Best for — Payments & Billing APIs
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Medium
Who is Stripe best for?
Quick fit guide: Who is Stripe best for, who should avoid it, and what typically forces a switch.
Sources linked — see verification below.
Freshness & verification
Best use cases for Stripe
- Developer-focused teams building custom payment integrations
- SaaS businesses needing subscription billing automation
- Marketplaces and platforms requiring split payments (Connect)
- Businesses prioritizing developer experience and API quality
- Companies needing comprehensive fraud prevention
- Startups wanting to start free and scale gradually
Who should avoid Stripe?
- Primarily accepting international payments (1.5% surcharge)
- Heavy reliance on Buy Now Pay Later (5.99% is expensive)
- Need predictable flat monthly pricing instead of per-transaction
- Require extensive white-label customization
- Looking for lowest possible transaction fees (2.9% + 30¢ is mid-range)
- Want bundled payment terminals and hardware included
Upgrade triggers for Stripe
- Transaction volume exceeds $250K/month - IC+ pricing becomes available
- Multi-product adoption (Billing + Connect + Terminal) - bundle discounts offered
- Platform/marketplace model - directed to Connect custom pricing
- International expansion - single global rate negotiations possible
- Need for technical account management - enterprise support tier required
Sources & verification
Pricing and behavioral information comes from public documentation and structured research. When information is incomplete or volatile, we prefer to say so rather than guess.