Stripe Fees 2026: Card, Invoicing and International Costs

Quick answer: Stripe fees in the US as of 2026 start at 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card payment. International cards add 1.5%, currency conversion adds 1%, and Stripe Invoicing adds 0.4% per paid invoice (Starter). ACH Direct Debit costs 0.8% capped at $5. Disputes cost $15, and Instant Payouts cost 1.5%.

Stripe fees are simple on the surface, but the real cost of a payment depends on how the client pays, where their card was issued and whether you send the bill through Stripe Invoicing. This guide breaks down every Stripe fee a small business or freelancer is likely to meet, shows a worked example with real arithmetic, and explains how to keep the total down. If you want to bill first and collect through Stripe afterwards, you can build the invoice in our free invoice generator and add your payment link.

Stripe Fees at a Glance (US, 2026)

The table lists Stripe's standard US pricing as published on its pricing page in October 2026. Stripe also offers custom pricing for large volumes, and other countries have different rates.

Fee	Standard US rate	When it applies
Domestic card payment	2.9% + 30¢	Every successful payment by a US-issued card
International card	+1.5%	Card issued outside the US
Currency conversion	+1%	Charge currency differs from your payout currency
Manually entered card	+0.5%	Card keyed in rather than entered by the customer
ACH Direct Debit	0.8%, capped at $5.00	Bank debit payments
Stripe Invoicing, Starter	0.4% per paid invoice	Invoices sent through Stripe Invoicing
Stripe Invoicing, Plus	0.5% per paid invoice	Plus plan, which includes quotes
Dispute received	$15.00	Each chargeback filed
Dispute countered	$15.00 (returned if you win)	When you respond to a dispute manually
Instant Payouts	1.5% of payout, 50¢ minimum	Optional faster payouts; standard payouts are free

Stripe can change these rates, so confirm them on the Stripe pricing page before you set your own prices.

Stripe Card Processing Fees Explained

The core Stripe fee is 2.9% of the payment plus a fixed 30 cents. The percentage scales with the payment size, while the 30 cents matters most on small transactions. On a $10 payment, the fixed fee alone is 3% of the total; on a $1,000 payment it is 0.03%.

There are no setup fees, monthly fees or minimums on standard pricing. You only pay when a payment succeeds. That is one of the reasons small businesses choose a payment processor like Stripe over a traditional merchant account; our guide to merchant accounts vs payment processors explains the trade-off.

Manual card entry

If you type a client's card number into your Dashboard instead of letting them pay through a checkout page or invoice, Stripe adds 0.5%. Sending a payment link or invoice avoids this and is safer, because you never handle the card number yourself.

Effective Stripe fee rates on small vs large payments

Because of the fixed 30 cents, the effective percentage you pay falls as payments get larger. ACH works the other way round on big invoices, because the $5 cap kicks in. The table uses Stripe's published US rates as of October 2026.

Payment amount	Domestic card fee	Effective card rate	ACH fee (0.8%, $5 cap)	Effective ACH rate
$10	$0.29 + $0.30 = $0.59	5.9%	$0.08	0.8%
$100	$2.90 + $0.30 = $3.20	3.2%	$0.80	0.8%
$1,000	$29.00 + $0.30 = $29.30	2.93%	$8.00, capped at $5.00	0.5%
$10,000	$290.00 + $0.30 = $290.30	2.90%	$80.00, capped at $5.00	0.05%

Two practical conclusions follow. If you sell low-priced items, the fixed fee is your biggest cost, so a minimum order value or bundled pricing helps. If you send large B2B invoices, steering clients to ACH can cut your processing cost to a fraction of a percent. On a $10,000 invoice the difference between card and ACH is $285.30, which is often more than a client would expect you to absorb. Many businesses accept cards for convenience on small invoices and list ACH as the preferred method above a set amount, such as $1,000, on their payment terms.

Stripe Invoicing Fee: What You Pay on Top

Stripe Invoicing is a separate product for sending invoices with a hosted payment page, reminders and automatic reconciliation. Stripe's invoicing pricing page lists two plans:

• Starter: 0.4% per paid invoice.
• Plus: 0.5% per paid invoice, including quotes.

Stripe states that Invoicing "has no fixed fees or setup costs, but Stripe Payments pricing will apply." In other words, the invoicing fee stacks on top of the card or ACH fee. You only pay it when the invoice is paid. See Stripe's invoicing pricing for current plan details, and our Stripe invoicing guide for the setup steps.

An alternative many freelancers use is to create the invoice elsewhere and include a Stripe Payment Link. You pay the normal payment fee but not the Invoicing percentage, although you lose Stripe's automatic invoice tracking.

Stripe International Card Fee and Currency Conversion

Selling to clients abroad is where Stripe fees climb. A US Stripe account pays an extra 1.5% when the card was issued outside the US, and another 1% if the charge needs converting to your payout currency. Stacked together, an international card with conversion costs 2.9% + 1.5% + 1% = 5.4% plus 30 cents.

Two ways to reduce this:

• Invoice in your own currency. If you bill a UK client in US dollars, the conversion usually happens on the client's side, so you avoid Stripe's 1% conversion fee, although the 1.5% international card fee still applies.
• Offer a bank transfer option. For larger cross-border invoices, an international bank transfer or a multi-currency account can be cheaper. Our guide to cross-border payment fees compares the options, and our post on how long a wire transfer takes covers the timing.

Worked Example: Stripe Fees on a $2,500 Invoice

A US web developer sends a $2,500 invoice through Stripe Invoicing on the Starter plan. Here is what the client's payment method does to the cost, using Stripe's published October 2026 rates.

Scenario	Payment fee	Invoicing fee (0.4%)	Total fee	You receive
US card	($2,500 × 2.9%) + $0.30 = $72.50 + $0.30 = $72.80	$10.00	$82.80	$2,417.20
Foreign card, billed in USD	$72.80 + ($2,500 × 1.5%) = $72.80 + $37.50 = $110.30	$10.00	$120.30	$2,379.70
Foreign card, needs conversion	$110.30 + ($2,500 × 1%) = $110.30 + $25.00 = $135.30	$10.00	$145.30	$2,354.70
ACH Direct Debit	$2,500 × 0.8% = $20.00, capped at $5.00	$10.00	$15.00	$2,485.00

Two lessons stand out. First, on a domestic invoice of this size, ACH saves $67.80 compared with a card. Second, an international card with conversion costs almost $63 more than a domestic card on the same invoice. If the developer then chose an Instant Payout of the ACH proceeds, Stripe's 1.5% fee would add $2,485 × 1.5% = $37.275, rounded to $37.28, which wipes out more than half of the ACH saving. Standard payouts are free.

Other Stripe Fees to Know

Disputes and chargebacks

Stripe charges $15 when a dispute is received, and another $15 if you counter it manually. The countered fee is returned for won disputes only. The best defence is a paper trail: an invoice that names the deliverables, a signed scope, and proof of delivery. Our statement of work template helps you define the work up front.

Payouts

Standard payouts to your bank account are free and follow Stripe's payout schedule. Instant Payouts cost 1.5% of the payout with a 50-cent minimum in the US. Treat Instant Payouts as an emergency tool rather than a habit.

Refunds

Stripe's pricing page does not promise to return the original processing fee when you refund a payment, so plan as if a refund costs you the fee you already paid. For partial adjustments, a credit on the next invoice is often cheaper; see our credit note guide.

How to Reduce Your Stripe Fees: 7 Steps

1. Turn on ACH for large invoices. With a $5 cap, ACH costs the same on a $700 invoice as on a $70,000 one. Our guide on how to accept ACH payments covers the setup.
2. Bill international clients in your currency where your contract allows, to avoid the 1% conversion fee.
3. Use payment links instead of keying cards to avoid the 0.5% manual entry surcharge.
4. Decide whether you need Stripe Invoicing. If you already create invoices elsewhere, a Payment Link can avoid the 0.4% invoicing fee.
5. Use deposits and milestones. Splitting work into milestone payments does not cut percentage fees, but it reduces the risk of a large disputed charge.
6. Avoid Instant Payouts by keeping a small cash buffer instead.
7. Price fees in transparently. If you want to add a card surcharge, check the credit card surcharge rules first, or offer a small discount for paying by bank instead.

Stripe Fees vs PayPal and Square

For standard US card payments, Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ sits below PayPal Checkout's 3.49% + 49¢ and close to PayPal's 2.99% + 49¢ rate for cards on invoices, according to each company's published US pricing as of 2026. PayPal's advantage is that many buyers already hold PayPal accounts. Our full comparisons, Stripe vs PayPal and Stripe vs Square, go deeper. If you are weighing personal payment apps, compare PayPal goods and services vs friends and family and our breakdown of Venmo business fees.

Recording Stripe Fees in Your Books

Stripe deposits the net amount, not the invoice total. To keep your books accurate, record the full invoice amount as income and the Stripe fee as a separate expense (often categorised as merchant or bank fees). That way your revenue matches your invoices, and the fee is a deductible business cost. Matching each payout to the invoices it contains is called cash application; our guide to bank reconciliation shows how to do it monthly.

Using the US card scenario from the worked example above, the entries look like this:

• Invoice issued: accounts receivable $2,500, sales income $2,500.
• Payment received in Stripe: Stripe clearing balance $2,417.20, Stripe fees expense $82.80, accounts receivable cleared by $2,500.
• Payout to bank: bank account $2,417.20, Stripe clearing balance reduced by $2,417.20.

Check: $2,417.20 + $82.80 = $2,500, so the invoice is fully settled and the fee is visible as its own cost line. When a payout covers several invoices, list each invoice and its fee in the payout report before you post it, so a single deposit never hides a short payment.

Create a Stripe-Ready Invoice

Stripe fees are predictable once you know the layers: 2.9% + 30¢ for domestic cards, extra for international cards and conversion, 0.4% for Stripe Invoicing, and a capped 0.8% for ACH. Give clients a low-cost bank option for large bills and keep cards for convenience. Build a clear, numbered invoice in our free invoice generator, pick a clean design from our modern invoice template, and add your Stripe payment link so clients can pay in one click. No sign-up is needed, and your PDF invoice is ready to send in a few minutes.