Braintree is an online payment solution with credit cards, property of PayPal. Although it is aimed at all types of businesses, it is a solution that is primarily focused on international business.
Of the three most popular payment solutions on the market (Stripe and Paypal), Braintree has the lowest currency conversion fees. With Braintree you only pay 1% for each payment that has to be converted to dollars.
What is Braintree? Should I integrate it into my business?
Braintree is an interesting online payment solution for any startup that needs to sell on the Internet. Unlike PayPal, Braintree accepts other types of payment apart from payments by card or Paypal (such as Bitcoins, for example).
Braintree is a very attractive solution for those companies that sell abroad and want to have other forms of payment different from the traditional ones, since it has lower currency conversion fees than the rest of solutions.
However, if you carry out commercial activity in China, keep in mind that Braintree does not process payments through AliPay (the most common payment method in China). If you want to integrate AliPay, you must opt for Stripe.
One of the main disadvantages of Braintree is that it is not an easy solution to install. In order to install Braintree you will have to work with its API, so you will need programming skills.
If you have an e-commerce solution such as BigCommerce, Shopify or Woocommerce, you can integrate it and use it with payment gateway. Anyway, you may have to pay an extra cost, especially if you include some premium functionality.
In this sense, if you don’t need something too personalized, it might be better to integrate PayPal.
What is the price of Braintree?
Braintree charges a commission of 1.9% and 30 cents for each sale, either with Visa, Mastercard or Amex. With Braintree there is no fixed monthly fee or additional charges. Access to the Braintree API is also free, so you can create your store’s payment gateway for free.
Transaction cost
- Online: 1.9% + €0.3 per transaction
- Online (NGO): 2.2% + €0.3
- Bitcoin: 1% (€5 cap)
Which cards does Braintree accept?
- Visa
- Mastercard
- Discover
- American Express (commission $ 0,15 extra)
- Cost per currency conversion: 1%.
Disputes/Surcharges: $15
Braintree has special discounts for non-profit organizations. In these cases, the fee is 2.2% commission + $0.3. This only applies to Visa, Mastercard and Discover, not American Express.
Advantages and disadvantages of Braintree vs. PayPal and Stripe
Below we show you the advantages and disadvantages of using Braintree for your online business compared to the other two payment solutions Paypal and Stripe.
Braintree vs. PayPal: Which payment solution is better?
Although Braintree is owned by PayPal, there are some differences between the two payment gateways, mainly in terms of payment types. Braintree accepts payment with Bitcoins, while PayPal does not. In this sense, if you have an online business that works with this type of currency, it is best to use Braintree.
Another difference between PayPal and Braintree is that the second does not charge for API access. In PayPal, however, you need to access a $30 pro plan to be able to work with your API.
On the other hand, one of the advantages of Paypal is its simplicity. Integrating a payment gateway in your e-commerce is going to be easier with PayPal than with Braintree.
Finally, if you have offline activity and need a physical POS, you can contract it with PayPal, but not with Braintree.
Braintree vs. Stripe: Which payment solution is better?
Sometimes you tend to compare Stripe with Braintree, as both are payment solutions for e-commerce stores and other online businesses. However, they differ in several aspects:
- One of the main differences between Braintree and Stripe, is that the second can not process Paypal payments. This often limits Stripe.
- On the other hand, and as we have mentioned before, one of the advantages of Stripe is that it allows you to make payments with AliPay, the most important payment platform in China. Braintree not yet.
- Stripe is a slightly more expensive payment tool than Braintree when it comes to international payments. With Stripe, you must pay a commission of 2% for each international sale. In this sense, if you have many international customers, ideally you should integrate Braintree.
- In terms of functionalities, both platforms are quite similar. Both offer anti-fraud protection, and have an API for developers to program with Ruby, Python, PHP, Java, ANdroid or iOS for example.
Opinion about Braintree
Braintree is a PayPal-owned payment and collection solution, interesting for e-commerce shops with international customers. As long as you don’t sell in China.
It has commissions for sale similar to Stripe or PayPal. Accepts the vast majority of credit cards, and also allows payments with Bitcoins.
The main disadvantage compared to other payment gateways is in the installation, which requires knowledge of programming and web development with its API.
