Stripe fee calculator

Stripe charges one processing fee per successful card payment. In the US the standard online rate is 2.9% + $0.30. In the UK it is 1.5% + £0.20 for standard UK cards. There is no monthly fee for the pay-as-you-go payments product and no separate platform fee, because Stripe is not a marketplace.

International cards cost more. The US rate adds 1.5%, and the UK international rate is 3.15% + £0.20. The UK also has an EEA rate of 2.5% + £0.20. Currency conversion adds 1% in the US and 2% in the UK when Stripe has to convert. Figures are from Stripe’s pricing pages, checked in October 2026.

Default US domestic card rate, no international surcharge and no currency conversion. Generated from the same schedule as the calculator.

At $10 the fee is $0.59 (2.9% = $0.29, plus $0.30), leaving $9.41. At $5 the fixed $0.30 is a larger share, which is why small payments feel expensive: $0.45 of the $5 goes to Stripe.

ACH Direct Debit is the cheap route for US bank payments. Stripe charges 0.8% with a $5 cap. At $50 the fee is $0.40 and the creator keeps $49.60. The cap starts to apply at $625, where 0.8% would be $5; a $2,000 ACH payment still costs $5, leaving $1,995.

ACH beats a card at every one of those prices: a $50 card payment costs $1.75 at the standard US rate, and a $2,000 card payment costs $58.30. The trade-off is speed and certainty. ACH is slower than a card, bank returns can fail, and the payer has to enter bank details. It suits invoices and larger payments more than an impulse digital sale.

The UK has more card rates than the US. A standard UK card is 1.5% + £0.20, a premium or corporate card is 2.8% + £0.20, and an EEA card is 2.5% + £0.20. International cards are 3.15% + £0.20. Currency conversion adds 2%.

Bank payments are cheaper: Bacs Direct Debit is 1% with a 20p minimum and a £4 cap. Klarna starts at 4.99% + £0.35. On a £10 standard card sale the fee is £0.35; on a £10 premium card it is £0.48; on Bacs it is the 20p minimum.

Stripe’s payment fee is only the first layer. Billing adds 0.7% of subscription volume, Invoicing Starter adds 0.4% per paid invoice, and Tax Basic adds 0.5% per transaction where you are registered. The add-ons panel applies each as its own result line so you can see the stack.

On a $20 monthly subscription with all three switched on, card processing is $0.88 (2.9% = $0.58 + $0.30), Billing is $0.14, invoicing is $0.08 and Tax Basic is $0.10. The total is $1.20, leaving $18.80. In practice not every invoice, subscription and tax transaction attracts all three; the example is there to show the direction and scale, not to claim they always stack.

Refunds are free to issue, but the original processing fee is not returned. Refund a $10 card payment and Stripe still keeps the $0.59; the creator is down $0.59 on a sale that was reversed. The same is true of a partial refund: the original fee does not shrink.

A dispute is more expensive. Stripe charges $15 for each dispute received in the US and £20 in the UK. If you counter manually, another $15 or £20 applies. The counter fee comes back if you win and stays with Stripe if you lose. Smart Disputes takes 30% of a disputed amount you win. None of these are in the per-sale calculator because most sales do not have one.

Standard payouts to a bank account are free. Instant payouts cost 1.5% in the US with a $0.50 minimum, or 1% in the UK with a £0.40 minimum. Switch on “Instant payout” in the add-ons panel to see the cost beside the processing fee.

Disputes are $15 in the US or £20 in the UK, plus another $15 or £20 if you counter manually; Smart Disputes takes 30% of a disputed amount you win. Refunds have no separate fee, but the original processing fee is not returned. Tax Complete starts at $90/month or £70/month, Terminal is for in-person sales, Connect is for platforms, and a custom Checkout domain is $10/month. They are in the fee table with source links, not in the per-sale result.

At the standard US card and PayPal Checkout rates, Stripe is slightly cheaper on the headline rate. This table uses both defaults at the same price.

The gap is small: at $100 Stripe charges $3.20 and PayPal $3.98, so Stripe leaves $0.78 more. The comparison changes if the buyer pays by a different method. See the PayPal fee calculator for Goods & Services, cards, Pay Later and instant transfers.

Managed Payments is Stripe’s merchant-of-record product. Stripe becomes the seller for tax and compliance purposes and adds 3.5% on top of the payment fees in the UK. The US rate is still being checked, so the calculator does not show a US Managed Payments line.

That 3.5% buys tax registration, collection, filing and remittance, plus the compliance work of selling cross-border. It is the closest comparison with Gumroad and Fourthwall, which are also merchants of record. Unlockable is not: the creator is the seller and handles their own tax. A merchant-of-record fee can be worth paying when tax is the obstacle; it is not automatically the cheaper option.

The reverse mode solves price = (target + fixed fee) ÷ (1 − percentage). In the US, to receive $100 after a domestic card fee, charge $103.30. The calculator rounds up to the cent, so the net is never a penny short.

Use the “I want to receive” tab when you are pricing from a target income rather than from a list price. It is the same arithmetic a finance spreadsheet would do, without building the spreadsheet.

Keep the card domestic if you can. The international surcharge is 1.5% in the US and 1.65 percentage points in the UK. Pricing in the buyer’s currency does not remove the surcharge, but it avoids the conversion fee on top.

Do not let Stripe convert for you unless you have to. Currency conversion adds 1% in the US and 2% in the UK. If your bank account and your prices use the same currency, there is nothing to convert.

Price the fixed fee into small products. On a $5 sale, $0.30 is 6% before the percentage fee. A $5 product and a $25 product do not have the same margin, even though the percentage rate is identical.

Remember what Stripe does not do. It does not bring buyers, host a product page, deliver the file or handle sales tax. Those are separate costs or separate tools. A lower processing rate is not a lower total cost if you have to build the rest.

Stripe is the right choice when you already have a site or an app and want to add payments. It is flexible, well documented and cheaper on paper than Unlockable’s 10% creator fee. You keep the customer relationship and can build whatever checkout you need.

Unlockable is the shorter route when the product is one file and the buyer already knows you. It includes delivery, capped and expiring links, and card processing, and the buyer pays the 10% privacy and security fee on top. It is not a replacement for Stripe if you need subscriptions, invoices or a custom checkout; it is a narrower product for one paid link. See Unlockable’s pricing and the platform comparison.

See how to sell without a website and how to deliver digital products, compare Stripe vs PayPal fees, or see every platform at once.