Complete guide on Stripe fees in Australia (2026)

Stripe is one of the most popular platforms for accepting and processing payments securely, both online and in person. It now supports 1+ million users in Australia and New Zealand, and globally, the platform processes over $1.4 trillion in payments annually¹.

But if you’re considering using Stripe for business, it’s good to know how much those payments will cost you.

In this guide, we’ll break down Stripe fees in Australia, covering pricing plans and the different service fees you’re likely to encounter, and show you how to manage some of these costs effectively. Plus, there’s also an intro and comparison to Wise Business to help you save on international transactions.

Table of contents
Stripe pricing structure for businesses in AU What’s included Different type Stripe fees Stripe transfer fee - Comparison Managing your Stripe fees Wise Business: Smarter way to manage international Stripe payouts

Stripe pricing plan for businesses in Australia

Stripe uses a pay-as-you-go model for processing online payments. The plans are very streamlined, with just two main ones: Standard and Custom². The latter is mainly for larger corporations with big payment volumes. As a small business, the Standard plan will cover most use cases.

Here’s a quick overview of the pricing plans.

Stripe plan	Best for	How pricing works
Standard	Small to medium-sized businesses	Per-transaction fees with no monthly account costs
Custom	High volume or enterprise businesses	Bespoke pricing negotiated directly with Stripe

For most Australian businesses, Standard is the default option. There’s no ongoing subscription fee, and you only pay when you process a payment or use an additional Stripe service.

What’s included in the Stripe Standard plan?

The Standard plan includes²:

• Global payments - support for 135+ currencies and 100+ payment methods through a single integration.
• Checkout tools - use ‘no code’ tools to build bespoke checkouts or use pre-built payment forms.
• Fraud protection - access to Stripe Radar, which uses machine learning to detect and block fraudulent transactions.
• Payment optimisation - automatic card updates and customer authentication to increase payment acceptance rates and boost revenue.
• Security and support - PCI-compliant with 99.999% historical uptime, plus 24/7 support via phone, email, and live chat.

👆For more information about Stripe features and how to set up an account, check our complete Stripe business account guide.

What are the different Stripe fees?

Stripe doesn’t have any setup fees or mandatory monthly fees, but because there aren’t any ‘free’ allowances with the standard plan, you’ll generally pay per transaction.

Stripe has a full pricing list covering three main areas: global payments, money management, and revenue and finance automation. Within these, there are multiple services that charge fees, usually either as a flat monetary amount or percentage of the transaction.

We’ll now look at some of these services and the different types of fees in more detail.

Stripe payment fees

Stripe Payments is the headline service, allowing businesses to accept 100+ payment methods using pre-built checkout tools and a web-based dashboard. There are fees when you accept online payments through cards, digital wallets, or local payments in Australia like PayTo. These include GST and vary depending on the payment type.

For online card and wallet payments, Stripe charges²:

• 1.7% + $0.30 per successful charge for domestic cards
• 3.5% + $0.30 per successful charge for international cards
• 1.7% + $0.30 per successful charge for Apple Pay and Google Pay
• 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge for AliPay and WeChat Pay
• An additional 2% if currency conversion is required

These fees cover things like payment processing, access to Stripe’s checkout tools, and all the built-in payment optimisations such as real-time retries.

Stripe afterpay fees

If you offer buy now pay later (BNPL) options through Stripe for services such as Zip and Afterpay, additional fees apply³.

• 5.49% + $0.30 per transaction for Zip payments
• 4.99% + $0.55 per transaction for Klarna payments
• 6% + $0.30 per transaction for Afterpay payments

Some services also add an extra 1.5% fee for international transactions and 2% for currency conversions, so it’s a good idea to check the full list of surcharges for clarity.

Stripe in-person card fees

Stripe Terminal is a service that lets you accept payments in person using card readers and smartphone apps. The fees are slightly lower per transaction but might include additional authorisation charges².

• 1.7% + $0.10 per successful charge for domestic cards
• 3.5% + $0.10 per successful charge for international cards
• +$0.15 per authorisation for Tap to Pay
• +$0.07 per authorisation for optional point-to-point encryption

If you’re accepting payments in a store or other physical location, you’ll need compatible hardware. Stripe sells card readers separately, with prices excluding GST starting from $89.

Stripe processing fees

Stripe processing fees aren’t a separate charge or line item. Instead, the term is commonly used to describe the cost of Stripe handling and settling payments on your behalf.

In practice, Stripe builds its processing costs into its payment fees, and they apply across card payments, bank transfers, etc. rather than existing as a standalone fee.

For example:

• Bank transfers and direct debits are charged at 1% +$0.30 per transaction, capped at $3.50².

Stripe merchant fees

Stripe doesn’t charge traditional merchant account fees, such as monthly account maintenance or setup fees. Instead, merchant costs are usage-based and tied directly to the services you enable and use with Stripe.

For most businesses, Stripe merchant fees are simply a combined total of:

• Payment/card/afterpay fees (which includes Stripe’s processing costs)
• Optional service fees, such as invoicing and billing

This model means fees always scale directly with your usage.

Stripe refund fees

There aren’t charges for issuing most refunds on Stripe, but the fees from the original transaction aren’t returned. This means if you refund a customer, you’ll still pay the initial payment processing fee charged when the transaction was completed.

For businesses on standard pricing, refunds for card payments and most other payment methods don’t incur an extra refund fee. However, Stripe notes there “may be fees” for bank transfer refunds⁴.

Stripe Connect fees

Stripe Connect is a money management service built for platforms and marketplaces that need to collect payments and distribute funds to multiple parties, like sellers or contractors.

When Stripe sets and collects processing fees, there are no charges, but if you decide to take responsibility and set custom pricing to earn more revenue, there’s a 0.25% +$0.25 fee per transaction².

Other Stripe service fees to be aware of

In addition to payments, Stripe offers a range of optional products that charge additional fees. Not every business will need these, but it’s useful to know these costs if you plan to scale or automate certain tasks.

• Payment Links - accepting payment links is included with the Standard plan, but to create invoices for one-off payments, there’s a 0.4% transaction total fee (capped at $2 per invoice) charge².
• Billing - subscription billing is available on either a pay-as-you-go model (0.7% of billing volume) or a monthly contract starting at $930 per month with a minimum 1-year term².
• Invoicing - starter invoice features cost 0.4% per paid invoice².
• Tax - Automated tax calculation and compliance tools. The Tax Complete plan starts at $140 per month, while the Tax Basic plan uses per-transaction pricing².
• Advanced fraud protection - to get greater control and customisable settings for Stripe Radar, it costs $0.02 per screened transaction on the standard plan².
• Analytics and reporting - services like Stripe Sigma and Data Pipeline are charged as monthly subscriptions².
• Incorporation - Stripe Atlas lets you incorporate your company for a $500 one-time fee².

Stripe transfer fee comparison

When processing international payments, Stripe’s 3.5% + $0.30 charge can quickly add up, especially if you’re dealing with customers overseas regularly. There’s also an additional 2% fee if currency conversion is required².

Wise Business offers an alternative, affordable solution for both domestic cross-border transfers. Instead of profiting through payment processing fees, Wise focuses on low, transparent currency conversion costs and international transfer fees.

Feature	Stripe cost	Wise Business cost
Cross-border funds movement	Charged as part of payment fees	Fee varies by currency, from 0.63%
Currency conversion	2%	From 0.63% (varies by currency)
Receiving AUD payments	Charged as part of payment fees	Free (non-SWIFT, non-wire)

How to manage your Stripe fees

Stripe has a few built-in features to manage Stripe fees, so they remain visible and don’t become too unwieldy or a burden on operating budgets.

Here are some tips and best practices.

• Use the GST calculator - a simple Stripe tool that lets you select Australia from a drop-down menu and calculate GST based on different prices beforehand⁵. The Tax Complete service, available for $140 per month, also offers all-in-one tax compliance.
• Integrate with accounting tools - sync Stripe with accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks to automate reconciliation and make fees easier to track and report on.
• Use Stripe’s dashboard - tools available via the dashboard allow you to track payments and refunds to get a better idea of your total fees.
• Run reports regularly - identify patterns in transactions that result in higher fees, such as international or Amex cards.
• Optimise payment methods - encourage customers to use payment options with lower fees, like domestic cards or direct debits.
• Bundle payments were possible - larger, less frequent payments reduce the impact of flat transaction fees.

Do Stripe fees incur GST?

Some of Stripe’s service fees include GST, but not all of them. For example, any fees for taking payments via cards, wallets, BNPL, and bank-based methods all have GST built-in to the pricing, but this isn’t made explicit for other services.

On its support page, Stripe says GST charges are applied on top of product and service at the “prevailing standard rate”, unless there’s an agreement in place for pricing that includes GST⁶. It adds that customers will be sent a monthly tax invoice for all the GST applied to fees.

The rate your business will be charged will be based on your location and tax status². It’s recommended that you research the full scale of GST charges before using Stripe’s services.

How to pass on Stripe fees to the customer

It is possible to pass Stripe fees onto customers as a surcharge. However, to do it automatically, you’ll likely have to use accounting or invoicing software tools that integrate directly with Stripe, such as Xero or Invoice2go.

If you decide to pass fees on, make sure you:

1. Clearly communicate the additional fee upfront
2. Ensure compliance with Australian Consumer Law regarding surcharges⁷
3. Use your invoicing tool to calculate and add the fee to the total payment

It’s important to be fully transparent about passing on charges, both at the point of payment and by disclosing it in the invoice as well.

Wise Business: Smarter way to manage international Stripe payouts

By linking your Wise Business account to Stripe, you can receive payouts in over 8+ currencies, such as USD, GBP, and EUR. This means you can keep your funds in their original currency, avoiding Stripe’s automatic conversion to AUD.

A Wise Business account allows users to can send, receive, and hold in multiple currencies. Experience hassle-free global transactions by transacting like a local business. Here's what you get with a Wise Business account:

• Free to register — Hold and convert between 40+ currencies. Send to 140+ countries
• Debit cards for you and your team, which you can use in 150+ countries
• Multi-user access for team members, with ways to control and manage permissions
• Pay up to 1,000 recipients at once with the Wise batch payments feature
• Integrate with your favourite cloud accounting solutions like Xero, QuickBooks, and more
• Get account details to receive in 8+ currencies for a one-time fee of 65 AUD
• Earn potential returns** on your everyday money through Wise Interest

Sign up for the Wise Business account! 🚀

This general advice does not take into account your objectives, financial circumstances or needs and you should consider if it is appropriate for you.
**Capital at risk, growth not guaranteed. Interest is the name of a custody and nominee service provided by Wise Australia Investments Pty Ltd in partnership with Franklin Templeton.

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Sources:

1. Stripe - Sydney newsroom 2025
2. Stripe - Pricing
3. Stripe - Local payment methods
4. Stripe - understanding fees for refunded payments
5. Stripe - GST calculator
6. Stripe - Taxes on Stripe fees for Australia-based businesses
7. ACCC Gov Au - Card surcharges