How much does Stripe take from sellers?

Stripe's headline rate is 2.9% + $0.30, which is true in the same way "flights start at $49" is true: right up until you add a checked bag, a seat and the seatbelt. That number covers one scenario, a domestic card paid in your account's own currency through a normal checkout. Change any of those and Stripe adds a surcharge, and if more than one changes at once, the surcharges stack on the same payment.

Stripe takes 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment in the US, then adds 1.5% for an international card, 1% when the payment needs currency conversion, and 0.5% for a manually entered card. They stack, so a foreign card that also needs converting costs 5.4% + $0.30. Refunds don't return the fee, and a dispute costs $15.

Most freelancers find this out from a payout that's smaller than expected. A client pays with a card issued abroad, or the payment needs converting into your currency, and 2.9% is no longer the rate you paid. We re-read Stripe's pricing page for this post on October 30, 2026.

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How much does Stripe charge per transaction?

Stripe's US rate is 2.9% plus a $0.30 fixed fee on every successful card payment. That's the rate for a domestic card, in your account's currency, entered by the customer at checkout or saved in a wallet like Apple Pay.

Here's what that comes to at four payment sizes, next to a foreign card that also needs converting:

For a US freelancer paid by US clients online, that's usually the whole fee. There are no setup or monthly fees on Stripe's standard pricing. The rate only changes when the card, the currency or the way the card was entered changes. Everything here is Stripe's published US pricing. Other countries have their own base rate and fixed fee, so check the pricing page for yours.

The three surcharges that stack on top

Stripe's surcharges don't replace the base rate. They're added to it, and to each other.

• International cards: +1.5%. This depends on where the card was issued, not where the person paying is sitting. A card from a bank outside your Stripe account's country counts as international, even if its owner lives down the street from you.
• Currency conversion: +1%. Applies whenever Stripe converts the payment into your account's settlement currency. It's separate from the international-card fee, so it can apply to a domestic card if the customer pays in a different currency.
• Manually entered cards: +0.5%. Applies when you type a customer's card details in yourself, for example in your Stripe dashboard while they read the number out over the phone. Cards the customer enters at checkout don't count. Stripe charges more because there's less to verify the card against.

All three together come to 2.9% + 1.5% + 1% + 0.5% = 5.9%, plus the $0.30, roughly double the headline rate. It doesn't take an unusual client either: an overseas customer who pays in their own currency and reads you their card number over the phone hits all three.

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Why the fixed fee adds up on small charges

On a $500 invoice you'd never notice the $0.30. On a $5 payment it's 6% before the percentage fee is applied, so the total comes to about 8.9%. If you take lots of small payments, such as tips, add-ons or small digital products, count the fixed fee separately instead of folding it into one percentage.

Refunds, disputes and payouts

These are the Stripe costs that don't appear in the headline rate, and the ones you tend to look up after a bad week.

• Refunds keep the fee. Stripe doesn't charge you to issue a refund on a card payment, but the processing and currency conversion fees from the original payment aren't returned. Refund a $500 payment and you're $14.80 down: the customer gets $500 back, and you'd only received $485.20.
• Disputes cost $15, sometimes $30. When a customer disputes a payment with their card issuer, Stripe charges a $15.00 dispute fee, and in rare cases network fees as well. If you respond to the dispute yourself, there's a second $15.00 fee, which you get back if you win and lose if you don't. Both are on top of the disputed amount, which you lose if the customer wins.
• Standard payouts are free; instant payouts aren't. Stripe pays out to your bank on its standard schedule at no charge. Instant Payouts, which reach an eligible debit card or bank account within minutes, cost 1.5% of the amount, with a minimum of 50 cents.

Stripe's refund rule is the same as PayPal's: the fee stays with the processor. If refunds are a normal part of your work, say in your terms that refunds are paid minus processing fees, and agree it before the client pays.

How Stripe compares to PayPal and Upwork

Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 is close to PayPal's rates but not directly comparable. PayPal takes a flat 2.99% on a direct Goods & Services payment and adds a $0.49 fixed fee on most invoices and on checkout. Stripe adds its own invoicing fee, 0.4% per paid invoice on its Starter plan, if you bill through Stripe Invoicing rather than a payment link.

Upwork is a different kind of cost: a service fee of 0% to 15% taken from the freelancer's earnings on each contract, whatever the client paid with. It's a marketplace fee, not a payment processor, so it doesn't compete with Stripe at all.

Which is cheaper depends on the payment. A $50 payment and a $5,000 payment come out very differently once the fixed fees are counted, and on large invoices Stripe's ACH bank debit, 0.8% capped at $5, beats any card rate. We worked through every route in PayPal vs Stripe fees: which actually costs less?

How to keep more of what you receive

• Invoice in your own currency. If Stripe never has to convert anything, the 1% conversion fee never applies.
• Let customers enter their own card. Send a payment link or checkout page instead of taking card numbers by phone, and you avoid the 0.5% manual-entry fee.
• Budget for the realistic range. Plan on 2.9% at best and up to 5.9% for an international payment, not just the headline rate.
• Use ACH for large invoices. 0.8% capped at $5 costs $5 on a $5,000 invoice, against $145.30 by card. If you send the invoice through Stripe Invoicing, its 0.4% applies to either.
• Check each payment's fee breakdown. Your Stripe dashboard shows which surcharges applied, which tells you which clients or checkout flows cost you the most.

Our Stripe fee calculator works out what you'll receive on a payment, with whichever surcharges apply.

How we made this: researched and drafted with AI assistance, with any figures checked against their sources and the post reviewed by Hamza before publishing.

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