See what Stripe actually takes. Enter your monthly volume and transaction count to get your total fees, your true effective rate, and what it adds up to over a year — so the number in your bank stops surprising you.
Total amount processed through Stripe each month.
Number of successful charges. Sets the fixed-fee drag.
Your per-charge rate. US online cards default to 2.9%.
The flat fee on every charge. Hurts most on small tickets.
Your effective rate at different average transaction values, holding your percentage and fixed fee fixed. The smaller the charge, the more the fixed fee hurts.
| Avg transaction | Fee per charge | Effective rate | Verdict |
|---|
standard rate per successful charge
extra for non-domestic cards and FX
card-present terminal rate
Everyone quotes Stripe as "2.9%", but almost nobody pays exactly that. The 30 cents on every charge is a flat tax that barely registers on a $200 invoice and quietly doubles your rate on a $10 one.
That's why two businesses on identical Stripe pricing can have very different effective rates. The one billing monthly micro-charges loses far more to the fixed fee than the one billing larger amounts less often. Fewer, bigger charges is the cleanest way to bring your real rate down.
Fees = volume × rate% + charges × fixed Example: $50,000 over 500 charges at 2.9% + $0.30:
Replacing twelve monthly charges with one annual charge swaps twelve 30-cent fees for one. On smaller plans that can shave real points off your effective rate, while also pulling a year of cash forward. Model the trade-off with the annual vs monthly calculator.
Payment processing fees are a cost of goods, not a rounding error. At a few percent of every dollar they sit right next to hosting and support in your gross margin. Track them there and a "small" fee becomes a line you can actually manage.
For standard online card payments in the US, Stripe charges 2.9% plus $0.30 per successful charge. The rate varies by country and method: UK and European cards are typically 1.5% + 20p for domestic cards, and in-person card payments are lower at around 2.7% + $0.05. International cards and currency conversion add roughly 1-2% on top. This tool defaults to the US online rate, but you can set the percentage and fixed fee to match your account.
The $0.30 fixed fee per transaction is the reason. On a $100 charge it's barely noticeable, but on a $10 charge that 30 cents is 3% on its own, pushing your effective rate close to 6%. The smaller your average transaction, the more the fixed fee dominates. The sensitivity table below shows exactly how the effective rate climbs as ticket size falls.
No. Stripe does not charge a processing fee when a card is declined, so a failed payment costs you nothing in fees — but it still costs you the revenue if the subscription lapses. That involuntary churn is usually the bigger leak. Our failed payment recovery calculator models how much of it you can win back with dunning.
Three levers move the needle. First, charge less often for more: annual billing replaces twelve $0.30 fixed fees with one, which can meaningfully cut your effective rate on smaller plans. Second, offer lower-cost payment methods like ACH or bank debits where they fit. Third, once you process serious volume, Stripe will negotiate custom pricing. The percentage fee is hard to dodge; the fixed-fee drag is where the easy wins are.
If you use Stripe Billing on its paid plan, it adds 0.7% on recurring charges on top of processing. Currency conversion and international cards add roughly 1-2%. Chargebacks carry a flat dispute fee. None of these are in the default calculation — add them to the percentage fee input if they apply to you, so your effective rate reflects reality rather than the headline number.
MRR is your gross recurring revenue, so the headline number doesn't change — but the cash that lands in your bank and your gross margin are both after fees. A business doing $50k MRR at a 3% effective rate is really keeping $48.5k. That gap is small per charge and large per year, which is why it belongs in your gross margin, not buried in a Stripe statement nobody reads.
To net an exact amount you have to gross up, because Stripe takes its cut off the top. The formula is: charge = (target net + fixed fee) divided by (1 minus the percentage rate). On the US 2.9% plus $0.30 rate, to land $100 in your account you charge $103.30 — Stripe takes $3.30 and you keep $100. To net $1,000 you charge $1,030.17. Note that surcharging customers for card fees is regulated or banned in some places, so check local rules before passing the cost on rather than absorbing it.
Take the charge, subtract the percentage and the fixed fee. A $100 US online card payment at 2.9% plus $0.30 costs $3.20, so $96.80 lands in your balance. A £100 UK domestic charge at 1.5% plus 20p costs £1.70, leaving £98.30. The fixed fee is what makes small charges sting: on a $10 sale that same 30 cents is 3% on its own, so your net is only about $9.41 — roughly a 5.9% effective rate, not 2.9%.
Usually yes, once the ticket is large. US ACH Direct Debit is 0.8% capped at $5 with no fixed fee, so the cap bites at $625 and everything above that is effectively flat. A $10,000 invoice costs $5 on ACH versus about $290 on a 2.9% plus $0.30 card. In the UK, Bacs Direct Debit is 1% (minimum 20p, capped at £4). The trade-off is speed and failure handling — bank debits settle slower and can fail days later — but for high-value, low-volume B2B billing they cut the percentage drag sharply.
Mowt reads your Stripe data and shows real, net recurring revenue — not the gross headline. MRR, churn and margin in one place, updated daily, so processing costs never hide again.
No credit card required · Connect Stripe in 1 click
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