Stripe has no single worldwide rate. Your fee depends first on the country your Stripe account is registered in, and then on where the customer’s card was issued and whether currency conversion is needed. Three layers stack, and missing one understates the fee.
The three layers
Layer 1 is the domestic base rate for your account country. Layer 2 is the international card surcharge when the card was issued outside your account country. Layer 3 is the currency conversion fee when the payment currency differs from your settlement currency. All three can apply to the same payment.
Standard domestic rates: US accounts 2.9% + $0.30; UK accounts 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards; EEA accounts 1.5% + 0.25 euros. These are standard pricing and can differ for negotiated or custom plans.
Worked examples
US domestic: $100 sale, US card, no conversion. Fee = $2.90 + $0.30 = $3.20. You keep $96.80. UK domestic: 100 pounds, UK card. Fee = 1.50 pounds + 0.20 pounds = 1.70 pounds. You keep 98.30 pounds. EEA domestic: 100 euros, EEA card. Fee = 1.50 euros + 0.25 euros = 1.75 euros. You keep 98.25 euros.
US international with conversion: $100 sale, European card, euros converted. Fee = 2.9% + 1.5% + 1.0% = 5.4%, plus $0.30, giving $5.70. You keep $94.30. UK non-EEA card: 100 pounds at 3.15% + 0.20 pounds = 3.35 pounds fee, keeping 96.65 pounds, plus 2% conversion if currency differs. The surcharges are where sellers get surprised.
Grossing up an invoice
To receive an exact net amount, use: charge = (target net + fixed fee) / (1 – total rate). To net $100 on a US domestic payment: (100 + 0.30) / (1 – 0.029) = 100.30 / 0.971 = $103.30. Check: fee = 103.30 x 0.029 + 0.30 = $3.30, leaving $100.00.
For an international payment, use the stacked rate in the same formula. Guessing the gross-up by adding the fee on the net figure always leaves you short, because the fee applies to the higher gross amount too.
What else to watch
Manually keyed-in cards add a surcharge in some regions (0.5% in the US). Digital wallets usually match the card rate. Subscriptions, invoicing, tax tools, and dispute handling can add their own fees. Refunds return the payment but the original processing fee is generally not returned. Rates change over time, so verify against Stripe’s pricing page for your account country before relying on any guide, including this one.
Stripe for subscriptions
Subscriptions add billing fees on top of transaction fees. Stripe’s billing tools charge an extra percentage on recurring revenue, and tax calculation tools add their own percentage where used. A subscription business must add these to the base rate before computing margins.
Failed payments add another cost: dunning, retries, and involuntary churn. A subscription with a 5% monthly failure rate loses far more than the retry fees suggest, because each failed payment risks a lost customer. Price subscriptions with the full stack, base rate plus billing plus tax tools plus expected failures, or the margin will disappoint.
Try it faster with the tool
You can follow every step above by hand, but the free Stripe Fee Calculator — US, UK & EEA Rates with International & Conversion Surcharges does the arithmetic for you. Enter your numbers and it gives the answer right away, so you can check your hand calculation or skip straight to the result.
Quick tips
- Your rate follows your account country, not your customer.
- International + conversion surcharges stack on top of the base rate.
- Gross up with (target + fixed fee) / (1 – rate).