PayPal Donations
by Johan Steen
Places a simple PayPal donate button anywhere with a shortcode or widget.
This link may earn us a commission. It never changes our rating.
What PayPal Donations does
Places a simple PayPal donate button anywhere with a shortcode or widget.
It sits in the donations part of a WordPress stack and is sold by Johan Steen on a free basis. We recommend it in our donations guides because it does that one job well without asking you to rebuild the rest of the site around it.
Every plugin adds work to a page request, so treat this as a decision with a cost. Record a speed test before you install it and run the same test afterwards, on the same page, so you know exactly what it charged you.
Real user ratings
Score
4.7/5
Reviews
27
Active installs
20,000+
Downloads
989K
Latest version
1.9.11
Last updated
2026-08-17
These figures come straight from the public WordPress.org plugin directory API for version 1.9.11, not from us. Check them yourself on the WordPress.org listing. Our own editorial score is 4.0/5.
Where PayPal Donations ranks elsewhere
PayPal Donations does not appear in the published "best of" lists we track from WPBeginner, TechRadar, Kinsta, Themeisle and similar sites. That is not a mark against it - those roundups are short and skew towards the biggest names.
What changed in the latest version
- Language translation related updates.
- Updated the French language translation .po file.
- Adjusted the navigation tabs HTML and CSS to be compatible with the latest version of WordPress.
- jQuery code update: stopped using jQuery.fn.click in favor of jQuery.fn.on( 'click' )
- Added output escaping in the settings menu. Thanks to WPScan.
Release notes are the developer's own words, published on WordPress.org. Read the full changelog
Pros and cons
- Simplest way to accept donations
- Free with no licence to renew
- Actively maintained and used on production sites we test
- No donor records or reporting
- Support is community-led rather than guaranteed
How to use it
- 1Connect a payment gateway and complete one real donation end to end.
- 2Set suggested amounts and enable recurring giving if it suits your cause.
- 3Customise the receipt email and check it arrives from your own domain.
- 4Add a progress goal so visitors can see momentum.
- 5Review donor records monthly and thank repeat supporters.
How it compares
Other donations plugins we recommend, with their rating and pricing model.
| Plugin | Our rating | WordPress.org | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PayPal Donations | 4.0 | 4.7 (27) | Free | Simplest way to accept donations |
| Charitable | 4.6 | 4.9 (217) | Freemium | No platform fee on donations |
| Charitable Ambassadors | 4.2 | 4.9 (217) | Premium | Supporter campaigns without a platform |
| Donation Thermometer | 4.5 | 4.4 (12) | Free | Free, light and easy to embed |
| GiveWP | 4.7 | 4.6 (707) | Freemium | Best donor management in WordPress |
| GiveWP Peer-to-Peer | 4.3 | 4.6 (707) | Premium | Supporter-led fundraising at scale |
Guides that cover PayPal Donations
Alternatives
Other donations plugins
Charitable
WP Charitable
Fundraising plugin with campaign pages, goals and donor management, and no forced platform fee.
217 reviews · 1.2M downloads · v1.8.12.3
Charitable Ambassadors
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Adds peer-to-peer and crowdfunding campaigns created by your supporters.
217 reviews · 1.2M downloads · v1.8.12.3
Donation Thermometer
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A free shortcode thermometer that shows progress toward a fundraising goal.
12 reviews · 106K downloads · v2.2.11