PayPal+ review: earn cashback and more

Earn points when you spend via PayPal

Using the new PayPal debit card and loyalty scheme could earn you between 1% and 1.2%, increasing to 1.5% on food shopping. There are also extra perks worth up to £480 a year. Here’s how it works and whether it’s any good.

Some articles on the site contain affiliate links, which provide a small commission to help fund our work. However, they won’t affect the price you pay or our editorial independence. Read more here.

What is PayPal+

This new rewards scheme started in mid-November 2025, and allows you to earn points via a handful of PayPal features.

It’s free to sign up, as long as you have or open a personal PayPal account. It’s very easy to do. If you don’t get a pop up when you open the app you can find the PayPal+ tab at the bottom of your screen. Simply click to opt in.

There are different tiers, with increased perks the higher you go. You’ll start with Blue, and you can move up to the Gold and Black tiers as you earn points.

How do you earn points?

You largely get points from spending with PayPal, but that’s not all. The key “always on” ways to earn are:

• 1 point for every £10 spent via PayPal checkout
• 10 points for every £10 spent via PayPal Debit card
• 1 point for every £10 spent via PayPal credit card
• 1 point for every £10 spent via PayPal Pay in 3
• 1 point for every £10 sent abroad via PayPal

PayPal checkout is the traditional way to use the payment provider, where you either connect a bank accounts, other card or top up the balance on your account to make a purchase.

The good news is you can earn partial points. So if you spend 40p with the PayPal debit card, you’ll get 0.4 points. However these will only show in your account and be redeemable when they reach a full point.

In addition there will be limited time offers in the PayPal app. These could include

• specific merchants offers
• refer a friend offers
• shopping challenge offers
• subscription cashback (Gold and Black only)

The specific merchant deals is most likely going to be the same as the cashback offers we’re all familiar with via other credit card and current accounts.

The shopping challenges include something called Checkout Friday, which is only available to those on Gold or Black tiers. If you’re on Gold you’ll get 1,000 bonus points when you cumulatively spend £10 via PayPal checkout on the first Friday of the month, doubling to 2,000 points for Black members.

It should take between one day and two weeks for points earned to appear on your account, though sometimes this could take 60 days. The points don’t expire as long as you earn or redeem some points within a three year period.

When you can’t earn points

There are a handful of excluded categories in the terms and conditions, but it’s not an exhaustive list:

• domestic personal transactions
• money transfers to and from third-party provider or third-party account funding activities
• payments related to lotteries, casinos, sports betting, fantasy sports, social gaming, or other forms of gambling (whether online or in person)
• pawn shops
• dating services

What are PayPal points worth?

There’s a base level for points if you’re on the Blue tier, but they’re worth more on redemption if you’re in the Gold or Black tiers.

• Blue tier – 100 points is worth £1
• Gold tier – 100 points is worth £1.20 on most transactions / £1.50 on groceries and dining purchases
• Black tier – 100 points is worth £1.30 on most transactions / £1.50 on groceries and dining purchases

If we assume you’re using the PayPal debit card to earn 10 points for every £10 spent, you’ll need transactions totalling £100 to earn a quid back on Blue, which is a decent 1% back. That increases to 1.2% for Gold and 1.3% for Black.

If you’re only using the other one point per £10 methods then it’s poor 0.1%. A mix of the two will result in an equivalent rate somewhere between the two.

And of course you could earn bonus points via other means which could increase the ultimate value.

The rates are guaranteed until the end of 2026 at least.

PayPal+ debit card explained

In the most part, you’ll want to be spending with the PayPal debit card for the scheme to be worthwhile.

The card is fee-free to use abroad for transactions and cash withdrawals too. This makes it our new top pick for holiday spending. It’s a Mastercard so you’ll be able to use it almost everywhere.

When you use the debit card it’ll first take money from the balance you have in your PayPal account before moving to your linked debit card or current account.

This won’t affect the points earned if you’re using the card in a shop or online checkout. However, if you use the debit card via PayPal checkout, you’ll only earn the 10 points per £10 on the portion funded by your PayPal balance. If it take some of the money from your linked card, that portion will earn at the lower 1 point per £10 spent.

For example, you’ve got £5 in your balance and you use your PayPal card via PayPal checkout for a £10 purchase. You’ll get 1% back on the first £5, and then just 0.1% on the rest.

How to get the PayPal debit card

To get the PayPal+ debit card it’s also a very fast process. There’s no credit check since you’re linking it to your PayPal balance or a linked card. You’ll need to select this as part of the sign up process.

You can add it to your phone’s wallet straight away and order a physical card to be send for free to your home address. It doesn’t appear that you can access the card details in the app at the moment.

What are PayPal+ tiers?

PayPal+ tier benefits

The main benefit, as detailed above, is the higher redemption value for your points. That’s 20% for Gold and 30% for Black. Both get a 50% increase if used on food delivery, groceries and dining.

In addition you can earn points on subscriptions. Gold members can earn up to £12.50 a month (£150 a year), and Black members it’s capped at £16.66 a month (£200 a year).

There’s also the previously mentioned Checkout Friday. That’s worth £10 a month on Gold (£120 a year) and £20 on Black (£240 a year).

Qualifying for PayPal+ tiers

You’ll start off on Blue, and move up to Gold if you earn 25,000 points in a calendar year, and then up to Black if you hit 50,000 points. You’ll be able to move into these tiers from January 2026.

If you’re earning 1 point per £10 then you’ll need to spend £250,000 a year to get 25,000 points. But if it’s the increased 10 points per £10 you’re looking at a large but more achievable £25,000.

If you don’t qualify for a tier by year end, the points will reset on 1 January. Since it’s launching in late 2025, you’ve actually got until December 2026 to earn eligible points before the reset.

Once you’ve hit a tier, it won’t reset until the end of the following year after you qualify. So qualify in 2026 and it’ll last until the end of 2027.

How does PayPal+ compare to other cashback cards?

The base 1% rate on the debit card is one of the best out there. Only the American Express Nectar credit card offers the same rate, though there is a £30 annual fee. Of course, welcome offers for the Amex cards are going to be more lucrative.

The Chase and Santander Edge Explorer debits cards match the 1% rate, but only on grocery and some travel spend.

Only really the Trading 212 debit card can beat this – but only when the rate is boosted for those who auto-invest their cashback. Currently the increase from 0.5% to 1.5% if set to end this month, though there’s a good chance it’ll be extended. However this is capped at £15 cashback each month.

There are also a couple of differences worth noting. if the underlying card is a credit card you will lose Section 75 protection.

In addition, any money you hold in your PayPal wallet isn’t protected by the FSCS, so it would make sense to only move money over as you need to.

Stacking PayPal+ with other cashback cards

You’re able to keep earning points and rewards from other cards if you pay via PayPal, though this will vary depending on the connected card and the form of PayPal you’re using.

For example, a card that offers cashback on all spending, as long as it doesn’t specifically exclude PayPal (most won’t), will just earn you the points as normal.

However, you can’t fund the higher paying PayPal debit card with a credit card, meaning you’d lose the 1% rate if you do this.

There are a handful of times where you’re better off using a different reward card via the PayPal checkout method. The prime one is John Lewis, as it’s Partnership card pays the equivalent of 1.25% back at the department store. Go via the PayPal option it’ll increase to 1.35%. This won’t work on the Amazon Barclaycard Rewards as Amazon doesn’t have PayPal check out.

It’s also particularly handy for those trying to trigger Amex bonuses or Avios companion vouchers. You’ll get those lucrative extras, as well as the PayPal points.

Is PayPal+ worth it?

It’s definitely worth signing up if you ever use PayPal as you’ll get at least 0.1% back on purchases on top of most other cashback and reward card you use.

I also think the debit card is a great addition for a 1% on most spending at home and abroad. It’s hard to beat it, and you don’t have monthly caps on earnings.

Where PayPal+ could get really lucrative is if you qualify for the higher Gold or Black tiers. The effective free cash on the first Friday each month could be worth £120 or £240 – amazing for a card with no fee. The subscription savings sound good too, though we don’t have all the details on how this works just yet.

However, to qualify would mean you’ll be wanting to swap most of your spending across – you need to put at least £1,923 a month between December 2025 and December 2026 to be Gold in 2027. Double that for Black.

Gold is certainly achievable if you think about general spending for most households, but Black will be a challenge for most. And that’s assuming you’re happy to forgo Section 75 protection on larger purchases you would previously have made with a credit card.