Payment Processors · reliability comparison
Authorize.net vs PayPal: which is more reliable? (2026)
PayPal is more reliable than Authorize.net, scoring 80.0 vs 39.3 out of 100. Over the last 90 days Authorize.net reported 8 incidents and PayPal reported 3, with effective uptime of 97.93% and 99.92% respectively. PayPal resolves incidents faster on average (3h 3m).
Data updated Nov 1, 2026 · How we score
| Metric | Authorize.net | PayPal |
|---|---|---|
| Reliability score | 39.3 | 80.0 |
| Rank (payment processors) | #13 | #7 |
| Uptime (90 days) | 97.93% | 99.92% |
| Incidents (90 days) | 8 | 3 |
| Partial / major outages | 4 | 0 |
| Avg time to resolve | 1d | 3h 3m |
| Outages we detected | 0 | 1 |
| Transparency score | 100/100 | 50/100 |
Where Authorize.net and PayPal differ
- Authorize.net reported 2.7× as many incidents as PayPal over the last 90 days (8 vs 3).
- Authorize.net had 4 partial or major outages, compared with 0 for PayPal.
- PayPal fixes problems faster: 3h 3m on average, against 1d for Authorize.net (8.0× quicker).
- Authorize.net's longest outage on record lasted 3d (Jul 1, 2026); PayPal's lasted 4h 20m (Oct 22, 2026).
- Our own probes detected 0 outages at Authorize.net and 1 at PayPal, of which 0 and 0 respectively were acknowledged on their status pages.
90-day uptime
Authorize.net
PayPal
- No incidents
- Degraded
- Partial outage
- Major outage
- No data
Recent Authorize.net incidents
- InformationalSep 13, 2026 · resolved in <1m
CreateTransaction API calls Failing
Affected: Authorize.net API
- Partial outageSep 7, 2026 · resolved in 22h 23m
API Connection/Endpoint Service Disruptionofficial update ↗
Affected: Authorize.net API
- Degraded performanceSep 2, 2026 · resolved in 2h 29m
Customer Invoicing Service Disruption
Affected: Customer Invoicing
- Degraded performanceAug 20, 2026 · resolved in 1d 5h
API Connection/Endpoint - Server Integration Method (SIM) Relay Response Issue
Affected: Server Integration Method (SIM)
- Partial outageAug 14, 2026 · resolved in 7h 56m
API Connection/Endpoint Service Disruptionofficial update ↗
Affected: Accept Suite
- Partial outageAug 13, 2026 · resolved in 1d 1h
NAB EPX Processing Service Disruptionofficial update ↗
Affected: NAB EPX
Recent PayPal incidents
- Degraded performanceOct 22, 2026 · resolved in 4h 20m
Detected Resolved: Impact to Online Checkout (PP-LIVE-110330)
Affected: Online Checkout
- MaintenanceOct 16, 2026 · resolved in 3h
Initial Notification: PayPal Live Site Maintenance (PP-LIVE-110012)
Affected: Retail Checkout > Mobile In-Store, Retail Checkout > PayPal Here, Online Checkout > Payments Standard (WPS), Online Checkout > Express Checkout, Enterprise Solutions (Braintree) > Pay with Venmo, Hyperwallet > Payouts Processing and Network +1 more
- Degraded performanceOct 11, 2026 · resolved in 3h 39m
Impact to BNPL (Pay Later) authorizations (PP-LIVE-110179)
Affected: REST APIs > Orders, Online Checkout > PayPal Complete Payments (PPCP) - Payment Service
- MaintenanceOct 9, 2026 · resolved in 3h 30m
Initial Notification: PayPal Live Site Maintenance (PP-LIVE-110005)
Affected: Retail Checkout > Mobile In-Store, Online Checkout > Payments Standard (WPS), Online Checkout > Express Checkout, Enterprise Solutions (Braintree) > Pay with Venmo, Homepage > PayPal Homepage, Account > Seller Onboarding +1 more
- MaintenanceOct 2, 2026 · resolved in 3h 30m
Initial Notification: PayPal Live Site Maintenance (PP-LIVE-109883)
Affected: Retail Checkout > Mobile In-Store, Retail Checkout > PayPal Here, Online Checkout > Payments Standard (WPS), Online Checkout > Express Checkout, Enterprise Solutions (Braintree) > Pay with Venmo, Hyperwallet > Payouts Processing and Network +1 more
- MaintenanceSep 25, 2026 · resolved in 3h 30m
Affected: Retail Checkout > Mobile In-Store, Retail Checkout > PayPal Here, Online Checkout > Payments Standard (WPS), Online Checkout > Express Checkout, Enterprise Solutions (Braintree) > Pay with Venmo, Hyperwallet > Payouts Processing and Network +1 more