PayPal is almost synonymous with online transactions. It has the largest market share (43%) in the payment processing industry and has had an incredible growth trajectory over the last decade. But just how quickly has PayPal grown? Read on to find out.
Quick summary
435 million people had an active PayPal account in 2022, up more than 204% compared to 2013.
PayPal had the biggest year-on-year growth of active users during the first year of the pandemic, growing 24% from 2019.
The average PayPal user makes 51 transactions per year. This is up from 24 in 2014.
The total payment value via PayPal has increased by 480% from 2014 to 2022.
PayPal is one of the most popular payment methods for online transactions in the United States, accounting for 22% of online transactions.
PayPal is available in more than 200 countries and regions and supports 25 currencies.
PayPal adoption statistics
435 million people had an active PayPal account in 2022, up more than 204% compared to 2013 when 143 million people used the service.
PayPal had the biggest year-on-year growth of active users (from 2010–2021) during the first year of the pandemic, growing 24% from 2019.
In 2019, the number of active customer accounts grew by 5% while merchant accounts grew by 14%.
In the 5 years from 2018–2022, merchant accounts grew at a faster rate than customer accounts. In 2018, there were 267 million active customer accounts. This grew by 63% to 435 million active users in 2022. Merchant accounts increased by 67% from 21 million in 2018 to 35 million in 2022.
PayPal is available to consumers and merchants in more than 200 countries and regions in Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. Furthermore, it handles payments in 25 currencies.
Kenya has the highest search interest for PayPal according to Google Trends, followed by Germany, Jamaica and Ethiopia.
PayPal transaction statistics
The number of PayPal transactions has increased by 155% from 2018 to 2022. US$9.9 billion worth of transactions occurred in 2018, and in 2022, there was US$22.3 billion worth of transactions.
For the past 3 years, from 2019–2022, PayPal transactions increased 20.58% year on year.
The total payment value via PayPal has increased by 480% from 2014 to 2022. In 2022, $1,363 billion was transacted on the network, up from $235 billion in 2014.
The pandemic years (2020 and 2021) saw huge year-on-year growth in the volume transacted on the network. Total payment value grew 31% in 2020 and 33% in 2021.
The average PayPal user makes 51 transactions per year. This is up from 24 in 2014.
PayPal competitors:
PayPal has a market share of 42% in the payment processing industry – the most of any brand.
Stripe has the second largest market share at 19.45%, followed by Shopify (12.47%) and Amazon Pay (4.76%).
Susannah Binsted is the head of the Finder Awards program. Previously she was the head of public relations for the international division at Finder. Susannah has a Bachelor of Communication and a Bachelor of International Studies from the University of Technology Sydney. See full bio
Wondering how property prices in Australia compare with the rest of the world? We estimated the average cost of buying a city-centre apartment in 106 countries to find out.
How likely would you be to recommend Finder to a friend or colleague?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Very UnlikelyExtremely Likely
Required
Thank you for your feedback.
Our goal is to create the best possible product, and your thoughts, ideas and suggestions play a major role in helping us identify opportunities to improve.
Important information about this website
Finder makes money from featured partners, but editorial opinions are our own.
Finder is one of Australia's leading comparison websites. We are committed to our readers and stand by our editorial principles
We try to take an open and transparent approach and provide a broad-based comparison service. However, you should be aware that while we are an independently owned service, our comparison service does not include all providers or all products available in the market.
Some product issuers may provide products or offer services through multiple brands, associated companies or different labeling arrangements. This can make it difficult for consumers to compare alternatives or identify the companies behind the products. However, we aim to provide information to enable consumers to understand these issues.
We make money by featuring products on our site. Compensation received from the providers featured on our site can influence which products we write about as well as where and how products appear on our page, but the order or placement of these products does not influence our assessment or opinions of them, nor is it an endorsement or recommendation for them.
Products marked as 'Top Pick', 'Promoted' or 'Advertisement' are prominently displayed either as a result of a commercial advertising arrangement or to highlight a particular product, provider or feature. Finder may receive remuneration from the Provider if you click on the related link, purchase or enquire about the product. Finder's decision to show a 'promoted' product is neither a recommendation that the product is appropriate for you nor an indication that the product is the best in its category. We encourage you to use the tools and information we provide to compare your options.
Where our site links to particular products or displays 'Go to site' buttons, we may receive a commission, referral fee or payment when you click on those buttons or apply for a product.
When products are grouped in a table or list, the order in which they are initially sorted may be influenced by a range of factors including price, fees and discounts; commercial partnerships; product features; and brand popularity. We provide tools so you can sort and filter these lists to highlight features that matter to you.
Please read our website terms of use and privacy policy for more information about our services and our approach to privacy.
We update our data regularly, but information can change between updates. Confirm details with the provider you're interested in before making a decision.
