Stripe
Industry-standard payment infrastructure for online businesses. Accept payments, manage subscriptions, and handle invoicing with a powerful API and pre-built UI components.
Best for developers building payment flows, SaaS billing, or marketplace payments who want a battle-tested API.
Use Cases
Free Tier
No monthly fees, no setup costs — pay only 2.9% + 30¢ per successful card charge
How to Maximize the Free Tier
Stripe charges nothing until you process a payment — start in test mode with sandbox API keys to build your full integration without spending a dime. Use Stripe Checkout (hosted payment page) to avoid PCI compliance headaches entirely. Watch out for the 30¢ fixed fee on small transactions — it eats into margins on low-price items, so consider raising minimum purchase amounts. Use Radar (included free) for fraud detection on every charge. If you hit issues, Stripe Atlas can help incorporate a business for $500 one-time.
Getting Started
Sign up at stripe.com → activate your account with basic business details → get your API keys from the dashboard → install the Stripe SDK (npm install stripe) → use Stripe Checkout or Payment Intents API to collect your first payment → test in sandbox mode before going live.
Pros
- Developer experience: Best-in-class API documentation, SDKs for every major language, and pre-built UI components (Stripe Elements) for fast integration
- No upfront costs: Zero monthly fees or setup costs — you only pay per transaction, making it ideal for early-stage projects
- Ecosystem: Massive ecosystem of integrations, webhooks, and third-party tools with mature fraud detection (Radar) built in
Cons
- Transaction fees: 2.9% + 30¢ per charge adds up quickly at scale — no volume discounts until you negotiate custom pricing
- Account holds: New accounts may experience payout delays or account freezes during manual reviews if volume spikes unexpectedly
- Support: Free tier gets only email support with no guaranteed response time — phone and chat require a paid support plan