When a customer swipes or types in a card on your store, booking page, or invoice, the amount they see is rarely the amount that lands in your bank account. Stripe takes a small cut on every successful charge, and that cut quietly changes your margins — especially on small tickets, where the fixed per-charge fee weighs more heavily than the percentage. This Stripe fee calculator tells you, in one step, exactly how much Stripe charges and what you actually keep.
Enter a sale amount, toggle whether the card was issued outside the United States, and the result card instantly breaks the fee into its percentage and fixed parts and shows your net deposit. No sign-up, no spreadsheet, no waiting.
How to Use
- Type the Sale Amount — the gross price your customer pays, before any processing fee. For a $100 order, enter
100. - Pick a Payment Type. "Online card" is the default (2.9% + $0.30). Switch to "In-person / card present" for a Stripe Terminal swipe (2.7% + $0.05), or "ACH direct debit" for a bank pull (0.8%, no fixed fee).
- Set International Card to Yes only when the card was issued outside the US. Stripe adds a small cross-border fee for those; leave it at No for ordinary domestic cards.
- Read the result card from top to bottom: the Percentage Fee, the Fixed Per-Charge Fee, the combined Total Stripe Fee, and finally the Net Deposit to You — the amount Stripe sends to your bank.
- Watch the Effective Fee Rate line. On a $100 sale the true cost is about 3.2%, but on a $10 sale the same structure climbs above 5% — which is why minimum order sizes and bundled products matter.
The math behind every number is Stripe's published US card pricing: 2.9% of the charge plus a flat $0.30 per successful transaction, with an extra 0.5% when the card is issued internationally. You do not pay a monthly fee, a setup fee, or a gateway fee on top of that standard rate.
The Stripe Fee Formula
Stripe's online card pricing is deliberately simple. For a domestic card:
Fee = (Amount × 2.9%) + $0.30
And the money you actually receive is:
Net = Amount − Fee
Work it by hand on a $100 sale: the percentage part is $100 × 0.029 = $2.90, the fixed part is $0.30, so the total fee is $3.20. Subtract that from $100 and your net deposit is $96.80. That is the canonical example — a $100 sale costs you exactly $3.20 in Stripe fees and nets $96.80.
When the card was issued in another country, Stripe layers a 0.5% cross-border charge on top. On the same $100 sale the percentage part becomes $100 × 0.034 = $3.40, plus the $0.30 fixed fee, for a total of $3.70 and a net of $96.30.
Notice how the fixed $0.30 fee distorts the effective rate as tickets get smaller. On a $10 product, the percentage is only $0.29, but the fixed fee pushes the total to $0.59 — an effective 5.9% bite. On a $1,000 product the fixed fee is negligible and the effective rate sits right at 2.93%. That is the single most important insight this calculator gives you: processing fees are regressive on small sales.
Why the Fixed Fee Matters So Much
Many merchants quote "2.9%" as their effective cost and are surprised when their bank deposit does not match. The $0.30 flat charge is the culprit. On a low-ticket digital product, a donation, or a tip jar, that thirty-cent fee can double the real cost.
There are two practical levers. First, raise your minimum order or bundle items so no single transaction is under, say, $10 — the effective fee drops fast as the ticket grows. Second, if you process a very high volume of small sales, talk to Stripe about interchange-plus pricing or negotiated volume rates; high-volume accounts can sometimes bring the percentage down even though the per-charge fixed fee tends to stay.
The reverse math is also useful. If you need to net exactly $96.80 after fees, you can solve backward: the gross price is roughly net / 0.967 — about $100. Merchants who want a specific take-home amount should price up front rather than absorbing the fee, otherwise a $50 product quietly becomes $48.25.
Examples
Example 1 — A standard $100 sale. You sell a course for $100 and the customer pays with a domestic US card. Percentage fee: $2.90. Fixed fee: $0.30. Total Stripe fee: $3.20. You keep: $96.80. The effective rate is 3.20%.
Example 2 — An international customer. A buyer in Germany checks out on the same $100 course. Because the card is issued outside the US, the percentage rises to 3.4%. Percentage fee: $3.40. Fixed fee: $0.30. Total fee: $3.70. You keep: $96.30. The 0.5% cross-border surcharge costs you an extra $0.50 on this order.
Example 3 — A small $12 digital download. Percentage fee: $12 × 2.9% = $0.35. Fixed fee: $0.30. Total fee: $0.65. You keep: $11.35. The effective rate is 5.42% — far above the headline 2.9% — purely because the fixed $0.30 fee is large relative to a tiny ticket.
Example 4 — A $50,000 wholesale invoice. Percentage fee: $50,000 × 2.9% = $1,450. Fixed fee: $0.30. Total fee: $1,450.30. You keep: $48,549.70. Here the effective rate falls to 2.90%, and the thirty-cent fixed fee is essentially invisible.
FAQ
What is the standard Stripe fee in the US?
Stripe charges 2.9% plus a flat $0.30 per successful domestic card transaction for online payments. There is no monthly fee, setup fee, or gateway fee on top of that standard rate. A $100 sale therefore costs $3.20 and nets you $96.80.
How much does Stripe charge on a $100 transaction?
On a $100 domestic card charge, the fee is $100 × 2.9% = $2.90 in percentage fees plus $0.30 fixed, totaling $3.20. Your net deposit is $96.80. If the card is issued internationally, add 0.5% and the fee becomes $3.70.
Does Stripe charge extra for international cards?
Yes. When a card was issued outside the United States, Stripe adds a 0.5% cross-border fee on top of the base 2.9%, bringing the effective percentage to 3.4%. The $0.30 fixed per-charge fee still applies. Toggle the International Card switch to Yes in this calculator to model it.
Why is my effective fee higher than 2.9%?
Because of the $0.30 fixed per-charge fee. On small tickets that flat charge dominates: a $10 sale costs $0.59 in fees (5.9%), while a $1,000 sale costs 2.93%. The larger the transaction, the closer your effective rate approaches 2.9%. Bundling small items or raising minimum order sizes helps.
How do I price so that I net a specific amount after Stripe fees?
Divide your desired net by roughly 0.967 for a domestic card. For example, to net $96.80 you charge about $100. Pricing up front (instead of absorbing the fee) protects your margin, especially on low-ticket items where the fixed fee has the biggest relative impact.
Are there other Stripe fees beyond the 2.9% + $0.30?
The standard online card rate is 2.9% + $0.30, but Stripe also lists separate prices for in-person card readers, ACH bank debits, international payment methods like iDEAL or Alipay, disputes ($15 fee per disputed charge), and instant payouts. This calculator models the core online card transaction only; check Stripe's pricing page for those add-ons.
Disclaimer
This Stripe fee calculator is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or payment-processing advice. Estimates use Stripe's published standard US online card rates (2.9% + $0.30, plus 0.5% for international cards) and may not reflect your specific negotiated rate, your account region, dispute fees, payout timing, or local taxes. Actual deposits vary by card type, currency conversion, and Stripe's current pricing. Always confirm your exact fees in your Stripe dashboard before making pricing or financial decisions.