Stripe

The Complete Financial Infrastructure for the Internet

Stripe is the world's most advanced payment processing platform and financial infrastructure, powering online and in-person commerce for millions of businesses from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Founded in 2010, Stripe has revolutionized digital payments by providing a unified platform that handles everything from simple payment acceptance to complex billing models, marketplace payouts, card issuing, and embedded finance.

With 99.999% uptime, processing capabilities handling 500M+ API requests daily (peaking at 13,000 requests per second), and support for 135+ currencies and payment methods across 47+ countries, Stripe powers the revenue operations for OpenAI, Amazon, Google, Shopify, BMW, and millions of other businesses generating hundreds of billions of dollars in transactions annually.

Unified Platform for All Payment Needs

Unlike traditional payment processors that focus solely on transaction processing, Stripe provides an integrated suite of financial products that work seamlessly together:

• Payments: Accept credit cards, digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link), bank transfers, and 100+ local payment methods
• Billing: Manage subscriptions, usage-based billing, and hybrid pricing models with automated dunning
• Connect: Build marketplaces and platforms with multi-party payments and instant payouts
• Terminal: Accept in-person payments with Stripe's certified card readers
• Issuing: Create and manage commercial card programs
• Treasury: Embed banking and financial accounts into your platform
• Capital: Offer financing to your customers or access business loans
• Tax: Automate sales tax calculation, collection, and reporting globally
• Radar: Machine learning-powered fraud prevention
• Sigma: Custom revenue analytics and reporting without SQL knowledge

This unified approach eliminates the need for multiple payment vendors and creates a cohesive financial operating system that scales with your business.

Global Payment Method Coverage

Stripe supports the most comprehensive range of payment methods globally:

• Major credit/debit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, JCB, UnionPay
• Digital wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Microsoft Pay, Samsung Pay, Click to Pay
• Link: Stripe's one-click checkout that remembers customer details (10% conversion boost average)
• Buy Now Pay Later: Klarna, Afterpay/Clearpay, Affirm (US), Zip (Australia)
• Bank debits: ACH Direct Debit (US), SEPA Direct Debit (EU), Bacs (UK), Pre-Authorized Debit (Canada)
• Bank redirects: iDEAL (Netherlands), Bancontact (Belgium), Sofort (Europe), EPS (Austria), Przelewy24 (Poland)
• Real-time payments: FPX (Malaysia), PromptPay (Thailand), PayNow (Singapore)
• Cash-based: OXXO (Mexico), Boleto (Brazil), Konbini (Japan)
• Cryptocurrency: USDC stablecoin payments (instant settlement)
• Alipay and WeChat Pay: Essential for Chinese customer payments

Stripe's intelligent payment routing automatically presents the most relevant payment methods to each customer based on their location, currency, and device, maximizing conversion rates.

Advanced Subscription and Billing Management

Stripe Billing handles the most complex recurring revenue models:

• Flat-rate subscriptions: Simple monthly/annual plans with automatic renewals
• Usage-based billing: Charge based on API calls, seats, storage, or any metered metric
• Tiered pricing: Volume discounts and graduated pricing tiers
• Hybrid models: Combine flat fees with usage charges (e.g., base + overage)
• Free trials: Automatic conversion to paid after trial period with smart dunning
• Multi-plan subscriptions: Customers can subscribe to multiple products simultaneously
• Add-ons and upgrades: Pro-rated changes mid-cycle
• Coupon management: Percentage, fixed amount, duration-limited discounts
• Invoice customization: Branded invoices with custom fields and line items
• Automatic tax: Calculate and collect sales tax/VAT in 50+ countries

The platform handles smart retry logic for failed payments, reducing involuntary churn by automatically retrying charges at optimal times and sending customizable dunning emails to customers.

Developer-First Platform

Stripe's reputation as the best payment API is well-earned:

• Comprehensive documentation: Clear, example-rich docs that developers actually enjoy reading
• Client libraries: Official SDKs for Ruby, Python, PHP, Node.js, Java, .NET, Go, iOS, Android, React
• Powerful APIs: RESTful design with consistent error handling and versioning
• Webhooks: Real-time event notifications for payment status changes
• Test mode: Fully-featured sandbox environment with test card numbers
• Stripe CLI: Local webhook testing and API interaction from command line
• Real-time validation: Client-side card validation and formatting (Stripe Elements)
• Idempotency: Built-in protection against duplicate payments
• Versioning: API versioning allows upgrades without breaking changes
• Postman collection: Pre-built API collections for testing

Implementation can be as simple as embedding a pre-built Checkout page (no code required) or as custom as building a fully-branded payment flow with Stripe Elements and the Payment Intents API.

No-Code and Low-Code Options

While Stripe excels for developers, non-technical users can leverage:

• Checkout: Hosted, conversion-optimized payment page (just share a link)
• Payment Links: Create shareable payment links directly from Dashboard
• Invoicing: Send professional invoices with automatic collection
• Customer Portal: Self-service portal for customers to manage subscriptions
• Stripe Apps: Pre-built integrations with 100+ platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce, Salesforce)
• No-code automation: Create workflows without coding via Dashboard

The Stripe App Marketplace offers hundreds of pre-built integrations so you can connect Stripe to your existing tools like QuickBooks, Xero, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Slack, and more without writing code.

In-Person Payments with Stripe Terminal

Stripe Terminal brings the same unified commerce experience to physical locations:

• Certified card readers: BBPOS WisePad 3, WisePOS E, Stripe Reader S700
• Unified data: Online and offline sales in one system
• Mobile-first: Accept payments with your phone (Tap to Pay on iPhone/Android)
• EMV and NFC: Chip cards, contactless cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay
• Offline mode: Process payments without internet, sync when reconnected
• Custom receipts: Branded email and SMS receipts
• Inventory management: Track products and stock levels

Marketplace and Platform Payments (Stripe Connect)

For platforms and marketplaces, Stripe Connect handles the complexity of multi-party payments:

• Onboarding: Verify seller identities and collect tax information automatically
• Payment routing: Split payments between platform and sellers with custom fee structures
• Instant payouts: Pay sellers immediately (Stripe fronts the funds)
• Platform controls: Hold funds, create refunds, manage disputes on behalf of sellers
• Custom branding: White-label payment experience for your sellers
• Global expansion: Accept payments in 135+ currencies, pay out in 50+ countries
• Tax handling: Calculate and collect marketplace facilitator tax
• Express Dashboard: Seller-facing dashboard for their payment management

Used by Shopify, Instacart, Deliveroo, DoorDash, and thousands of other platforms to power their embedded commerce.

Machine Learning-Powered Fraud Prevention

Stripe Radar uses advanced machine learning trained on billions of transactions:

• Adaptive algorithms: Learns from Stripe's global network to identify fraud patterns
• Real-time scoring: Risk assessment for every transaction in milliseconds
• Custom rules: Block or allow payments based on your specific criteria
• 3D Secure 2: Strong Customer Authentication for high-risk transactions
• Card testing detection: Automatically blocks card verification fraud
• Velocity checks: Identify suspicious patterns in payment frequency
• Lists: Manage allow and block lists for specific customers or cards
• Shift fraud liability: Radar for Fraud Teams provides chargeback guarantee

Stripe blocks over $10 billion in fraud annually while maintaining a false positive rate 4x lower than industry average, ensuring legitimate customers aren't declined.

Revenue Optimization Features

Stripe includes tools designed to maximize your revenue:

• Adaptive Acceptance: Machine learning optimizes authorization rates (+5.5% average improvement)
• Network tokens: Replace card numbers with network tokens for higher approval rates
• Card Account Updater: Automatically update expired card details
• Smart retries: AI determines optimal retry timing for failed payments
• Dynamic currency conversion: Let customers pay in their local currency
• Conversion optimization: A/B test checkout flows and payment methods
• Recovery tools: Automated dunning emails with Payment Links

Embedded Finance Capabilities

Beyond payments, Stripe enables you to embed financial services:

• Issuing: Create virtual and physical commercial cards (no setup fees)
• Treasury: Offer FDIC-insured bank accounts to your customers
• Capital: Provide business loans and financing options
• Financial Connections: Link customer bank accounts securely
• Identity: Verify customer identities for compliance

Companies like Shopify use these tools to offer Shopify Balance (bank accounts) and Shopify Capital (business loans) directly within their platform.

Pricing That Scales With You

Stripe uses transparent, pay-as-you-go pricing:

• Standard pricing: 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card charge (US)
• International cards: Additional 1.5% for cards issued outside your country
• Currency conversion: Additional 1% for currency conversion
• ACH/bank debits: 0.8% capped at $5 per transaction
• Digital wallets: Same as card rates (no additional fees)
• Subscriptions: No additional fee for recurring billing
• Radar fraud prevention: Included on all accounts
• Instant payouts: 1% of payout amount (optional feature)

Volume discounts are available for larger businesses through custom pricing agreements. High-growth startups can apply to the Stripe Startup Program for discounted rates.

Enterprise-Grade Reliability and Support

Stripe operates with mission-critical reliability:

• 99.999% uptime: Five-nines reliability with public status page
• Redundant systems: Multi-region failover and real-time backups
• PCI Level 1: Highest level of payment security certification
• SOC 1 & 2 Type II: Audited security and compliance controls
• GDPR compliant: Full compliance with EU data protection regulations
• Annual audits: Regular third-party security assessments
• Data residency: Options for EU and other regional data storage

Support tiers include:

• Email support: Available to all accounts
• Live chat: For active businesses processing payments
• Phone support: For high-volume accounts
• Dedicated account manager: Enterprise customers
• Priority support plans: Faster response times and implementation help
• Professional services: Expert integration guidance

Comprehensive Compliance and Tax Automation

Stripe Tax automates the complexity of sales tax:

• Real-time calculation: Accurate tax rates for 50+ countries and US states
• Product taxability: Understands which products are taxable
• Economic nexus monitoring: Alerts when you meet registration thresholds
• Automated registration: Files registration in supported jurisdictions
• Return filing: Automatic tax return preparation and filing
• Audit support: Transaction-level reporting for tax audits
• Cross-border VAT: Handle EU, UK, Australia, and other VAT systems

This eliminates the need for separate tax software like Avalara or TaxJar for most businesses.

Business Intelligence and Reporting

Understand your revenue with powerful analytics:

• Real-time Dashboard: Live transaction monitoring and key metrics
• Revenue Recognition: Automate accrual accounting and ASC 606 compliance
• Sigma: Create custom reports with no SQL knowledge required
• Data Pipeline: Export all Stripe data to your data warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift)
• Cohort analysis: Track customer lifetime value and retention
• Subscription metrics: MRR, ARR, churn, LTV calculations
• Automated exports: Schedule reports to Slack, email, or cloud storage

AI-Powered Innovation

Stripe is pioneering AI applications in payments:

• Agentic commerce: Allow AI agents to make purchases via Stripe API
• Fraud scoring: Neural networks trained on billions of transactions
• Authorization optimization: Machine learning improves approval rates
• Churn prediction: Identify at-risk subscriptions before they cancel
• Revenue forecasting: AI-powered revenue predictions

Migration and Integration Made Easy

Moving to Stripe from another processor is straightforward:

• Payment method migration: Import stored cards from other processors
• Subscription import: Move existing subscriptions without disruption
• Professional services: Expert help for complex migrations
• Dual processing: Run Stripe alongside existing processor during transition
• Partner directory: Certified integration partners for custom needs

Real-World Use Cases

Stripe powers diverse business models:

• SaaS companies: OpenAI, Slack, Notion, Zoom, Twilio (subscription management)
• E-commerce: Glossier, Allbirds, Gymshark (online checkout)
• Marketplaces: Instacart, DoorDash, Deliveroo (multi-party payments)
• On-demand services: Lyft, Kickstarter (payment processing)
• Retail: Target, Best Buy (in-person and online unified commerce)
• Platforms: Shopify, Squarespace (embedded payments for customers)
• Automotive: BMW ConnectedDrive Store (digital goods)
• Enterprise: Amazon, Google, Salesforce (complex billing needs)

What Makes Stripe Different

Compared to PayPal, Square, Adyen, or traditional merchant accounts:

• Unified platform: One integration for global payments, billing, and financial services
• Developer experience: Best-in-class API documentation and tools
• Innovation velocity: Constant new features and payment method additions
• Global-first: Built for international expansion from day one
• Transparent pricing: No setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden costs
• No payment volume requirements: Same features for $1K or $1B in volume
• Modern stack: Real-time webhooks, RESTful API, comprehensive SDKs
• Startup-friendly: No long contracts or commitments

Potential Limitations

Consider these factors when evaluating Stripe:

• Not the cheapest: Businesses processing high volumes may get better rates elsewhere
• Account reviews: Stripe may hold funds or request documentation for unusual activity
• Limited phone support: Small businesses may only have email/chat support
• Restricted industries: Some high-risk businesses aren't supported
• Integration required: Even with Checkout, some technical setup is needed
• US-centric support: Support quality may vary by country

Getting Started

Launch with Stripe in minutes:

1. Create account: Sign up at stripe.com (no credit card required)
2. Verify business: Provide basic business information
3. Choose integration: Use Checkout (no code), Payment Links, or custom integration
4. Test in sandbox: Use test mode with test card numbers
5. Activate account: Complete verification to accept real payments
6. Go live: Start accepting payments

The Stripe Startup Program provides discounted processing rates, priority support, and credits for eligible early-stage companies.

The Bottom Line

Stripe has become the default payment infrastructure for the internet economy because it handles the full complexity of modern commerce while making it accessible to businesses of all sizes. The combination of powerful APIs, comprehensive features, global reach, and continuous innovation makes Stripe the best choice for most online businesses.

Whether you're a solo founder launching your first SaaS product, an e-commerce store wanting to expand internationally, or an enterprise building a marketplace platform, Stripe provides the financial infrastructure to accept payments, manage subscriptions, prevent fraud, and scale globally - all from a single, unified platform.

With transparent pricing, no setup fees, world-class developer tools, and 99.999% uptime, Stripe eliminates the traditional complexity of payment processing and lets you focus on building your business instead of managing payment infrastructure.