Stripe Payments Review: Is It Right for Your Business?

Stripe Payments is a payment processing service offered by Stripe, a financial services and software company. It’s a particularly good option for businesses looking for a provider with top-notch security measures, since Stripe Payments offers robust fraud prevention software.

Plus, as a zero-contract provider, with in-person transaction fees starting at just 1.4% + £0.10, Stripe Payments is a flexible and affordable option. It also offers a host of solutions for taking payments online, making it one of the best online payment gateways on the market.

That said, Stripe’s hardware range lacks variety, with card machines with built-in printers or SIM cards absent from its kit, so it won’t suit all businesses focused on in-person sales.

If you’re unsure if Stripe Payments is right for you, just give our free quote tool a try. It allows you to get bespoke quotes from our trusted providers for you to compare. If you’d like to know more about Stripe Payments in the meantime, read about our findings below.

How Much Does Stripe Payments Cost?

Stripe Payments comes with no monthly account fees, and in-person transaction fees start at 1.4% + £0.10 for standard UK and EEA cards. Online transaction fees start at 1.5% + £0.20 for standard UK cards.

Here’s a quick summary of Stripe’s pricing and fees:

Stripe platform fees

Stripe is a zero-contract provider that charges no monthly account fees. It’s not the only payment processing provider to do this, with Square, SumUp and Zettle all being popular monthly fee-free options.

Nevertheless, this makes Stripe a good option for merchants who require flexibility and want to minimize monthly overheads.

Stripe hardware costs

Stripe sells three card machines outright, so you won’t pay any monthly rental fees. They are:

• The £49 + VAT BBPOS WisePad 3
• The £179 + VAT BBPOS WisePOS E
• The £279 + VAT Stripe Reader S700

At £49 + VAT, Stripe’s cheapest card reader is still on the expensive side, with competitors Square, Zettle and SumUp all offering cheaper readers, priced at £19 + VAT, £29 + VAT, and £34 + VAT respectively.

For an overview of prices, see our guide to PDQ card machine costs.

Stripe transaction fees

For in-person payments, Stripe charges fixed-rate transaction fees of:

• 1.4% + £0.10 for EEA cards
• 2.9% + £0.10 for non-European cards

For online payments, including those made via payment links, Stripe charges:

• 1.5% + £0.20 for standard UK cards
• 1.9% + £0.20 for premium UK cards (commercial or Amex)
• 2.5% + £0.20 for EEA cards
• 3.25% + £0.20 for international cards

When it comes to standard in-person transaction fees, Stripe charges lower fees than most other fixed-rate providers, including Square and Zettle, which both charge 1.75%, and SumUp, which charges 1.69%. Only Revolut charges lower fees, of 0.8% + £0.20.

Stripe’s fees for online payments are also quite low when it comes to UK and EEA cards. At 1.5% + £0.20, Stripe’s online UK card fee is similar to Square’s 1.4% + £0.25, and much lower than the 2.5% charged by most competitors, including Zettle. That said, Stripe’s fees for non-EEA international cards are very high, at 3.25% + £0.20, compared with Square’s 2.5% + £0.25.

Stripe hidden fees

Stripe has a few hidden fees, which it does advertise on its website, but you might not have considered:

• + £0.10 on transactions made using Stripe’s tap to pay on mobile app (this isn’t something competitors charge)
• Extra 2% on transactions that require currency conversion (a standard rate)
• 1% transaction fee for bank transfers (many competitors, including SumUp, don’t charge fees for this)
• 1% of payout volume for instant payouts (optional charge)
• £20 for chargebacks (only charged if you lose the dispute)

Are Stripe’s Card Machines Any Good?

Stripe sells three card machines: the BBPOS WisePad 3, the BBPOS WisePOS E, and the Stripe Reader S700.

Only one, the Stripe Reader S700, is a Stripe-owned design, but all the readers integrate with Stripe’s payment processing software and app, Stripe Terminal.

BBPOS WisePad 3: Compact portable card reader

Price: £49 + VAT

At £49 + VAT, the BBPOS WisePad 3 is Stripe’s cheapest card machine. It’s a compact card reader with a PIN pad, chip reader and small screen.

The BBPOS WisePad 3 is not a standalone card machine and needs to be connected via Bluetooth to the Stripe Terminal app on your mobile phone. The Stripe Terminal app itself allows users to manage all payments made via Stripe from a unified dashboard and can be integrated into third-party EPOS systems.

Overall, the BBPOS WisePad 3 is a decent option for businesses looking for a simple card machine that can integrate with their existing EPOS system. That said, Zettle and SumUp both offer cheaper card machines that can do the same, and cost £29 + VAT and £34 + VAT respectively.

BBPOS WisePOS E: Standalone reader with touchscreen

Price: £179 + VAT

The £179 + VAT BBPOS Wise POS E is a standalone card machine with a touchscreen. It operates via Wi-Fi or ethernet and has an offline mode, and can accept chip and PIN and contactless payments.

Unlike the BBPOS WisePad 3, you can download the Stripe Terminal app directly onto the BBPOS WisePOS E. Add to this the card machine’s slim profile, and it’s a good option for handheld use.

Additionally, like all Stripe card machines, the BBPOS WisePOS E can integrate with third-party EPOS systems.

That said, given that it has no built-in receipt printer and no built-in SIM card for 4G connectivity, at £179 + VAT, the WisePOS E is an expensive option for a touchscreen card machine. Competitor Zettle offers a similar card machine for just £149 + VAT, while Square offers a version with a built-in printer for £149 (but, it only connects to Square’s native EPOS software).

Stripe Reader S700: Handheld EPOS device

Price: £279 + VAT

The £279 + VAT Stripe Reader S700 is similar to the BBPOS WisePOS E in that it’s a standalone touchscreen card machine with Wi-Fi and ethernet connectivity. The main difference between the two is that the Stripe Reader S700 is slightly slimmer than the WisePOS E and is Stripe’s native design, while the WisePOS is designed by a third party.

Like all Stripe card machines, it also works with third-party EPOS software.

At £279 + VAT, the Stripe Reader S700 is one of the most expensive card machines on the market and, given that it’s missing a built-in printer, barcode scanner or 4G connectivity (all features offered for less money with competitor card machines), it’s not the best value for money.

For example, SumUp offers a new card machine for £169 + VAT, with a built-in printer, 4G connectivity and EPOS capabilities.

What Software Features Does Stripe Payments Offer?

Stripe Payments has an impressive list of software features. It accepts a variety of payment types, has solutions to facilitate a variety of online payments and integrates with a wide range of third-party systems.

Here’s a more detailed review:

Stripe payment options

Stripe accepts all major credit and debit cards, including Visa, Maestro, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, JCB, Union Pay and Diners Club. This wide variety of accepted card types, including ones popular internationally, makes Stripe a good option for businesses with a varied clientele.

On top of this, payments made via Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay are also accepted on all Stripe payment gateways.

Stripe payout timeframe

Stripe offers payouts in up to three days as standard, including on the weekend. However, for an additional fee of 1% of the payout volume, businesses can also get access to instant payouts.

When compared with competitors, Stripe’s payout time is quite standard. However, you can get faster payouts during the working week at no extra cost with takepayments and Tyl by NatWest (next business day), and Worldpay and Square (one business day).

Stripe online payment options

Stripe offers businesses an online payment gateway that can integrate with most existing ecommerce platforms and online shopping carts with open API. Businesses get access to a customisable checkout page that can accept a wide variety of payment types, including buy now, pay later schemes and digital wallets.

Using the payment gateway doesn’t come with any monthly fees, although you can optionally pay $10 USD per month (approximately £7.33) for a checkout page that has a custom domain. This means you choose what appears in the URL and can remove “stripe” from it.

If you don’t have a website but still want to accept payments online, you can do so with Stripe Payment Links. This software operates the same way as the online payment gateway.

It comes with no monthly fees and customers are taken to a secure and customisable checkout page. You can share payment links with customers via any platform with a messaging function.

Overall, Stripe offers excellent tools for businesses taking payments online, especially because its standard transaction fee of 1.5% + £0.20 for online transactions is lower than the average 2.5% most competitors charge.

That said, competitors such as Square and SumUp go a step further than Stripe by offering not only an online payment gateway but an ecommerce website builder. This could be a good option for small businesses looking to consolidate software under one provider.

Stripe Invoicing

Stripe Invoicing is one of the provider’s greatest assets. This service comes in two plans, Starter and Plus, which cost 0.4% and 0.5% per paid invoice respectively. This makes Stripe considerably cheaper on this front than Square and Zettle, both of which charge 2.5% per paid invoice.

Starter offers an easy and convenient platform to send across slick, customised invoices to your customers. The Plus system also does this, but it also allows you to automate this process and send personalised quotes.

Stripe EPOS integrations

Another Stripe strong suit is the fact that its card machines integrate with hundreds of third-party EPOS systems. These include popular providers such as Lightspeed and Shopify.

This makes Stripe a great option for businesses with an existing EPOS system who don’t want to switch, but want to access Stripe’s low fixed-rate transaction fees.

However, Stripe doesn’t offer any native EPOS software, so businesses looking to simplify their software set-up might prefer providers that offer both payment processing and free EPOS systems, such as Square, SumUp or Shopify.

Stripe Payments reporting

The Stripe Payments platform offers decent reporting tools, with businesses able to access sales history and filter reports by card and item type.

However, you won’t be able to see reports on discounts or employee sales, as you would with competitors such as Square and SumUp, which offer fully fledged EPOS systems.

Stripe Payments security

Stripe has some of the strongest security measures of any payment processing provider we’ve researched. Not only is it PCI compliant and ISO 27001 certified, but it has advanced proprietary fraud prevention software.

Stripe’s Radar for Fraud Teams fraud prevention software is built directly into the payment flow, and uses a customisable rules engine and machine learning algorithms to detect unusual patterns across payments.

It’s not the only provider to offer advanced anti-fraud software, with Worldpay offering a similar software called FraudSight, but Stripe offers better monitoring than competitors such as Square and SumUp.

Does Stripe Payments Have Good Customer Support?

Stripe offers great customer support, with 24/7 live support available through phone, email and live chat. This makes Stripe better than SumUp or Square, which only offer weekday support.

Like Square and SumUp, Stripe offers a well-stocked knowledge base for DIY troubleshooting. You can also get access to advanced support with Stripe, but quotes are only available on request.

How Does Stripe Payments Compare With Its Competitors?

We’ve compared Stripe with its close competitors throughout this review, so here’s a quick summary table to help you compare:

For more competitors, see our market-wide merchant account comparison.

How We Reviewed Stripe