How it works
Stripe gives developers building blocks: Checkout (a hosted payment page), Elements (card and wallet fields you embed in your own page), Payment Links (no code), Billing for subscriptions and invoices, Connect for marketplaces that pay out to sellers, Radar for fraud screening and Tax for sales tax and VAT. A PaymentIntent object tracks each payment from creation to success, and webhooks report every change.
The API is built around developers: versioned endpoints, a full test mode with test cards, idempotency keys that make retries safe, and a log of every request in the dashboard. Standard US pricing is 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful card payment, with extra fees for international cards and currency conversion.
In India, Stripe has been invite-only since May 2024 and focuses on Indian businesses that sell abroad, so most businesses selling within India use a local gateway instead. It added UPI as a payment method in 2026, for customers paying in rupees.
Stripe pros and cons
Pros
- Clean, well-documented APIs and SDKs, with a complete test mode
- Subscriptions, invoices, marketplaces and tax tools in one account
- Accepts cards and many local payment methods around the world
- Card data goes straight to Stripe, which keeps your servers out of most PCI DSS scope
Cons
- New Indian businesses need an invitation to sign up
- Fees for international cards and currency conversion stack on the base rate
- The range of products takes time to learn
When to use Stripe
Pick it when
- Your company is based in the US, UK, EU or another country Stripe fully supports
- You sell software subscriptions to customers in many countries
- You run a marketplace that pays sellers through Connect
Skip it when
- You are an Indian business selling mainly in India, where sign-up is invite-only
- Customers mostly pay by UPI or netbanking, which Indian gateways cover more fully
Stripe pricing
Per transaction
US: 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful card payment, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% for currency conversion. India (invite only): about 2% on Indian cards and 3% on international cards.
Stripe pricing page (opens in a new tab)Approximate, checked September 2026.What the other tools cost
Stripe vs the alternatives
Related terms
More in Payments
Gateways