Stripe API pricing: plans, free tier and what to watch for

Stripe API pricing at a glance: Standard (pay-as-you-go, US online) 2.9% + 30¢, In-person (Terminal, US) 2.7% + 5¢, Manually-keyed cards (US) 3.4% + 30¢, ACH direct debit (US) 0.8% (capped at $5)

The short answer

Stripe is billed per transaction (2.9% + $0.30). It has a free tier: Unlimited test-mode sandbox (no CC); pay-per-transaction live. The paid plans we list start at 2.9% + 30¢ (Standard (pay-as-you-go, US online)).

Plans and prices

Plan	Price	What it covers
Standard (pay-as-you-go, US online)	2.9% + 30¢	Per successful online card charge; no setup or monthly fees.
In-person (Terminal, US)	2.7% + 5¢	Per successful in-person card payment.
Manually-keyed cards (US)	3.4% + 30¢	Per successful keyed-in card transaction.
ACH direct debit (US)	0.8% (capped at $5)	Per ACH payment; disputes billed at $15 each.
Billing (subscriptions)	0.7% of billing volume	Pay-as-you-go add-on; Tax add-on is 0.5% per transaction.
Custom / Enterprise	Contact sales	Interchange-plus (IC+) pricing, volume discounts, and multi-product discounts for large businesses.

How Stripe bills you

The pricing model is per transaction (2.9% + $0.30). The reference-standard payments API: best-in-class docs, SDKs in every major language, official MCP server, and instant self-serve sandbox. Best suited to: developer-first payments platform.

What to watch for on the bill

Flat 2.9% + 30¢ rate is expensive for low-ticket and high-volume merchants vs. negotiated interchange-plus
Costs stack quickly: +1.5% international cards, +1% currency conversion, $15 disputes, plus add-on product fees (Billing 0.7%, Tax 0.5%)
Support is slow and generic for businesses without a dedicated account team, especially on chargebacks
Headline rate requires contacting sales to improve, best pricing is gated behind enterprise negotiation
System can feel complex for non-technical users despite developer-friendly APIs

The pricing page we read

Stripe pricing page, captured for reference — Capture of stripe.com. Captured from Germany, so some vendors show local prices or currency. Listed prices are verified Jun 27, 2026. The live page may differ.

Source: https://stripe.com/pricing. Prices change, so confirm there before you commit.

Compare Stripe with alternatives

Other payments apis: Square, Razorpay, Mollie, Braintree, Checkout.com.

Looking at quality rather than price? See the Stripe score on APIbenchmarks. Full entry: Stripe pricing.