Overview
The PayPal AI Hackathon is a global, online building competition inviting developers, designers, founders, students, and other builders to explore new ways to combine PayPal and artificial intelligence. PayPal’s payment platform is the starting point for imagining how people, businesses, and AI agents might interact with money. There are no prescribed problem statements or required tracks, so participants can pursue ideas ranging from agents, apps, and automations to new payment experiences, business tools, or social products.
The essential requirement is that each project meaningfully use both PayPal and AI. Projects may be made individually or in teams. Participants may start from scratch or advance an existing project, provided they make meaningful progress during the hackathon. The event is hosted by PayPal and managed by Devpost.
Dates and format
The event runs online from October 1 through November 12, 2026. The submission deadline is November 12, 2026, at 3:00 p.m. EST. The page describes the event as public and lists eligibility as people above the legal age of majority in their country of residence, with specified country and territory exclusions. Participants should consult the official rules for complete eligibility and submission details.
What to build and submit
Build or update an application that integrates the PayPal developer platform, using its free sandbox environment, with an AI tool, model, or platform of your choice. Optional sponsor tools include AG Grid, APIMatic, Astropods, Bryntum, Channel3, Elastic, KERNEL, Postman, Render, and Zapier. Sponsor tools are not required, and participants may use other AI tools as long as PayPal integration is central.
Projects should demonstrate meaningful use of PayPal technology and AI, provide a working prototype or proof of concept, be documented for judges, and comply with the official rules. Submissions require a project description, identification of tools used, a public open-source GitHub repository with a visible license, and a working demo. The demo must be runnable from complete repository instructions or available through a hosted URL; static mockups and nonfunctional demos do not qualify. A public YouTube demo video of less than three minutes is also required, showing the project operating on its intended device.
Webinars and preparation
The listed online sessions include “Start building with PayPal” on October 6 and October 13, “Power Your PayPal Hackathon Project with APIMatic Context Plugins” on October 7, and “Build a payments dashboard without building a dashboard” on October 12. Times are listed in Pacific Time on the event page. Participants are encouraged to create a PayPal Developer account and review example projects before planning their own idea.
Judging and prizes
Judges evaluate technological implementation, design, potential impact, innovation, and presentation, including whether the solution works end to end and clearly communicates its audience and purpose. The page lists overall and special awards, including first, second, and third place, Most Creative, Most Impactful, Best Demo Delivery, Best Use of PayPal + AI, and sponsor-specific categories. It advertises more than $67,500 in prizes and lists additional cash awards and sponsor credits. PayPal and participating sponsor representatives make up the judging panel.
