How to add PayPal to your website
PayPal is the most widely recognised online payment method for small businesses, used by any business taking one-off payments, deposits or donations. Here's how to put it on your own website, which embed option to pick, and what goes wrong.
Quick answer
Get the code from your PayPal account under Pay & Get Paid, in the PayPal Buttons or Payment Links area, where you can create and copy button code. For most people the right choice is the buy now button — a single-item button generating HTML you paste into your page. Paste it into a code or embed block on your site — not a plain text field — then place it beside your main call to action and test the whole flow on a phone before relying on it.
PayPal: which option to use
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Buy Now button | A single-item button generating HTML you paste into your page. |
| Payment link | A PayPal.me or hosted checkout link behind an ordinary button — no script, no page-speed cost. |
| Add to Cart buttons | For several items, PayPal can produce a simple cart, though a real store platform is better past a handful of products. |
Step-by-step
- 1
Find the code or link in your account
PayPal keeps this in your PayPal account under Pay & Get Paid, in the PayPal Buttons or Payment Links area, where you can create and copy button code. Copy what you need before touching your website — most of the time people lose is spent hunting for the snippet, not installing it.
- 2
Pick the right option for the job
The table above is the decision. Buy Now button: A single-item button generating HTML you paste into your page. Payment link: A PayPal.me or hosted checkout link behind an ordinary button — no script, no page-speed cost. Choosing before you paste saves rebuilding the section later.
- 3
Paste it into a code or embed block
This needs an HTML, code or embed block — not a plain text field, where the code will simply appear as text on your page. On Adviita, ask the AI editor to add an embed section and drop the code in. On WordPress use a Custom HTML block, on Squarespace a Code block (Business plan or above), and on Wix an Embed HTML element.
- 4
Put it where the decision happens
Getting paid should take the customer as few taps as possible — every extra step is money left on the table. A widget three scrolls down does a fraction of the work of the same widget beside your main call to action. Decide what the page is for, then place it at the point the visitor is deciding.
- 5
Check it on an actual phone
Most visitors to a small business website arrive on a phone, and embeds are where mobile layouts break. Open your live site on your own phone and confirm it loads, fits the screen without sideways scrolling, and does not push your contact button out of view. Third-party embeds are also the most common cause of a slow page, so if it noticeably delays loading, consider a plain link instead.
- 6
Test it end to end before you rely on it
Run through the whole flow yourself as a customer would — make a small real payment — and confirm what should happen actually happens. Broken embeds fail silently, and the first person to notice is usually a customer who has already given up.
Tips & best practices
- ▸Button code created years ago can be hosted or unhosted; unhosted buttons expose the price in your page source and can be tampered with. Use hosted buttons or payment links.
- ▸PayPal's checkout opens in a popup on some browsers, which is occasionally blocked. A payment link avoids the issue entirely.
- ▸Personal PayPal accounts are not intended for business takings and can be frozen. Use a business account.
- ▸Re-test the embed after any change to your site, your plan, or the connected account — third-party widgets break quietly and nothing tells you.
Common questions
How do I add a PayPal button to my website?
+−
Log in to PayPal, go to the buttons or payment links area under Pay & Get Paid, create a button for your item and price, then copy the generated code. Paste it into a code or embed block on your website. If you would rather avoid scripts, create a payment link instead and put it behind an ordinary button.
Is a PayPal payment link better than a button?
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For most small sites, yes. A link is just a URL — nothing to break, no script slowing your page, and it works identically in an email, a WhatsApp message or an invoice. Buttons only make sense when you want the item and price fixed in the page itself.
Do I need a developer to add PayPal to my site?
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No. Every option here is copy and paste into a code or embed block, which every mainstream website builder provides. The only genuine blocker is a builder or plan that does not allow custom code at all — Squarespace, for instance, requires a Business plan or above for code blocks.
Will adding PayPal slow down my website?
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Any third-party embed has some cost, because it loads code from another company's servers. One is usually unnoticeable; four or five on the same page is where small business sites become visibly slow. If page speed matters to you, prefer a plain link over a script wherever the option exists, and keep embeds to the pages that genuinely need them.