Use Stripe or PayPal for cards, and Wise (wise.com) local account details for free domestic bank-transfer receiving. As of October 2026, Stripe’s supported-country list excludes Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh, while PayPal’s market list excludes Pakistan and Bangladesh, so check eligibility first.
Fees checked 21 October 2026. Wise (wise.com) means the payment provider throughout this comparison.
Which payment provider fits your academy?
Choose a provider your business can actually use, then choose the payment route your families prefer. Stripe is a better fit when you want card collection at the lower published rates in the domestic examples below. PayPal suits families who prefer its checkout or wallet. Wise (wise.com) suits eligible academies collecting local bank transfers in supported currencies.
A provider name does not describe the whole payment. A domestic card, an international card and a local bank transfer can carry different charges. Compare the payment route you expect parents to use, rather than treating a headline percentage as your total cost.
Use these starting points:
- Choose Stripe when card payments matter and your business country is supported. Include the Invoicing charge when comparing an invoice workflow.
- Choose PayPal when parents prefer PayPal Checkout, or when PayPal supports your market and Stripe does not. Egypt is an example of that difference in the published lists.
- Choose Wise (wise.com) when parents can use the relevant local bank details and your business is eligible. Free domestic receiving is useful without making every transfer free.
For a small academy, offering a familiar checkout may matter more than a modest fee difference. For an academy collecting bank transfers, clear payment references may matter more than adding another card provider. Let the family payment route guide the choice after eligibility is settled.
What does a typical tuition invoice cost?
Compare fees using the academy’s country, the parent’s payment method and the invoice currency. The examples below use the published rates checked on 21 October 2026. Example: USD 100 is the domestic US payment; GBP 100 is a separate UK invoice paid by a US parent. These are equal face-value examples in different currencies, not an exchange-rate conversion.
PayPal’s UK merchant fee page lists domestic commercial payments at 2.9% + GBP 0.30, with another 1.99% for senders outside the EEA. Stripe’s UK pricing page lists non-EEA cards at 3.15% + 20p. The UK card example assumes a US-issued card and no currency conversion.
Provider comparison
| Provider | How the parent pays | Example: fee on domestic USD 100 | Example: UK academy, US parent, GBP 100 | Conversion cost | Business based in Pakistan / Egypt / Bangladesh | Dispute fee (USD, US pricing) | Invoice object | How Halqora reads payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal Invoicing | Card or wallet through the selected checkout | PayPal Checkout: USD 100 x 3.49% + USD 0.49 = USD 3.98 | GBP 100 x (2.9% + 1.99%) + GBP 0.30 = GBP 5.19 | Not quantified here; international fee is separate | Not listed / listed / not listed | Dispute USD 15; card chargeback USD 20 | Yes, PayPal invoice | API invoice sync |
| Stripe Invoicing | Card | USD 100 x 2.9% + USD 0.30 + USD 100 x 0.4% = USD 3.60, including Starter Invoicing | GBP 100 x 3.15% + 20p + GBP 100 x 0.4% = GBP 3.75, including Starter Invoicing | US: +1%; UK: +2%, when conversion is required | Not listed / not listed / not listed | USD 15; another USD 15 to counter, refunded if you win | Yes, Stripe invoice | API invoice sync |
| Wise Business (wise.com) | Bank transfer to local account details | Domestic non-Swift receiving: free; USD wire or Swift: USD 6.11 | Domestic non-Swift GBP receiving: free; GBP Swift: GBP 2.16 | No conversion quote supplied | Balance holding not listed for any of these countries | No comparable fee supplied | Academy invoice; Halqora creates no Wise invoice | Transfer matching |
| Mercury | Parent payment route not covered by these sources | No fee supplied | No fee supplied; Halqora’s Mercury sync is USD only | No conversion quote supplied | Eligibility not established here | No fee supplied | Yes, Mercury invoice | API invoice sync, USD only |
The Wise (wise.com) UK cell describes the receiving route, not a promise that a US parent can send GBP without paying a sending or conversion fee. According to its receiving-fee page, domestic non-Swift receiving is free in AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, HUF, NZD, PHP, SGD and USD. EUR Swift receiving costs EUR 2.39 as of October 2026.
PayPal’s US invoice rates also vary by payment route. Its published card-payment rate is 2.99% + a fixed fee, while Pay Later is 4.99% + a fixed fee. The table calculates PayPal Checkout specifically. See PayPal invoicing fees explained when checking which rate applies to your checkout.
Stripe’s US pricing adds 1.5% for international cards, with another 1% if currency conversion is required, as of October 2026. PayPal’s US international commercial surcharge is 1.50%. A cross-border charge and a conversion charge describe different costs. The Stripe Invoicing guide for tutoring businesses explains why card processing and invoice fees belong in the same comparison.
Can you collect payments from Pakistan, Egypt or Bangladesh?
Business-country eligibility comes before the parent’s country. As of October 2026, Stripe does not list Pakistan, Egypt or Bangladesh as supported business countries. PayPal lists Egypt but does not list Pakistan or Bangladesh. Wise (wise.com) does not list any of these countries among places where residents can hold a balance, according to its balance-availability help page.
The lists answer different questions. PayPal’s market list is not a guarantee that every product or receiving function is available in that market. Stripe’s business-country list does not describe every country a parent might pay from. Wise (wise.com) balance eligibility does not establish every Business feature you might need.
The surrounding markets differ too. As of October 2026, Stripe lists the UAE, UK and US, but not Saudi Arabia. PayPal lists Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria and India. Wise (wise.com) does not list the UAE for balance holding.
Before sending parents payment instructions, confirm that the provider accepts your actual business and supports the collection route you intend to use. A parent living in a supported market does not answer that question for your academy. Avoid designing the billing process around an account you have not established as eligible.
Can parents pay without creating an account?
For parents, the useful question is whether the invoice offers a payment route they can complete. PayPal’s US fee page lists Guest Checkout, while Stripe’s card pricing covers the card route compared here. Wise (wise.com) bank collection uses local account details. Do not describe a new Wise Business account as a card checkout: its card-acceptance help page explicitly says that service is unavailable to new customers as of October 2026.
PayPal Checkout, Venmo and Guest Checkout invoice payments share the published US rate of 3.49% + USD 0.49 as of October 2026. Guest Checkout appearing on the fee page does not guarantee that every parent will see the same checkout options. Check the actual payment page you plan to share.
Bank transfers need different instructions. Give the parent the correct currency, receiving details and invoice reference. Explain that the receiving fee and the parent’s sending cost are separate. The guide to using Wise Business to collect tuition covers the bank-transfer approach in more detail.
A parent should be able to identify the academy, the amount due and the payment reference without asking you to explain the invoice again. Make those details clear before adding more payment choices.
What happens with disputes and chargebacks?
Dispute fees deserve a separate comparison from routine payment fees. As of October 2026, Stripe’s US pricing lists USD 15 for a dispute and another USD 15 if you counter, with the countering fee refunded if you win. PayPal’s US merchant page lists a USD 15 dispute fee and a USD 20 card chargeback fee. Those labels are different; do not automatically add them together.
A dispute is a challenge to a payment. A card chargeback is a challenge through the card-payment process. The listed fees describe provider charges, not the outcome of a family’s complaint or a promise that tuition will be recovered.
Keep the invoice, the agreed lesson details and the relevant correspondence together. When a payment is challenged, you need a clear account of what was billed and what happened. A marked-paid invoice does not replace the underlying records.
The supplied Wise (wise.com) and Mercury information does not establish a comparable dispute-fee schedule. Treat those table cells as unpriced, rather than assuming a zero fee or protection from payment challenges. Choose a payment route for its documented behavior, not an assumed advantage when something goes wrong.
Where does Mercury fit for a US-registered academy?
Mercury belongs in the operational comparison because Halqora creates Mercury invoices and reads their paid status. Halqora’s Mercury integration works with USD invoices only. For a US-registered academy considering Mercury, the useful question is whether that USD invoice workflow fits the business; the supplied sources do not establish Mercury’s eligibility requirements, payment fees or parent checkout options.
US registration alone is not enough information to rank Mercury against the published PayPal and Stripe prices. The table leaves Mercury’s costs unpriced because no Mercury fee page was supplied. Verify those costs before calling Mercury cheaper or making Mercury the default route for families.
Keep the product boundary clear too. Halqora reads a Mercury invoice’s paid status; that does not turn Halqora into a bank or make Mercury available for non-USD invoices. If your family invoices use another currency, the current Mercury integration does not fit those invoices.
How do you use several providers without losing track?
Use a shared invoice record and distinguish provider invoice sync from bank-transfer matching. PayPal, Stripe and Mercury give Halqora invoice statuses to read. Wise (wise.com) transfers need to be matched against an academy invoice instead. More payment choices help when each payment can be traced back to the right family, currency and outstanding balance.
Follow a consistent process:
- Decide the student’s invoice currency and payment route before sending the invoice. Halqora does not convert invoices or accept a payment in a different currency against them.
- Give parents the invoice number as the bank-transfer reference. A recognizable invoice reference gives Wise (wise.com) matching a stronger signal than an amount alone.
- Review unclear transfers. Without a usable reference, matching requires an exact amount, the same currency, a matching payer name and a unique invoice fit.
- Keep exceptions visible. Ambiguous transfers go to an unmatched queue for admin review instead of being assigned to a convenient-looking balance.
Matching quality depends on the information returned by Wise (wise.com). A missing reference, an unclear payer name or several plausible invoices can require a person to decide. Automatic payment reading reduces repeated checking, but it does not make every transfer identifiable.
How Halqora handles this
Halqora is management software for online academies. Its payment sync for PayPal, Stripe, Wise and Mercury reads provider invoice payments and matches incoming Wise (wise.com) transfers; Halqora does not create those transfers.
Billing runs create draft invoices. An admin reviews and sends them. Families receive a private invoice page and PDF without needing a login. Unpaid invoices get automatic email reminders before and after the due date.
Halqora schedules and bills one-to-one classes, and siblings can share a family invoice. Unclear Wise (wise.com) payments remain available for admin review. Mercury sync is USD only, and invoices are never converted between currencies.
Sources
- PayPal’s US merchant fee page, checked 21 October 2026
- PayPal’s UK merchant fee page, checked 21 October 2026
- Stripe’s US pricing page, checked 21 October 2026
- Stripe’s UK pricing page, checked 21 October 2026
- Wise (wise.com) receiving fees, checked 21 October 2026
- Wise (wise.com) Business card-acceptance help, checked 21 October 2026
- PayPal’s supported-market list, checked 21 October 2026
- Stripe’s supported-country list, checked 21 October 2026
- Wise (wise.com) balance-availability help, checked 21 October 2026
