PayPal vs Optimizely

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared PayPal vs Optimizely based on data from our 400+ point analysis of eCommerce Platforms, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

PayPal is a payment processing solution that serves as an electronic alternative to traditional methods like money orders and checks. It allows users to shop online, send and receive money securely, and receive payments. It is a two-sided network that connects merchants to consumers in various markets. As a merchant, add a one-touch payment point to the business website, provide customers with faster checkouts, offer credit lines and EMIs, receive recurring payments, accept credit and debit cards, and send multiple payments with a single click. It is a secure and fully PCI-compliant payment facilitator.
read more...

Optimizely is a comprehensive digital experience platform (DXP) that helps create, deliver, optimize and personalize customer journeys and shopping experiences. It offers a robust suite of experimentation tools, including A/B and multivariate testing, enabling you to compare multiple variations of a webpage or feature simultaneously.

This granular experimentation provides deeper insights into customer behavior and preferences. Additionally, the platform’s personalization tools enable you to deliver tailored experiences to individual customers based on their actions, preferences and demographics.

The platform integrates content management, distribution and marketing functionalities, allowing you to manage your brand’s entire digital presence from a single platform. This unified approach streamlines workflows and improves efficiency.

Additionally, analytics and reporting tools provide actionable insights into customer interactions and marketing campaigns. This helps businesses identify opportunities for improvement and measure the impact of their experiments.

read more...
$0.30/Transaction, 5.4% Flat Rate
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$36,000 Annually
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Enhanced Security: PayPal employs end-to-end encryption and fraud detection technologies to protect both buyers and sellers, reducing the risk of unauthorized transactions and data breaches.
  • Global Reach: With support for multiple currencies and a presence in over 200 markets, PayPal enables businesses to accept payments from customers worldwide, expanding their market reach.
  • Convenience: PayPal offers a seamless checkout process, allowing customers to pay quickly without entering their payment details for every transaction, leading to higher conversion rates for businesses.
  • Flexible Payment Options: PayPal supports a variety of payment methods, including credit cards, bank accounts, PayPal balance, and PayPal Credit, offering flexibility to customers and increasing the likelihood of successful transactions.
  • Buyer Protection: PayPal's Buyer Protection policy covers eligible purchases, providing refunds for transactions that don’t go as planned, thereby increasing consumer trust and confidence.
  • Seller Protection: Similarly, PayPal's Seller Protection program safeguards merchants against claims, chargebacks, and reversals for unauthorized transactions and items not received by buyers, minimizing potential losses.
  • Easy Integration: PayPal offers easy-to-use APIs and plugins for major eCommerce platforms and shopping carts, simplifying the integration process for businesses and enabling them to start accepting payments quickly.
  • Financial Management: With comprehensive reporting tools and the ability to send invoices directly through the platform, PayPal helps businesses manage their finances efficiently, saving time and resources.
  • Customer Insights: PayPal provides access to valuable data and analytics about purchasing trends and customer behavior, helping businesses tailor their offerings and marketing strategies for better engagement.
  • Mobile Optimization: PayPal's mobile-optimized payment solutions cater to the growing number of consumers who shop on their smartphones and tablets, ensuring a smooth and secure checkout experience on any device.
  • Nonprofit Support: PayPal offers discounted transaction rates for registered nonprofits, making it easier for them to accept donations and manage their fundraising efforts online.
  • Subscription Services: Businesses can easily set up and manage subscription-based services with PayPal, offering automatic billing and payment options that ensure continuous access to products or services for their customers.
read more...
  • Most Popular Platform: According to our research, 90% of users recommend this product. Its user sentiment rating is higher than industry leaders like Shopify (88) and BigCommerce (86).
  • Robust Marketing Toolkit: Optimizely received top marks (100) from our analysts for its marketing and SEO optimization features. It supports content generation using generative AI, A/B testing, feature and web experimentation, and product information management. You can centralize content creation, storage, distribution and marketing using its native digital asset management module.
  • Efficient Payment and Checkout: Our analysts gave it a perfect 100 rating for its unique payment and checkout features. It supports partial payments, split tenders (accepting two or more payment types in a single transaction), zero-value orders and guest checkouts.
  • Easy Storefront Management: Another key differentiator is Optimizely’s storefront editing and management toolkit. It got a 100 analyst rating right alongside industry stalwarts like Shopify and BigCommerce. You can manage multiple storefronts, publish blogs, oversee shopping carts and test website features before they go live.
read more...
  • Accept Payments: Receive funds and streamline the checkout experience with the available tools: 
    • Invoices and Estimates: Generate free customizable invoices to simplify the payment process. Alternatively, create estimates with business logos and personalized details, and automatically convert them into invoices after customer acceptance. 
    • Checkout: Provide customers with a one-touch payment point to check out and make payments without leaving the business website. 
    • Recurring Payments: Improve customer retention by allowing repeat customers to skip the checkout process and set up subscription-based payments. 
    • Installment Payments: Get paid up-front while providing customers a pay-later option with “Pay in 4,” an interest-free installment solution, at no additional cost. 
    • Sell on Social: Quickly create product listings with photos and descriptions. Receive a shareable link to promote and push sales through social media, email, chat and more. Host listings on the vendor’s servers and let customers securely pay through a payment portal. 
    • Point of Sale: Accept in-person card payments with a selection of chip, tap and swipe readers and accessories compatible with mobile devices and desktops. 
    • QR Codes: Generate and print unique QR codes that customers can scan to make payments through mobile apps. 
  • Make Payments: Securely link bank accounts to transfer money to digital wallets and vice versa. 
    • Business Debit Mastercard: Withdraw or spend money as soon as it arrives in the digital wallet and earn rewards and cashback from participating retailers. Use at all locations accepting Mastercards. 
    • Send Money: Electronically pay vendors anywhere within the USA without incurring any additional costs and receive payment receipts instantly through the mobile app. Thorough monitoring helps prevent fraudulent transactions. 
    • Payouts: Send mass payouts to vendors and employees across the world, and auto-convert currencies. Supports more than 24 currencies and 180 markets across the globe. 
    • Crypto Payments: Make payments and checkout from participating online stores with cryptocurrency seamlessly. 
    • Payment Regulations: Leverage tools like transaction monitoring, recipient verification and compliance screening to manage compliance with regulations. Available with the enterprise solution. 
  • Risk Management: Uses intelligent two-sided networks, machine learning and analytics to protect businesses from existing and potential threats. Safeguard card details and transactional ledgers with a secure vault. Receive expert advice on maintaining compliance and security strategies. 
  • Growth Acceleration: Expedite business growth rate with critical funding, sales push and growth insights: 
    • PayPal Working Capital: A fixed-fee loan available without requiring a credit check, based on the account’s history. Repay it automatically with a percentage of each sale through the digital wallet. 
    • PayPal Business Loan: Finance operating expenses with a term loan based on the business’s history and growth since inception. Automate regular weekly payments from the bank. 
    • Cart Recovery: Reduce cart abandonment and drive return visits by sending notifications to shoppers who left midway. Offer incentives and discounts through a Store Cash campaign and boost customer loyalty. 
    • Insights: Get actionable insights and expert advice based on estimated audience size and potential ROI to optimize operations, improve marketing and push sales. 
  • Operation Management: Streamline daily operations and automate repetitive tasks with the following tools: 
    • Shipping Labels: Receive discounts on shipping through United Parcel Services (UPS) and United States Postal Service (USPS). Automatically receive tracking information. Select service type, package size and other details to auto-calculate costs. 
    • Dispute Management: Interact with buyers and customers through the “Resolution Center” to resolve disputes mutually. Clients can escalate claims for unresolved conflicts. Gain expert advice on building a case against a chargeback or a claim against the business. 
    • Funds Now: Receive money from completed sales instantly without any hold or delay at no extra cost to the business. 
read more...
  • Content Management: Create a centralized repository of multimedia content, preview every update and change, and schedule publishing. 
  • Editing Tools: Crop, rotate and resize images and videos. 
  • Approval Workflows: 
    •  Give access to team members and editors, manage roles, and control access levels. 
    •  Design default workflows and combine them with bespoke custom sequences. 
    •  Provide approval links and preview portals to stakeholders. 
    •  Create multi-lingual and multi-site content with dependencies for specific channels, content assets and approvals from relevant teams. 
    •  Offers flexible task sequencing like adding viewers, reviewers, regular collaborators and more. 
  • Layout Editing: Design detailed landing and product pages with inline text editing and drag-and-drop text and content blocks. 
  • Search and Navigation: 
    •  Index information from every site, brand and catalog using the built-in crawler technology.  
    •  Streamline customer searches with autocomplete, faceted drill-down, type-ahead suggestions and more. 
    •  Use machine learning to analyze search terms and behaviors and improve results. 
  • Recommendations: Automate product and content tagging, and define rules for automatic suggestions according to metrics like purchase history, behavior, click patterns and more. 
  • Data Core Services: Consolidate datasets from disparate sources, create detailed customer profiles and integrate third-party BI software for in-depth analysis. 
  • Project Management: Track progress, specify deadlines and receive real-time notifications about changes. 
  • Built-In A/B Testing: Test and optimize entire customer journeys, landing pages or specific components like CTAs, payment providers and more. Offers testing features in the editing interface. 
  • Targeting: Use the Visitor Groups feature to personalize content, banners and promotions based on customer profiles or segments. 
read more...

Product Ranking

#1

among all
eCommerce Platforms

#34

among all
eCommerce Platforms

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

we're gathering data
94
we're gathering data
99
we're gathering data
100
we're gathering data
82
Show More Show More

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

PayPal
Optimizely
+ Add Product + Add Product
Catalog And Product Management Checkout Inventory Management Marketing And Search Engine Optimization Order Management Payments Platform Capability Reporting And Analytics Sales Channel Shipping Storefront 99 100 82 100 93 100 90 97 71 94 100 0 25 50 75 100
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
80%
0%
20%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
91%
0%
9%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
88%
0%
12%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
71%
0%
29%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
89%
0%
11%

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 23875 reviews
Great User Sentiment 1102 reviews
94%
of users recommend this product

PayPal has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 94% when considering 23875 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

87%
of users recommend this product

Optimizely has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 87% when considering 1102 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

5.0 (23)
n/a
n/a
4.2 (356)
4.63 (404)
n/a
4.7 (23448)
4.5 (97)
n/a
4.3 (124)
n/a
4.4 (525)

Awards

PayPal stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Optimizely and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Payments.

Payments Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Convenient and Widely Accepted: PayPal is a popular online payment method that is accepted by many online retailers, making it a convenient option for shoppers.
Enhanced Security: PayPal offers buyer and seller protection policies, which can help to protect users from fraud and scams. For instance, if a buyer does not receive an item they purchased, or if the item is significantly different from its description, they may be eligible for a refund under PayPal's Buyer Protection program.
Dispute Resolution: The platform provides a dispute resolution process to help resolve issues between buyers and sellers.
Show more
User-Friendly Interface: Many users praise the platform's intuitive and easy-to-use interface, making it accessible even for those without extensive technical knowledge.
Efficient Experimentation: Optimizely's seamless integration with various external platforms simplifies tracking and analysis. Users also appreciate the platform’s ability to run multiple tests and experimentations simultaneously.
Smooth Integration Capabilities: The platform provides API access for designing custom integrations. It also offers built-in connections with other Oracle products and partner solutions.
Seamless Performance Tracking: Reviewers appreciate the platform's ability to provide clear metrics and insights, especially for monitoring performance improvement over time.
Show more
Limited Seller Protection: PayPal's seller protection policies can be difficult to navigate and may not cover all types of transactions or disputes, leaving sellers vulnerable to fraud or chargebacks.
Account Holds and Freezes: PayPal has been known to hold or freeze accounts without warning or clear explanation, which can disrupt business operations and cause frustration for users who rely on the platform for their livelihood.
Customer Service Challenges: Getting timely and effective support from PayPal's customer service can be difficult, with long wait times and inconsistent responses being common complaints among users.
Show more
High Cost: The platform has a high entry cost, which can be a drawback for small businesses or solo entrepreneurs.
Customer Support Issues: Some users express dissatisfaction with the quality and responsiveness of customer support, noting that it often falls short of expectations.
Poor Documentation: The platform’s documentation and walkthroughs may not be easy to understand, and some users found the initial integration process lengthy and challenging.
Show more

PayPal users generally give it a thumbs-up for its convenience and security. Setting up an account is a breeze, and the platform is widely accepted by online merchants, making it a go-to for quick and easy payments. The security features, like encryption and fraud protection, give users peace of mind when making transactions. However, some users find the fees, especially for international transactions and credit card payments, to be a bit of a bummer. Additionally, while PayPal is widely accepted, it's not universally accepted, so users may occasionally encounter situations where they need to whip out a different payment method. Compared to other digital payment platforms like Zelle, Venmo, and Cash App, PayPal stands out with its robust buyer and seller protection policies, making it a safer choice for larger transactions or purchases from unfamiliar sellers. But for splitting bills with friends or sending small amounts of money, the simplicity and social features of Venmo or Cash App might be more appealing. So, who's PayPal's ideal user? It's perfect for folks who frequently shop online and value security and convenience. If you're someone who makes international payments or deals with large transactions, PayPal's buyer and seller protection features are a major plus. However, if you're mainly looking for a way to split the bill at dinner or send a few bucks to a friend, you might find other platforms more user-friendly and cost-effective.

Show more

Optimizely is a powerful tool for managing and optimizing digital shopper experiences. Its content management capabilities are particularly impressive. The platform offers a centralized hub for storing, editing and approving multimedia content, making it easy to maintain consistency across channels.Customers can quickly reach their desired location and find products with built-in search and navigation tools combined with AI-powered recommendations. The integrated customer data platform (CDP) is also a valuable addition, helping organize customer data for efficient support services and personalized suggestions.The platform’s real strength lies in its experimentation capabilities. It offers a robust set of tools for A/B testing, multivariate testing and feature flagging. These tools help you fine-tune your online store to better match your audience’s taste and test variations of designs, features or products to see how effectively they boost customer conversions.However, the platform is far from an all-in-one eCommerce solution. It offers basic backend tools to manage inventory, orders and shipping. For example, you can’t manage multiple inventory locations and set up packaging and kitting workflows.Also, it doesn’t support product bundling, contract-based pricing, purchase orders and complex promotional structures. This makes the platform less suitable for B2B businesses with complex needs.Overall, Optimizely is ideal for large enterprises and D2C businesses with an existing backend setup, looking to manage, personalize and deliver branded shopping experiences across multiple sales channels. However, SMEs and growing companies must consider other options in the market, as Optimizely can be a costly investment and may not cover the full spectrum of eCommerce store management needs.

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in eCommerce Platforms


Adobe Commerce

BigCommerce

commercetools

Ecwid

Kibo

Optimizely

Oracle Commerce

Salesforce Commerce Cloud

SAP Commerce Cloud

Shopify

Sitecore

SquareSpace

TrueCommerce

Unilog

Wix

Related Categories

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings