Stripe is one of the most popular ways for businesses to accept card payments online — but its pricing can feel opaque the first time you see a payout that's smaller than the sale. Here's a plain-English breakdown of how Stripe fees work and how much you actually keep.
Stripe's standard processing fee
For standard online card payments in the United States, Stripe's published rate is typically 2.9% + 30¢ per successful charge. The exact number varies by country, card type and payment method — for example, international cards or currency conversion can add a little, and some methods are priced differently — so always check Stripe's pricing page for your region. But the "2.9% + 30¢" figure is a good mental model for most online card sales.
What you actually keep
Let's run a simple example on a $100.00 card payment at 2.9% + 30¢:
- Sale amount: $100.00
- Stripe fee: 2.9% ($2.90) + $0.30 = $3.20
- You receive: $96.80
That $96.80 lands in your Stripe balance and pays out to your bank on your payout schedule (often a couple of business days). The percentage part scales with the sale; the flat 30¢ matters more on small payments, which is why very low-value transactions feel proportionally more expensive.
Other Stripe costs to know about
- Payouts to your bank are usually included on standard accounts, though instant payouts carry a fee.
- Disputes and chargebacks can incur a fee if a customer disputes a charge.
- Currency conversion adds a small percentage when you sell in a currency other than your account's.
None of these apply to every business, but it's worth knowing they exist so a deduction never surprises you.
Where platform fees fit in
If you use a tool built on top of Stripe — an invoicing app, a subscription tool, a marketplace — it may add its own platform fee on top of Stripe's processing fee. That's normal: the platform is doing work Stripe doesn't, like branded invoices, subscriptions, deposits, reporting and a no-code interface.
CrexiPay, for example, charges a flat 2% per transaction in addition to Stripe's standard fees. On that same $100 payment, CrexiPay's fee is $2.00, and you see the exact fee and your net before you send anything. In exchange you get everything Stripe doesn't hand you out of the box — branded invoices, subscriptions, deposits, refunds, fraud tools and multi-account reporting — with no developer and no monthly bill.
The bottom line
For most online card sales, budget for roughly 2.9% + 30¢ to Stripe, plus any platform fee if you use a tool on top. Run the numbers on a typical sale once, and Stripe's pricing stops feeling mysterious — you'll know exactly what hits your bank before you ever send an invoice.