PayPal Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)

David Curry

Updated: October 8, 2024

In the late 90s, paying for things online still had a stigma attached to it. There wasn’t any assurance that goods would be delivered or that faulty payments would be recovered. It was wild west and PayPal was one of the first payment solutions to try and civilise it.

PayPal was formed when two companies, Confinity and X.com, merged. Elon Musk, of Tesla and SpaceX fame, was CEO of this combined company for a time. As he would in the future, he zoned in on the vision of PayPal’s future and terminated all other operations that were deemed unnecessary.

That didn’t go down well with PayPal’s board members, who got rid of Musk in October 2000. He had been CEO for less than 12 months. The lack of faith from the board would sit with Musk during his next ventures, where he ensured he had complete control.

After Musk left, Peter Thiel took over as CEO as guided PayPal towards its 2002 IPO. PayPal provided its platform to all websites, but the bulk of its transactions were conducted on eBay. A few months after the IPO, eBay agreed to acquire PayPal for $1.5 billion.

For the next decade, PayPal coexisted inside eBay’s rather tumultuous world, in which the e-commerce platform tried to expand in every direction, acquiring Skype and a range of classified advertising networks.

In that time, PayPal spent $800 million to acquire Braintree and Venmo, bolstering its position as a provider of financial services. And as eBay started to feel the effects of a decade of muddled leadership, PayPal looked at a future beyond the e-commerce platform, but first it would need to separate.

In 2015, eBay announced it would spin out PayPal as a separate entity. Several major eBay shareholders pushed for the split, as they had with the Skype sale in 2009. eBay held a minority stake in the new company, but has since divested almost all shares in the company.

PayPal missed many opportunities that came with a growing network of e-commerce platforms struggling to make payments safe and secure. If not tied to eBay, PayPal may have partnered with Amazon, Alibaba and retail giants like Walmart, but they had either built their own solutions or partnered with non-competitive affiliates.

If separate, it may have also been more influential in the growth of contactless payments. Google and Apple both built out their own systems, and PayPal has been effectively shut out of that market.

Still, PayPal has grown significantly since the break, almost doubling revenue and monthly active users. It has integrated One Touch with over seven million merchants and Venmo continues to attract a younger generation of users.

PayPal has also made significant acquisitions in the past two years, in the form of iZettle and Honey, bought for $2.2 billion and $4 billion, respectively. It has also launched PayPal Credit.

In 2021, it launched a new “Super-app”, combining payments, savings, bills, crypto, shopping, and other financial items into one single experience. The app is part of PayPal’s attempt to branch out from its payments platform and make users more sticky.

We have collected data and statistics on PayPal. Read on below to find out more. If you want to dive deeper into the finance app market, check out our in-depth report.

PayPal Key Statistics

  • PayPal generated $29.2 billion revenue in 2023, an 7.9% increase year-on-year
  • PayPal net profit increased by 75% in 2023 to $4.2 billion
  • 25 billion transactions were completed on PayPal in 2023, accounting for $1.52 trillion in transaction volume
  • 431 million users and merchants use PayPal

PayPal Overview

TitleTitle 2
Launch dateDecember 1998
HQSan Jose, California
PeopleAlex Chriss (President, CEO), John Kim (CPO)
Business typePublic (NASDAQ: PYPL)
IndustryFinance

PayPal Revenue

PayPal made $29.2 billion revenue in 2023, and has reported an increase in annual revenue every year since 2010.

PayPal quarterly revenue 2010 to 2024 ($bn)

PayPal annual revenue 2010 to 2023 ($bn)

YearRevenue ($bn)
20103.5
20114.5
20126
20136.7
20148
20159.2
201610.8
201713
201815.4
201917.7
202021.4
202125.3
202227.5
202329.7

Source: Company data

PayPal Profit

PayPal reported $4.2 billion net income in 2023, an increase of 75% on the previous year.

PayPal annual net income 2013 to 2023 ($bn)

YearNet income/loss ($bn)
20120.8
20130.9
20140.4
20151.2
20161.4
20171.8
20182
20192.4
20204.2
20214.1
20222.4
20234.2

Source: Company data

PayPal Transactions

25 billion transactions happened on PayPal and its affiliated services, including Venmo

PayPal annual transactions 2013 to 2023 (bn)

YearTransactions (bn)
20133.2
20143.9
20154.9
20166.1
20177.6
20189.9
201912.4
202015.4
202119.3
202222.3
202325

Source: Company data

PayPal Payment Volume

PayPal broke the $1 trillion barrier in payment volume in 2021 for the first time, and that surpassed $1.5 trillion in 2023.

PayPal annual payment volume 2014 to 2023 ($bn)

YearPayment volume ($bn)
2014235
2015282
2016355
2017451
2018578
2019712
2020936
20211250
20221363
20231528

Source: Company data

PayPal Users

In 2023, PayPal had 431 million users. This covers users who have made at least one transaction in the year.

PayPal annual users 2013 to 2023 (mm)

YearUsers (mm)
2013143
2014161
2015179
2016197
2017227
2018267
2019305
2020377
2021426
2022435
2023431
2024429

Source: Company data

PayPal Transactions Per Account

The average account transacted 58 times per year on PayPal in 2023, a 13.7% increase on the year prior.

PayPal annual transactions per account 2013 to 2023

YearTransaction per account
201323
201424
201527
201631
201733
201836
201940
202040
202145
202251
202358

Source: Company data

PayPal Merchant Accounts

There were 36 million merchant accounts on PayPal in 2023.

PayPal annual merchant accounts 2015 to 2023 (mm)

YearAccounts (mm)
201513
201615
201718
201821
201924
202030
202133
202235
202335

Source: Company data

PayPal Subsidiaries

PayPal has made several key acquisitions in the past decade, aimed at expanding its financial services for customers and merchants.

PayPal subsidiaries

SubsidiaryDescription
BraintreeProvides merchants with an account and gateway to process transactions online
VenmoOne of the most popular mobile peer-to-peer payment services in the United States
XoomOnline facilitator of money and mobile transfers across the globe
iZettleSupplier of chip card readers, also provides payments solutions for small businesses
HoneyA browser extension that aggregates e-commerce coupons and discounts

PayPal FAQ

How much did eBay pay for PayPal?

eBay acquired PayPal for $1.2 billion in 2002 and spun out the company in 2015

How many online e-commerce users use PayPal?

87.5 percent of online buyers have used PayPal

How many PayPal users have activated One Touch?

80 million PayPal users have activated One Touch payments

What is the average amount in a PayPal account?

The average PayPal user has $485 in their account

What is PayPal’s largest acquisition?

PayPal’s largest acquisition is $4 billion for browser extension Honey (TechCrunch)