PayPal vs GoCardless

Side-by-side from the Top 11 rankings of The 11 Best Payment Gateways and The 11 Best Subscription Billing Software. Last verified June 9, 2026.

The short answer

PayPal ranks higher on Top 11 (#3 vs #8) for Businesses accepting online payments / SaaS and subscription businesses billing customers. Unrivaled brand trust and a massive user base that boosts e-commerce conversion rates.

At a glance

PayPalGoCardless
Top 11 rank#3 / The 11 Best Payment Gateways#8 / The 11 Best Subscription Billing Software
Score (out of 9.4)8.87.8
Best forMaximizing conversion with brand trustBank-to-bank recurring payments
Pricing$$ (Pay-as-you-go)$$ (1-2% per transaction)
HQSan Jose, USALondon, UK
Founded19982011

PayPal

Unrivaled brand trust and a massive user base that boosts e-commerce conversion rates.

www.paypal.com

See full entry in The 11 Best Payment Gateways

GoCardless

The leading platform for collecting recurring payments via direct bank debit.

gocardless.com

See full entry in The 11 Best Subscription Billing Software

Methodology and scoring weights live at /methodology. No vendor pays for placement — see about.