Does Stripe Charge a Monthly Fee?
Stripe's own pricing page says no monthly fee on its standard plan. Here is what a month of Stripe billing holds instead, and how other processors' pages differ.
A shop owner checking Stripe's pricing page for the first time often looks for one line and cannot find it. The line is the monthly fee. Stripe's pricing page says Stripe does not charge setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees like closure fees. That answer is direct, but it does not mean a month of Stripe is free. The costs sit elsewhere, and this page shows where.
Does Stripe charge a monthly fee?
No. Stripe's pricing page says its standard plan has no setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees. The same page says standard pricing is pay-as-you-go. Stripe's pricing page says all fees for businesses on standard pricing are listed on its website.
This is the answer to the question most searchers type. It is also where careful reading starts, because a bill with no monthly line can still grow every month.
What Stripe charges instead of a monthly fee
Stripe's pricing page says Stripe charges a per-transaction fee depending on the payment method the end customer uses. The standard online rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards. Manually entered cards add 0.5% to that online card rate. International cards add 1.5%. Currency conversion adds 1%. In-person card payments cost 2.7% + 5¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards.
None of that recurs on a calendar. It recurs on sales. A quiet month costs little on the standard plan. A busy month costs more, which is the trade a pay-as-you-go model makes: you pay when you earn.
Where recurring costs do show up on a Stripe bill
Some Stripe charges do repeat, just not as a flat account fee. Stripe's pricing page says its Starter invoicing plan charges 0.4% per paid invoice. A shop that bills by invoice pays that on each one. The page also says basic usage-based billing tools stay open through Stripe's Meters API as part of Billing pricing.
Two services sit outside the standard bundle. Stripe's pricing page says Stripe Radar for Fraud Teams and Stripe Connect with platform-controlled pricing are priced separately. If your business uses either one, those lines appear on your bill on their own terms.
Refunds have their own rules. Stripe's pricing page says businesses on standard pricing may face fees for refunds when bank transfers are used. Stripe's pricing page says that for all other payment methods there are no fees for issuing refunds. Either way, Stripe keeps the fees from the first sale. That covers payment processing, Connect and currency conversion. The money you paid Stripe on the sale stays with Stripe when you give the money back.
How Stripe's monthly cost picture compares with other processors' own pages
Other companies structure their pricing differently, and their own pages state how. Authorize.net's pricing page says it charges a $25 monthly fee for all plans. Authorize.net's page says the All-in-One plan is $25 per month plus 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. Its Gateway Only plan is $25 per month plus 10 cents per transaction and a 10 cent daily batch fee. Authorize.net's page says it charges no setup fees and no early termination fees.
PayPal's business fees page lists a monthly fee of 25.00 USD for Payflow Pro and no monthly fee for Payflow Link. Its optional services have their own monthly prices. PayPal's business fees page says its Recurring Billing Service costs 10.00 USD monthly for both Payflow Pro and Payflow Link. The Account Monitoring Service has a 29.95 USD set up fee and 19.95 USD per month.
Square's pricing page says with Square Free there are no monthly subscription costs, and you only pay processing fees when you take a payment. Its plans differ, and the monthly fee per location is $0, $49 or $149, and Square Plus and Square Premium charge it per location.
Shopify's pricing page says the Basic plan is $29 a month and card rates start at 2.9% + 30¢ USD. Shopify's pricing page says the Grow plan is $89 a month and card rates start at 2.7% + 30¢ USD. Shopify's pricing page says the Advanced plan is $359 a month and card rates start at 2.5% + 30¢ USD. Shopify's page says there are no setup fees on any of its plans.
Each page states its own numbers, and your own sales volume decides which structure costs you less.
When a Stripe bill stops being simple: custom pricing and volume
Stripe's pricing page says Stripe offers custom pricing for businesses with large processing volumes, and eligibility varies by market. Custom packages are for businesses with large payments volume. They also serve businesses with unique business models. Stripe's sales team can design a custom package with Payments, Radar, Connect, Invoicing, Billing and more. These packages can include IC+ pricing, discounted flat rates, subscriptions, and buy-rates for platforms. Stripe also offers volume-based discounts based on volume tiers, commitments, and product usage.
At that level, the question stops being whether a monthly fee exists. Stripe's pricing page says businesses on custom pricing may face fees for issuing refunds depending on their fee schedule with Stripe. Square's pricing page says businesses that process over $250,000 per year can talk to its team about custom pricing and processing fees. The custom route exists on that side too.
What this means for a small business budgeting by the month
A fixed monthly fee is easy to budget. You know the number in January and it holds in July. Stripe's standard plan works the other way. Your monthly cost moves with what you sell and which payment methods your customers use. To estimate it, take a typical month's card sales. Then apply the rates above to your own mix of online, in-person and manual payments.
Expect one more line. Stripe's pricing page says Stripe is required to charge tax on certain products and services. The tax is based on your location or your business or tax status.
Prices on every processor's page move over time, so read Stripe's pricing page on the day you sign and check the others before you compare. For more detail on Stripe's per-transaction costs, see Stripe payment fees, and for the charges that sit beyond the headline rate, see Stripe charge fees. If you bill on a recurring basis, Stripe subscription fees covers the billing side. Stripe refund fees covers what happens when a sale comes back. To compare Stripe with another company's monthly fees, see Square vs Stripe for small business or credit card processing with no monthly fees.