Stripe is a payments and financial infrastructure platform for online and in-person payments, billing, and fintech APIs. See pricing and features.
Stripe is a payments and financial infrastructure company founded in 2010 by Patrick and John Collison. It provides APIs and hosted products that let businesses accept payments online, in mobile apps, and in person, and has expanded well beyond checkout into billing, tax, fraud prevention, card issuing, and marketplace payouts.
Stripe is dual-headquartered in South San Francisco, California, and Dublin, Ireland, reflecting its early focus on serving both US and international businesses from the start.
Stripe's core Payments product supports cards, digital wallets, and many local payment methods across dozens of currencies. Stripe Billing handles subscriptions and invoicing, Connect enables marketplaces and platforms to pay out sellers, Terminal supports in-person card payments, Tax automates sales tax and VAT calculation, and Radar applies machine learning to flag fraudulent transactions.
Standard online card payments in the US are typically priced at 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per successful transaction, with different rates for in-person payments, international cards, and currency conversion. Additional products like Billing, Tax, and Radar carry their own usage-based or flat monthly fees, and large-volume businesses can negotiate custom enterprise pricing.
Stripe is used to accept online and in-person payments, manage subscriptions and billing, calculate tax, prevent fraud, and route payouts for marketplaces.
Standard US online card payments are typically 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per successful transaction, with different rates for in-person, international, and currency-converted payments.
There is no monthly fee to start; Stripe primarily charges per successful transaction, with additional products billed separately based on usage.
Yes, Stripe Billing is a dedicated product for managing subscriptions, invoicing, and recurring revenue.
Yes, Stripe Terminal supports in-person card payments using Stripe-certified card readers.
Stripe operates in dozens of countries and supports many currencies and local payment methods, with coverage varying by region.
Yes, Stripe is a PCI Service Provider Level 1 certified payment processor, the highest level of certification in the payments industry.
Stripe is primarily a developer-first API platform for embedding payments directly into a business's own website or app, while PayPal is more focused on a consumer-facing checkout and wallet experience.