Stripe review UK and what Stripe fees cost a small business
Stripe charges 1.5% + 20p on a standard UK card online, with no monthly fee, so a shop taking £5,000 a month at a £40 average order pays £100.00 a month. That makes it one of the cheapest ways to take card payments online, but business cards cost 2.8% + 20p, and in person a flat-rate reader beats Stripe Terminal on small payments.
Prices checked 1 November 2026 on stripe.com/gb/pricing. Editorial review of published pricing, not aggregated user reviews.
Our verdict
For an online shop selling to consumers, Stripe is hard to beat on price: £100.00 a month on £5,000 is a 2.00% effective rate, and payment links, Apple Pay and Google Pay come at the same rate. Choose it if you sell online or through a website builder that plugs into Stripe.
Think twice if most of your takings are in person at small values, or if you invoice other businesses. Under £34.48 a payment, SumUp's 1.69% beats Stripe Terminal, and a book of business-card payments at 2.8% + 20p costs nearly double the consumer rate.
What is Stripe?
Stripe is a payment gateway and payment processor in one. It gives your website, app or invoice a checkout, takes the card details, and pays the money into your bank account, so you do not need a separate merchant account. Many small businesses first meet it inside other software, such as a website builder or booking tool that offers Stripe at checkout.
In the UK, Stripe for business means four products that matter to a small firm: online card payments, Payment Links (a checkout page you share by text or email), Invoicing, and Stripe Terminal for in-person payments. They all draw on the same account and the same price list.
Stripe fees UK, line by line
| Payment | Stripe UK fee |
|---|---|
| Standard UK cards (consumer Visa and Mastercard, Amex), online | 1.5% + 20p |
| Premium UK cards (business, corporate, commercial), online | 2.8% + 20p |
| European Economic Area cards | 2.5% + 20p |
| International cards | 3.15% + 20p |
| Currency conversion | +2% if currency conversion is required |
| In person, Stripe Terminal | 1.4% + 10p (2.9% + 10p non-EEA cards) |
| Payment Links | No extra charge: the card rate above |
| Invoicing (Starter) | 0.4% per paid invoice, on top of the card rate |
| Klarna | from 4.99% + 35p per successful transaction |
| Bacs Direct Debit | 1%, minimum 20p, capped at £4.00 |
| Dispute (chargeback) | £20.00 per dispute |
| Instant Payouts | 1% of Instant Payouts volume, minimum 40p |
| Monthly or setup fee | None on standard pricing |
Source: Stripe UK pricing page and Stripe's card-type definitions, checked 1 November 2026.
Two lines on that list catch people out. The first is the premium card rate: Stripe classes commercial, corporate or business cards issued by Visa, Mastercard and Cartes Bancaires as premium, so a firm whose customers pay on company cards pays 2.8% + 20p, not 1.5% + 20p. The second is refunds. No fee to issue a refund on card payments, but the original processing fee is not returned, so a refunded £40 order still costs you £0.80.
Stripe fees on a £5,000 a month online shop
Take an online shop selling £5,000 a month at an average order of £40, which is 125 orders. If every customer pays on a standard UK consumer card:
£5,000 × 1.5% = £75.00
125 orders × 20p = £25.00
Total: £100.00 a month, an effective rate of 2.00% (£1,200.00 a year)
Real shops are rarely all consumer cards. Here is the same £5,000 with 15 orders on business cards and 10 from customers outside Europe:
| Card type | Orders | Sales | Rate | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard UK cards | 100 | £4,000.00 | 1.5% + 20p | £80.00 |
| Premium UK (business) cards | 15 | £600.00 | 2.8% + 20p | £19.80 |
| International (non-EEA) cards | 10 | £400.00 | 3.15% + 20p | £14.60 |
| Total | 125 | £5,000.00 | 2.29% effective | £114.40 |
The mix adds £14.40 a month. That is the number to watch: Stripe is cheap when your customers are UK consumers, and noticeably less cheap when they are businesses or overseas. Payments Stripe has to convert from another currency cost a further 2%.
Stripe Terminal and Stripe card readers
Stripe Terminal is Stripe's in-person product. It is priced at 1.4% + 10p per successful charge, with +£0.10 per authorisation if you take contactless on your phone with Tap to Pay instead of a reader. One honest caveat: Stripe’s UK pricing page labels its in-person rate “EEA cards” and does not list UK-issued cards separately, so confirm the rate on UK cards with Stripe before you buy hardware.
| Stripe card reader | Price |
|---|---|
| BBPOS WisePad 3 | £49.00 ex VAT |
| Stripe Reader S700 | £229.00 ex VAT |
| Stripe Reader S710 | £229.00 ex VAT |
| Stripe Reader T600 | £249.00 ex VAT |
| Mobile data on cellular readers | £7.00 per reader per month for cellular data on enabled readers |
Is Stripe a good card machine? For a business that already runs its website or app on Stripe and has a developer, yes: one dashboard, one payout, one price list. For a café or salon looking for a terminal on the counter, Stripe Terminal is a building block rather than a finished product, and the readers have to be paired with POS software that supports them. Our card machine comparison covers the ready-to-use options.
SumUp vs Stripe for in-person payments
SumUp is the cheaper of the two at the counter on small payments: a £5,000 a month shop with a £20 average sale pays £84.50 a month with SumUp against £95.00 on Stripe Terminal. Stripe only pulls ahead once the average payment passes £34.48.
| In person | SumUp (pay as you go) | Stripe Terminal |
|---|---|---|
| Card rate | 1.69% | 1.4% + 10p |
| Monthly fee | None (no monthly fee on pay as you go) | None on standard pricing |
| Cheapest reader | Solo Lite, £25 ex VAT | BBPOS WisePad 3, £49.00 ex VAT |
| Standalone card machine | Solo, £79 ex VAT | Stripe Reader S700, £229.00 ex VAT |
| When the money arrives | next day by 7am into the free SumUp Business Account, weekends and bank holidays included; or 1 to 3 business days to your own bank account from the time SumUp sends the payout | Default settlement of 3 business days for UK accounts (first payout 7 calendar days); Instant Payouts cost 1% of Instant Payouts volume, minimum 40p |
SumUp: card readers and pricing pages checked 1 November 2026, payout timing from SumUp's help centre checked 1 November 2026. Stripe: pricing page checked 1 November 2026, payout timing from Stripe's payouts documentation checked 1 November 2026. Stripe labels its in-person rate "EEA cards". Reader prices exclude VAT.
The £5,000 a month shop at a £20 average sale (250 payments)
SumUp: £5,000 × 1.69% = £84.50
Stripe: £5,000 × 1.4% = £70.00, plus 250 × 10p = £25.00, total £95.00
SumUp saves £10.50 a month, £126.00 a year
Year one with the cheapest reader: SumUp £84.50 × 12 + £25.00 = £1,039.00; Stripe £95.00 × 12 + £49.00 = £1,189.00
Same shop at a £50 average (100 payments): Stripe £70.00 + £10.00 = £80.00 against SumUp £84.50, so Stripe saves £4.50 a month
The crossover is Stripe's fixed fee. The two cost the same at 10p ÷ (1.69% − 1.4%) = £34.48 a payment. Below that SumUp is cheaper; above it Stripe is, by pennies a sale.
SumUp Payments Plus at 0.99% plus £19/month would cost £68.50 on the same £5,000 if every card were a domestic consumer card. The 0.99% applies to domestic debit and credit cards; premium, international and Amex cards stay at 1.69%. For comparison, Dojo publishes a 1.2% blended rate for businesses under £100,000 a year, which on the same £5,000 is £60.00 before hardware (from £15/month). Dojo also lists other fees whose amounts it does not publish. See our SumUp profile and SumUp review for the full picture.
Verdict: a café, stall or salon taking cards over the counter with no developer should pick SumUp. It costs less below £34.48 a sale, the reader is cheaper, and the money is in a SumUp Business Account the next morning rather than on Stripe's 3 business days. Choose Stripe Terminal only if your website or till already runs on Stripe and your average sale is above £34.48.
SumUp vs Stripe online
Online it flips, and Stripe wins on any order over £20.00. SumUp charges 2.5% on online payments such as Payment Links and Bookings; Stripe charges 1.5% + 20p. They meet at 20p ÷ 1% = £20.00. On the house £5,000 a month at £40 orders, SumUp online costs £125.00 against Stripe's £100.00, so Stripe saves £25.00 a month, or £300.00 a year.
Stripe payment links and invoicing
Stripe Payment Links are included at no additional charge for businesses on standard payments pricing (you pay the normal card rate). A £40 link paid on a standard UK card costs £0.80. The only add-ons are a custom domain for the checkout page at US$10.00 per month (optional) and automatic receipts as invoices at 0.4% of the transaction total, capped at US$2.00 per invoice (optional). Our pay by link comparison sets Stripe's links against Square, SumUp and PayPal.
Stripe Invoicing is different: the Starter plan charges 0.4% per paid invoice on top of the card fee. A £500 invoice paid on a standard card costs £7.70 in card fees plus £2.00 for invoicing, £9.70 in all. If you only send a handful of invoices, a payment link in an email does the same job without the 0.4%.
Other Stripe charges worth knowing
- Payouts: Free on Stripe’s standard payout schedule; Instant Payouts cost 1% of Instant Payouts volume, minimum 40p.
- Fraud: AI fraud screening for card payments (Radar Lite) is included with Payments. Radar paid plans from £8.00 per month, or from £0.04 per screened transaction.
- Disputes: £20.00 per dispute received; countering one costs £20.00, refunded only if you win.
- Large volumes: Custom packages (IC+ pricing, discounted flat rates, volume-based discounts) for businesses with large payment volume; rates are not published.
Stripe alternatives UK
Online, the closest rival on price is Square at 1.4% + 25p on UK cards, which on the same £5,000 is £101.25. PayPal is dearer when customers pay with their PayPal balance, as our PayPal business fees guide shows. The full side-by-side, including Opayo, Adyen and Worldpay, is in our online payment gateways comparison.
If most of your money comes in over the counter, a card machine on a published rate will usually beat Stripe Terminal, and above a few thousand pounds a month a quoted rate can beat both. Send us a recent statement through our free statement review and we will show you what you are paying now, line by line.
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Frequently asked questions
Does Stripe charge a monthly fee in the UK?
No, not on standard pricing. Stripe lists no setup, monthly or hidden fees on standard pricing, so you pay only per successful payment: 1.5% + 20p on a standard UK card. Optional extras do carry monthly charges, such as Radar paid plans (from £8.00 per month, or from £0.04 per screened transaction) and cellular data on a Terminal reader at £7.00 per reader per month.
What counts as a premium UK card on Stripe?
Stripe treats commercial, corporate or business cards issued by Visa, Mastercard and Cartes Bancaires as premium, and charges them 2.8% + 20p instead of 1.5% + 20p. Standard covers consumer cards issued by Visa, Mastercard and Cartes Bancaires, plus all American Express, Discover, Diners Club, Maestro and UnionPay cards. If you sell to other businesses, this matters: every £1,000 paid on business cards costs £13.00 more than the same £1,000 on consumer cards.
Does Stripe have a card machine?
Yes. Stripe Terminal sells the BBPOS WisePad 3 for £49.00 ex VAT, and the Stripe Reader S700 and Stripe Reader S710 at £229.00 ex VAT each, with in-person payments at 1.4% + 10p. Terminal is built for businesses with a developer or a POS that already integrates Stripe; a high-street shop with no developer will usually find a ready-made card machine simpler to set up.
Does Stripe charge extra for Apple Pay?
No. Apple Pay, Google Pay and other digital wallets on UK-issued cards are charged at the same domestic card rate: 1.5% + 20p on a standard card.
How much does a Stripe chargeback cost?
£20.00 per dispute. If you counter it, a further £20.00, refunded only if you win. Appealing costs £20.00, not refunded even if you win, plus network fees. On a £40 order that is half the sale again, so fraud screening matters more than the headline rate for shops with high-risk products.
Is Stripe or SumUp cheaper?
Online, Stripe is cheaper on any order above £20.00: SumUp charges 2.5% flat, Stripe 1.5% + 20p, and the two meet at 20p divided by 1%. In person it flips: SumUp's 1.69% beats Stripe Terminal's 1.4% + 10p on any payment below £34.48.