The Complete Guide To Stripe Pricing, Processing Fees & Costs

Are you curious about how much Stripe costs, and what makes it different from other processors?  Even though Stripe has less name recognition than competitors Square and PayPal, Stripe has likely processed many of your recent online shopping transactions without you realizing it.

That’s because Stripe is behind the scenes for some of the biggest names, such as Zoom, Instacart, Google, Shopify, and Lyft, just to name drop a few. Stripe sits at the top as one of the most respected and well-trusted platforms in the world. Instead of front-facing branding and name recognition, it focuses on delivering developer tools with extensive code libraries and customization options behind the scenes.

Shared from Stripe Website

If you are looking for a ready-made, polished solution for eCommerce payment processing, Stripe may not be the ideal choice. A solution such as Square may be much better suited to your needs. If, however, you want to customize your payment processing platform (and have the technical resources to do so), you’ll find a range of robust, world-class developer tools waiting. As the graphic above shows, Stripe receives over 250M API requests per day, provides over 35 countries with local acquiring, and, perhaps surprisingly, 90% of the adults in the US have bought from businesses using Stripe. 

In this post, you’ll learn about Stripe fees and features, so you can find out if this is the right fit for your small business.

How Much Does Stripe Charge? An Overview Of Stripe Fees

Stripe charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per successful card charge online. Stripe costs the same no matter what type of card you process, including American Express and digital wallets.  For in-person card processing, Stripe charges 2.7% plus $0.05 per successful credit card transaction.

There are a few more things to know about what you can do with Stripe, so keep reading to find out how much Stripe charges for additional features you may need to scale your business.

The Complete Guide To Stripe Processing Fees

Stripe Payment Examples via Stripe Website 2020

Before we dive into specific Stripe fees, it is important to make a distinction about what it is. Stripe is a third-party payment processor — just like PayPal and Square — and these are set up a little bit differently than a traditional merchant account.

Traditional merchant account providers vet and approve each merchant, creating a single account for that business with dedicated terms. Third-party processors, on the other hand, essentially lump users into one sub-user account. While it is very easy to get signed up, and many businesses wouldn’t be able to start processing cards without it, there is some instability to consider. That’s because if something looks fishy, they are more likely to terminate, freeze, or put an account hold on a business without a lot of warning.

The risk is a bit higher with a third-party processor as far as account reserves and holds go. But the truth is, freezes and holds happen to a very small percentage of all businesses — and typically only after certain red flags have been raised. (However, sometimes it isn’t always clear what exactly raises a red flag.) If you want to learn more about how to bypass these issues, check out our post on how to avoid merchant account holds, freezes, and terminations. The majority of business owners will not have to worry about a freeze or hold, so it’s important to keep things in perspective.

Stripe has several things going for it that are great. Here are a few things I like compared to other options out there:

• Transparent pricing
• 99.9%+ uptime of systems
• No monthly or termination fee
• Solid, built-in payment security with 3D Secure
• Libraries in every language
• Can display multiple currencies
• Versioned API changes
• Test-friendly environment
• 24/7 live chat and phone support
• iOS and Android dashboard apps

Another thing I like is that when it comes to creating the finished solution, you don’t have to do it all. There are some workarounds for those who may not have all of the coding skills (or time!) to build it all from the ground up. Stripe has established platform partners to integrate a range of small business tools from accounting, automation, form building, CRM, inventory management, booking, and more business tools you may need in its library.

One other thing to appreciate about Stripe is that, unlike some companies, it offers support for safe and PCI compliant migration of credit card data, whether you are coming or going. Some third-party processors don’t support export migration at all, so this is a nice touch.

Now that you are a bit more familiar with this platform let’s take a closer look at how much Stripe costs.

Stripe Credit Card Fees

Stripe fees are very clearly defined, so you shouldn’t be getting any surprises. You won’t find any hidden monthly fees, either. However, the amount that Stripe costs you depends on how you process payments — whether that is online or in-person — as well as what other payment or security features you want to use for your business.

Online Transactions

For any eCommerce transactions (including in-app and mobile web payments), you are going to pay 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card charge.

It doesn’t matter whether you process Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, etc. — all cards cost the same to process. Also included for all accounts (except those that have custom pricing) is 3D secure authentication, which verifies a customer’s identity before an online card purchase. This feature can significantly reduce your risk of credit card fraud for eCommerce transactions. Card Account Updater also comes with your account, which automatically updates expired or renewed card information for customers who have saved their credit card data with you.

For those who do have a customized pricing account with Stripe, however, 3D secure authentication is an additional $0.03 per charge and $0.25 per card account update.

In-Person Transactions

For in-person payment processing with the Square terminal, you’ll pay 2.7% + $0.05 for each successful card transaction.

Your choice of pre-certified card readers with cloud-based hardware management are:

• BBPOS Chipper 2X BT for $59
• Verifone P400 reader for $299

Stripe ACH Pricing

Stripe fees for ACH direct deposit are 0.8% per transaction, capped at $5. ACH credit is $1 per transaction, but you’ll also pay $7 if Stripe automatically reconciles an ACH credit payment to an outstanding invoice.

Stripe also allows you to verify your customers’ bank accounts at no extra charge. That’s a nice touch. However, if payment doesn’t go through, you are looking at $4 for failed ACH direct deposit payments and $15 for disputed ACH direct debit payments.

Stripe International Fees

Another great thing about Stripe is that you can accept international cards (for an additional 1%). If you need to convert the currency, however, you’ll have to pay another 1% on top of that. This is great for businesses that sell internationally, especially combined with Stripe’s ability to present prices in the customer’s local currency. To put things into perspective, PayPal charges 4.4% for international cards, plus another currency conversion fee.

Stripe Volume Discounts

If your business has higher volumes, you can contact Stripe’s sales team to create a custom pricing plan.

Alternative Stripe Pricing Plans

For qualifying nonprofit organizations, Stripe does offer discounted processing fees. You’ll have to show that 80% of your payment volume is in tax-deductible donations, however. Non-eligible donations include ticket sales, tuition, membership fees, ticket sales, registration fees, and auction payments.

If your business model accepts microtransactions, we recommend contacting sales and asking for a quote as well as the availability in your market. Stripe suggests that if a microtransaction isn’t available in your market, a workaround is to batch together multiple transactions from the same customer into a single, larger charge.

Other Stripe Costs

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

Stripe Billing Fees

The Stripe Billing integration is for businesses focused on recurring revenue growth. Stripe Billing is offered in two different plans:

Stripe Billing: Starter

• Stripe Starter Billing costs 0.5% on recurring charges
• One-off billing included
• Invoice auto-reconciliation costs $7 per invoice

Stripe Billing: Scale

• Starts at 0.8% on recurring charges
• One-off billing included
• Salesforce app enables subscriptions within this CRM platform
• Stripe Connector for NetSuite
• Stripe Sigma included (analyzes Stripe data with SQL-based custom reporting)
• Invoice auto-reconciliation at no extra charge

Stripe Connect Fees & Pricing

Web Capture Stripe for Stripe Connect Platforms: Examples of Current Companies That Use Stripe

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

Stripe Connect for Standard accounts offers a lot of features at no additional cost for any platform and includes:

• Onboarding requirements
• Automatic KYC and AML checks as well as OFAC and sanctions screening in real-time
• Ongoing risk monitoring
• Payments-related support for connected accounts
• Automatic updates for new compliance requirements
• Co-branded onboarding experience
• Flexible funds routing for multiple business models
• Collect additional fees per transaction
• Comprehensive platform reporting tools
• Prebuilt dashboard for connected accounts
• Payouts to a user’s bank account or debit card
• Instant payouts (1% of payout volume)
• Automatic generation and e-file 1099 tax forms in the US
• Securely connect and store W-9 forms in the US
• Securely collect and store W-9 forms

Stripe for Express accounts includes everything in Standard accounts listed above plus these additional features and costs $2 per active user per month plus $0.25 per payout sent:

• Control payout timing
• Set your own payment processing rates for connected accounts
• Sending funds to a user’s bank account costs an additional $0.25 per payout under this plan
• Account debits to charge your customers for products or services directly from their Stripe balance is available under this plan and costs 1.5% of the debit volume

Custom accounts for Stripe Connect are built for businesses looking to fully white-label payments and cost $2 per active user per month and 0.25% plus $0.25 per payout sent. This service does not include everything in the previous plans. Here are the features you will get:

• Streamline global online requirements
• Automatic KYC and AML checks as well as OFAC and sanctions screening in real-time
• Ongoing risk monitoring
• Flexible funds routing for multiple business models
• Collect additional fees per transaction
• Comprehensive platform reporting tools
• Control payout timing
• Set your own payment processing rates for connected accounts
• Sending funds to a user’s bank account or debit card costs $0.25 per payout
• Instant payouts send funds to connected accounts within minutes and costs 1% of payout volume
• Automatic generation and e-file of 1,000 tax forms in the US
• Securely collect and store W-9 forms
• Account debits to charge your customers for products or services directly from their Stripe balance is available under this plan and costs 1.5% of the debit volume

Stripe Radar Costs

Stripe Web Capture for Stripe Radar Fraud

While all of Stripe’s payment processing software is entirely PCI compliant and therefore meets global payment security standards, Radar is available as well. Radar is an additional approach that bolsters your defenses through advanced machine learning.

The fee for Radar is waived for accounts with standard pricing plans. For everyone else, it is $0.05 per screened transaction. Radar’s machine learning features include:

• SCA logic for exemptions
• Adapting to fraud patterns
• Device fingerprinting and proxy detections

Radar for Fraud Teams is $0.07 per prescreened transaction, but discounts are available for startups and businesses at scale. Additionally, you can get a free trial of Radar for Fraud Teams to your Stripe dashboard.

Stripe Atlas Pricing

Stripe Atlas helps you form a legal entity and set up a company as a C Corporation in the state of Delaware if you’re based in another country. Stripe promises a short setup time — often within a few days — from start to becoming official. Stripe Atlas costs $500 for the setup fee and $100/year annually, renewed automatically. Corporate tax prep packages start at $250/year, and Delaware tax filing starts at $225. Stripe Atlas includes the following services:

• Formation of C Corporation in Delaware
• Delaware state filing fees
• Signed documents to establish company bylaws and protect IP
• A tool to issue stock founders
• The first year of registered agent fees
• Tax ID (EIN) filing
• Stripe Atlas Community membership
• Templates for post-formation legal needs

Stripe Fees FAQ

Because Stripe offers a broad range of services, you can imagine people have some questions. Here are the most common FAQs related to Stripe charges to help you find a quick answer.

Will Stripe’s Pricing Save You Money?

Stripe offers very transparent pricing, but you’ll have to run the numbers to determine if Stripe saves you money compared to your current payment 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.

Also, consider that the real meat of Stripe is its rich developer tools that let you customize everything about the payment experience while giving you some deeper insights and analytical data you can use right away.

We think that businesses wanting a fully-branded, ready-to-scale solution will likely find all the tools they need and then some. However, for the eCommerce business that simply needs a reliable and secure payment processor, Stripe may be overkill. If you don’t have the technical expertise or developers on staff, you may never tap into Stripe’s potential. An option such as Square may be a better fit because you won’t need to spend the extra money on developer expertise if you don’t have it.

We like Square because it offers fast setup, no recurring fees, and upfront pricing that suits most small businesses nicely. Additionally, Square provides an extensive dashboard that reveals basic business and financial analytics with no integration required.

Not sure what you need? Check out our Stripe vs. Square comparison or read our Stripe review for an in-depth analysis. Or, if you want to explore your options even further, check out How To Choose an eCommerce Merchant Account.