically for MSMEs. These include Maya Advance for “instant capital” and Flexi Loan offering credit on demand for small businesses¹¹.

Maya also offers direct, multi-channel support, including a 24/7 Help Center where merchants can read troubleshooting guides or chat with a live agent. For anything ultra-urgent, there’s daily hotline support with extended hours and dedicated assistance for transaction or security concerns²³.

Safety

Both platforms are locally regulated. PayPal is regulated in the Philippines as an Operator of Payment Services under the National Payment System act², and it has a few handy fraud monitoring and dispute resolution tools. It also provides several built-in protections for merchants, including²⁴:

Seller Protection - coverage for eligible chargebacks and “item not received claims”
Fraud detection - automated monitoring that flags irregular transactions

Maya lists 11 “world-class” security features designed to keep every transaction and business account safe²⁵. These include:

PCI-DSS certification - industry standard protection for handling cardholder data
Mastercard 3D Secure - adds an extra authentication step for all online card payments
Kount fraud protection - screens transactions in real time using AI to spot suspicious behaviour
IP address and proxy checks - flags any transactions coming from unusual or masked locations
BIN-to-country matching - verifies that a card’s country of origin matches its issuing bank

The platform is also fully regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) through Maya Philippines Inc. for payments and Maya Bank for digital banking services²⁵.

Fee comparison: PayMaya vs PayPal

PayPal and Maya use two different pricing models. PayMay charges an MDR (merchant discount rate), which is a straight percentage taken from each transaction, with some products adding a small fixed fee. PayPal uses a percentage plus a fixed PHP 15 fee on every online card payment.

Here’s an overview of the fees for the two providers:

Fee type	PayPal PH²⁶	PayMaya⁹
Domestic card payments	3.40% + 15 PHP fixed fee	3.50% MDR
International card payments	4.40% + 15 PHP fixed fee	3.50% MRD (international cards via acquiring partners)
Online checkout (card payments)	3.40% + PHP 15 fixed fee	3.50% MDR + PHP 10 per transaction
Invoicing (card payments)	3.40% + PHP 15 fixed fee	3.50% MDR + PHP 10 per transaction
Currency conversion	4.0% above base exchange	Follows Visa/Mastercard FX rates
Dispute fee	PHP 405 per dispute	Not published

Because PayPal adds a PHP 15 fixed fee every time, smaller payments can cost proportionally more compared to Maya’s mostly percentage-based MDR structure.

Exchange rate

PayPal handles currency conversion using a markup added to the base exchange rate. For the Asia Pacific region, this is usually 4% when making payments, but there can be a slightly lower 3% markup when converting your account balance or receiving money in another currency²⁶.

Maya works differently here as it mainly processes PHP transactions, so foreign exchange only comes into play when a Maya card is used for international purchases. In these instances, conversions follow standard Visa or Mastercard rates with a 1.75% conversion fee added on top²⁷. Maya Business doesn’t support multi-currency settlement – you’ll need a separate account, like Wise, to sort that side of things.

Review comparison: Paymaya vs PayPal

PayMaya has a ‘poor’ rating on Trustpilot, while PayPal has a ‘bad’ rating, based on the 1-5 scoring system.

Provider	Rating
PayMaya	2.0 rating from 173 reviews²⁸
PayPal	1.3 rating from 40k reviews²⁹

Wise Business: Manage global business finances in one place

While Maya excels at local Philippine transactions and PayPal provides global reach, choosing between them often forces a trade-off. Local platforms limit your business to PHP settlement, whereas international options often charge high currency conversion markups and fixed transaction fees when transferring overseas earnings back home.

With a Wise Business multi-currency account, you can access over 8+ local account details — far more currency options than the handful most banks offer. Plus, Wise makes it easy to hold, send, receive, and exchange 40+ currencies from a single account.

With the freedom to send and receive payments in more currencies globally, you can focus on what matters most: growing a local business that knows no borders. Here's what you get with a Wise Business account:

Obtain account details to receive payments in USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, HKD and more for a one-time fee of 1,400 PHP.
Zero fees when you get paid via ACH, FAST, InstaPay/PESONet, & other local transfers.
Send money to pay invoices, suppliers & contractors fast, with less fees
Always get the mid-market rate with transparent conversion fees starting from 0.57%.
Pay your bills and ad-hoc overseas expenses using the Wise Business card without hefty foreign transaction fees.
Seamless integrations with popular accounting software.

➡️Get started with Wise Business today

Wise Pilipinas Inc. is regulated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. You may visit the BSP website for more information about its regulatory framework and consumer protection policies. To reach Wise, visit help center here.

Sources:

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

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.