Comparison · Updated September 13, 2026
Stripe vs Checkout.com
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.
VS
Overview
Stripe and Checkout.com are both online payment platforms with developer-grade APIs and global card acquiring, and the search pairing them is usually a growing merchant wondering whether it has outgrown Stripe. The two are sold in opposite ways. Stripe is self-serve: a US business signs up online, pays a published 2.9% plus 30 cents per domestic card transaction with no monthly fee or contract, and negotiates custom pricing only when volume justifies it. Checkout.com is sales-led: it publishes no rate at all, prices every merchant individually on a flat-rate or interchange-plus-plus basis, and counts more than 1,000 enterprise merchants, 63 of them processing over $1 billion a year. Stripe is far larger, handling $1.9 trillion in 2025 against Checkout.com's $300 billion, sells in-person payments and 125-plus payment methods, and settles US merchants on a published T+2 schedule. Checkout.com's case is direct acquiring licences across the US, UK, EEA, APAC and the Middle East for a merchant that already has volume to negotiate with. This comparison uses Stripe's US price list. Payment Review grades Stripe A and Checkout.com C+.
Key Takeaways
- ✓Stripe publishes its price - 2.9% plus 30 cents per domestic online card transaction, plus 1.5% on international cards and 1% for currency conversion; Checkout.com publishes no rate and quotes every merchant.
- ✓Stripe takes a signup online with the first payout in 7 to 14 days; Checkout.com is sales-led with no self-serve route and, by reviewers' account, an appetite for large accounts.
- ✓Stripe processed $1.9 trillion in 2025 to Checkout.com's $300 billion, though Checkout.com grew faster at 64% against Stripe's 34%.
- ✓Stripe sells in-person payments through Terminal at 2.7% plus 5 cents; Checkout.com has no in-person product.
- ✓Checkout.com's edge is regional: direct acquiring licences in the US, UK, EEA, APAC and MENAP with 57 domestic processing countries, which matters to a merchant with real volume in the Middle East or Asia-Pacific.
Stripe
Stripe suits nearly every business that is not already an enterprise: startups, SaaS companies, marketplaces, omnichannel retailers and any merchant that wants a published price, a signup form and in-person payments on the same account.
Checkout.com
Checkout.com suits an established merchant with the volume to negotiate interchange-plus-plus pricing, a finance team to run a sales process, and material sales in regions where its local acquiring licences reach - particularly the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
Overall Winner
🏆 Winner
Stripe
Aexpert grade
Runner-up
Checkout.com
Why?
Stripe wins, and for most merchants it is not close. It publishes its price, takes a signup online, settles on a documented schedule, sells in-person payments on the same account, supports more payment methods and processed six times Checkout.com's volume in 2025. Checkout.com beats it on exactly two rows a merchant can verify - free processing for registered charities and a marginally less bad Trustpilot score on a hundredth of the sample - and on one it cannot verify without a sales process, which is whether a negotiated interchange-plus-plus deal with regional acquiring in the Middle East or Asia-Pacific comes out cheaper than Stripe's negotiated rate for the same volume. That is a real question for a merchant processing hundreds of millions a year with sales in those regions, and Checkout.com's 64% growth and return to profitability say it is winning some of those conversations. For everyone below that threshold Checkout.com will not quote, and Stripe's A against Checkout.com's C+ reflects that.
Feature by feature
Detailed Comparison
Filter Options
Pricing and transparency
| Feature | Stripe | Checkout.com |
|---|---|---|
| Published online card rate (US) | 2.9% + 30¢ domestic; +1.5% international cards; +1% currency conversion; +0.5% keyed Winner | Not published; quoted per merchant on a flat-rate or interchange++ basis |
| Stripe's figures are its US pay-as-you-go price list. Checkout.com's pricing page describes two models - fully flat-rate 'based on your business profile and risk category' and 'simple interchange++ fees' - and offers a contact form rather than a number. | ||
| Setup and monthly fees | None on the standard plan | No setup or account maintenance fees |
| Both state this on their pricing pages. Stripe charges separately for add-ons such as Billing (0.7% pay-as-you-go), Radar (from 5 cents a screen) and Managed Payments (3.5%). | ||
| Custom or negotiated pricing | Custom pricing at volume, on request | Every account is negotiated |
| At the top of the market the two converge: a large Stripe merchant is also on a negotiated interchange-plus deal. The difference is that Stripe's published rate is the fallback for everyone else. | ||
| Dispute fees | $15 per dispute received, kept either way; a further $15 to counter, returned if you win Winner | Not disclosed |
| Stripe's US pricing page separates the received fee from the countered fee and states only the countered fee is returned for won disputes. Checkout.com's dispute fees are contractual. | ||
| Free processing for charities | Not offered as a published programme | Free for registered charities in the countries it operates in Winner |
| Checkout.com's pricing page states this outright. Stripe's US price list carries no charity or nonprofit rate. | ||
| Payment Review pricing-transparency score | 5 out of 5 Winner | 1 out of 5 |
Published online card rate (US)
Stripe
2.9% + 30¢ domestic; +1.5% international cards; +1% currency conversion; +0.5% keyed
Winner
Checkout.com
Not published; quoted per merchant on a flat-rate or interchange++ basis
Stripe's figures are its US pay-as-you-go price list. Checkout.com's pricing page describes two models - fully flat-rate 'based on your business profile and risk category' and 'simple interchange++ fees' - and offers a contact form rather than a number.
Setup and monthly fees
Stripe
None on the standard plan
Checkout.com
No setup or account maintenance fees
Both state this on their pricing pages. Stripe charges separately for add-ons such as Billing (0.7% pay-as-you-go), Radar (from 5 cents a screen) and Managed Payments (3.5%).
Custom or negotiated pricing
Stripe
Custom pricing at volume, on request
Checkout.com
Every account is negotiated
At the top of the market the two converge: a large Stripe merchant is also on a negotiated interchange-plus deal. The difference is that Stripe's published rate is the fallback for everyone else.
Dispute fees
Stripe
$15 per dispute received, kept either way; a further $15 to counter, returned if you win
Winner
Checkout.com
Not disclosed
Stripe's US pricing page separates the received fee from the countered fee and states only the countered fee is returned for won disputes. Checkout.com's dispute fees are contractual.
Free processing for charities
Stripe
Not offered as a published programme
Checkout.com
Free for registered charities in the countries it operates in
Winner
Checkout.com's pricing page states this outright. Stripe's US price list carries no charity or nonprofit rate.
Payment Review pricing-transparency score
Stripe
5 out of 5
Winner
Checkout.com
1 out of 5
Best For Your Business
Recommendations based on your business type
Startup or small online business
Recommended
Stripe
Stripe signs you up today at a published 2.9% plus 30 cents with no monthly fee or contract. Checkout.com has no self-serve route and, by reviewers' account, no interest below large volumes.
Enterprise merchant with heavy sales in the Middle East or Asia-Pacific
Recommended
Checkout.com
Checkout.com's direct acquiring licences in MENAP and APAC, 57 domestic processing countries and interchange-plus-plus pricing are built for this merchant. Get Stripe's enterprise quote for the same volume and compare authorisation rates on your own traffic before deciding.
Retailer selling in person as well as online
Recommended
Stripe
Stripe Terminal puts card-present payments at 2.7% plus 5 cents on the same account and reporting as online sales. Checkout.com has no in-person product, so it would mean a second provider for the till.
SaaS or subscription business
Recommended
Stripe
Stripe Billing, Invoicing and Tax sit on the same platform with published add-on pricing. Checkout.com processes recurring card payments but publishes no comparable billing, invoicing or tax suite.
Marketplace or software platform paying out to sellers
Recommended
Stripe
Stripe Connect is the deeper and better-documented multi-party product. Checkout.com does sell marketplace and payment-facilitator solutions, so a platform at enterprise volume should still ask for its proposal.
Merchant processing over $1 billion a year
Both. At this scale both are negotiated interchange-plus deals and Checkout.com's Billion Dollar Club is exactly this cohort. Run a competitive process, compare the effective rate and authorisation performance on your own traffic, and weigh Stripe's broader product range against Checkout.com's regional licences.
Stripe: Best for 4 use cases
Checkout.com: Best for 1 use case
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this comparison
It cannot be answered from published prices, because Checkout.com does not publish any. Stripe's US rate is 2.9% plus 30 cents per domestic online card transaction, plus 1.5% on international cards and 1% for currency conversion, with custom pricing at volume. Checkout.com quotes every merchant individually on a flat-rate or interchange-plus-plus basis. For a large merchant an interchange-plus-plus deal from either can undercut Stripe's flat rate; for a small one, Checkout.com will not quote at all.
In practice, rarely. Checkout.com has no self-serve signup, publishes no minimum volume, and its own customer base is described as more than 1,000 enterprise merchants. Reviewers report being declined below very high annual volumes, although that is an account of the sales process rather than a published rule. Stripe signs up businesses of any size online.
On standard terms they are level: Stripe settles US merchants on a T+2 business-day schedule, and Checkout.com documents T+2 for USD, GBP and EUR with T+3 or longer for other currencies, on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule set in the contract. Stripe adds Instant Payouts for eligible accounts at 1.5% and same-day manual payouts before 5pm Eastern; Checkout.com publishes no expedited option. New Stripe accounts wait 7 to 14 days for the first payout.
No. Checkout.com's products are online acceptance, its Flow checkout, payouts, card issuing, fraud and identity tools; there is no point-of-sale terminal or in-person rate. Stripe Terminal handles card-present payments at 2.7% plus 5 cents per transaction on the same account as online sales.
Neither scores well publicly - Stripe is 1.6 on Trustpilot from 17,482 reviews and Checkout.com 2.0 from 101 - and the complaints differ. Stripe's are about frozen accounts and automated support that is hard to escalate; Checkout.com's are about terminations and being declined. Checkout.com includes dedicated account management, and the G2 reviews cited in Payment Review's Checkout.com review are strongly positive from enterprise users, so support quality there tracks the size of your account. Payment Review scores Stripe 4 out of 5 on support and Checkout.com 2.
No. Stripe processed $1.9 trillion in 2025, up 34%, and serves more than 5 million businesses directly or through platforms. Checkout.com processed $300 billion, up 64%, across more than 1,000 enterprise merchants, and returned to full-year EBITDA profitability. Checkout.com is growing faster from a base about a sixth of the size.
Related Comparisons
Explore more payment processor matchups