PayPal Fee Calculator —
What You Actually Keep
See exactly what PayPal takes from a freelance payment — goods & services, invoices, QR and micropayments — plus the international surcharge and currency-conversion markup most calculators skip. Then flip it around to find what to charge so the fee comes out of the client's pocket, not yours.
How PayPal's Fees Work
PayPal's cost isn't one number — it's a stack. There's a percentage on every payment, a fixed fee on some payment types, an extra surcharge when the client is overseas, and a currency-conversion markup whenever money changes currency. Each layer looks small on its own, which is exactly why the total surprises people. This calculator models all four so you see your real net.
The single biggest lever is currency. If you can get an international client to pay in your own currency, you skip the ~4% conversion markup and pay only the 1.5% surcharge. For regular overseas clients, a Wise or Payoneer account that receives local currency for free usually beats PayPal outright.
Friends & Family vs Goods & Services — the Freelancer Trap
It's the most common question freelancers get about PayPal: a client offers to send the money as Friends & Family so neither of you pays the fee. Domestically that really is free — from a bank account or PayPal balance. So why not take it?
Because Friends & Family is built for personal payments, and using it for work breaks three things at once:
1. It violates PayPal's User Agreement. Commercial payments are supposed to go through Goods & Services. PayPal can — and does — reverse payments or limit accounts that route business income as personal transfers.
2. It strips away all protection. Goods & Services gives both sides dispute coverage. Friends & Family gives none. If the client charges back or disappears, you have no recourse.
3. It puts your account at risk. A stream of "personal" payments from people who aren't friends is exactly the pattern that triggers a PayPal review or a 180-day hold on your balance.
You'd be trading away buyer protection and risking a frozen account to save roughly 3% — about $30 on a $1,000 job. The professional move when a client wants to dodge fees isn't to misuse Friends & Family; it's to gross up your invoice so the fee is built into the price.
| Friends & Family route | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| US — from bank or PayPal balance | Free | Personal payments only — wrong tool for client work |
| Funded by debit / credit card | 2.90% + $0.30 | Paid by the sender |
| International (cross-border personal) | 5.00% | Minimum $0.99, maximum $4.99 |
Verified June 2026. Free applies only to domestic personal payments from a bank or balance — and even then, it's the wrong tool for getting paid by a client.
PayPal Fee Reference for Freelancers
Every figure verified against PayPal's published US fee pages, June 2026. Fees vary by country and account type — confirm your own at paypal.com/us/business/paypal-business-fees before building them into a quote.
| Payment type | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Goods & Services payment received | 2.99% | No fixed fee · standard way clients pay you |
| Invoice / PayPal Checkout | 3.49% + $0.49 | Hosted invoice or checkout button |
| Standard card payment | 2.99% + $0.49 | Card keyed in via virtual terminal |
| QR code, in person | 2.29% + $0.09 | Lowest rate · face-to-face only |
| Micropayments (optional plan) | 4.99% + $0.09 | Cheaper than 2.99% below ~$12 |
| International commercial surcharge | +1.5% | Added to the rate above for non-US clients |
| Currency conversion | ~4% | Markup over mid-market (3% on some types) |
| Friends & Family (bank / balance, US) | Free | Personal only — not for business |
| Friends & Family (card-funded) | 2.90% + $0.30 | Paid by sender |
| Instant transfer to bank / debit card | 1.5% | Minimum $0.25, maximum $15 |
| Chargeback / dispute fee | $20 | Refunded if you win the dispute |
PayPal raised its US commercial rates in recent years and the currency-conversion markup varies by corridor, so treat these as current reference points and check the live rate for your exact country and currency before quoting.
PayPal vs Wise vs Payoneer for International Clients
For a US-to-US payment in dollars, PayPal is fine — 2.99% and the client already has it. For international clients it's consistently the most expensive option, because the conversion markup stacks on top of the cross-border surcharge. Here's the all-in cost of receiving a $2,000 overseas payment that needs converting:
| Provider | All-in fee | You keep | Exchange rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wise | ~$11 (0.55%) | ~$1,989 | Mid-market — no markup |
| Payoneer | ~$61 (1% + ~2% + $1.50) | ~$1,939 | ~2% markup |
| PayPal | ~$170 (2.99% + 1.5% + ~4% FX) | ~$1,830 | +4% markup |
So why use PayPal at all? Trust and reach. Almost every client on earth already has a PayPal account, buyer protection makes nervous first-time clients comfortable paying upfront, and there's nothing for them to set up. For a one-off or first-time international client, that friction-free trust can be worth the premium. For regular overseas clients, set up Wise or Payoneer and bill in their local currency — model both with our Wise fee calculator and Payoneer fee calculator.
How to Cover PayPal Fees in Your Pricing
The cleanest answer to "who pays the PayPal fee" is to build it into the price so the client does — without ever touching Friends & Family.
The catch is that you can't just add 2.99%. PayPal charges its fee on the full amount you invoice — including the bit you added to cover the fee — so a flat markup always leaves you a little short. To net exactly $1,000 on a Goods & Services payment you need to invoice $1,030.82, not $1,029.90. The gap grows with the rate: on an international invoice with conversion (~8.99%) it's several dollars per transaction.
The correct formula is gross = (target + fixed fee) ÷ (1 − rate). The Add the Fee tab does this for any payment type and shows exactly what you'd lose to the naive markup. A note on etiquette: openly passing processing fees to clients is normal for international wires but can feel petty on small domestic jobs — many freelancers simply price 3–4% higher across the board and never itemise it. Either way, work out your true hourly number first with the profit margin calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources & how we calculate
This calculator applies PayPal's published US fee percentages to the amount you enter — the rate for your payment type, the $0.49 / $0.09 fixed fees, the +1.5% cross-border surcharge, and the ~4% currency-conversion markup — then shows your net, or in reverse the amount to invoice. It does not use a live exchange rate; conversion is modelled as PayPal's stated markup over the mid-market rate. Everything is computed in your browser from the numbers you enter.
Official sources: PayPal Merchant & Business Fees · PayPal Consumer Fees