Mastercardvs.PayPal
MA vs PYPL · both in Payment rails & networks, part of the Banks, payments & capital markets value chain: The networks and processors that take a fee every time a card is swiped — the fee engine.
Mastercard is about 11× larger than PayPal by market cap; PayPal trades at the lower P/E (8.1 vs 29.9); year to date, Mastercard leads (−7.7% vs −20.7%).
Side by side
| MA | PYPL | |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $465B | $40.9B |
| Price | $534.02 | $47.13 |
| Today | +1.4% | +1.7% |
| Return YTD | −7.7% | −20.7% |
| Return 1Y | −6.5% | −38.8% |
| P/E | 29.9 | 8.1 |
| P/S | 13.7 | 1.2 |
| P/B | 69.3 | 2.0 |
Data as of 2026-07-13 · updates daily after U.S. close
The two companies
MastercardMA
The second global card network, a near-duopoly with Visa. Fee-based, capital-light and highly profitable, expanding into data and value-added services.
Full MA profile →PayPalPYPL
A digital-payments platform spanning online checkout, peer-to-peer (Venmo) and merchant services. Growth has matured and competition has intensified.
Full PYPL profile →More comparisons in Payment rails & networks
See where MA and PYPL sit in the full Banks, payments & capital markets map — every segment from suppliers to end markets.Open the Finance value chain →