PayPal Crypto Fees vs Coinbase

PayPal now lets you buy bitcoin and other crypto.

Coinbase also allows you to buy crypto using PayPal.

Which has cheaper fees?

I did test transactions on both, and here are my results.

Here is the short answer:

Key Takeaways

I used my bank account as a payment method for both for this test.
PayPal was 0.2% cheaper than Coinbase in my testing.
PayPal charged a higher fee, but Coinbase took more in the spread.

Now for the longer answer:

Coinbase

Amount of Bitcoin: 0.01667265 BTC
Exchange rate: $29,548.99 / BTC
Price of Purchase: $492.66
Coinbase Fee: $7.34
Total Price: $500.00

PayPal

Amount of Bitcoin: 0.01670742 BTC
Exchange rate: $29,397.72 / BTC
Price of Purchase: $491.16
Transaction Fee: $8.84
Total Price: $500.00

Comparison

Bitcoin Amount: The PayPal order was giving me a slightly higher amount of Bitcoin (0.01670742 BTC) for my $500 compared to the 1st order (0.01667265 BTC).

Exchange Rate: As you can see in my screenshot, Coinbase is charging a higher exchange rate ($29,548.99 / BTC) compared to the 2nd order ($29,397.72 / BTC). This means that the price of Bitcoin is higher on Coinbase, meaning you get slightly less bitcoin.

Fees: The Coinbase fee in the 1st order is $7.34, whereas the transaction fee in the PayPal order is slightly higher at $8.84.

Total Price: Both orders have a total price of $500.00, but you get a marginally higher amount of Bitcoin with PayPal due to its lower exchange rate, despite its slightly higher fee.

About the Author

Jordan Tuwiner

Jordan Tuwiner is the founder of BuyBitcoinWorldwide.com. He studied computer science at Towson University and holds an online degree in trading & cryptocurrency. Jordan has been writing about Bitcoin since 2015. His work has been featured in The Guardian, International Business Times, Forbes, VentureBeat, CoinDesk and many other top Bitcoin media outlets.