Stripe Pricing & Costs

Business owners looking to use Stripe for payment processing may be wondering how much Stripe charges. While Stripe’s flat-rate processing fee initially looks pretty straightforward, there’s actually a surprising amount of complexity to how Stripe fees work, especially when you start to use advanced, premium features.

Below we’ll take a deep dive into Stripe fees and how they may or may not apply to your business.

If you decide Stripe is not the best fit for your particular business, don’t worry; we have a whole other post on the best payment processing options for small businesses.

What Percentage Does Stripe Take Per Sale? Get To Know Stripe Transaction Fees

Stripe charges a flat fee on all basic transactions. Online transactions cost 2.9% + $0.30 (2.2% + $0.30 for nonprofits) each, while card-present transactions all cost a flat 2.7% + $0.05 each. Advanced features may add additional costs per transaction.

There’s no monthly or annual fee for using Stripe.

Is Stripe Free?

Stripe Payments offers a powerful set of payment processing tools and supporting features, which generally do not require a monthly fee. You can sign up for an account for free, and it’s one of the cheapest credit card processing companies that we know of.

However, you’ll still have to pay transaction fees and other use-based fees if you want to do more than have an open account.

What’s Included With Stripe Payment Processing?

The following features are included with a standard Stripe account at no cost:

How Are Stripe Fees Calculated?

Stripe uses flat-fee transaction pricing with add-on charges for advanced features. The price you pay per transaction is based on:

• The total value of the transaction, including taxes and any other applicable charge
• Interchange fees
• Stripe’s base markup
• Fees for international sales
• Optional Stripe features that add fees to the transaction

Note that with Stripe’s flat-rate pricing, you won’t see a breakdown of the interchange and markup fees on your monthly processing statement. This information is only available if you choose a customized pricing plan with interchange-plus pricing.

Take A Closer Look At Stripe Processing & Transaction Fees

Stripe fees are very transparent, so you shouldn’t be caught off guard by what Stripe charges. That said, Stripe’s fee structure can get a little complicated.

Here’s an overview of Stripe’s basic pricing structure under its integrated plan:

Getting started with Stripe Payments is easy: a Stripe account is free to set up and has no long-term commitment.  If you’re using Stripe as part of an integration, such as through Shopify, note that you may have to pay monthly fees associated with that platform.

These fees are not for Stripe specifically, however.

Chargebacks & Refunds

Stripe charges $15 per chargeback. You can add chargeback protection to a transaction for 0.04%.

Refunds do not cost an additional fee, but Stripe will keep the original transaction fee.

Stripe Custom Pricing Plans

In addition to its flat-rate integrated plan, Stripe offers customized pricing to businesses with large payment volumes or unique business models. Unfortunately, it doesn’t provide specific details on the qualifications you would have to meet to qualify under either of these two categories.

With Stripe volume discounts, you’ll receive interchange-plus pricing that will usually be much lower than Stripe’s flat rates. The tradeoff is that you’ll also be subject to the usual assortment of monthly recurring fees, whether you use your account or not. Several items included at no extra charge under the integrated plan will incur separate fees if you’re on a customized plan. Stripe does a pretty good job disclosing these differences on its website, but you’ll want to review your proposed contract thoroughly to avoid being surprised later on.

Stripe Connect Fees & Pricing

Stripe Connect is an integration built for marketplaces or platforms that allow third-party payment acceptance. You’ll have three options for your business — Stripe Connect for Standard, Express, and Custom accounts.

Here’s an overview of the main features — and the fees charged for them — of these three options:

For more details about each of these plans and their features, refer to Stripe’s website for the latest information.

Other Stripe Merchant Fees

Stripe has some other products that might be a good fit now or in the future for your small business. We’re going to look at how much these products cost, along with the specific fees Stripe charges for each option.

Stripe Terminal Hardware Costs

Stripe’s primary focus is eCommerce, but it also offers support for in-person transactions through Stripe Terminal.

If you need processing hardware, Stripe offers the following choices for sale, all of which are certified to work with Stripe and include cloud-based hardware management:

Additionally, Stripe Terminal supports the following readers:

• BBPOS Chipper 2X BT
• BBPOS WisePad 3
• Verifone P400

Tap To Pay

Want to accept mobile payments but don’t want to buy a reader? Stripe Terminal also supports Tap to Pay on both iPhone and Android. This feature uses a smartphone’s built-in NFC capacity to accept payments from NFC-enabled credit and debit cards.

This feature costs the standard in-person transaction fees +$0.10 per authorization.

Stripe Pricing & Costs For Other Services

While Stripe is primarily a platform for accepting and processing payments, it also offers a number of ancillary services that can enhance the security of your account and help safeguard against chargebacks and fraudulent transactions. Here’s a brief overview of Stripe’s pricing for these additional services and what they do:

Are Stripe Fees & Pricing The Best Option For Businesses?

Stripe offers very transparent pricing, but you’ll have to run the numbers to determine if Stripe’s payment fees save you money compared to your current processor or another one that you’re comparing. Stripe does not charge monthly fees or lock you into a contract, and payment security is included with processing.

We think businesses wanting a fully-branded, ready-to-scale solution will likely find all the tools they need and then some with Stripe Payments. However, for the eCommerce business that simply needs a reliable and secure payment processor, it may be overkill. If you don’t have the technical expertise or developers on staff, you may never tap into Stripe’s full potential.

For a more in-depth analysis of Stripe’s many products and features, check out our full review of Stripe. And if you don’t think Stripe is right for your business, check out our list of the best Stripe alternatives and best online payment processing providers.