Stripe vs Authorize.net
Last updated: September 2, 2026
Stripe
A
Stripe is a leading payment processor known for its developer-friendly API, transparent pricing, and comprehensive suite of payment solutions for businesses of all sizes.
Authorize.net
A-
Authorize.Net is a mature, Visa-owned payment gateway that offers robust, developer-friendly payment tools, strong fraud controls, and wide platform integrations. Pricing and merchant-account terms that vary depending on whether you use Authorize.Net’s all-in-one plan or attach your own processor.
VS
Overview
These are not the same kind of product, and the choice between them is structural before it is financial. Stripe is an all-in-one: gateway, processing and merchant account in a single relationship, at 2.9% + 30c with no monthly fee. Authorize.net is a gateway, owned by Visa and running since 1996, that you normally point at a merchant account you hold with a bank or ISO — $25 a month plus 10c a transaction and a 10c daily batch fee, with your acquirer's rate on top. It also sells an all-in-one plan at the same 2.9% + 30c as Stripe, but with the $25 monthly fee still attached, which makes it the more expensive way to buy the same thing. The reason to choose it anyway is that your merchant account, and the underwriting risk that comes with it, sits with your bank rather than with the processor.
Key Takeaways
- ✓Same headline rate, different bill: both charge 2.9% + 30c all-in, but Authorize.net adds $25 a month and Stripe adds nothing.
- ✓Authorize.net's real use is gateway-only at $25/month + 10c per transaction + 10c daily batch, with your own acquirer's rate underneath.
- ✓Stripe underwrites you itself, so it can hold funds or close your account; with Authorize.net that risk sits with your acquiring bank.
- ✓Only Stripe has a published card-present business — 2.7% + 5c on Terminal, with readers from $59.
- ✓Neither locks you in: Stripe has no contract on standard pricing, and Authorize.net charges no setup or early termination fee on the gateway.
Stripe
Stripe is for businesses starting from nothing — no merchant account, no bank relationship — and for anyone building payments into software, selling in person as well as online, or wanting subscriptions, tax and fraud from the same vendor.
Authorize.net
Authorize.net is for established businesses that already hold a merchant account, or want one, and would rather own the acquirer relationship, negotiate the processing rate separately, and keep their funds with a bank that underwrote them.
The Verdict
It Depends on Your Needs
Why?
The fork is whether you have, or want, your own merchant account. If you do not, Stripe wins outright: it charges the identical 2.9% + 30c without Authorize.net's $25 a month, it takes cards in person at 2.7% + 5c on hardware it sells you, and it carries subscriptions, tax, fraud and marketplace payouts on the same account. Paying $25 a month for Authorize.net's all-in-one plan is paying more for less. But if you already hold a merchant account, or you want one, the arithmetic inverts: gateway-only at $25 a month plus 10c a transaction, with a negotiated interchange-plus rate underneath, beats 2.9% for any business of size — and the underwriting risk sits with a bank that signed a contract with you rather than with a platform that can close the account on its own judgement. That last point is not a pricing question, and for established businesses it is usually the deciding one.
Feature by feature
Detailed Comparison
Filter Options
What it costs
| Feature | Stripe | Authorize.net |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 — no setup, monthly or hidden fees Winner | $25 on every plan, including the all-in-one |
| All-in-one card rate | 2.9% + 30c online, no monthly fee Winner | 2.9% + 30c plus the $25 monthly gateway fee |
| Identical percentages. On the all-in-one plan Authorize.net is simply Stripe's price plus $300 a year, which is why the gateway-only plan is the one worth considering. | ||
| Gateway-only cost | Not offered — Stripe is the processor | $25/month + 10c per transaction + 10c daily batch fee Winner |
| This is the configuration Authorize.net exists for: you bring a merchant account and pay your acquirer's rate, and Authorize.net charges only for moving the transaction. At high volume a negotiated interchange-plus rate underneath can beat 2.9% comfortably. | ||
| ACH / eCheck | 0.8%, capped at $5.00 | 0.75% on the Gateway + eCheck plan Winner |
| Authorize.net's eCheck is US-only and carries a $10 monthly minimum. Stripe's cap makes it cheaper on large individual transfers. | ||
| Setup and early termination | None on standard pay-as-you-go | No setup fees and no early termination on the gateway |
| Both are clean. The caveat on the Authorize.net side is that the separate merchant account contract is written by your ISO or bank, not by Authorize.net, and can carry its own term and exit fee. | ||
| Chargeback cost | $15 received, plus $15 to respond — refunded only if you win | Not published for cards; $25 for eCheck chargebacks |
| Card chargeback fees on Authorize.net come from your acquirer, so the number depends on who sold you the merchant account. | ||
Monthly fee
Stripe
$0 — no setup, monthly or hidden fees
Winner
Authorize.net
$25 on every plan, including the all-in-one
All-in-one card rate
Stripe
2.9% + 30c online, no monthly fee
Winner
Authorize.net
2.9% + 30c plus the $25 monthly gateway fee
Identical percentages. On the all-in-one plan Authorize.net is simply Stripe's price plus $300 a year, which is why the gateway-only plan is the one worth considering.
Gateway-only cost
Stripe
Not offered — Stripe is the processor
Authorize.net
$25/month + 10c per transaction + 10c daily batch fee
Winner
This is the configuration Authorize.net exists for: you bring a merchant account and pay your acquirer's rate, and Authorize.net charges only for moving the transaction. At high volume a negotiated interchange-plus rate underneath can beat 2.9% comfortably.
ACH / eCheck
Stripe
0.8%, capped at $5.00
Authorize.net
0.75% on the Gateway + eCheck plan
Winner
Authorize.net's eCheck is US-only and carries a $10 monthly minimum. Stripe's cap makes it cheaper on large individual transfers.
Setup and early termination
Stripe
None on standard pay-as-you-go
Authorize.net
No setup fees and no early termination on the gateway
Both are clean. The caveat on the Authorize.net side is that the separate merchant account contract is written by your ISO or bank, not by Authorize.net, and can carry its own term and exit fee.
Chargeback cost
Stripe
$15 received, plus $15 to respond — refunded only if you win
Authorize.net
Not published for cards; $25 for eCheck chargebacks
Card chargeback fees on Authorize.net come from your acquirer, so the number depends on who sold you the merchant account.
Best For Your Business
Recommendations based on your business type
New online business with no bank or merchant account relationship
Recommended
Stripe
Stripe gets you taking payments the same day at 2.9% + 30c with nothing monthly. Authorize.net's all-in-one is the same rate with $25 a month attached, and its gateway-only plan needs a merchant account you do not yet have.
Established business already holding a merchant account
Recommended
Authorize.net
This is exactly the case the gateway-only plan is priced for: $25 a month plus 10c a transaction and a 10c daily batch, on top of whatever rate you already negotiated. Switching to Stripe would mean giving up that negotiated rate for a flat 2.9%.
Software platform embedding payments for its own users
Recommended
Stripe
Stripe Connect handles seller onboarding, verification, split payments and payouts as a product. Authorize.net's gateway serves one merchant account and has no equivalent.
Retailer or restaurant selling in person as well as online
Recommended
Stripe
Stripe Terminal publishes 2.7% + 5c and sells readers from $59 on the same account as the online business. Authorize.net supports in-person through a separate merchant account and terminal, with no published card-present rate.
Business that has been shut down or frozen by an aggregator before
Recommended
Authorize.net
The gateway model puts your merchant account with a bank that underwrote you specifically. That does not make a freeze impossible, but it moves the decision from a platform's automated risk system to a counterparty with a signed contract and a relationship to lose.
High-volume merchant optimising cost per transaction
Recommended
Authorize.net
Flat 2.9% + 30c stops making sense well before enterprise scale. Authorize.net's gateway fees are fixed at $25 plus 10c and 10c, so a negotiated interchange-plus rate underneath captures the whole saving. Stripe will negotiate too, but only at 'large payments volume'.
Stripe: Best for 3 use cases
Authorize.net: Best for 3 use cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this comparison
Primarily a gateway. It moves the transaction between your website and whichever merchant account you hold, and charges $25 a month plus 10c per transaction and a 10c daily batch fee for doing so. It also sells an all-in-one plan that bundles processing at 2.9% + 30c, but the $25 monthly fee still applies. Stripe, by contrast, is the gateway and the processor and the account, in one.
It depends entirely on whether you have a merchant account. Compared like for like on the all-in-one plans, Stripe is cheaper by exactly $25 a month, because the rates are the same 2.9% + 30c. But gateway-only Authorize.net costs $25 a month plus 10c a transaction and a 10c daily batch, and if the acquirer underneath gives you interchange-plus, the total will beat 2.9% for any business doing real volume.
Not on the gateway — it states no setup fees and no early termination across all three plans. The thing to read is the separate merchant account agreement, which is written by the bank or ISO that sold it to you and can carry a multi-year term and its own exit fee. Stripe has no contract at all on standard pay-as-you-go pricing.
Because of who holds the account. On Stripe you are on Stripe's merchant account and Stripe underwrites you, which is what makes account holds and closures a real risk for unusual or fast-growing businesses. With Authorize.net your merchant account is with a bank that underwrote you specifically, and the gateway never touches your funds. For an established business, $300 a year is cheap insurance against that.
Yes, but not as a packaged product. It supports card-present transactions through a compatible merchant account and terminal, and publishes no card-present rate — that comes from your acquirer. Stripe publishes 2.7% + 5c on Terminal and sells the readers itself, from $59 for the M2 to $329 for the T600.
Not much day to day. Visa has owned it since acquiring CyberSource, and it means the gateway is unlikely to disappear or be starved of investment. It does not get you better Visa interchange, because interchange is set by the card network and paid to the issuing bank regardless of which gateway carries the transaction.
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