What is a Stripe Fee Calculator?
A Stripe fee calculator is a tool that helps businesses and merchants calculate the exact processing fees charged by Stripe for different payment methods. Whether you're accepting credit cards, debit cards, or ACH payments, understanding your transaction costs is crucial for accurate pricing and profitability analysis. Our calculator handles both scenarios: calculating your net payout from a customer charge amount, or determining how much to charge a customer to receive your desired net amount.
Understanding Stripe Fees
Stripe charges processing fees based on the payment method used. For US businesses, domestic credit and debit cards are charged 2.9% + $0.30 per successful transaction. International cards cost 3.9% + $0.30, while American Express cards are 3.5% + $0.30. ACH Direct Debit, a popular option for recurring payments, has a lower fee of just 0.8% with no fixed fee (capped at $5 per transaction).
These fees are automatically deducted from each transaction, so understanding the exact costs helps you set appropriate pricing, calculate profit margins, and decide whether to absorb fees or pass them on to customers.
How to Use This Stripe Calculator
Our Stripe fee calculator offers two calculation modes. If you know what you want to charge customers (gross amount), select "I know the customer charge amount" mode and enter the price. The calculator will show you the Stripe fees and your net payout. If you know what you need to receive after fees (net amount), select "I know what I want to receive" mode, and the calculator will tell you how much to charge the customer to receive your target amount.
Simply choose your payment method (domestic card, international card, Amex, or ACH), select your calculation mode, enter the amount, and instantly see your fee breakdown with customer charge, Stripe fees, and net payout amounts.
Why Calculate Stripe Fees?
- •Accurate Pricing: Ensure your product prices cover costs and maintain profit margins
- •Financial Planning: Predict exact transaction costs for budgeting and forecasting
- •Payment Method Optimization: Compare costs between cards and ACH to encourage cheaper options
- •Fee Pass-Through: Calculate surcharges if you choose to pass fees to customers (where legal)
- •Revenue Reconciliation: Match Stripe payouts to expected amounts
Stripe Fee Structure Explained
Stripe's fee structure consists of two components: a percentage fee and a fixed fee. The percentage fee is calculated as a portion of the transaction amount, while the fixed fee is a flat rate added to every transaction regardless of size. For example, with domestic cards at 2.9% + $0.30, a $100 charge incurs a $2.90 percentage fee plus $0.30 fixed fee, totaling $3.20 in fees with a $96.80 net payout.
The effective rate (total fee as a percentage of the transaction) varies by transaction size. Smaller transactions have a higher effective rate due to the fixed fee component, while larger transactions approach the stated percentage rate. For instance, a $10 charge has an effective rate of 3.2%, while a $1000 charge has an effective rate of 2.93%.
Payment Method Comparison
Different payment methods have different fee structures:
- •Domestic Cards (2.9% + $0.30): Standard rate for US-issued cards, best for most transactions
- •International Cards (3.9% + $0.30): Higher rate for cards issued outside the US
- •American Express (3.5% + $0.30): Mid-range rate for Amex cards
- •ACH Direct Debit (0.8%): Lowest cost option with no fixed fee, ideal for large or recurring payments
Tips for Minimizing Stripe Fees
- 1.Encourage ACH Payments: Offer incentives for customers to pay via ACH for significantly lower fees
- 2.Increase Average Transaction Size: Larger transactions have lower effective fee rates
- 3.Use Stripe Billing for Subscriptions: Recurring billing can reduce effective costs over time
- 4.Consider Volume Discounts: High-volume businesses may qualify for custom pricing
- 5.Optimize Pricing Strategy: Factor fees into product pricing rather than absorbing them
Free Stripe Fee Calculator Benefits
Our free Stripe calculator provides instant, accurate fee calculations for all Stripe payment methods. Unlike manual calculations which are prone to errors, our tool automatically applies the correct fee structure and shows you both the gross and net amounts in real-time. The calculator supports both forward calculations (from charge amount to net payout) and reverse calculations (from desired net to required charge amount).
Whether you're a small business owner, freelancer, SaaS company, or enterprise merchant using Stripe, our calculator helps you make informed pricing decisions and accurately forecast revenue. Start calculating your Stripe fees now to optimize your payment processing costs and improve your bottom line.