A Guide to Stripe Payments Test Cards

Stripe is an Irish-American company which specialises in payment processing. It offers a suite of APIs, which power online payment and commerce solutions for web-based businesses of all sizes.

If you’re thinking of using Stripe for payments, you’ll need to know how to get started. One of the most important things to do is test your Stripe integration, to make sure that payment is seamless for all customers in all locations.

In this guide, we’ll run through everything you need to know about Stripe test card payments, which are an essential part of getting set up. We'll also touch the benefits of connecting Stripe with Wise Business when receiving payments with foreign currencies.

💡 Learn more about Wise Business

What are Stripe test card numbers?

Stripe test cards are used to simulate payments in different geographical locations, as well as different card types. It’s all to verify that Stripe integration has been correctly set up within your payment gateway.

With a test card, you can enter a predetermined test card number to run a wide range of different scenarios. These card numbers aren’t real, so they’re not linked to an active payment card.

Merchants will use test cards for Stripe API requests in test mode, not live mode. This is to ensure that the payment gateway and Stripe integration runs as it should, so that the payment experience will be fully optimised for real customers when the time comes to launch.

Read more about Stripe safety measures

The importance of Stripe test payments

It’s crucial to test any new integration within your ecommerce or payment gateway setup. If there are any hiccups or failures, it could result in a lost sale - which means lost revenue for your business.

Testing the payment journey is also important so that you can be prepared for every scenario and eventuality. Whether it’s a declined payment or an attempt at fraud, a customer using an unusual card type or another situation - testing means that you’ll be prepared.

Stripe credit card test vs regular cards?

You might be wondering whether you could just test your Stripe integration with a regular card, such as your own business credit card.

There are a few problems and risks with testing credit card numbers in Stripe.

For starters, you can’t use real payment methods or accounts when using Stripe in test mode. It isn’t actually possible, and is prohibited by the Stripe Services Agreement.¹

But more importantly, there are some risks involved in running real transactions and moving actual money. This includes charges which need to be refunded, confusion and complexity for your accounting processes and even the risk of misuse of payment cards.

Stripe payments testing scenarios

You can use Stripe test cards to simulate a wide range of potential scenarios, such as:¹

• Successful payments via Stripe by country or card brand
• Refunds and dispute situations
• Errors due to invalid data or a declined card
• Attempts at fraudulent card use
• Authentication with 3D Secure.

Types of Stripe test card numbers

The whole purpose of using Stripe test cards is to run through as many simulations and scenarios as possible. This is especially important if you’re a global business, which will need to accept payments from a range of card types and from customers based all over the world.

This is why Stripe test cards come in a number of different types, so that all bases are covered. Categories include:

• Card brands
  This includes Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, JCB, UnionPay, BCcard and DinaCard.¹

• Countries
  Stripe breaks these cards into categories, which are - the Americas, Europe and Middle East and Asia-Pacific.

Receive international payments with Wise Business 🌍

List of Stripe test card numbers

As we’ve mentioned, Stripe test card numbers are predetermined and associated with a particular card brand or location. There is a list of regulation card numbers to choose from depending on what scenario you want to run.

Below is the full list of Stripe test card numbers you need to know. The first table is for the different card brands:¹

Card brand	Stripe test card number
Visa	4242 4242 4242 4242
Visa (debit)	4000 0566 5566 5556
Mastercard	5555 5555 5555 4444 2223 0031 2200 3222
Mastercard (debit)	5200 8282 8282 8210
Mastercard (prepaid)	5105 1051 0510 5100
American Express	3782 822463 10005 3714 496353 98431
Discover	6011 1111 1111 1117 6011 0009 9013 9424
Discover (debit)	6011 9811 1111 1113
Diners Club	3056 9300 0902 0004 3622 720627 1667
BCcard and DinaCard	6555 9000 0060 4105
JCB	3566 0020 2036 0505
UnionPay	6200 0000 0000 0005 6205 5000 0000 0000 004
UnionPay (debit)	6200 0000 0000 0047

For all of the above, you can use any digits for the CVC number and any future expiry date.

Now, here’s the list of Stripe test card numbers for countries:¹

Stripe test card numbers - Americas

Country	Test card number	Card type
United States	4242 4242 4242 4242	Visa
Argentina	4000 0003 2000 0021	Visa
Brazil	4000 0007 6000 0002	Visa
Canada	4000 0012 4000 0000	Visa
Mexico	4000 0048 4000 8001	Visa

Stripe test card numbers - Europe and Middle East

Country	Test card number	Card type
United Arab Emirates (AE)	4000 0078 4000 0001	Visa
United Arab Emirates (AE)	5200 0078 4000 0022	Mastercard
Austria (AT)	4000 0004 0000 0008	Visa
Belgium (BE)	4000 0005 6000 0004	Visa
Bulgaria (BG)	4000 0010 0000 0000	Visa
Belarus (BY)	4000 0011 2000 0005	Visa
Croatia (HR)	4000 0019 1000 0009	Visa
Cyprus (CY)	4000 0019 6000 0008	Visa
Czech Republic (CZ)	4000 0020 3000 0002	Visa
Denmark (DK)	4000 0020 8000 0001	Visa
Estonia (EE)	4000 0023 3000 0009	Visa
Finland (FI)	4000 0024 6000 0001	Visa
France (FR)	4000 0025 0000 0003	Visa
Germany (DE)	4000 0027 6000 0016	Visa
Gibraltar (GI)	4000 0029 2000 0005	Visa
Greece (GR)	4000 0030 0000 0030	Visa
Hungary (HU)	4000 0034 8000 0005	Visa
Ireland (IE)	4000 0037 2000 0005	Visa
Italy (IT)	4000 0038 0000 0008	Visa
Latvia (LV)	4000 0042 8000 0005	Visa
Liechtenstein (LI)	4000 0043 8000 0004	Visa
Lithuania (LT)	4000 0044 0000 0000	Visa
Luxembourg (LU)	4000 0044 2000 0006	Visa
Malta (MT)	4000 0047 0000 0007	Visa
Netherlands (NL)	4000 0052 8000 0002	Visa
Norway (NO)	4000 0057 8000 0007	Visa
Poland (PL)	4000 0061 6000 0005	Visa
Portugal (PT)	4000 0062 0000 0007	Visa
Romania (RO)	4000 0064 2000 0001	Visa
Saudi Arabia (SA)	4000 0068 2000 0007	Visa
Slovenia (SI)	4000 0070 5000 0006	Visa
Slovakia (SK)	4000 0070 3000 0001	Visa
Spain (ES)	4000 0072 4000 0007	Visa
Sweden (SE)	4000 0075 2000 0008	Visa
Switzerland (CH)	4000 0075 6000 0009	Visa
United Kingdom (GB)	4000 0082 6000 0000	Visa
United Kingdom (GB)	4000 0582 6000 0005	Visa (debit)
United Kingdom (GB)	5555 5582 6555 4449	Mastercard

Stripe test card numbers - Asia-Pacific

Country	Test card number	Card type
Australia (AU)	4000 0003 6000 0006	Visa
China (CN)	4000 0015 6000 0002	Visa
Hong Kong (HK)	4000 0034 4000 0004	Visa
India (IN)	4000 0035 6000 0008	Visa
Japan (JP)	4000 0039 2000 0003	Visa
Japan (JP)	3530 1113 3330 0000	JCB
Malaysia (my)	4000 0045 8000 0002	Visa
New Zealand (NZ)	4000 0055 4000 0008	Visa
Singapore (SG)	4000 0070 2000 0003	Visa
Thailand (TH)	4000 0076 4000 0003	Visa (credit)
Thailand (TH)	4000 0576 4000 0008	Visa (debit)

How to use Stripe test card numbers

Now we come to the important part, which is how to test Stripe payments using test card numbers.

Whenever you use a test card, you’ll need to make sure you’re in test mode and use test API keys in all API calls.

Then, it’s simply a case of running the test transaction and using the relevant test card details. Just like with a real payment, you’ll need to enter:

• The 16-digit card number
• The expiry date - for most Stripe test cards, you can use any valid future date (for example 01/27)
• The CVC if prompted.

You can use any other values you like for the remaining form fields.

Receive Stripe payments with Wise Business account

If you run an international business, it can be enormously useful to integrate Stripe with a multi-currency solution such as Wise Business.

For example, if you sell goods or services to customers in Europe, you’ll receive payments through Stripe in euros. The currency conversion can be expensive, when it comes to receiving the funds into your GBP-denominated business bank account.

Wise makes it much easier, and cheaper too. If you connect your Wise Business account to Stripe, you can receive payments in 9 major currencies just like a local. You don’t need separate business bank accounts in each currency, as the Wise account does it all.

You can either leave the funds in your Wise account to cover future expenses in multiple currencies, or you can convert it to GBP for low, transparent fees and mid-market exchange rates. It could work out much cheaper compared to using a bank.

Get started with Wise Business 🚀

Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.

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After reading this guide, you should be all set to start testing out your payment processor integration using Stripe test cards. We’ve run through a list of Stripe test card numbers, along with how to use them. It’s pretty straightforward, and could help you iron out any issues with your payment gateway before it goes live.

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Sources used for this article:

1. Stripe - Testing

Sources checked on 05-Dec-2023.