PayPal’s fee looks small until the fixed part lands on a small payment: 3.49% + $0.49 is 3.98% of a $100 sale but 8.39% of a $10 one. This PayPal fee calculator works in both directions. In fee mode it shows what a payment really leaves you and the effective rate you paid. In gross-up mode it answers the freelancer’s question — what do I charge so that exactly $X reaches me after PayPal takes its cut? — using the correct formula, not the common mistake of just adding the percentage on top.
The presets use PayPal’s published US commercial rates (checked October 2026), and every figure is editable, because rates differ by country, currency and account. ¿Cobras en español? La versión en español trabaja en USD con tipo de cambio a pesos: Calculadora de Comisiones PayPal Argentina.
The two formulas
Fee on a received payment: fee = amount × percentage + fixed fee; you keep amount − fee. Gross-up (charging so you receive an exact net): charge = (desired net + fixed fee) ÷ (1 − percentage). The division is the whole point: PayPal applies its percentage to the gross charge, including the part you added to cover the fee, so simply adding 3.49% to your price leaves you short every time.
Worked examples
Fee mode, $500 through PayPal Checkout at 3.49% + $0.49: fee = $17.45 + $0.49 = $17.94; you receive $482.06, an effective rate of 3.59%. Gross-up mode, you want to receive exactly $100: charge = ($100 + $0.49) ÷ (1 − 0.0349) = $100.49 ÷ 0.9651 = $104.12. PayPal’s fee on $104.12 is $4.12, and $104.12 − $4.12 = $100.00 exactly. The calculator above verifies both directions, including the optional international add-on: the same $200 payment with the +1.5% international fee costs $10.47 instead of $7.47.
Which preset applies to you?
PayPal’s US commercial schedule (paypal.com merchant fees, checked October 2026) charges 3.49% + fixed fee for PayPal Checkout, guest checkout and Venmo payments, 2.99% + fixed fee for standard credit and debit card payments and Goods & Services, and 2.29% + $0.09 for QR-code transactions. The fixed fee depends on the currency received: $0.49 USD, €0.39 EUR, £0.39 GBP. International commercial payments add 1.5 percentage points. Outside the US the base rates change — PayPal’s standard commercial rate in much of Europe is 3.4% + a fixed fee, and in Latin America rates are higher still — so switch the preset off and type your own figures if your account is not US-based. Platforms change fees; verify the current schedule on PayPal’s fee page for your country before quoting a client.
Honest limits
This calculator covers the transaction fee only. Currency conversion (PayPal adds a spread of around 3–4% over the base exchange rate when you convert), withdrawal fees in some countries, dispute and chargeback fees, and the micropayments rate for very small sales all sit outside it. If you invoice abroad, the conversion spread is usually a bigger cost than the headline percentage — price it in separately.
If you invoice through PayPal
The invoicing schedule mirrors checkout: an invoice paid with PayPal, Venmo or guest checkout costs 3.49% + fixed fee, paid by card or Apple Pay 2.99% + fixed fee, and paid by bank (ACH) just 1% capped at $10 per transaction — which is why large B2B invoices in the US are so often steered to bank payment: on a $2,000 invoice the difference is $70.29 by PayPal against a $10 capped bank fee. The same international add-on of 1.5% applies to invoicing from abroad. If your clients pay you through a “request money” link or a PayPal.Me payment for goods and services, you are on the commercial schedule too — there is no cheaper personal rate for business income, and using personal payments for sales breaches PayPal’s terms and removes your seller protection.
Related tools
Versión en español: Calculadora Comisiones PayPal Argentina SaaS — Cuánto cobrar en USD para recibir el neto que quieres · Stripe Fee Estimator · Dropshipping Profit Calculator.
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