PayPal vs Plaid: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
PayPal reported $33.2B of revenue in FY2025 and $5.2B of net income. Plaid reported $500M of revenue in FY2025 and — of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
PayPal
PayPal is large and profitable, but growth has slowed. Revenue climbed from $21.45 billion in 2020 to $33.17 billion in 2025, yet annual growth fell from about 21% to about 4%. Net income reached $5.23 billion in 2025, up from $4.15 billion in 2024. In Q2 2026 revenue rose 5% to $8.68 billion (3% currency-neutral), total payment volume rose 10% to $486.4 billion, transaction margin dollars rose 1% to about $3.9 billion, and non-GAAP EPS was $1.38. Management then raised full-year 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance to about $5.38 and guided to at least $6 billion of adjusted free cash flow, most of which goes to buybacks. The stock still trades at roughly 10 times earnings, which shows how skeptical investors are about long-term branded checkout growth.
Plaid
Plaid does not publish audited financials. Its CEO said annual recurring revenue topped $500 million at the end of 2025, growing about 40%, and that the company is profitable. Valuations have swung widely: $2.65 billion in 2018, a $5.3 billion Visa offer in 2020, $13.4 billion in a 2021 Series D, $6.1 billion in an April 2025 round of about $575 million led by Franklin Templeton, and $8 billion in a February 2026 employee share sale.
Revenue and profit by year
PayPal
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $33.2B | $5.2B | 15.8% | +4.3% | Source |
| FY2024 | $31.8B | $4.1B | 13.0% | +6.8% | Source |
| FY2023 | $29.8B | $4.2B | 14.3% | +8.2% | Source |
| FY2022 | $27.5B | $2.4B | 8.8% | +8.5% | Source |
| FY2021 | $25.4B | $4.2B | 16.4% | +18.3% | Source |
| FY2020 | $21.5B | $4.2B | 19.6% | +20.7% | Source |
| FY2019 | $17.8B | $2.5B | 13.8% | +15.0% | Source |
| FY2018 | $15.5B | $2.1B | 13.3% | +18.0% | Source |
| FY2017 | $13.1B | $1.8B | 13.7% | +20.8% | Source |
| FY2016 | $10.8B | $1.4B | 12.9% | — | Source |
Plaid
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $500M | — | 0.0% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
PayPal
- Transaction RevenueDominant
Merchant fees and payment-related revenue from branded and unbranded volume.
- Value-Added ServicesMaterial
Interest, credit products, fraud tools, merchant services, and other payments-adjacent products.
- Venmo and Consumer Financial ServicesGrowing
Consumer payment and commerce monetization around Venmo and wallet products.
Plaid
- Auth & Account Verification API Fees
Not disclosed
Per-call fees paid by apps to verify account numbers, routing codes, and instant account balances during user onboarding.
- Transactions & Enriched Data Subscription Fees
Not disclosed
Recurring monthly fees charged per active connected account to continuously fetch, categorize, and clean bank transaction feeds.
- Identity Verification (IDV) & Fraud Intelligence
Not disclosed
Per-check fees for KYC verification, automated ID scanning, and Beacon anti-fraud consortium risk scoring.
- Plaid Transfer & Payment Processing
Not disclosed
Transaction processing fees on direct account-to-account money transfers across ACH, RTP, and FedNow networks.
Business model and strategy
PayPal
How it makes money
PayPal makes most of its money from transaction revenue: fees merchants pay when customers check out with the PayPal or Venmo button (branded checkout), fees on unbranded card processing through Braintree, and consumer fees such as instant transfers, cross-border and currency conversion charges. Branded checkout carries the highest margin because PayPal controls the customer relationship;
Growth strategy
Under Enrique Lores, PayPal's 2026 plan has three parts. First, restore growth in branded checkout, which rose only about 2% in Q2 2026, by improving conversion, Fastlane guest checkout and agentic or AI-assisted commerce. Second, make Venmo and Braintree pull more weight: Venmo is being pushed into merchant payments and debit cards, while Braintree is priced for profit rather than volume.
Competitive advantage
PayPal's edge is a two-sided network: about 439 million active accounts at the end of 2025 on one side and millions of merchants on the other. Shoppers who already store cards and bank accounts in PayPal can pay without typing details, and merchants add the button because it can lift conversion with those shoppers. Processors such as Stripe and Adyen serve merchants but do not own a consumer wallet of that size.
Plaid
How it makes money
Plaid sells API access to businesses, not consumers. Apps pay usage-based or subscription fees when they verify an account (Auth), check a balance, pull transactions, verify income or identity, score fraud or ACH return risk (Signal, Beacon, Protect), or move money between bank accounts (Transfer and pay-by-bank). Larger customers sign platform contracts covering several products.
Growth strategy
Plaid is broadening from account linking into higher-value products: fraud and risk scoring (Beacon, Protect, Signal), cash-flow underwriting for lenders through Plaid Check, and pay-by-bank payments. It also sells multi-product platform deals to large fintechs and banks, and keeps expanding direct API connections with banks to replace older screen-scraping links.
Competitive advantage
Plaid's edge is network scale. It connects to more than 12,000 financial institutions and has years of transaction and account-link history, which feeds its fraud and risk models. Consumers recognize the Plaid Link screen, and products like Plaid Layer reuse a returning user's existing connections so onboarding takes fewer steps.
Questions about PayPal vs Plaid
Which company has higher revenue — PayPal Holdings, Inc. or Plaid Inc.?
PayPal Holdings, Inc. reported $33.2B (FY2025), while Plaid Inc. reported $500.0M (FY2025). By last reported revenue, PayPal Holdings, Inc. is the larger business, with Plaid Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of PayPal Holdings, Inc. vs Plaid Inc.?
PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a market capitalisation of $47.0B. A public market cap figure for Plaid Inc. was not available (it may be privately held).
Which is more financially efficient — PayPal Holdings, Inc. or Plaid Inc.?
PayPal Holdings, Inc. generates $1.39M / employee in revenue per employee, while Plaid Inc. generates $385k / employee. PayPal Holdings, Inc. shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do PayPal Holdings, Inc. and Plaid Inc. make money?
PayPal Holdings, Inc. and Plaid Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. PayPal Holdings, Inc.: PayPal makes most of its money from transaction revenue: fees merchants pay when customers check out with the PayPal or Venmo button (branded checkout), fees on unbranded card processing through Braintree, and consumer fees such as instant transfers, cross-border and currency conversion charges. Plaid Inc.: Plaid sells API access to businesses, not consumers.
Is PayPal Holdings, Inc. bigger than Plaid Inc.?
By last reported revenue, PayPal Holdings, Inc. ($33.2B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Plaid Inc. ($500.0M (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the PayPal vs Plaid overview