Stripe Invoice Guide: Pricing, Setup and Alternatives

Quick answer: A Stripe invoice is a bill you create in the Stripe Dashboard or API that the customer pays on a Stripe-hosted page by card, bank debit or other methods. Stripe Invoicing adds a fee per paid invoice (0.4% on Starter, 0.5% on Plus at the time of writing) on top of standard payment fees, such as 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards.

Stripe is one of the most capable payment platforms around, and its invoicing product is strong for businesses that bill at volume or need automation. For a freelancer sending a few invoices a month, though, you may get the same result by making a Stripe invoice alternative yourself: a PDF from our free invoice generator with a Stripe Payment Link on it. This guide explains both routes and what each costs.

What is a Stripe invoice?

Stripe Invoicing lets you create invoices from the Stripe Dashboard, from the mobile app, or through the API. Each invoice has a customer, line items, tax, a due date and a unique number. When you finalize it, Stripe can email it to the customer, and every invoice gets a hosted invoice page: a secure web page with the invoice details, a downloadable PDF and a pay button.

Stripe then tracks the invoice through its life cycle (draft, open, paid, void or uncollectible), can retry failed card payments, sends reminders, and reconciles bank transfers to the right invoice where that feature is available. Because Stripe is also the payment processor, the money and the invoice live in the same system.

Stripe Invoicing pricing in 2026

There are two layers of cost: the invoicing fee and the payment processing fee. Here is what Stripe's official pages showed when we checked in October 2026 (US pricing).

Cost	Rate	Notes
Invoicing Starter	0.4% per paid invoice	No monthly fee or setup fee
Invoicing Plus	0.5% per paid invoice	Adds features such as quotes
Invoicing Custom	Negotiated	For large invoice volumes, through sales
US domestic card payment	2.9% + 30¢	Standard Stripe Payments pricing
ACH Direct Debit (US)	0.8%, capped at $5.00	Slower to settle than cards
International card	+1.5%	Added to the base card rate
Currency conversion	+1%	When conversion is required

Prices come from Stripe's Invoicing pricing page and its main payments pricing page. Stripe updates pricing and offers custom rates to larger businesses, and fees differ outside the US, so check the page for your country.

Worked example: a $2,500 Stripe invoice

You invoice a US client $2,500.00 for a two-week development sprint using Stripe Invoicing Starter.

Client pays by	Invoicing fee (0.4%)	Payment fee	Total fees	You receive
US card	$10.00	2.9% of $2,500 = $72.50, + $0.30 = $72.80	$82.80	$2,417.20
ACH Direct Debit	$10.00	0.8% = $20.00, capped at $5.00	$15.00	$2,485.00

The invoicing fee is small next to card processing. What moves the total is the payment method, which is why it pays to encourage bank payments on larger invoices. Our guide to accepting credit card payments covers the trade-offs of card fees in more detail.

How the hosted invoice page works

The hosted invoice page is the part your customer sees. It shows your business name and branding, the invoice number, the line items and total, the due date and the payment options you have turned on. The customer can download a PDF copy and pay without creating an account.

A few practical points:

• Payment methods are opt-in. You choose which methods appear (cards, ACH, wallets and others depending on country). Turning on bank payments can lower your fees.
• Branding is limited. You can set a logo, colors and some text, but the layout is Stripe's. If a client needs a specific invoice format, you may still want your own PDF.
• The link stays live. Customers can return to the same page to see the status or download a receipt once paid.
• Automatic reminders and retries are available, and you can set them in your billing settings.

Setting up a Stripe invoice, step by step

1. Create and verify a Stripe account. You will need business details, a bank account for payouts and identity verification.
2. In the Dashboard, open Invoices and choose to create a new invoice.
3. Pick or create a customer with their email and billing details.
4. Add line items, either one-off items or saved products and prices.
5. Add tax. Stripe Tax can calculate it automatically for an additional fee, or you can add tax rates manually.
6. Set the payment terms, choose payment methods and add a memo or footer.
7. Finalize and send. Stripe emails the invoice and creates the hosted page.

Once sent, a finalized invoice can't be freely edited. To change it, you void it and issue a new one, or issue a credit note, which mirrors normal accounting practice. Our guide on how to correct an invoice explains why.

When a free invoice generator plus a payment link is enough

Stripe Payment Links are included in standard Stripe Payments pricing in the US: you pay processing fees when someone pays, but no invoicing percentage. That opens a lighter workflow:

1. Create a Payment Link in Stripe for the amount, or a reusable link where the customer enters an amount if your account supports it.
2. Build the invoice in our invoice generator with your own layout, tax details and terms.
3. Paste the Payment Link into the notes or payment section of the invoice, download the PDF and email it.
4. When Stripe shows the payment, mark the invoice paid in your own records.

This route suits you if:

• You send fewer than a couple of dozen invoices a month.
• Your clients want a specific invoice format, PO numbers or tax fields Stripe's layout doesn't show the way they want.
• You also accept bank transfer, PayPal or checks, and want one invoice format for everything.

Stripe Invoicing is the better choice when you need automatic reminders and card retries, subscriptions, customer portals, reconciliation of many payments, or an API that creates invoices from your app. The step-by-step guide to adding a payment link to an invoice shows exactly where to put the link and how to word it.

One caution: our generator does not process payments or email invoices for you. It creates the PDF in your browser; the payment happens through Stripe (or whichever processor you link), and you send the email yourself.

Stripe invoice problems people run into

Most issues with Stripe invoices come from setup rather than the product itself. These are the ones worth checking before you send your first invoice:

• Payouts held during verification. New Stripe accounts sometimes see payouts paused until identity or business details are confirmed. Finish verification before the first big invoice goes out.
• Tax shown incorrectly. If you add tax rates manually, make sure each line has the right rate and that the tax is labeled the way your jurisdiction expects. Our guide to sales tax on US invoices covers what to show.
• Wrong invoice numbers. Stripe generates its own number prefix per account. If you also invoice outside Stripe, decide whether Stripe's sequence or your own is the master, or you will end up with two overlapping series.
• Customers paying twice. A client who receives both a Stripe invoice email and a separate PDF with a payment link can pay both. Send one payment route per invoice, or tell the client clearly which link to use.
• Card fees eating into large invoices. On a $10,000 project, card processing alone is $290.30 at 2.9% + 30¢. Turn on ACH Direct Debit for big invoices; its fee is capped.

If you only want a receipt-style record after someone pays through a Payment Link, Stripe also offers post-payment invoices for Payment Links. At the time of writing that cost 0.4% of the transaction, capped at $2.00 per invoice, in the US.

Stripe vs PayPal vs Square for invoices

	Stripe Invoicing	PayPal invoicing	Square Invoices
Best for	Online businesses, SaaS, developers	Clients who already use PayPal	Local service businesses
Invoicing fee	0.4% to 0.5% per paid invoice	None beyond transaction fees	None on the free plan
US card rate	2.9% + 30¢	2.99% + $0.49 on invoices	3.3% + 30¢ on the free plan
API and automation	Very strong	Available	Available

All rates are US rates at the time of writing and can change. See our guides to sending a PayPal invoice and Square invoice fees for the details behind each column.

Next step

If you only need a few invoices a month, create one now in the invoice generator, add a Stripe Payment Link and your bank details, and send it. If you outgrow that, Stripe Invoicing will still be there, and your invoice numbering can carry straight over.