February 19, 2026

What Are Stripe Fees? A Clear Guide to Processing Costs

Wondering what are Stripe fees? Get a clear breakdown of Stripe's processing rates, international costs, and real tips to lower your payment fees.

Gaspard Lézin

When people ask, "What are Stripe fees?" the number that usually comes to mind is 2.9% + $0.30. This is Stripe’s classic, flat-rate fee for a standard online card payment, and it's the starting point for understanding how their pricing works.

Decoding Stripe's Standard Processing Fees

For most businesses using Stripe, this standard processing fee is the most critical cost to understand. It's a simple, pay-as-you-go model that bundles several complex costs into one predictable rate, which is a big part of Stripe's appeal.

That single flat rate actually covers a lot of ground. It includes the interchange fee that goes to the customer's bank, the assessment fees charged by card networks (like Visa and Mastercard), and of course, Stripe's own cut for providing the secure payment gateway.

What the Standard Fee Covers

The 2.9% + $0.30 fee is the baseline for many common online payments. If you're selling to customers within your own country, this is the rate you'll see most often.

Here are the typical situations where that standard rate applies:

Online Credit and Debit Cards: The most common scenario, where a customer types their card details into your website's checkout.
Digital Wallets: When customers pay using services like Apple Pay or Google Pay.
Saved Cards: For returning customers who use a card they've already saved to their account for a quick checkout.

This straightforward approach saves you from the headache of traditional merchant accounts, which often involve navigating complex interchange rate tables. With Stripe, it doesn't matter if your customer uses a basic debit card or a high-reward credit card, the rate you pay is the same.

Different Rates for Different Methods

Of course, not all payments are the same. How you accept the payment directly influences the risk involved, and Stripe adjusts its fees accordingly. While the online rate is a fixture, other methods come with different price tags.

For example, if you have to manually key in a customer's card details over the phone, the fee jumps to 3.4% + $0.30. That extra 0.5% is there to cover the higher fraud risk associated with "card-not-present" manual entries.

On the flip side, if you process a payment in person using a physical Stripe Terminal reader, the rate drops to a more favorable 2.7% + $0.05. This lower fee reflects the reduced risk when the card is physically present.

To give you a clear picture, here’s a quick breakdown of Stripe’s main domestic transaction fees.

Stripe's Core Transaction Fees at a Glance

This table neatly summarizes the foundational rates you need to know.

Getting a grip on these standard fees is the first, most important step. But keep in mind, they're just one part of the overall cost. At Suby, we offer an alternative where your customers can pay by card and you get paid in USDC, which can really simplify things for international sales. For a transparent breakdown, check out our pricing information.

Navigating International and Currency Conversion Fees

If you're selling to customers outside your home country, the standard domestic fees are just the beginning. International sales add a few extra layers of costs, and this is where understanding Stripe's fee structure becomes absolutely critical for a global business. Think of it like peeling an onion, each layer is a new fee that adds to your total cost.

But why the extra charges? It's because cross-border payments are simply more complicated. They have to navigate different banks, currencies, and regulatory systems, which means more risk and more operational work to get the money from your customer to you.

The International Card Fee

The first extra cost you'll almost always run into is the international card fee. This one's straightforward: when a customer uses a card issued in a different country from where your business is based, Stripe adds an additional fee.

For US Businesses: Expect an extra 1.5% on top of your base rate for any international card.
For UK Businesses: The fee jumps to 2.5% for cards from outside the UK and Europe.

Remember, this fee applies even if the customer pays you in your own currency. The trigger isn't the currency, it's the physical location where the card was issued.

The Currency Conversion Fee

The next layer to watch out for is the currency conversion fee. This fee only comes into play if you need to convert the payment from your customer's currency into your own. For example, a US-based store charging a customer in Euros (€) will need Stripe to convert those Euros into US Dollars ($) for their payout.

For that service, Stripe charges an additional 2% fee. This is a big one, as it directly eats into the profit margin on every single sale that requires a currency exchange.

It's important to know that this fee is completely separate from the international card fee. If a transaction involves both an international card and a currency conversion, you will be charged both fees.

For businesses selling around the world, these costs can add up alarmingly fast. A simple domestic transaction can quickly become a much more expensive international one, with total fees sometimes approaching 5%. To give you some perspective, US merchants have collectively paid hundreds of billions in processing fees, which highlights just how significant these costs are across the entire industry.

A Real-World Example

Let's see how this works in practice. Imagine you run a US-based business and sell a $100 USD product to a customer in Germany who uses their German-issued credit card.

Here’s how the fees would likely break down:

Standard Processing Fee: 2.9% + $0.30 = $3.20
International Card Fee: 1.5% of $100 = $1.50
Total Fees: $3.20 + $1.50 = $4.70

Suddenly, your effective fee rate isn't 2.9%, it's 4.7%. And if that German customer had insisted on paying in Euros, you would have had to add the 2% currency conversion fee on top of that, pushing your total cost even higher.

Dealing with these fees is a major challenge for any business with global ambitions. One way to sidestep this complexity is to rethink how you receive funds. Our API at Suby, for example, lets you accept card payments from anywhere in the world, but you receive your payouts in stable, predictable USDC. This completely removes the need for currency conversion, simplifying your international finances.

A Look at Fees for Stripe’s Other Products

Stripe is much more than a simple way to accept credit cards. It’s a full financial toolkit, with powerful services for handling everything from subscriptions to fraud prevention. But as you start using these advanced features, you'll find they each come with their own price tag. Getting a handle on these costs is crucial if you want to know what you’re really paying for payment processing.

Many businesses start with the basics but quickly realize they need more. Let's look at the pricing for some of Stripe's most popular add-ons.

Stripe Billing for Subscriptions

If recurring revenue is the lifeblood of your business, Stripe Billing is built to automate the whole process. It takes care of creating subscription plans, sending invoices, and handling payments. That convenience, of course, isn't free.

Stripe Billing layers its own percentage-based fee right on top of your standard transaction costs.

Billing Starter: This plan adds an extra 0.5% for each recurring payment. It's a solid starting point for businesses just getting into subscriptions, giving you things like a customer portal and automated payment reminders.
Billing Scale: For larger or more complex operations, this plan costs 0.8% per recurring payment and unlocks advanced tools for things like revenue recognition and quote-to-cash automation.

Think about it this way: a standard $100 recurring charge on the Starter plan will have the usual processing fee, plus another $0.50 just for using Billing. That might not sound like much, but if you're a SaaS company with thousands of customers, those little fees can take a serious bite out of your monthly revenue.

Stripe Connect for Marketplaces and Platforms

Stripe Connect is the engine for any business that needs to handle payments for other people, think marketplaces, SaaS platforms with connected accounts, or on-demand services. It gives you the power to onboard your sellers or providers, route money to them, and take your cut along the way.

Figuring out the cost for Connect can get a little tricky. The pricing really depends on how you set it up and what kind of accounts you’re managing for your users.

The core idea is that you're paying for the ability to move money between different parties. This can involve per-transaction fees, monthly fees for active accounts, and extra charges for features like instant payouts.

For instance, a common setup involves a small fee for every payout you send to one of your connected accounts. The exact cost hinges on whether you use Standard, Express, or Custom accounts, as each gives you a different level of control and branding. It’s an incredibly flexible system, but you have to plan carefully to keep the costs from getting out of hand.

Stripe Radar for Fraud Protection

Fraud is just a part of doing business online, and chargebacks can be a huge drain on your resources. Stripe Radar is their machine-learning tool designed to spot and shut down fraudulent transactions before they even hit your account.

While a basic version is included, businesses that need serious protection can upgrade to Radar for Fraud Teams. For enterprise-level clients moving huge volumes, Stripe often negotiates custom pricing, which can bring rates well below the standard list price. For everyone else, the optional, more advanced Stripe Radar service costs between 5 and 7 cents per screened transaction. You can find more details on this and other platform trends by exploring the Stripe statistics on Chargeflow.

This small fee is charged on every transaction you screen, on top of your regular processing costs. You’re essentially paying for a smarter, stronger security guard at your digital front door.

The Painful Cost of Chargebacks

Finally, you can't talk about Stripe fees without talking about chargebacks. When a customer disputes a payment with their bank, you get hit with a chargeback fee, a flat $15 in the United States.

This isn't a maybe, it's an automatic fee charged the moment a dispute is opened, no matter what happens next. If you fight the dispute and win, Stripe gives you the $15 back. But if you lose, you’re out the original transaction amount plus the $15 fee. It's a painful double-whammy.

These are the kinds of product-specific fees that often catch business owners by surprise. At Suby, we offer a straightforward alternative. We provide a simple API for accepting both card and crypto payments, with native integrations for Discord and Telegram. Customers pay easily, and you receive your funds directly as USDC, simplifying your entire payment stack.

Calculating Your True Stripe Fees with Real Examples

Knowing the individual fees is a good start, but the real test is seeing how they all stack up against your actual revenue. Theory only takes you so far. Let's get practical and walk through a few common business scenarios to see what using Stripe really costs.

These examples will show you how the standard rate, international fees, currency conversions, and extra product costs can combine. This is how you find your effective fee rate, the actual percentage of each sale that goes to Stripe. Getting this number right is a key part of understanding your unit economics and ensuring your business is profitable.

As the diagram below shows, once you start using more of Stripe's powerful tools like Billing for subscriptions, Connect for marketplaces, or Radar for fraud protection, you're layering more potential costs on top of that basic transaction fee.

Each of these products solves a real business problem, but they also come with their own price tags that add to your total cost.

The US SaaS Company

Let's say you run a SaaS business based in the United States. You charge a $100 monthly subscription. A new customer from the UK signs up and pays with their British credit card. You're also using Stripe Billing's Starter plan to handle the recurring payments.

Here’s the fee breakdown for that single transaction:

Base Fee (2.9% + $0.30): The standard online rate comes to $3.20.
International Card Fee (1.5%): Since the card isn't from the US, Stripe adds another $1.50.
Stripe Billing Fee (0.5%): The Starter plan adds $0.50 for managing the subscription.

The total fee for this one $100 payment is $5.20. Suddenly, your effective fee rate isn't 2.9%, it's 5.2%. That's a huge difference.

The E-commerce Store with Mixed Sales

Now, picture an American e-commerce store that just made two $100 sales. The first was to a local customer in California. The second was to a customer in France who paid in Euros, which means Stripe needs to handle the currency conversion.

Let's compare the costs side-by-side:

Domestic Sale: This one is simple. The fee is just the standard 2.9% + $0.30, for a total of $3.20.
Base Fee: $3.20
International Card Fee: $1.50 (1.5%)
Currency Conversion Fee: $2.00 (2%)
The total fee for this sale is $6.70.

In this case, the sale to France cost more than double the domestic one, bringing its effective rate to a painful 6.7%.

The Freelancer Invoicing a Client Abroad

Finally, think about a US-based freelance designer who sends a $1,000 invoice to a client in Australia. The client pays right through the invoice with their Australian credit card. The freelancer isn't using any subscription tools, just a standard one-time invoice.

The math is a bit simpler, but the final number is still significant:

Base Fee (2.9% + $0.30): $29.00 + $0.30 = $29.30
International Card Fee (1.5%): 1.5% of $1,000 is $15.00
Total Fees: $29.30 + $15.00 = $44.30

For this single invoice, the effective rate lands at 4.43%. And remember, this is without any currency conversion fees, which would push that number even higher.

Stripe Fee Calculation for Different Business Scenarios

To see how these costs play out across different models, here’s a quick comparison of the effective fee rates for a $100 transaction in each of our examples.

.tbl-scroll{contain:inline-size;overflow-x:auto;-webkit-overflow-scrolling:touch}.tbl-scroll table{min-width:600px;width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;margin-bottom:20px}.tbl-scroll th{border:1px solid #ddd;padding:8px;text-align:left;background-color:#f2f2f2;white-space:nowrap}.tbl-scroll td{border:1px solid #ddd;padding:8px;text-align:left}Business ScenarioTransaction BreakdownTotal Stripe FeesEffective RateUS SaaS Company (UK Customer)$3.20 (Base) + $1.50 (Int'l Card) + $0.50 (Billing)$5.205.2%US E-commerce Store (French Customer, EUR)$3.20 (Base) + $1.50 (Int'l Card) + $2.00 (Currency Conversion)$6.706.7%US Freelancer (Australian Customer)$29.30 on $1,000 (Base) + $15.00 on $1,000 (Int'l Card)Normalized to $100: $2.93 + $1.50$4.434.43%

As you can see, the advertised "2.9% + $0.30" is often just the starting point. Your business model and where your customers are located have a massive impact on what you actually pay.

This complexity is exactly why businesses that operate globally start looking for alternatives. At Suby, we provide a clean API that lets you accept card payments from anywhere. Your customers pay how they want, and you get the funds settled directly as USDC, which completely sidesteps currency conversion fees and the usual headaches of international banking. We even have native integrations for Discord and Telegram to help you manage subscriptions for your online communities.

How to Reduce Your Payment Processing Fees

While most payment processing fees feel like a fixed cost of doing business, they're not always set in stone. Smart companies can find plenty of room to lower their expenses. Just accepting the standard rates without a second thought means you could be leaving serious money on the table, especially as your sales grow.

The trick is to be proactive. Even small, strategic tweaks to how you handle payments can add up to huge savings over the long haul. It all starts with understanding where your biggest costs are coming from and then finding practical ways to trim them down without hurting your customer's experience.

Negotiate Custom Rates if You Have the Volume

One of the most straightforward ways to slash your fees is to simply ask for a better deal. If you're processing a high volume of transactions, think $100,000+ a month, you've got leverage. Payment processors like Stripe are often willing to negotiate custom pricing to keep high-value clients happy.

Before you pick up the phone, you need to do your homework. Get your data in order.

Know your numbers: Have your exact monthly and annual processing volumes ready to go.
Understand your payment mix: Be clear on what percentage of your sales are domestic versus international.
Calculate your average ticket size: A higher average transaction value often makes you a more attractive partner for processors.

Walking into that conversation armed with this information makes your case for a lower rate much more compelling.

Keep Chargebacks and Fraud in Check

Chargebacks are a double-whammy. They’re not just an operational headache, they’re expensive. You lose the original revenue from the sale, and you get hit with a non-refundable dispute fee, which is often around $15 per incident. If your chargeback rate creeps up, processors might even label you as "high-risk," which can lead to even higher fees down the road.

Think of strong fraud prevention as an investment, not an expense. By catching fraudulent payments before they go through, you're directly cutting down on chargeback fees and protecting your bottom line.

This is where tools that analyze transactions for red flags, require CVC verification, and use address verification systems (AVS) come into play. Keeping your chargeback rate low is one of the most effective ways to manage your overall processing costs. For a higher-level view on optimizing all business expenses, including navigating complex payment fees, see how fractional CFO services can offer expert financial guidance.

Rethink Your Payment Architecture

Sometimes, the biggest savings come from a bigger-picture change. For businesses selling globally, the real killers are often the cross-border and currency conversion fees. A more modern payment architecture can help you sidestep these costs almost entirely.

Imagine a setup where your customers pay with their cards just like they always do, but you receive the funds in a stablecoin like USDC. This model unlocks a few huge benefits:

No More Currency Conversion Fees: Since you're settling in USDC, you completely avoid the typical 2% (or more) fee that platforms charge to convert foreign currencies back into your own.
Simplified Global Payouts: You get paid in one consistent currency (USDC) from all over the world. This eliminates the headache of juggling multiple foreign bank accounts and volatile exchange rates.

This approach is a game-changer for companies with a large international customer base. Here at Suby, we've built a simple API that does exactly this. You can accept card payments globally and get your funds settled directly as USDC, dramatically cutting the overhead that comes with selling abroad. If you're curious to learn more, check out our guide on the best international payment gateways.

Stripe Fees: Your Questions Answered

Even after digging into the details, it's natural to have a few lingering questions. Payment processing can get complicated, so let's clear up some of the most common things people ask about Stripe's pricing. Think of this as a quick-reference guide to make sure you're confident about how it all works.

We’ll tackle these one by one with straight, simple answers.

Does Stripe Charge a Monthly Fee?

For their standard, out-of-the-box plan, the answer is no. Stripe does not charge any monthly fees, setup fees, or even cancellation fees. You only ever pay for what you use, which is a huge draw for startups and small businesses who want to avoid big upfront commitments.

But keep in mind, this "no monthly fee" rule applies to their core pay-as-you-go processing. If you start using some of Stripe's more advanced products, like Stripe Billing's "Scale" plan, you might encounter different pricing models. Those are usually based on a percentage of what you process, but it's always worth checking the fine print for the specific tool you need.

Are Stripe Fees the Same in Every Country?

Definitely not. The famous 2.9% + $0.30 rate is what businesses in the United States pay for online transactions. But that's just one piece of the puzzle.

Hop over to the UK, and the pricing is completely different: 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards, which jumps to 2.5% + 20p for cards from elsewhere in Europe. These variations are driven by local bank rules, card network costs, and all sorts of regional factors. If your business isn't in the US, you absolutely have to check Stripe's official pricing page for your specific country.

How Can I See a Detailed Breakdown of My Fees?

Stripe is actually pretty good about this. They give you a dashboard where you can dissect every single charge down to the penny. This is the key to understanding your true cost of processing payments.

Here’s how you find it:

Log in to your Stripe Dashboard.
Head over to the "Reports" section and click on "Balance."
You'll see a list of individual transactions. Click on any one of them for a super-detailed fee breakdown, showing you exactly what went to processing, what was for international fees, and so on.

This kind of transparency is gold for financial planning. Make it a habit to check these reports. You'll quickly spot which types of sales cost you the most and can start thinking about how to optimize.

This granular view lets you see past the headline percentage and find out where every fraction of a cent is going.

Is It Possible to Get a Refund on Stripe Fees?

Here's one that catches a lot of people by surprise: when you refund a customer, Stripe does not refund its processing fees.

So, if you refund a $100 purchase where you originally paid a $3.20 fee, your customer gets the full $100 back, but that $3.20 is gone for good. Stripe keeps it. This is standard practice in the industry because they still did the work of processing the payment initially. For businesses with a high return rate, like many e-commerce stores, this can quietly become a very significant cost.

What is the Difference Between a Payout and a Transaction?

It’s easy to get these terms mixed up, but they're two distinct steps in the money-moving process.

A transaction happens the instant a customer pays you and their card is successfully charged. This is the moment Stripe calculates and takes its fee.
A payout is when Stripe bundles up all your collected funds (minus their fees) and sends the money from your Stripe account to your actual business bank account.

Standard payouts are free. However, if you're in a hurry and use an "Instant Payout" to get your cash faster than the normal schedule, Stripe charges an extra fee for the convenience, usually a small percentage of the payout amount.

Trying to manage all these fees, especially when selling internationally, can feel like a full-time job. At Suby, we offer a much simpler path. Our clean API lets you accept card payments from anywhere in the world. Your customers get a checkout they recognize, and you get paid directly in USDC, which sidesteps all the usual headaches of currency conversion and cross-border fees. To learn more about our straightforward approach, visit https://suby.fi.

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