Stripe fee calculator
Stripe's US rate is 2.9% plus 30 cents online and 2.7% plus 5 cents in person, but almost nobody pays only that. The add-ons are where the real number comes from: half a percent for a manually keyed card, one and a half percent for a card issued outside the US, and another one percent when a currency has to be converted. This Stripe Fee Calculator stacks them the way Stripe does.
Domestic cards, the standard rate most accounts pay.
Stripe takes
$3.20
You keep $96.80 of a $100.00 payment.
Rates checked against Stripe’s published US schedule on 1 September 2026.
Worked example
A $75 online payment on a US-issued card, standard Stripe pricing
2.9% of $75 is $2.18, plus the 30 cent fixed fee, so Stripe takes $2.48 and you net $72.52. That is an effective rate of 3.30% on this one payment, well above the headline 2.9%, because the fixed fee is a bigger share of a small ticket.
How Stripe's fee is actually calculated
Stripe prices per successful transaction. The formula is the same one every card processor uses: a percentage of the amount, plus a flat fee per transaction. On US online card payments that is 2.9% plus $0.30. Take a $100 payment and Stripe keeps $3.20.
The part that surprises people is the flat fee. It does not scale, so it dominates small tickets. On a $5 payment, 2.9% is 15 cents but the fixed fee is 30 cents, which makes the true cost 9% of the sale. On a $500 payment the same fixed fee is a rounding error. If your average ticket is under about $15, the fixed fee is the single biggest thing driving your rate, and no amount of negotiating the percentage will fix it.
In person is cheaper and structured differently. Stripe Terminal is 2.7% plus 5 cents, so the fixed component is six times smaller. That is why a business that takes both online and card-present payments should never model itself on one blended number.
The three add-ons that make your rate higher than 2.9%
Manually keyed cards add 0.5%. If you type a card number in yourself, over the phone or from a written order, Stripe treats it as higher risk and charges accordingly. Saved cards charged later are not keyed and do not attract this.
Cards issued outside the US add 1.5%. This is about where the card was issued, not where your customer is sitting or what currency they paid in. A US business selling to a traveller with a UK card pays this.
Currency conversion adds 1%. This stacks on top of the international add-on when the payment also has to be converted, so a converted foreign card costs 2.9% plus 1.5% plus 1%, which is 5.4% plus 30 cents. That is the number people mean when they say Stripe's international pricing surprised them.
Where Stripe stops being the cheap option
Stripe's flat rate is genuinely competitive for online businesses under roughly $10,000 a month, because there is no monthly fee, no contract and no minimum. The trade is that the rate never improves on its own.
Two things change the maths. First, volume: once you are consistently above five figures a month, interchange-plus pricing usually beats a flat 2.9% because you stop paying a fixed markup on debit cards, which cost the processor far less than rewards credit cards. Second, ticket size: on large B2B invoices, ACH at 0.8% capped at $5.00 costs a fraction of a card payment. A $4,000 invoice is $116.30 on a card and $5.00 by ACH.
Disputes are the other cost line worth planning for. Stripe charges $15.00 for every dispute you receive, win or lose, and you also lose the original amount and the processing fee if you lose.
Stripe US published rates
| Fee | Rate |
|---|---|
| Online cards and wallets | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| In person (Terminal) | 2.7% + $0.05 |
| Manually entered cardson top of the online rate | +0.5% |
| Cards issued outside the US | +1.5% |
| Currency conversion | +1% |
| Instant bank payments | 2.6% + $0.30 |
| ACH Direct Debit | 0.8%, capped at $5.00 |
| Dispute received fee | $15.00 |
| Instant payouts | 1.5%, minimum $0.50 |
Assumptions and limits
- Rates are Stripe's published US standard pricing, read from stripe.com/pricing on 1 September 2026.
- Custom or negotiated pricing, available to larger accounts, is not modelled.
- Refunds return the payment amount to the customer but Stripe does not return the original processing fee.
- This is an estimate from the figures you entered, not a quote. Your processor statement is the authority on what you actually pay.
Rate card checked 1 September 2026. Source: stripe.com/pricing.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does Stripe charge per transaction?
- 2.9% plus 30 cents for online payments on US-issued cards, and 2.7% plus 5 cents for card-present payments through Stripe Terminal. Manually keyed cards add 0.5%, cards issued outside the US add 1.5%, and currency conversion adds a further 1%.
- Does Stripe have a monthly fee?
- No. Standard Stripe pricing has no monthly fee, no setup fee and no minimum. You pay per successful transaction. Some add-on products such as Billing or Tax are priced separately.
- Why is my Stripe effective rate higher than 2.9%?
- Almost always the 30 cent fixed fee, the keyed and international add-ons, or dispute fees. The fixed fee alone pushes a $10 payment to 5.9%. Enter your real average ticket above and the calculator shows the effective rate rather than the headline one.
- Is Stripe cheaper than PayPal?
- On a standard US card payment, yes. Stripe is 2.9% plus 30 cents against PayPal Checkout at 3.49% plus 49 cents. On a $50 sale that is $1.75 against $2.24. PayPal's cheaper channels, such as QR code at 2.29% plus 9 cents, can beat Stripe in person.
- Does Stripe refund fees on a refunded payment?
- No. When you refund a payment the customer gets the full amount back but Stripe keeps the original processing fee, so a refunded sale costs you the fee twice over in margin terms.
Go deeper
Other calculators
Paying more than you expected?
Tell us your volume and we will shortlist processors that price differently at your size.
Looking for something else? See free payment tools and calculators.