Tutorials·June 24, 2026·8 min read

How to Accept Credit Cards on WooCommerce Without Stripe (2026 Guide)

A full walk-through of installing Woopay, connecting your PayPal REST credentials, and going live in under 10 minutes.

Prerequisites

You'll need a WooCommerce store on WordPress 6.4+, a PayPal Business account with Advanced Card Processing enabled, and a Woopay licence key (grab one from the pricing page).

Step 1 — Install the plugin

Download woopay-gateway.zip from your Woopay dashboard. In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, choose the file, install and activate.

Step 2 — Enter your licence key

Under WooCommerce → Settings → Payments → Woopay, paste your licence key. The plugin will call license-validate and bind the licence to your domain.

Step 3 — Connect PayPal

In the same settings screen, paste your PayPal REST Client ID and Secret. Toggle "Live mode" once you've tested a sandbox transaction.

Step 4 — Test the checkout

Add a product, go through checkout, and pay with a Visa test card in sandbox mode. If the order status flips to Processing, you're live.

What if something goes wrong?

Our docs cover 3-D Secure failures, currency mismatches, and the two most common licence-activation errors.

Ready to switch?

Take card payments on WooCommerce today.

Woopay installs in under 10 minutes. No redirect, no reserves, no restricted-business list.

Get Woopay