Stripe
3 comparisons available
About Stripe
Stripe is the world's leading payment infrastructure platform, processing hundreds of billions of dollars annually for millions of businesses from early-stage startups to global enterprises like Amazon, Google, and Shopify. Founded in 2010 by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison, Stripe revolutionized online payment acceptance by making it simple for developers to integrate payments with a few lines of code via a clean REST API. Beyond basic payment processing, Stripe has expanded into a comprehensive financial infrastructure suite: Stripe Billing (subscriptions), Stripe Connect (marketplace payments), Stripe Capital (business lending), Stripe Issuing (card issuance), Stripe Treasury (banking-as-a-service), and Stripe Tax (automated sales tax). Stripe's developer experience is widely regarded as the best in the industry — documentation, SDKs, testing tools, and API design are benchmark quality. Standard processing fees are 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card transaction for Stripe Payments. Stripe is valued at approximately $65 billion and is one of the most valuable private companies in the world. It serves businesses in 46+ countries.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Stripe charge?
Stripe's standard fee is 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card transaction (online). In-person payments via Stripe Terminal are 2.7% + $0.05. International cards add 1.5%. Stripe Billing (subscriptions) adds 0.5–0.8% on top. Custom enterprise pricing is available for high-volume businesses through Stripe's negotiated rates.
Stripe vs Square: which should I use?
Stripe is better for online-first businesses, developers building custom payment flows, SaaS companies, and marketplaces. Square is better for brick-and-mortar retail, restaurants, and businesses that need point-of-sale hardware alongside online payments. Both charge 2.9% + $0.30 online; Square's in-person rate is 2.6% + $0.10 vs Stripe's 2.7% + $0.05.
Is Stripe safe?
Yes, Stripe is PCI DSS Level 1 compliant — the highest level of payment security certification. Card numbers are never stored on your servers (Stripe tokenizes them), and Stripe's fraud detection (Radar) uses machine learning on billions of data points. Stripe is trusted by the world's largest companies for payment processing.
Top Alternatives to Stripe
Square
Better for in-person payments and small retail businesses
PayPal
Larger consumer brand recognition, easier for non-technical businesses
Braintree
PayPal-owned, competitive rates, strong enterprise support
Adyen
Better for global enterprise with unified acquiring
Chargebee
Better subscription management layer on top of gateways
Paddle
Merchant of Record model — handles global tax compliance