How to Stop Recurring Payments on PayPal

To stop recurring payments on PayPal, sign in to PayPal, open Settings, go to Payments, then Manage automatic payments. Pick the merchant you want to stop and choose to cancel the automatic payment. PayPal calls these "automatic payments", which is why searching for "subscriptions" or "recurring" in the menus sometimes turns up nothing.

That stops PayPal paying the merchant. It doesn't always cancel your subscription with the service itself, so cancel there too.

Menus change, so check PayPal's help page if yours looks different. Below are the steps for the website and the app, plus what to do when the payment isn't in the list or keeps coming back.

What PayPal means by automatic payments#

When you subscribe to something and choose PayPal at checkout, you're often giving the merchant permission to take future payments from your PayPal account without asking each time. PayPal lists these agreements as automatic payments. You might also see the merchant described as having a billing agreement.

Common examples:

• Streaming and music services you signed up for on their websites.
• Software, cloud storage and hosting plans, often billed yearly.
• Online games, memberships and news sites.
• Small creators and donation pages with monthly support.

The important thing to understand is that PayPal sits between you and the merchant. You can tell PayPal to stop paying, and you can tell the merchant to stop billing. They're two separate actions.

How to stop recurring payments on the PayPal website#

This is the clearest route and works on a computer or a phone browser.

1. Go to the PayPal website and sign in.
2. Open Settings (often a gear icon, or under your name or profile).
3. Choose Payments.
4. Select Manage automatic payments.
5. Choose the merchant from the list on the page.
6. Select the option to cancel or stop the automatic payment and confirm.

When you're done, the merchant should show as cancelled or inactive, or disappear from the active list. Take a screenshot as a record.

While you're on that page, look at the details for each merchant. PayPal often shows the last payment date and amount, which helps you spot anything you'd forgotten.

How to stop recurring payments in the PayPal app#

The app has the same settings in a slightly different place.

1. Open the PayPal app and sign in.
2. Tap your profile or the settings icon.
3. Look for Payments, Automatic payments or Manage automatic payments.
4. Choose the merchant.
5. Tap the option to cancel and confirm.

If you can't find it, the app's search or help section may point you there. Or switch to the website in your phone's browser, where the menus are often easier to follow.

Why you should cancel with the service as well#

Cancelling an automatic payment in PayPal is a bit like stopping a direct debit at your bank. The money stops flowing, but the company on the other end may not know you've left.

Here's what can happen if you only cancel in PayPal:

• The service still thinks you're subscribed. Your account may show an active plan with a failed payment.
• It may try another payment method. If you've saved a card on the service's site, it may charge that card instead.
• Your account may be marked as overdue. Some services pause your access, send reminders or, for some contracts, pass the balance on for collection.
• Your access may stop abruptly. That can mean losing data or settings you'd have exported if you'd planned it.

So do both:

1. Cancel with the service first. Sign in on its website, open your account, billing or membership page, and choose Cancel. Save the confirmation.
2. Then stop the automatic payment in PayPal. That way, even if the cancellation doesn't go through properly, PayPal won't keep paying.

Menus change on every service, so check its help page if the cancel option isn't obvious. For services that make leaving difficult, our guide on cancelling hard-to-cancel subscriptions covers written notice and keeping records. If you need to send a written request, keep it short: your name, the email on the account, the plan, and a clear request to cancel and confirm in writing.

Before you cancel: a quick checklist#

A minute of preparation saves you from losing something you wanted to keep.

• Note when your paid period ends. If you've paid for the month or year, you can usually keep using the service until then.
• Export anything important. Files, photos, project history or account data may not survive once access ends.
• Check whether it's monthly or yearly. A yearly plan you cancel today may have months left on it, so there's no rush to stop using it, only to stop the renewal.
• Check for a cheaper plan. If you still use the service a little, a lower tier might suit you better than leaving.
• Check who else relies on it. A shared family or team plan affects other people when it ends.

When the payment isn't in your automatic payments list#

Sometimes you can see PayPal charges on your statement but can't find the merchant under automatic payments. There are a few usual reasons.

It's billed by Apple or Google Play#

If you subscribed inside an iPhone or Android app and chose PayPal as the payment method, the subscription is billed by Apple or Google Play, not the app's company. PayPal is only how Apple or Google gets paid.

In that case, cancel the subscription where it's billed:

• iPhone or iPad: Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions → pick one → Cancel Subscription. Or visit https://apps.apple.com/account/subscriptions.
• Android: Play Store → profile picture → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions → pick one → Cancel subscription. Or visit https://play.google.com/store/account/subscriptions.

Removing PayPal as Apple's or Google's payment method won't cancel your subscriptions. They'll just try to charge a different method or show a billing problem. Our guides to cancelling subscriptions on iPhone and cancelling on Android and Google Play walk through those steps.

It's on a different PayPal account#

Many people have more than one PayPal account, for example a personal one and a business one, or an old account on a previous email address. Sign in to each and check its automatic payments list.

It's a one-off payment, not an agreement#

Some merchants charge you each time without a stored agreement, for example if you've saved PayPal as a payment method on their site. Those won't always appear under automatic payments. Remove PayPal from your saved payment methods on the merchant's site, and cancel any plan there.

If you still can't place the charge, our guide on how to find every subscription you're paying for explains how to trace it through receipts and statements.

A worked example: the forgotten PayPal subscriptions#

PayPal subscriptions are easy to forget because they don't show the service's name on your card statement the way a direct charge does. You see a PayPal payment and move on.

Say you check your automatic payments and find three you'd forgotten:

• A cloud storage plan at $3 a month: $3 × 12 = $36 a year
• A photo editing tool at $10 a month: $10 × 12 = $120 a year
• A hosting plan at $60 a year

That's $36 + $120 + $60 = $216 a year.

If you only still use the hosting, cancelling the other two saves $156 a year. These are round example numbers. The point is that a five-minute check of one PayPal page can turn up real money. For more on totting up what you spend, see how much you're really spending on subscriptions.

What happens after you stop a PayPal automatic payment#

Once you've cancelled the automatic payment:

• PayPal won't send future payments to that merchant under that agreement.
• Payments already sent stay sent. Stopping an automatic payment doesn't refund anything.
• The merchant may contact you about a failed or missing payment if you haven't cancelled with them.
• Your access to the service may end at the end of your paid period, or sooner if a payment fails, depending on the service.

If you want to use the service again later, you'll usually set up a new subscription and approve a new PayPal agreement at checkout.

If you were charged after cancelling#

1. Contact the merchant first. Send your cancellation confirmation and ask for a refund. Many charges after cancelling are timing mix-ups that the merchant can fix.
2. Use PayPal's help options. PayPal's help pages explain how to report a problem with a payment. Check them for the current steps and any time limits.
3. Contact your bank or card issuer if the money came from a card and you can't resolve it, or if a charge looks like fraud.

Keep dates, amounts and screenshots together. It makes every step faster.

Troubleshooting common problems#

Keep track of what PayPal pays for#

The easiest way to avoid surprises is to know what's set up before it renews. Every few months, open your automatic payments list and ask whether you still use each one. Add anything you keep to a simple list with the price, billing cycle and next charge date.

Monthlee is one way to do that on iPhone. You add your subscriptions yourself, including ones paid through PayPal, and it reminds you before each charge. It never asks for a bank or PayPal login, and it shows your monthly and yearly totals in one place. Setting it up during your next PayPal check takes a few minutes.

The bottom line#

To stop recurring payments on PayPal, go to Settings → Payments → Manage automatic payments, pick the merchant and cancel. Then cancel with the service itself, so it doesn't try another payment method or treat you as overdue.

If a subscription is billed by Apple or Google Play, cancel it there instead. And if charges continue, contact the merchant, then PayPal's help, then your bank or card issuer.