Stripe
Financial infrastructure platform enabling businesses to accept payments, manage subscriptions, and build custom revenue models at global scale.
Key Features
- ✓Payment processing across 135+ currencies and payment methods
- ✓Subscription and billing management (200M+ active subscriptions)
- ✓Fraud prevention and radar tools
- ✓In-person payments via Terminal
- ✓Platform and marketplace payments via Connect
- ✓Financial data analytics with Stripe Sigma
- ✓Card issuing capabilities
- ✓No-code and embedded payment components
What Stripe Is
Stripe is a payments infrastructure platform built primarily for developers and technical teams. It is a payment processing platform designed to handle everything from simple online transactions to complex payment flows, offering powerful APIs, extensive integration options, and advanced security features. The company sits beneath the surface of a huge slice of the internet's commerce: in 2024, Stripe processed $1.4 trillion in payments, a 38% jump from the previous year.
The core product is a programmable payments layer. You integrate it, you own the checkout experience, and Stripe handles the hard parts: routing, fraud, compliance, currency conversion, and payouts. Beyond payments, it has expanded into subscriptions, tax, revenue recognition, card issuing, and marketplace payouts, making it less a payment gateway and more a full financial operations stack.
Who It Is For
Stripe targets developers and technical businesses first. Stripe was made with developers in mind, making it easy to integrate and automate with its APIs and SDKs and allowing a lot of customization for specific application needs. That shows in practice: the API is well-structured, the documentation is thorough, and the test mode environment is genuinely useful for building and debugging integrations.
SaaS companies, marketplaces, platforms, and e-commerce businesses are the core user base. It works for startups and large enterprises alike. It is a suitable processor for a wide range of business types due to its comprehensive set of tools. That said, it is not a great fit for high-risk merchants, retail-heavy businesses that need a full POS system, or non-technical teams who want a simpler out-of-the-box experience.
Pricing Overview
Stripe uses a flat-rate pricing structure, with potential volume discounts and interchange-plus pricing for businesses with high monthly transaction volume. There is no monthly fee to get started.
| Transaction Type | Fee |
|---|---|
| Standard card (domestic) | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| Manually keyed card | +0.5% |
| International card | +1.5% |
| Currency conversion | +1% |
| In-person (Terminal) | 2.7% + $0.05 |
| ACH direct debit | 0.8%, capped at $5 |
| Instant payout | 1.5%, min $0.50 |
| Stripe Billing | 0.7% of billing volume |
| Chargeback fee | $15 per dispute |
The flat-rate pricing is transparent and avoids the confusion that many competitors create. However, add-on fees for Stripe Billing and Stripe Invoicing apply on top of standard processing costs. The chargeback fee deserves attention: the $15 dispute fee is non-refundable, meaning you lose money even when you win a case.
Strengths
The API design is the most praised aspect among developers. The documentation, SDKs across many languages, and interactive examples in the dashboard reduce integration time considerably. The test mode is well thought out, and webhook handling is reliable. The development tools stand out for advanced customization, and the reports are easy to understand and comprehensive.
The breadth of what Stripe covers without needing third-party tools is also a real advantage. Subscription billing, fraud detection, tax calculations, and revenue reporting can all be wired together within a single platform and a unified data model, which matters when you are trying to keep your stack coherent.
Limitations
Stripe receives mixed reviews depending on the audience. On Trustpilot, its average rating is 1.9 out of 5 based on over 16,000 reviews. In contrast, G2 reviewers from the software and SaaS space give Stripe a much stronger average of 4 out of 5. That split is telling. Developers tend to love it; merchants without technical teams often struggle.
The biggest complaints focus on sudden account freezes or closures, often with little explanation or way to appeal. Many small business owners report issues with withheld funds and find customer support slow or unresponsive, particularly during disputes. This is a structural issue with aggregated payment processors generally, but Stripe's support responsiveness has been a consistent criticism.
The cost also adds up. At scale, 2.9% is steep compared to interchange-plus models, and stacking Billing, Radar, and Sigma fees on top of transaction costs makes the total cost of ownership worth modeling carefully before committing.
Bottom Line
Stripe remains the default choice for developer teams building payment-heavy products, and for good reason. The API quality, documentation, and ecosystem depth are hard to beat. If you are building a SaaS product, a marketplace, or anything requiring programmatic billing control, it is the most productive starting point available. Just go in with clear eyes on the cost model and understand that customer support is a known weak point if things go sideways.
