Stripe fees explained: what it takes in 2026

Stripe charges a US business 2.9% plus $0.30 on a successful domestic card payment, and adds 1.5% when the card was issued abroad. The rate is quoted per successful transaction, so a declined payment costs nothing and, for most sellers, that one line is the whole cost of taking a card. It is also the most expensive way Stripe will move money for you: the same business in the United Kingdom is charged 1.5% plus £0.20, and a bank debit costs a fraction of a card anywhere one is offered. It is also not the only way to be paid: Stripe prices every alternative payment method separately, and a US business taking Klarna pays 5.99% plus $0.30, close to twice a card. This guide goes through the schedule as Stripe publishes it, with every figure computed by the same engine as the Stripe fee calculator. The rates are quoted from Stripe's pricing page for the country in question, and the United States payment methods from its payment-method page at stripe.com/pricing/local-payment-methods. Cards and bank rails were verified on 4 September 2026, the payment methods on 5 September 2026.

What Stripe charges for a domestic card payment

A card payment is domestic when the card was issued in the same market as your Stripe account. Stripe prices it as a percentage of the payment plus a fixed fee, charged per successful transaction; a declined payment costs nothing.

The gap between markets is real and large. For a US business, the fee on $100.00 is $3.20 and you keep $96.80, an effective rate of 3.2%. For a UK business paid with a UK card, the fee on £100.00 is £1.70 and you keep £98.30, an effective rate of 1.7%.

Two things are missing from that table on purpose. The United Kingdom and the euro area both publish a second, higher domestic tier for premium consumer cards, and this calculator prices only the standard tier, so a payment from a rewards or corporate card issued at home will cost you more than the figure above. The United States and Canada also add a surcharge for a card you key in by hand rather than one the customer enters. Neither is modelled here.

Cards from abroad, and the three-way split

Every market Stripe prices charges more for a card issued outside it, but the schedule is built two different ways, and the difference matters when you check your own numbers.

In the United States, Canada, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, Stripe publishes a bare percentage that is added to the domestic rate: 1.5% in the United States, 0.8% in Canada, 0.5% in Singapore and 1% in the United Arab Emirates. The domestic percentage and the fixed fee stay underneath it.

In the United Kingdom and the euro area, Stripe instead restates the whole price for a card from abroad, and splits it three ways by where the card was issued.

Those rows replace the domestic line rather than sitting on top of it, which is why the percentage a British business pays climbs from 1.5% to 2.5% for a European card and to 3.15% for one from further afield, while the fixed £0.20 never moves.

For a US business paid with a card from abroad, the fee on $100.00 is $4.70 ($3.20 card payments (US domestic cards) plus $1.50 international card surcharge) and you keep $95.30, an effective rate of 4.7%. For a UK business paid with an EEA card, the fee on £100.00 is £2.70 and you keep £97.30, an effective rate of 2.7%. For the same UK business paid with a card from outside the EEA, the fee on £100.00 is £3.35 and you keep £96.65, an effective rate of 3.35%.

The currency-conversion fee is 1% in some markets and 2% in others

If the payment has to be converted into the currency you settle in, Stripe adds a conversion fee on top of everything above. The rate is 1% in the United States and the United Arab Emirates and 2% in the United Kingdom, the euro area, Canada and Singapore. It is a percentage of the payment, not a spread you can shop around, and it is the one fee here that applies whatever rail the money arrived on.

Because the rate is set per market, it is the figure most often carried across a border by mistake. A US business converting a payment pays 1%; a British business doing the same thing pays twice that. The calculator always reads the rate published for the country you have selected and never the one next to it.

For a US business converting a $100 payment, the fee on $100.00 is $4.20 ($3.20 card payments (US domestic cards) plus $1.00 currency conversion surcharge) and you keep $95.80, an effective rate of 4.2%. For a UK business converting a £100 payment, the fee on £100.00 is £3.70 (£1.70 card payments (standard UK cards) plus £2.00 currency conversion surcharge) and you keep £96.30, an effective rate of 3.7%.

Bank debits cost a fraction of a card

Where a local bank-debit rail exists, it is the cheapest way to be paid on Stripe, and on a large payment it is not close. Each rail is a different scheme with its own timing and its own failure rules, so the price is different in every market.

The caps are what make the difference on anything sizeable. On a $1,000 ACH payment, the fee on $1,000.00 is $5.00 and you keep $995.00, an effective rate of 0.5%. The same $1,000 taken by card, the fee on $1,000.00 is $29.30 and you keep $970.70, an effective rate of 2.93%. The euro area does not even charge a percentage: SEPA Direct Debit is one flat fee whatever the payment is worth. On a €100 SEPA Direct Debit, the fee on €100.00 is €0.35 and you keep €99.65, an effective rate of 0.35%.

The United States has a third rail, Instant Bank Payments through Link, which settles like a card but is drawn from a bank account. It is the only market of the six where Stripe publishes a separate rate for it. On a $100 Link payment, the fee on $100.00 is $2.90 and you keep $97.10, an effective rate of 2.9%.

Canada's pre-authorized debits carry two further charges the calculator does not model: a fee for instant account verification and a larger one for a debit that fails or is disputed. Stripe's page also does not say whether the CA$5.00 cap includes the CA$0.40 fixed portion, so treat a large Canadian debit as an estimate.

Klarna, Affirm and the other buy-now-pay-later rails

Klarna and Afterpay publish no standalone merchant rate. Their own business pages send you to a sales application rather than a price list, which is why a search for "Klarna fees" turns up nothing you can put in a spreadsheet. The price exists inside the processors, and Stripe publishes one per method: for a US account, 5.99% plus $0.30 for Klarna and 6% plus $0.30 for Affirm or Cash App Afterpay. That is roughly twice what the same payment costs on a card, which is the trade Stripe is asking you to make for the conversion a pay-later button is supposed to buy.

On a $100 Klarna payment, the fee on $100.00 is $6.29 and you keep $93.71, an effective rate of 6.29%. The same $100 through Cash App Afterpay, the fee on $100.00 is $6.30 and you keep $93.70, an effective rate of 6.3%. And on a plain domestic card, the fee on $100.00 is $3.20 and you keep $96.80, an effective rate of 3.2%.

Three details change the number you will actually see. Stripe prices Klarna by the customer's market and this page uses the United States and Canada tier; the same page lists 2.99% + $0.45 for Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, 2.99% + $0.40 for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and 4.99% + $0.45 for the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom, all quoted in US dollars on the US page. Affirm has a second, Enhanced tier at 7.99% + $0.30 that is not priced here. And Stripe says some businesses qualify for a temporary rate of 2.9% + $0.30 on Klarna and Affirm for at least a month before standard pricing takes over, so a new account may see a card-priced pay-later line for a while.

On a larger basket the gap compounds: the percentage does all the work and the $0.30 stops mattering. On a $1,000 Klarna order, the fee on $1,000.00 is $60.20 and you keep $939.80, an effective rate of 6.02%. The same $1,000 on a card, the fee on $1,000.00 is $29.30 and you keep $970.70, an effective rate of 2.93%.

Every other payment method Stripe prices for a US account

Beyond cards, the bank rails and pay-later, Stripe publishes a rate for each local method it supports, and a US account can take any of them. They are worth knowing because several are far cheaper than a card, and two of them — iDEAL and the bank transfers — barely scale with the payment at all.

On a $1,000 iDEAL payment, the fee on $1,000.00 is $0.80 and you keep $999.20, an effective rate of 0.08%. On a $1,000 SEPA Direct Debit, the fee on $1,000.00 is $6.30 and you keep $993.70, an effective rate of 0.63%.

Three things to hold on to. The wallets are not on that list because Stripe does not price them separately: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Cash App Pay, Click to Pay, Alipay and WeChat Pay are all charged at the card rate, 2.9% plus $0.30, so pick Card payment in the calculator for any of them. Every line above also carries "+1.5% for international transactions" on Stripe's page, which is not modelled on a non-card rail, so treat a payment from abroad on one of these methods as at least the figure shown. And the caps on the three direct-debit rails are stated without saying whether they include the $0.30 fixed part, so the calculator caps the percentage only and a large debit is an estimate.

These 26 methods are priced for the United States alone. Stripe publishes the same page for its other markets in their own currencies, and this calculator will not offer a method to a British, European, Canadian, Singaporean or Emirati business until that market's page has been captured and quoted the same way.

What the optional products cost

Radar for Fraud Teams, Stripe Billing and Instant Payouts are priced per market and charged only if you use them. Basic fraud screening is included with Payments at no charge; the rates below are the paid, pay-as-you-go tiers, and each product also has a subscription or annual-contract alternative on Stripe's page.

They stack, in any combination, on whatever the payment itself cost. With Radar and Billing on a US card payment, the fee on $100.00 is $3.95 ($3.20 card payments (US domestic cards) plus $0.05 radar for Fraud Teams (pay-as-you-go) plus $0.70 Stripe Billing (pay-as-you-go)) and you keep $96.05, an effective rate of 3.95%. With an instant payout instead of the standard schedule, the fee on $100.00 is $4.70 ($3.20 card payments (US domestic cards) plus $1.50 Instant Payouts) and you keep $95.30, an effective rate of 4.7%.

Pricing so you keep a round number

Because Stripe takes a percentage plus a fixed amount, you cannot add 2.9% to the figure you want to keep: the fee is charged on the total the customer pays, including the part that covers the fee. To keep $100.00 you charge $103.30, and the fee is $3.30. The calculator's "I want to net" mode solves this for any amount, market and rail, finding the smallest charge whose net lands within a cent of your target.

What this guide leaves out

Australia is not in the calculator at all. Stripe has announced new Australian pricing that takes effect on 1 October 2026 and publishes no figure for the rate in force until then, so this page states the date instead of a rate rather than quote a number that is already superseded.

Beyond that, the schedule here covers the rates most businesses meet: card payments at home and from abroad, the bank rails, currency conversion, the three paid products above and, for a US account, the 26 alternative payment methods. It does not cover premium-card tiers, keyed-in card surcharges, the +1.5% international surcharge on a non-card method, Klarna's non-US market tiers, Affirm's Enhanced tier, ACH's two-day settlement rate, the per-method dispute, failed-payment, refund and wire charges, in-person payments through Terminal, Connect, Issuing, Tax, or any rate negotiated for a large account. All of those are on Stripe's pricing pages for your country.

One limitation is worth stating plainly. This schedule is recorded as medium confidence, because no independent official page restates Stripe's per-country rates: Stripe's own support article redirects to the US pricing page whichever country you ask for, so each market's figures rest on that market's pricing page alone. Every rule still carries the sentence it came from, saved as a dated snapshot.

When these rates were checked

The card and bank-rail schedule was verified on 4 September 2026; the United States payment methods were captured and verified on 5 September 2026. Every rule takes effect from the date it was verified. Later changes are recorded in the Stripe fee changelog with the date and the rule affected, and the whole schedule is re-checked at least every 60 days and whenever Stripe announces a change. If a figure here disagrees with what Stripe shows you, report it and it will be checked against the official page. The methodology explains how each rule is quoted and stored.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Stripe take from a $100 payment?

For a US business taking a domestic card, 2.9% plus $0.30, which is $3.20 on $100 and leaves $96.80. A card issued abroad adds 1.5%, taking the fee to $4.70. The same $100 taken by ACH Direct Debit costs $0.80.

Why is Stripe cheaper in the UK and the euro area?

Both markets are covered by interchange caps on consumer cards issued inside the European Economic Area, and Stripe passes that through as a 1.5% standard rate rather than the 2.9% it charges in the United States. The saving disappears as soon as the card comes from outside: a non-EEA card in either market is priced at 3.15% plus the fixed fee.

How much does Stripe charge for Klarna?

5.99% plus $0.30 on a US account, which is $6.29 on $100 and leaves you $93.71 — close to twice the $3.20 a domestic card costs. Klarna publishes no merchant rate of its own, so the processor's rate is the rate. Affirm's Standard tier and Cash App Afterpay are both 6% plus $0.30, Sunbit the same, Scalapay 5.99% plus $0.45, and Zip's "Pay in 4" with a customer fee is 4.5% plus $0.30.

Are Apple Pay and Google Pay charged separately?

No. Stripe prices Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Cash App Pay, Click to Pay, Alipay and WeChat Pay at the card rate — 2.9% plus $0.30 for a US account — so there is nothing extra to add and no separate rail to select. Choose Card payment for any of them.

Does Stripe charge a monthly fee?

Standard payment pricing is quoted per successful transaction, and this calculator has no recurring line to add to it. The three paid products it does model — Radar for Fraud Teams, Stripe Billing and Instant Payouts — are the pay-as-you-go tiers, which Stripe describes as having no recurring fees. Subscription and annual-contract alternatives to them exist on Stripe's page and are not priced here.

Can I calculate Australian fees here?

Not yet. Stripe has announced new Australian pricing effective 1 October 2026 and publishes no current figure for the rate that applies until then, so Australia is left out of the calculator rather than shown with a rate that is about to change.

Where do these numbers come from?

Each rate is quoted from Stripe's pricing page for that country — and, for the United States payment methods, from its payment-method pricing page — saved as a dated snapshot, and stored as a rule with the sentence it came from. Because no second official page restates the rates, the schedule is marked medium confidence and re-verified at least every 60 days. Compare it with the PayPal fee calculator or the Square fee calculator if you are choosing between processors, or read how PayPal's fees work for the same treatment of a card-plus-wallet schedule.