Braintree Review 2021

The first thing to say is that if you can’t afford to hire a web developer or you don’t have programming skills yourself, Braintree probably isn’t for you.

Braintree is a product designed around its application programming interface (API). Its purpose is to help businesses build processing solutions into their websites and to simplify more technical processing problems like setting up a marketplace.

Another key aspect of services like Braintree is allowing businesses to conduct secure transactions across the globe.

If you’ve read our Stripe review, you may be noticing that Braintree seems to offer a lot of the same things that Stripe does. Because of that, the real question you need to answer is this: Which solution is better for my business, Stripe or Braintree? In our opinion, the nod goes to Stripe. But you should still stick around to see why Braintree may be right for you.

One of the key differences between Braintree and Stripe is that Braintree is owned by PayPal. This ownership gives Braintree access to both Venmo and PayPal payment options.

There are a lot of customers online who like performing online transactions via PayPal or Venmo. Because you can give your customers these options with Braintree, they’re more likely to have a satisfying transaction experience if PayPal is their preferred online payment method.

Braintree technically has two plans on offer: standard pricing and custom pricing. Custom pricing depends on your transaction volume. Most small businesses won’t be doing enough transaction volume to justify a custom plan as those plans are typically for enterprise clients.

Braintree doesn’t list many details for its custom plans because said plans are customized to the needs of each business applying for one.

That said, the standard pricing plan is pretty, well, standard. It’s almost identical to Stripe’s pricing model. In fact, both companies have the exact same transaction cost. Because Stripe and Braintree are well-matched on pricing, why would your business want to choose Braintree?

Braintree is a great way to accept PayPal and Venmo payments in a worldwide context. Because it’s available in over 45 countries, you’re left with a service that has a lot of payment acceptance flexibility on a large scale. This can boost your sales potential substantially.

The fact that you need a programmer or programming skills to integrate Braintree on your website is both a pro and a con. It’s good for customization but bad because it’s prohibitive to smaller businesses that can’t afford a programmer. Braintree also has a problem with negative reviews that’s explained in detail in a below section.

Braintree and Stripe aren’t functionally all that different. Here are a few things both services offer:

• Online payment acceptance of all major credit cards
• Tools for building an online marketplace
• 3D secure
• Report generation
• POS solutions
• Data security
• Global currency acceptance

On some of these points, Braintree and Stripe differ slightly. For example, Braintree and Stripe both offer services in many foreign countries, but there is some slight variation between the countries serviced.

Also, Braintree offers PayPal POS hardware whereas Stripe offers its own terminal.

Now let’s talk about key differences.

Let’s start with a simple question: what does Braintree offer that Stripe doesn’t?

• Venmo and PayPal integration
• Certain add-on integrations specific to Braintree

What does Stripe offer that Braintree doesn’t?

• Alipay integration
• Coupon promotion tools
• Tons of accounting integrations
• More app integrations than Braintree
• Better support documentation

Looking at the two lists above, Stripe gets the edge in features offered. But, if PayPal or Venmo integration is important to your customers, Braintree is a better option.

You can generate a bunch of useful reports on Braintree:

• Advanced transaction search
• Dispute management
• Decline analysis
• Transaction fee report

These reports can help you ground crucial business in data and can help you diagnose the overall health of your business.

Braintree is available in over 45 countries across the globe and can process transactions in over 130 currencies globally. This functionality is crucial for businesses that need global payment support or for businesses that are planning a global sales expansion sometime in the near future.

One thing that matters a lot in the worldwide payment market is ensuring that your transactions are safe, secure, and authentic. Fraud is more prevalent in some countries, so it’s crucial to use a processor equipped with the tools to handle the special challenges associated with doing business internationally.

Braintree allows you to add an in-person component to your online processing via PayPal’s credit card processing terminals. From mobile readers to larger terminals, PayPal has a good selection of hardware you can use to take card-present transactions should the need arise. Prices range from $24.99–$99.99.

Braintree is a pretty good global payments solution. It’s not as feature-rich as Stripe, but if you’re looking for a global payment gateway that accepts PayPal and Venmo transactions, then Braintree is a solid option.

If you’re not sure Braintree is the best global payment solution for your business, check out our review of Stripe.

Disclaimer

At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations. We don't guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services.