PayPal Gateway Add-on

The PayPal Gateway add-on lets subscribers pay via PayPal on top of, or instead of, Stripe. Both payment options can be active at the same time — subscribers see their preferred method at checkout.

The add-on covers both kinds of payment:

Listener Support donations — one-time payments via PayPal, alongside or instead of Stripe.
Recurring subscriptions — PayPal as a checkout option for subscriber billing through the built-in membership system. Subscribers who pay through PayPal are managed identically to Stripe subscribers: same tier configuration, same billing portal, same account page.

Stripe Vs. PayPal

Stripe is the recommended primary processor for Benecaster. For recurring subscriptions, PayPal’s webhook reliability is meaningfully lower than Stripe’s — missed events can delay subscription activation, renewals, and cancellation processing.

For one-time Listener Support donations, the reliability difference is smaller. PayPal’s Orders API (used for one-time payments) is more dependable than its subscription webhooks.

That said, some subscribers strongly prefer PayPal. Offering both is reasonable. Just don’t rely on PayPal as your sole subscription processor.

What You Need

A PayPal Business account. If you only have a personal PayPal account, you’ll need to upgrade or create a separate business account. You cannot accept business payments with a personal account.
The PayPal Gateway add-on. Purchase it from benecaster.com; once your license is entitled to it, it installs and updates through WP Admin → Plugins like any other Benecaster add-on. See Downloading and Updating Benecaster Plugins → if you need the zip directly.

Installing the Add-on

Download the add-on .zip file from your Benecaster account.
In your WordPress admin, go to Benecaster → Add-ons.
Click Install Add-on, select the .zip file, and click Install.
After installation, click Activate.

The add-on settings appear in Benecaster → Settings → Payments → PayPal after activation.

Getting PayPal API Credentials

PayPal uses two separate environments: Sandbox (for testing) and Live (for real payments). Both have separate credentials — there’s no automatic detection from the key format, so you configure which environment you’re using explicitly in Benecaster.

Live Credentials

Go to developer.paypal.com and log in with your PayPal Business account.
Click Apps & Credentials in the top navigation.
Make sure you’re on the Live tab.
Click Create App (or select your existing Default Application).
Give the app a name (e.g., “Benecaster”) and click Create App.
Copy the Client ID and Secret Key shown on the app detail screen.

Keep the Secret Key private — it has full access to process payments on your PayPal account.

Sandbox Credentials (for Testing)

On the same Apps & Credentials page in the PayPal Developer Dashboard, switch to the Sandbox tab.
Create a new app or use the Default Application in Sandbox mode.
Copy the Sandbox Client ID and Secret Key.

Configuring in Benecaster

In your WordPress admin, go to Benecaster → Settings → Payments → PayPal.
Paste your Client ID and Secret Key.
Set Mode to Sandbox (for testing) or Live (for real payments).
Save.

When Sandbox mode is active, Benecaster’s PayPal integration uses the Sandbox environment — no real money moves and transactions don’t appear in your live PayPal account.

Testing with PayPal Sandbox

The PayPal Sandbox is a complete simulated environment for testing payment flows.

Create Sandbox Test Accounts

PayPal Sandbox uses test buyer and seller accounts — they’re not real PayPal accounts and have no real money. You need at least one test buyer account to simulate a subscriber making a payment.

In the PayPal Developer Dashboard, go to Sandbox → Accounts.
Click Create Account.
Select Personal as the account type (this represents a buyer/subscriber).
Set a country, email address, and password for the test account. Note these — you’ll use them to log in as the test buyer during checkout.
Optionally, create a second account with a preset balance or a failed payment card to test edge cases.

Run a Test Payment

Configure Benecaster with your Sandbox credentials (Client ID and Secret from the Sandbox tab).
Go through the Listener Support donation flow on your site.
At the PayPal checkout, log in using your test buyer account credentials.
Complete the payment. The transaction should appear in Sandbox → Transactions in the PayPal Developer Dashboard.

Switching to Live Mode

When you’re ready to accept real PayPal payments:

In Benecaster → Settings → Payments → PayPal, replace your Sandbox credentials with your Live credentials.
Set Mode to Live.
Save.
Make a small test payment (a $1 donation) before announcing PayPal as a payment option to subscribers.

Using PayPal for Subscriptions

PayPal can be selected as the payment method for a tier in the built-in membership system, in place of or alongside Stripe. Tier configuration, the subscriber billing portal, and the account page all work the same way regardless of which processor a given subscriber used.

Two things worth knowing before you make PayPal your primary subscription processor:

Webhook reliability. PayPal’s subscription webhooks are less dependable than Stripe’s. A missed event can delay an activation, a renewal, or a cancellation being reflected on your site. Benecaster retries, but it cannot deliver an event PayPal never sent.
Keep Stripe connected. Running both means a subscriber whose PayPal payment fails has somewhere to go, and it gives you a fallback if PayPal has an outage. See Stripe Setup.

Deactivating the Add-on

If you need to temporarily remove PayPal without uninstalling it, deactivate it from Benecaster → Add-ons. PayPal disappears from checkout; Stripe (if configured) continues to work. Your PayPal credentials remain saved — reactivating the add-on restores it without reconfiguration.