Fiverr Workspace vs. PayPal: Why Workspace Wins

For freelancers, managing your invoicing and payment is one of the biggest headaches. Since you work with multiple clients, it’s challenging to have everything in one place and keep track of things like processed payments, pending payments, and projects you haven’t invoiced. That’s where payment and invoicing platforms like PayPal enter the picture.

With almost 300 million active accounts worldwide, PayPal is one of the most popular payment platforms. So freelancers automatically sign up for it without considering all their options. This could be a huge mistake when platforms like Workspace offers much more comprehensive features for a lower fee.

In this post, you’ll learn all about the differences between Workspace and PayPal so you can make an informed decision.  

Fiverr Workspace vs. PayPal: What’s the Big Difference?

Even in terms of what they can do, Workspace and PayPal are vastly different. While PayPal is only a digital payment platform, Workspace is a comprehensive business management tool that comes with payments and invoicing features. So although they have several overlapping features, Workspace comes with a more robust suite primarily for freelancers and entrepreneurs.

First, let’s compare the overlapping features:

Pricing/Transaction Fees

Sign-up is free for both Workspace and PayPal, though the first offers an option to upgrade to a Pro plan for $18 per month. This plan allows you to work with unlimited clients, edit your contracts, and remove the Workspace branding. With the basic free plan, you get to work with one active client at a time.

So while PayPal confines users to a single free plan, Workspace gives you the flexibility to choose between two tiers based on what you need.

For transaction fees, PayPal charges 2.9% + $0.30 of the total amount when you receive a payment. Charges for international sales cost even more at 4.4% of the total amount plus a fixed fee based on the currency received.

Those with an Workspace account before July 2019 can receive ACH, credit card, and PayPal payments at no extra cost. You’ll only pay for the standard processing fee charged by the payment gateway — New US-based Workspace users have the option to set up FiverrPay and get paid directly on the platform.

The processing fee for domestic payments is similar to PayPal at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, but you’ll get to save a bit on international payments as Workspace only charges an additional 1%. So if you regularly work with international clients, Workspace makes sense because you get some extra cost savings in transaction fees.

Bank Account Linking

Both Workspace and PayPal give you the option to link your account with multiple bank accounts. With the Workspace Pro plan, you can connect up to six supported bank accounts. This makes it much easier to automate and keep track of your business expenses. The basic plan allows you to connect a single bank account, which may be more than enough for freelancers.

PayPal offers a little bit more when it comes to this, giving you the option to link up to eight bank accounts. However, you may not necessarily need all of that if you work on your own and only have a couple of bank accounts.

Invoicing

The two platforms also offer invoicing facilities so you can easily bill your clients and manage the payments in one place. PayPal provides a bunch of customization options, which you can even save as a template if you need to reuse it multiple times.

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Multi-Currency Support

The multi-currency support feature is another aspect where Workspace outshines PayPal. While the latter lets you accept payments in 25 currencies, Workspace is much more accommodating and supports almost every single fiat currency used in the world. That’s over 100 more currencies than PayPal, giving you more freedom to work with international clients.

Which Workspace Features Aren’t Available on PayPal?

Besides invoicing and payments, Workspace comes with a robust suite of tools that PayPal doesn’t offer. These tools aim to simplify some of the tasks that are crucial in freelancing and entrepreneurship.

For instance, both the free and premium plans allow you to create proposals and contracts right on the platform. So you’ll be able to craft winning proposals to land coveted projects while ensuring that you have bulletproof contracts to protect your rights. In addition, Workspace comes with the following features for freelancers:

• Track Your Expenses – The platform lets you track billable business expenses and generate reports for them. You can easily send these expense receipts to your clients and bill them for what you’re owed.
• Track Your Hours – For those working by the hour, makes it easier to keep track of how much time you spend on a project. It tracks your hours and lets you add them to your invoice, so you never have any time-tracking conflicts with clients.
• Manage Your Tasks – The Workspace platform also comes with a task management feature that lets you organize your projects, so you always stay on track.
• Generate Reports – What’s even better is that the Workspace platform lets you keep track of your expenses, income, and time in one place, so you can quickly get reports for tax filing.

The Bottom Line: Why Workspace Wins

PayPal may be a great platform, but Workspace still has a leg up thanks to its robust features. The platform isn’t just limited to invoicing and payments but offers an entire suite of tools to simplify crucial tasks for freelancers. So why not tryWorkspace for free, and see if it works for you? You can always opt-out if it doesn’t meet your expectations.