Payment Gateway of PayPal for WooCommerce

77 Quality Score

Active Installs

17/30

With only 7,000 active installs, this plugin sits well below the leading alternatives, which range from 30,000 to 900,000 installs, indicating a niche user base.

Update Freshness

25/25

A perfect maintenance score reflects a very recent update on July 6, 2026, signaling an actively maintained codebase.

User Rating

13/15

An 84 out of 100 from 79 reviewers is solid but rests on a small sample, so the rating carries more uncertainty than that of higher-traffic competitors.

Support Health

8/15

One unresolved support thread out of one total gives a 0 percent resolution rate, which is essentially too little data to judge but offers no reassurance either.

WP Compatibility

15/15

Full marks for compatibility thanks to tested-with WordPress 7.0, requires WordPress 5.6, and a PHP 7.0 minimum that covers the vast majority of hosting environments.

Scores higher than 59% of indexed plugins

About

Enable faster checkout with PayPal for WooCommerce. Add PayPal Express/PayPal Standard gateways that accept PayPal, Pay Later, debit & credit cards.

Active Installs 7k+

Rating ★★★★ 4.2/5

Last Updated 2026-08-31 7:03am GMT

Requires WordPress 5.6+

Tested Up To 7.1

Requires PHP 7.0+

✓ No known vulnerabilities

What It Does

This plugin adds PayPal Express and PayPal Standard checkout options to WooCommerce stores, allowing customers to pay with PayPal balance, Pay Later, debit cards, and credit cards without leaving the checkout flow. It functions as an additional payment gateway layer on top of WooCommerce, so merchants can offer PayPal alongside any other gateways they already use. Setup is handled through a dedicated settings panel tied to PayPal API credentials.

Who It's For

Small to mid-sized WooCommerce stores that specifically want PayPal Express or Pay Later enabled and prefer a lightweight, single-purpose plugin rather than a full payments suite. It suits merchants who already rely on WooCommerce's built-in PayPal Standard but need a faster Express checkout button on cart and product pages. Stores with straightforward PayPal-only needs will get the most value without paying for features they will not use.

Who Should Skip It

Stores processing more than a few thousand orders per month, or anyone needing subscriptions, multi-currency, or advanced fraud tools, should skip this plugin and use the official WooCommerce PayPal extension or Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce instead. If you need PayPal alongside card processing, Stripe, Apple Pay, and Google Pay in one unified gateway, WooPayments or WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway are stronger picks.

The Bottom Line

Payment Gateway of PayPal for WooCommerce is a tidy, narrowly focused plugin that does one thing reasonably well, with a recent update and broad compatibility that justify its maintenance and compatibility scores. However, its tiny install base, near-empty support history, and lack of advanced features make it a hard sell against alternatives like Payment Plugins for PayPal WooCommerce or the official WooCommerce PayPal gateway. Worth a look for small PayPal-first stores, but not a default recommendation.

Pick this over the featured plugin when you need subscriptions, advanced fraud protection, or multi-currency PayPal support, as it is the leading PayPal-specific gateway with 80,000 installs.

Payment Plugins for Stripe WooCommerce 88/100

Choose this alternative if your checkout priority is Stripe-based card processing with saved cards and modern checkout flows rather than PayPal.

WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 88/100

Go with this officially backed option for stripe transactions when you want the safety of a first-party WooCommerce extension with 700,000 installs.

WooPayments: Integrated WooCommerce Payments 84/100

Opt for WooPayments when you want an all-in-one gateway that covers cards and PayPal with deeper WooCommerce integration, especially if your store has heavy transaction volume.

Paystack WooCommerce Payment Gateway 81/100

Pick Paystack if your customers are primarily in Nigeria, Ghana, or South Africa, since this plugin is region-specific rather than a PayPal alternative.