Astra vs PayPal Express Checkout Payment Gateway for WooCommerce
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| Feature | Astra v4.14.1 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.9/5 Visit Details | PayPal Express Checkout Payment Gateway for WooCommerce v1.9.5 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 4.2/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 1M+ | 6,000+ |
| Last updated | October 15, 2026 | October 8, 2026 |
| Editions | Astra · Astra Pro ($) | Payment Gateway of PayPal for WooCommerce (Free) · Payment Gateway of PayPal for WooCommerce (Premium) ($) |
| Pros | Header and footer builder with schema markup; Compatibility layers for WooCommerce, Elementor, LearnDash and Yoast SEO; Lightweight front end and RTL and translation support | Express and Smart buttons on cart and checkout pages; Pay Later and Venmo offered where PayPal makes them available; Sandbox and live modes |
| Cons | Astra Pro add-on and premium modules are sold separately; Free theme shows Pro upgrade notices in the admin; Optional usage tracking asks for consent first | Product-page buttons and mini-cart need the paid version; Refunds from the order screen need the paid version; Requires a PayPal developer account with API credentials |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Header and footer builder, Schema.org markup, WooCommerce compatibility layer, Elementor compatibility layer, LearnDash compatibility layer, Google Fonts in the typography options, Pro upgrade notices | Smart Payment Buttons on checkout, Express Checkout button on the cart page, Pay Later and Venmo payment methods, Sandbox and live API environments |
| Integrations | ||
| Payment | — | PayPal |
| E-commerce | WooCommerce | WooCommerce |
| Plugins | Elementor, LearnDash, Yoast SEO | — |
| Other | Google Fonts | — |
| Requires WordPress | 5.3 | 5.6 |
| Requires PHP | 5.3 | 7.0 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | Only if you agree | No |
| External services | fonts.googleapis.com, api.ipify.org | api-m.paypal.com, api-m.sandbox.paypal.com, www.paypal.com |