You sold something for $847. Stripe takes its cut before the money hits your account. This calculator shows you the exact fee, your net payout, and — if you need to pass fees to your customer — the gross-up price to charge so you keep every dollar you intended.
✓Verified: Stripe official pricing page, May 2026
Calculate Your Stripe Fee
Stripe Fee
$0.00
You Receive
$0.00
Effective Rate
0.00%
Gross-Up Price
$0.00
Results based on Stripe standard published rates. Actual fees may vary for negotiated volume pricing. Always verify at stripe.com/pricing. Not financial advice.
Sources & Methodology
All fee rates sourced directly from Stripe's official pricing page. Standard US domestic rate of 2.9% + $0.30 verified from stripe.com/pricing. International card surcharge of 1.5% and currency conversion rate of 1% verified from Stripe documentation. ACH Direct Debit rate of 0.8% capped at $5 verified from Stripe's bank transfers pricing. Last verified May 2026.
✓Stripe official pricing — May 2026
How Stripe Fees Actually Work — What Your Dashboard Doesn't Show You
Most new Stripe users make the same mistake: they look at their Stripe dashboard balance and think that's their gross revenue. It isn't. Stripe deducts its fee from every transaction before depositing anything. The "Available balance" in your dashboard is already your net — after fees. You never see a separate monthly bill. The fee is gone before the money arrives.
For a standard US card transaction, the fee is 2.9% of the transaction amount plus a flat $0.30. On a $100 sale, Stripe takes $3.20. On a $500 sale, it takes $14.80. The flat $0.30 component is what makes small transactions disproportionately expensive — on a $5 sale, that $0.30 represents 6% by itself before the percentage even kicks in.
The Forward Fee Formula
Stripe Standard US Card Fee
Fee = Amount × 0.029 + $0.30Net = Amount − Fee
Amount = what the customer pays. Fee = what Stripe keeps. Net = what you receive.
The Gross-Up Formula — How to Charge So You Keep Exactly What You Intend
Freelancers and SaaS businesses often want to pass processing fees to clients so they receive a clean target amount. To figure out what to charge, you reverse the calculation. This is called a gross-up.
Stripe Gross-Up Formula (Reverse Calculation)
Gross = (Target Net + $0.30) ÷ (1 − 0.029)Gross = (Target Net + $0.30) ÷ 0.971
Target Net = the amount you want to receive after Stripe's cut.
You want to receive exactly $500.00 net.
Gross = ($500.00 + $0.30) / 0.971 = $500.30 / 0.971 = $515.24
You charge $515.24 → Stripe takes $15.24 → you receive $500.00
Common mistake: Many people just add 3% to their price, thinking that covers Stripe. It doesn't — because Stripe takes 3% of your higher gross price, not your original price. On a $500 target: adding 3% gives $515 but Stripe takes 3% of $515 = $14.93, leaving you $500.07. Close, but the correct gross-up gives you exactly $500.00 every time.
Fee Comparison by Transaction Size
Transaction Amount
Stripe Fee (US Card)
You Receive
Effective Rate
ACH Fee (if applicable)
$10.00
$0.59
$9.41
5.90%
$0.08
$25.00
$1.03
$23.97
4.10%
$0.20
$100.00
$3.20
$96.80
3.20%
$0.80
$500.00
$14.80
$485.20
2.96%
$4.00
$625.00
$18.43
$606.58
2.95%
$5.00 ← ACH cap
$1,000.00
$29.30
$970.70
2.93%
$5.00
$5,000.00
$145.30
$4,854.70
2.91%
$5.00
The ACH crossover point is $625. Above that, ACH's $5 cap makes it dramatically cheaper than card processing. On a $5,000 invoice, ACH saves $140.30 in a single transaction. Most B2B businesses leave significant money on the table by not offering ACH to US customers.
ACH settlement note: ACH Direct Debit takes 3–5 business days to settle versus 2 business days for cards. For invoices where timing is critical, factor in the extra wait. For recurring subscriptions above $200, the wait is almost always worth the savings.
Stripe Fees for Different Business Types — Real Scenarios
Freelancer Invoicing a Client $2,500
You invoice a client $2,500 and they pay by card. Stripe takes 2.9% + $0.30 = $72.80. You receive $2,427.20. If instead you send them a bank transfer request (ACH), Stripe charges 0.8% capped at $5 — you receive $2,495. The difference is $67.80 on a single invoice. Over 20 invoices per year that's $1,356 back in your pocket, just from switching payment method.
SaaS Business with 500 Monthly Subscribers at $29/Month
Monthly revenue: $14,500. Standard card fees at 2.9% + $0.30: each transaction costs $1.14, so 500 × $1.14 = $570/month in processing fees. Add Stripe Billing at 0.7%: $14,500 × 0.007 = $101.50/month. Total monthly Stripe cost: $671.50. Annual: $8,058. This is why SaaS businesses at scale contact Stripe's enterprise team — negotiating from 2.9% to 2.4% on that volume saves $870/year just on the percentage alone.
E-Commerce Store with 30% International Customers
Monthly revenue $50,000. Domestic 70%: $35,000 × (2.9% + $0.30 avg effective) ≈ $1,082. International 30%: $15,000 × 4.4% + $0.30 avg effective ≈ $697. Total monthly fees: $1,779. The international surcharge alone costs $340 per month. Encouraging international customers to pay in their local currency and using Stripe's local payment methods reduces this by accepting more domestic-priced transactions on their end.
What People Get Wrong: The $15 Chargeback Fee on Won Disputes
Stripe charges a flat $15 per disputed charge — win or lose. Most merchants assume winning a dispute means getting everything back. You get the transaction amount back if you win. The $15 fee stays with Stripe. At a typical 0.3% dispute rate on 500 monthly transactions, that's 1.5 disputes per month, or $22.50 in chargeback fees even in months where you win every single one. Over a year: $270 in fees purely from the dispute process, regardless of outcome.
Payment Type
Rate
Fee on $100
Fee on $1,000
Best For
US Domestic Card
2.9% + $0.30
$3.20
$29.30
Consumer purchases, small transactions
International Card
4.4% + $0.30
$4.70
$44.30
Global customers paying in USD
Intl + Conversion
5.4% + $0.30
$5.70
$54.30
Avoid if possible — price in USD
ACH Direct Debit
0.8%, cap $5
$0.80
$5.00
US B2B invoices above $600
Stripe Billing
+0.5-0.8% on top
+$0.50-0.80
+$5-8
Recurring subscriptions
The Stripe Billing stacking trap: Many SaaS founders don't realise Stripe Billing fees stack on top of card processing fees. A subscription charged at 2.9% + $0.30 plus Stripe Billing at 0.7% means the effective rate is 3.6% + $0.30. On a $30/month subscription, you're paying $1.38 per renewal versus $1.17 without Billing — a 17% fee increase. At 1,000 subscribers this difference is $210/month ($2,520/year).
2024 change most guides still get wrong: Stripe merged its Billing plan tiers in July 2024. Billing Starter (0.5%) and Billing Scale (0.8%) no longer exist. There is now one Billing plan at 0.7%. If you see a calculator or guide still showing the old two-tier split, the rates are outdated.
Stripe Terminal, Stripe Tax, and Radar — The Add-Ons Most Calculators Skip
If you accept in-person payments through Stripe Terminal, the rate drops to 2.7% + $0.05 per swipe — lower than online because card-present fraud risk is lower. On a $100 in-person sale you pay $2.75 versus $3.20 online. Stripe Tax, if you use it for automated sales tax collection, adds $0.50 per transaction where tax is calculated. At 1,000 monthly transactions in taxable jurisdictions, that is $500 per month — $6,000 per year — just for the calculation layer. And one fact that surprises merchants: Stripe determines whether a card is international by the card-issuing country, not the customer's billing address. A Canadian customer who enters a US billing address but pays with a card issued by a Canadian bank still triggers the 1.5% international surcharge.
Payment Type
Rate
Fee on $100
Notes
Online Card (standard)
2.9% + $0.30
$3.20
US domestic Visa/MC/Amex/Discover
Terminal (in-person)
2.7% + $0.05
$2.75
Lower fraud risk = lower rate
Manually keyed
3.4% + $0.30
$3.70
Highest risk = highest rate
ACH Direct Debit
0.8%, cap $5
$0.80
Cap hits at $625 transaction
Stripe Billing
+0.7%
+$0.70
Single plan since July 2024
Stripe Tax
$0.50/transaction
$0.50
Where tax must be calculated
Stripe Radar Teams
$0.02/screened
$0.02
Basic Radar included free
How to Reduce Stripe Fees — Five Methods That Actually Work
1. Switch B2B Invoices Over $625 to ACH
This single change is the highest-impact, zero-risk way to cut Stripe costs. Any US business-to-business payment above $625 is cheaper via ACH. The customer needs a US bank account. The settlement takes 3-5 days longer. Everything else — reliability, security, Stripe dashboard visibility — is identical. Build ACH into your invoice email as the default option and most B2B clients will use it.
2. Use the Gross-Up Formula for Client Billing
Instead of absorbing fees, build them into your invoice. The formula: charge (your desired net + $0.30) / 0.971. If you want to receive $2,000, charge $2,062.10. Stripe takes $62.10 and you receive exactly $2,000. Many freelancers add a line item called "payment processing" to make this transparent to clients.
3. Negotiate Volume Pricing Above $80,000/Month
Stripe doesn't advertise it, but custom pricing starts at around $80,000 in monthly processing. Typical negotiated rates land between 2.2% and 2.6% + $0.25. Come to the call with 3 months of processing data and a competitive quote from Square or Braintree. Stripe competes for this business. A 0.3% reduction on $200,000 annual volume saves $600 per year — enough to justify a 30-minute call.
4. Price in USD to Eliminate Currency Conversion Fees
The 1% currency conversion fee on top of the 1.5% international card surcharge adds up to 2.5% extra on international transactions. Pricing your product in USD and letting your international customers see the price in their currency at checkout — without actually collecting in a foreign currency — eliminates the conversion fee entirely.
5. Use Stripe Radar to Reduce Chargeback Volume
Basic Stripe Radar (fraud detection) is included free. Radar for Fraud Teams costs $0.02 per screened transaction — at 1,000 transactions per month that's $20/month. If it prevents even 2 chargebacks per month (saving $30 in dispute fees plus recovered revenue), it pays for itself. The ROI gets better as volume increases.
One thing almost no Stripe fee guide covers: Stripe does not refund the original processing fee when you issue a refund. If you charge $100, collect $96.80 after fees, then refund the full $100 — you're out of pocket $3.20. For businesses with moderate refund rates, this compounds. A 5% refund rate on $10,000 monthly volume = $500 in refunds = $14.60 in processing fees you absorb on top of the refunded amount itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
2.9% plus $0.30 per successful domestic US card transaction. On $100 you pay $3.20 and receive $96.80. International cards add 1.5% for a total of 4.4% + $0.30. ACH Direct Debit costs 0.8% capped at $5. There are no monthly fees, setup fees, or charges for failed payments on the standard plan.
To receive a specific net amount after fees: Gross = (Target Net + $0.30) / 0.971. To receive $500 net, charge $515.24 — Stripe takes $15.24 and you keep $500. The common mistake is just adding 3%, which slightly undershoots because Stripe takes 3% of the higher gross amount, not your original target.
ACH becomes cheaper than card processing at any transaction above approximately $175. At $625, ACH hits its $5 cap. On a $1,000 invoice, ACH costs $5 versus $29.30 for a card — saving $24.30. ACH only works for US bank accounts and takes 3-5 business days to settle.
For most standard Stripe accounts, all major card brands — Amex, Visa, Mastercard, Discover — process at the same 2.9% + $0.30. This differs from PayPal and some legacy processors that explicitly charge more for Amex. Some high-volume accounts with interchange-plus pricing may see slight Amex variation due to higher Amex interchange rates.
Stripe charges $15 per disputed charge regardless of outcome. Win the dispute and you get the transaction amount back, but Stripe keeps the $15 fee. At a 0.2% dispute rate on 500 monthly transactions, that's $15 per month in chargeback fees even when winning every dispute. Stripe Radar for Fraud Teams at $0.02 per transaction typically pays for itself by reducing dispute volume.
Stripe Billing adds 0.5% to 0.8% on top of standard card processing fees. A $30/month subscription processed at 2.9% + $0.30 plus 0.7% Billing = 3.6% + $0.30 = $1.38 per renewal. Across 500 subscribers that's $690/month in Stripe fees. Compare to processing without Billing: $585/month. Billing adds $105/month ($1,260/year) for the subscription management features.
For most US transactions, yes. Stripe: 2.9% + $0.30. PayPal Goods & Services: 3.49% + $0.49. On $100, Stripe costs $3.20 versus PayPal's $3.98 — a $0.78 saving. At $10,000 monthly volume the annual difference is $936. However, PayPal checkout conversion rates can be higher for consumer purchases because buyers trust the PayPal brand, which may offset the fee difference depending on your customer base.
No. When you issue a refund, Stripe returns the transaction amount to your customer but keeps the original processing fee. A $100 sale followed by a full refund means you net negative $3.20 on that transaction — Stripe's $3.20 fee is not returned. For businesses with significant refund rates, this is a real cost that rarely appears in fee comparison guides.
Three methods. First, use the gross-up formula: charge (target + $0.30) / 0.971. Second, add a "payment processing" line item to your invoice showing the fee separately. Third, build the fee into your price so the listed price already accounts for it. Note that some US states restrict explicit card surcharges, so check local law before adding visible surcharge line items to consumer transactions.
Yes, once you process over roughly $80,000 per month. Contact Stripe's sales team with 3 months of processing data. Typical negotiated rates: 2.2% to 2.6% + $0.25 to $0.30. Interchange-plus pricing is also available for high-volume merchants — you pay the actual card network interchange cost plus a fixed Stripe margin, which is often lower than the blended 2.9% for premium card types.
International card (no conversion): Fee = Amount × 0.044 + $0.30. International card with currency conversion: Fee = Amount × 0.054 + $0.30. On a $200 international card payment with currency conversion: Fee = $200 × 0.054 + $0.30 = $10.80 + $0.30 = $11.10. You receive $188.90 versus $194.50 on a domestic card — a $5.60 difference on a single $200 transaction.
US domestic card: $1,000 × 2.9% + $0.30 = $29.30. You receive $970.70. International card: $44.30 fee, you receive $955.70. ACH Direct Debit: $5.00 fee (hitting the cap), you receive $995.00. ACH saves $24.30 versus a card on a $1,000 transaction — which is why it is the preferred method for B2B invoicing at this scale.