Is Tapaya a PayPal Checkout alternative?

For a software company or merchant that wants online and in-person payments from one integration, yes. PayPal Checkout itself is online-only — its in-person product (Zettle / PayPal Point of Sale) is a separate integration entirely, so using PayPal for both channels means two different products from the same parent company, not one.

Do I have to be a software company to use Tapaya?

No. Tapaya works for direct merchants too: sign up, verify your business, and start taking payments online and in person, approved in about 48 hours. The same underlying infrastructure is also available as an SDK for software companies that want to embed payments into their own product — one platform serving both audiences, not two separate products.

Can I embed PayPal Checkout under my own brand for my own merchants?

PayPal offers "PayPal for Platforms" for this, but it's approval-gated rather than self-serve, and PayPal's own branding is typically visible to the shopper during the checkout flow. Tapaya's SDK is built for self-serve, fully white-label embedding from the start, across both online and in-person payments.

Does PayPal Checkout also cover in-person payments?

No — PayPal's in-person product is a separate one (Zettle / PayPal Point of Sale), with its own integration and account. Tapaya's SDK covers both online payments and in-person Tap to Pay from the same integration.

All comparisonsUpdated 2026-08-31

ComparisonOnline checkout button (PayPal)

Tapaya vs PayPal Checkout

PayPal Checkout adds a PayPal-branded payment button to a merchant's own online store. Tapaya is one SDK a software company embeds for both online payments and in-person Tap to Pay, under its own brand, with no separate integration for each channel.

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At a glance

How Tapaya and PayPal Checkout differ

PayPal Checkout is a well-known online payment button: a merchant with a PayPal Business account adds it to their checkout page, and shoppers pay via PayPal balance, card, or Pay Later, redirected through a PayPal-hosted flow. It's a strong, trusted option for a single online store, but it's a separate product from any in-person acceptance, priced and integrated on its own, and PayPal's own "for Platforms" embedding option is approval-gated rather than self-serve. Tapaya takes the opposite shape for a software company: one SDK covers online payments and in-person Tap to Pay together, so a platform integrates once and its own merchants take both without a second integration, a second vendor relationship, or a second brand in the flow.

Tapaya compared with PayPal Checkout
Capability	Tapaya	PayPal Checkout
Who it's built for	Software companies that want in-person and online payments to be one native, branded part of their own product (POS vendors, vertical SaaS, marketplaces, banks, fintechs), and direct merchants who want both channels from one provider.	Individual online merchants with a PayPal Business account adding a checkout button to their own store.
In-person payments	The same SDK also runs Tap to Pay on any commercial Android device — one integration, both channels.	Not part of PayPal Checkout. PayPal's separate in-person product (Zettle / PayPal Point of Sale) is a different product with its own account and integration.
Embeddable under your own brand	Fully white-label across both channels, your app, your UI, your name end to end. Customers never see Tapaya.	"PayPal for Platforms" exists for software companies to embed onboarding for their own merchants, but it's approval-gated ("evaluated by a PayPal representative"), not self-serve, and PayPal's own branding is typically visible to the shopper during checkout.
Checkout flow	Renders inside the merchant's own app or site, styled to their brand.	Redirects or opens a PayPal-hosted popup for the shopper to log in and authorize the payment — the PayPal brand and login screen are part of the flow.
Pricing	One transparent blended rate, from 1.39%, no monthly fee, no lock-in, for in-person; the same partnership extends to online payments with no second contract.	Published Czech rates: 3.4% + 10 CZK for standard commercial transactions, 1.9% + 10 CZK for card-funded payments, plus a cross-border surcharge outside the EEA and an FX spread of about 3% on currency conversion. No monthly fee.
Best fit	You're a software company that wants one integration to cover both online and in-person payments under your own brand, or a merchant who wants both from one provider.	You run a single online store, want shoppers to recognize and trust PayPal at checkout, and don't need in-person acceptance or a white-label flow.

Who it's built for
Tapaya
Software companies that want in-person and online payments to be one native, branded part of their own product (POS vendors, vertical SaaS, marketplaces, banks, fintechs), and direct merchants who want both channels from one provider.
PayPal Checkout
Individual online merchants with a PayPal Business account adding a checkout button to their own store.
In-person payments
Tapaya
The same SDK also runs Tap to Pay on any commercial Android device — one integration, both channels.
PayPal Checkout
Not part of PayPal Checkout. PayPal's separate in-person product (Zettle / PayPal Point of Sale) is a different product with its own account and integration.
Embeddable under your own brand
Tapaya
Fully white-label across both channels, your app, your UI, your name end to end. Customers never see Tapaya.
PayPal Checkout
"PayPal for Platforms" exists for software companies to embed onboarding for their own merchants, but it's approval-gated ("evaluated by a PayPal representative"), not self-serve, and PayPal's own branding is typically visible to the shopper during checkout.
Checkout flow
Tapaya
Renders inside the merchant's own app or site, styled to their brand.
PayPal Checkout
Redirects or opens a PayPal-hosted popup for the shopper to log in and authorize the payment — the PayPal brand and login screen are part of the flow.
Pricing
Tapaya
One transparent blended rate, from 1.39%, no monthly fee, no lock-in, for in-person; the same partnership extends to online payments with no second contract.
PayPal Checkout
Published Czech rates: 3.4% + 10 CZK for standard commercial transactions, 1.9% + 10 CZK for card-funded payments, plus a cross-border surcharge outside the EEA and an FX spread of about 3% on currency conversion. No monthly fee.
Best fit
Tapaya
You're a software company that wants one integration to cover both online and in-person payments under your own brand, or a merchant who wants both from one provider.
PayPal Checkout
You run a single online store, want shoppers to recognize and trust PayPal at checkout, and don't need in-person acceptance or a white-label flow.

A checkout button, not a channel-unifying platform

PayPal itself now treats its online checkout button as organizationally separate from its other payment businesses — as of an April 2026 reorganization, "Checkout Solutions" sits apart from Braintree and its SMB processing division. That separation shows up for merchants too: PayPal Checkout, PayPal's in-person product (Zettle / PayPal Point of Sale), and PayPal's developer-focused gateway (Braintree) are three different products with three different integrations, even though they share a parent company. Tapaya's online payments run on the same SDK, API and onboarding as its in-person Tap to Pay — a software company that already embeds Tapaya for in-person acceptance adds online payments to what it already has, rather than starting a second integration with a second vendor.

Where each fits

Choosing the right tool

Choose Tapaya when

You're a software company that wants online payments and in-person Tap to Pay to be one native, branded part of your own product, not two separate integrations with two separate vendors. Or you're a merchant who wants both online and in-person payments from one provider, at a transparent rate, with no PayPal-branded redirect breaking up your own checkout.

Choose PayPal Checkout when

You run an online store and want a widely-recognized checkout button that shoppers already trust, and you're comfortable with a PayPal-hosted redirect as part of your checkout flow. You don't need in-person acceptance, and you don't need to embed the payment experience for other merchants under your own brand.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Keep comparing

See how Tapaya stacks up elsewhere

Accurate as of 2026-08-31. Based on publicly available information; all product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Comparison based on publicly documented PayPal Checkout, PayPal for Platforms, and PayPal Czech Republic pricing pages as of August 2026; PayPal's own branded-checkout growth and organizational structure were also disclosed by PayPal itself in early-to-mid 2026. Capabilities, pricing and regional terms change over time — verify current details with PayPal directly.