A novel bacterium, strain 1ZS3-15T, was isolated from rhizosphere of rice. Its taxonomic position was investigated using a polyphasic approach. The novel strain was observed to be Gram-stain positive, spore-forming, aerobic, motile and rod-shaped. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain 1ZS3-15T was recovered within the genus Paenibacillus. It is closely related to Paenibacillus pectinilyticus KCTC 13222T (97.9 % similarity), Paenibacillus frigoriresistens CCTCC AB 2011150T (96.8 %), Paenibacillus alginolyticus JCM 9068T (96.4 %) and Paenibacillus chondroitinus DSM 5051T (95.5 %). The fatty acid profile of strain 1ZS3-15T, which showed a predominance of anteiso-C15:0 and iso-C16:0, supported the allocation of the strain into the genus Paenibacillus. The predominant menaquinone was found to be MK-7. The polar lipids profile of strain 1ZS3-15T was found to consist of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified lipid and two unidentified aminophospholipids. The cell wall peptidoglycan contains meso-diaminopimelic acid. Based on draft genome sequences, the DNA–DNA relatedness between strain 1ZS3-15T and the closely related species P. pectinilyticus KCTC 13222T are 24.2 ± 1.0 %, and the Average Nucleotide Identity values between the strains are 78.9 ± 0.1 %, which demonstrated that this isolate represents a new species in the genus Paenibacillus. The DNA G+C content was determined to be 45.3 mol%, which is within the range reported for Paenibacillus species. Characterisation by genotypic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic analysis indicated that strain 1ZS3-15T represents a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus oryzisoli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 1ZS3-15T (= ACCC 19783T = JCM 30487T).