Are you looking to add a donate button on your WordPress site? PayPal makes it super-easy to accepts donations on your website. In this article, we will show you how to add PayPal donate button in WordPress.
Many bloggers and non-profits add PayPal donate button on their WordPress sites. This allows them to cover the cost of running their blog and/or generate funds for their cause. If you wanted to add a PayPal donate button in your sidebar or donation pages, then you’re in the right place.
Note: Method 1 only works with self-hosted WordPress.org sites. If you want to add a PayPal donate button on your WordPress.com sites, then use method 2 to manually add the code. (See the difference between free WordPress.com vs WordPress.org)
Before you start, the first thing you need to do is create a PayPal account. If you already have one, then simply login to it as you will need the information later in the article.
Method 1: Adding a PaylPal Button in WordPress using a Plugin
The easiest way to add a PayPal donate button in WordPress is to use one of the many free PayPal donation plugins.
Start by installing and activating the PayPal Donations plugin. Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » PayPal Donations to configure the plugin.
First you would need to provide your PayPal email that you used to create your account and then choose a currency.
You can also have the option to provide a custom donation page URL from your PayPal account as well as provide a return URL where users will be redirected to after they have made the donation such as a Thank You page.
You can create a WordPress page to thank the donors and then enter the page’s URL as the return page.
As for donation options, you can add a fixed amount, purpose, and reference for your PayPal donations. Lastly, you can select a PayPal button style. Once you are done, simply save your settings.
Now you can display your PayPal donate button using the shortcode [paypal-donation] in any WordPress post or page.
Alternatively, you can visit Appearance » Widgets section in your WordPress admin and add PayPal Donations button to a sidebar.
The widget has the same settings, so all you need to do is provide a title and text for the donation widget and save your widget settings.
Free PayPal Donations Plugins for WordPress
PayPal Donations plugin are by far the easiest and simplest method to add a donate button for beginners. However, since there are plenty of PayPal plugins available, it can be confusing. We have hand-picked the best PayPal donate plugins that you can use.
PayPal Donation Button
PayPal Donation Buttons + MailChimp
Seamless Donations
Creating a PayPal Donation Form for Nonprofit Organization Using WordPress
If you want more than just a donate button, then check out our list of the 10 WordPress PayPal plugins for easily accepting payments. These plugins will not only help you collect donations, but you can also use them to sell digital content, services, and even physical goods.
Method 2: Manually Adding a PayPal Button in WordPress
Since WordPress.com does not allow you to install plugins, you have to manually add a PayPal donate button to your WordPress.com site.
This method also works for any WordPress user who does not want to install a plugin.
Start by logging in to your PayPal account, and click on the Tools menu item. On the next page, click on the PayPal buttons icon.
On the next page, you will need to click on a link to create a new common button in the right hand side.
On the button creation page, you need to choose donations under the button type. After that choose the currency, amount, etc. Once you are satisfied with the settings, simply click on the ‘Create Button’.
On the next page, you will see the code you need to display the PayPal donate button. Click on the Email Tab because this option will allow for more customization options. Paste this URL in a Notepad or another text editor.
Next go to your WordPress admin area and edit a post or page where you want to add the PayPal donate button. It’s important that you’re in the Text Editor mode not the visual editor mode. Then copy and paste this code:
Make sure to replace “Your Email URL that you got from PayPal” with the link that you pasted in your notepad in the step above.
That’s all. You now have a PayPal donate button in your WordPress sites without a plugin.
You can also paste the code inside a WordPress text widget to add it on your sidebar.
Here’s a live example of the donate button:
Feel free to click on it to see how it works. You can make a donation to help us if you found this article helpful
Customization Options
The reason why we chose the email link instead of the Website form code is so you can easily customize the donation image. Below are some other official PayPal donate buttons. Simply copy the code and replace the image section in your main code above.
If you don’t like any of these images, then you can create your own. Simply upload that image into your WordPress media library and get the File Link. Next add that link in the code below:
We hope this article helped you add a PayPal donate button in WordPress. You may also want to checkout our guide on how to add a Stripe donate button in WordPress.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
To leave a comment please visit How to Add a PayPal Donate Button in WordPress on WPBeginner.