Stripe fees: a complete guide to processing fees and other costs

Stripe may not be as famous as names like PayPal, but it’s a major player in the payment processing game. Quietly processing 250 million+ requests to its API every day, it underpins a serious quantity of online payments.¹

But how much does Stripe charge? This article will talk you through Stripe’s costs for anyone who uses it – which, as just mentioned, is a lot of people.

The article will also introduce Wise Business account as a way to receive Stripe payments and manage your finances around the world, in different currencies and with the mid-market exchange rate.

Stripe fees: an introduction

Stripe offers two main packages to its business clients: Integrated and Customized.

Generally speaking, the Integrated package charges a percentage fee for every successful transaction, with the addition of a small flat fee for card or wallet transactions. There are a few other factors to bear in mind, that we’ll get to in a moment. The key thing is, all Stripe businesses with the Integrated package pay the same rates.

As its name suggests, however, the Customized package varies. It’s intended for larger businesses who might be able to negotiate lower rates for volume.

Because Customized packages are, well, customized, this article will focus on the Integrated offering.²

How are Stripe fees calculated?

Card and Wallet

Stripe’s transaction fee for card or wallet payments is a percentage of the total transaction, plus a flat fee for each one.

Wire, ACH debit or credit

For ACH debit or credit payments, there’s a percentage based Stripe ACH fee, which never goes above a limit. The same applies for wire transfers.

A range of other fees exist too, depending on the service you’re using.²

But the general rule is: Stripe fees are calculated as either a percentage of the transaction it’s processing, or a fixed amount, or both.

Now let’s see exactly what those Stripe fees are.

Stripe processing fees: a complete guide

Stripe’s rates depend on exactly which service is being used, so let’s run through them one by one.

Stripe online payments: a breakdown of the cost of Stripe

Here are the key Stripe merchant fees you should know about.³

Remember, in most cases this is how much Stripe charges per transaction.

Transaction	Fees
Online card and wallet payments	2.9% + $0.30. Plus 1.5% for international cards and/or 1% for currency conversion
In-person payments through Stripe’s Terminal product	2.7% + $0.05. Plus 1.5% for international cards and/or 1% for currency conversion
Stripe ACH fee - Credit payments	$1 per payment
Stripe ACH fee - Direct Debit payments	0.8% up to $5 max
Wire payments	$8 per payment
Klarna	pay in four installments: 5.99% + $0.30
International payment methods: various	$0.80 for iDEAL; 1.4% + $0.30 for Sofort, Bancotact or Giropay; 1.6% + $0.30 for EPS; 2.95% + $0.30 for Multibanco; 2.2% + $0.30 for Przelewy24; 0.8% + $0.30 (capped at $6) for SEPA Direct Debits. Plus 1% for currency conversion

⚠️ A 1.5% fee applies for international card payment methods. Since local currency presentment is required for these payment methods, an additional 1% fee will apply for currency conversion. You can avoid these fees by receiving payments to a Wise Business account. Read the guide to Stripe international payments to learn more.

That’s not quite everything. Stripe offers a variety of additional products that we’ll mention in a minute. But those are the key ones you’re likely to need at first.

Stripe credit card fees (online)

Credit card fees – just like debit card fees – are a percentage of the transaction amount (2.9%) plus a fixed fee of $0.30. That’s on every transaction you receive.

Wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay or Alipay are charged at exactly the same rate.

This is for online. In person, card fees are different, as you’ll see later.²

Stripe ACH fees and wire fees

Via Direct Debit, ACH transfers cost 0.8% up to a cap of $5. But via other methods the fees are different: ACH Credit payments are $1, and wire payments are $8.

Transaction	Stripe fee
ACHA direct debit	0.8% up to %5
ACH credit payments	$1
Wire payments	$8

Also bear in mind that if Stripe has to automatically reconcile one of these payments to an outstanding invoice, there’ll be a larger charge of $7. Failed ACH Direct Debit payments cost $4. Disputed ACH Direct Debit payments are $15.³

Stripe in-person fees – Stripe Terminal

Stripe is primarily a digital operation designed for online purchases, but it also offers a product to any businesses that also have a physical point of sale. That’s known as Stripe Terminal – simply put, it’s a system for in-store payments.

For each successful card transaction in person, Stripe Terminal’s fee is 2.7% plus $0.05. Don’t forget you’ll also need to get a card reader or two, which will set you back $59 or $249.

There are also customized options available for larger companies.⁴

Stripe international payments

Stripe operates in numerous countries around the world, so it’s no surprise that it’s a decent option if you want to be able to process international payments. In fact, it can handle at least 135 currencies.¹

There are fees, though. If a customer pays with an international card there’s an additional 1% charge to pay, and there’s another 1% if the transaction requires a currency conversion.²

An alternative option is to set up some other payment options that are particularly popular with shoppers around the world. For instance, SEPA Direct Debits are popular in the European Union, and you can set Stripe up with that and expect to be charged 0.8% plus $0.30 per transaction, up to $6 max.³

Or there’s Sofort, also popular in Europe, for which the fee is 1.4% plus $0.30. Or if you’re going after the Polish market, Przelewy24 might be a good plan, and the fee there is 2.2% plus $0.30.³

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Need to manage your business finances in many currencies? Meet Wise.

Wise is not a bank, but a Money Services Business (MSB) provider and a smart alternative to banks. With Wise, you don’t have high conversion costs or markups on the exchange rates. It's easy to connect Wise and Stripe to receive international payments for less.

With a Wise Business account, you can also:

• Pay invoices with the real exchange rate in 160+ countries from your phone or app. 50% of payments are instant or arrive in an hour

• Make batch payments, and with one click you can pay up to 1,000 people

• Get everything you need to receive payments like a local in other countries. With zero hassle and a one-time fee, you can get an IBAN, sort code, routing number and others

• Receive money from overseas in multiple currencies, without high recipient or conversion fees

💰 Money-saving tip: If you receive payments in a currency that is the same as your bank account’s, Stripe does not perform currency conversion. With Wise, you can open one Wise account with multiple currencies and link it to Stripe to receive international payments!

Stripe fees for refunds

If you need to issue a refund, Stripe will simply take the money from your Stripe balance, or pull it from your bank account if funds aren’t available on Stripe.

You may incur fees to refund a charge depending on which fee schedule you are on. Stripe’s processing fees from the original transaction aren’t returned in the case of a refund.⁵

There is a fee of $15 if there’s a dispute over a transaction. This involves a customer querying a payment with the card issuer and then – possibly – challenging the transaction.⁶ You might also hear disputes like this referred to as chargebacks.

Stripe volume pricing

Stripe volume discounts are available on a custom basis – this is its Customized, as opposed to Integrated, pricing package. But you’ll need to talk to Stripe directly to negotiate this.

As well as discounts for volume, you might also be able to get country-specific rates, or discounts if you want a range of products from Stripe.²

Stripe pricing for non-profit organizations

Stripe non-profit pricing might also work in your favor, if you work for an organization that qualifies. If you want to use Stripe primarily to accept donations, then you can get in touch with Stripe and talk about the discount.

You’ll need to have non-profit status and plan to process at least 80% of donation payments using Stripe.

You’ll likely be out of luck if much of your payment volume involves ticket sales, membership fees, tuition payments, and so on. It has to be charitable donations mostly.⁷

What other fees might Stripe have?

Stripe offers a number of additional products that you might find handy, and of course each one has its own range of fees.

We’ve already outlined Stripe Terminal above, but here are the others.

Stripe Billing

Stripe Billing helps you to send out bills to your customers, whether that’s subscription payments or invoices.

You can set up via an API and it’s a handy option with a range of features that can handle coupons, free trials, failed payment emails, and plenty more.

Stripe Billing costs 0.5% on recurring charges for the simplest “Starter” package, or 0.8% or more for its “Scale” package that handles more advanced integrations.⁸

The Starter package may work for most people, but note that features such as invoice auto-reconciliation won’t be included – whereas with the Scale package it’s included.⁹

Stripe Connect

Stripe Connect takes things even further, with even more integration into your business. Through various programmable APIs and other tools, Stripe can help you build your marketplace, pay out to sellers or providers, and manage your platform in detail. It’s also good for sending payments internationally.¹⁰

Stripe Connect gets a little bit more complex, including with pricing, and there are three models: Standard, Express, and Custom.

Standard doesn’t have any platform-specific fees, while Express charges $2 per monthly active account as well as Stripe payout fees of 0.25% plus $0.25 per payout sent. The Custom package charges the same fees as that, but, as the name implies, the features are variable.¹¹

Stripe Radar

Stripe Radar is all about fraud protection. It uses machine learning to search for likely instances of fraud, and charges $0.05 for every transaction it screens – but that fee is waived if you’re on the standard pricing scheme.

There’s an advanced option called Radar for Fraud Teams which charges $0.07, or $0.02 alongside standard pricing, and offers more control and custom options including block and allow lists.

Finally, Stripe Radar offers Chargeback Protection, which automatically covers disputes – both the amount disputed and the dispute fee – without asking for evidence. The fee for that is 0.4% each time.¹²

As there’s no additional fee for the basic Radar option alongside a standard Stripe package, it’s certainly something to consider adding on.

Sigma

Stripe Sigma uses SQL to give you business insights, which is handy if you want answers to quick queries about your performance. Pre-built query templates might make it simple to use.¹³

Pricing is via a sliding scale, depending on the number of charges per month. For low volumes it’s $0.02 per charge, but that can rise to $1.4 for more than 5,000 charges per month. Additionally there’s an infrastructure fee of between $10 and $100.¹⁴

For more than 50,000 charges per month, you should contact sales to discuss rates.

Atlas

Stripe Atlas helps you out with the most fundamental step of all: starting a company. If you’re thinking about forming a startup then Atlas could assist with some of the paperwork you’ll need – it’ll help register your company in Delaware, make the legal documents, and apply for a Tax ID number, for instance. There’s a tool to help you issue stock to your founders too.

What does it cost? $500 for Stripe Atlas itself, but do bear in mind that that’s just a setup fee. There will be plenty of costs after that in order to maintain the business that Stripe has just set up for you. For instance, filing tax in Delaware will cost at least $225 each year, plus there’s a $100 yearly fee for your Delaware registered agent and $250 for corporate tax preparation.¹⁵

Issuing

Stripe Issuing gives you virtual or physical cards, which you can issue through Connect, at a fee of $0.1 for a virtual card or $3 for a physical one. There’s no fee for the first $500k in transactions on the card; after that they’ll cost 0.2$ plus $0.20 per transaction.

International payments incur extra fees at the same rate as elsewhere, and there’s a $15 fee for lost disputes on the cards you’ve issued.²

All in all, Stripe offers a range of services that any business might be interested to use – but all of them tend to cost something. Because so many of the fees are on a per-transaction basis, it’s well worth considering what those fees are likely to add up to.

And especially if you’re working for a large business, consider whether a custom option might work for you.

💡 One thing to bear in mind is that whichever option you choose - international fees can end up eating into your profits. If you link Stripe to Wise Business, then you can save money by receiving payments to a local currency account. This means no currency conversion fees. Read the guide to changing bank account on Stripe to find out more about the benefits of switching.

Open a Wise Business account online

🔍 More articles about Stripe you may be interested in:
What is Stripe WooCommerce vs Stripe Stripe vs Shopify Adyen vs Stripe

Sources:

1.Stripe home page
2.Stripe pricing page
3.Stripe pricing: local payment methods
4.Stripe: terminal
5.Stripe: refunds
6.Stripe: disputes fees
7.Stripe support questions: fee discount for NGOs
8.Stripe Billing
9.Stripe Billing pricing
10.Stripe Connect
11.Stripe Connect pricing
12. Sripe Radar pricing
13.Stripe Sigma
14.Stripe Sigma pricing
15.Stripe Atlas

All sources checked February 2024