A reported 2.9% + $0.30 per successful domestic US card charge (Sep 2026 figures). International cards add a reported +1.5% surcharge, and currency conversion adds another reported +1.0%. There are no monthly or setup fees on the standard plan — you pay only when transactions occur. Always verify live pricing at stripe.com/pricing; rates change and differ by account country.

You do. Stripe deducts its cut from the payment before the balance lands in your account; the client pays the listed amount in full. That is why reverse mode exists: instead of eating $14.80 on a $500 invoice, charge $515.25 and keep your $500. (Adding a surcharge line item is restricted in some regions — pricing the fee into your base rate is cleaner.)

Pure algebra, no iteration. You want to net N after a fee of (rate × charge + $0.30). So charge − (rate × charge + $0.30) = N, which rearranges to charge = (N + $0.30) ÷ (1 − rate). For N = $1,000 at 2.9%: ($1,000 + $0.30) ÷ 0.971 = $1,030.70. The calculator does this instantly, and the fee is slightly higher on the grossed-up amount ($30.70), which the formula accounts for automatically.

Stacked surcharges. A domestic $500 charge costs a reported $14.80; the same charge on a foreign card costs $22.30 (the +1.5% surcharge alone is $7.50); with currency conversion it is $27.30. On a $5,000 international invoice the surcharges total $125. That is when freelancers start comparing payout rails — Wise is often cheaper for recurring cross-border work.

There is also a structural fix: invoice international clients in your settlement currency where they accept it, so the conversion happens on their side, or use Stripe's multi-currency balances to hold foreign-currency revenue and convert it in bulk at a better moment. Either way, the surcharge math should be in your quote — never absorbed silently.

The fixed $0.30 fee. On a $500 invoice it is 0.06% — invisible. On a $20 invoice it is 1.5% — dominant. A $20 charge costs an effective 4.4% versus the headline 2.9%. The fix is structural: bundle small deliverables into fewer, larger invoices. Two $20 invoices cost $1.76 in Stripe fees; one $40 invoice costs $1.46.

Bank-to-bank payments at a reported 0.8%, capped at $5.00. ACH Direct Debit skips the card networks entirely, so the percentage is much lower and the cap means large invoices cost almost nothing to process: a $5,000 ACH charge costs the reported $5.00 cap. The catch: it takes days to settle, fails more often than cards, and only works with US bank accounts. For large, trusted, domestic client invoices it is the cheapest Stripe route.

Practically, many freelancers run a two-tier system: cards (fast, client-friendly) for invoices under ~$1,000, ACH for the big ones. The break-even against the card rate is roughly where 2.9% × amount + $0.30 exceeds 0.8% × amount — about $625. Above that, ACH wins; the $5 cap makes it a landslide above $625... precisely: at $625 the card fee is ~$18.43 vs ACH ~$5.00. Offer both, let the client choose, and price accordingly.

Refunds return the fee-free portion, not the processing fee. Stripe historically refunded the percentage fee on refunded transactions in some regions and not in others — check the current policy. A lost dispute adds a reported $15 chargeback fee on top. This calculator covers processing fees only; model disputes and refunds separately in your cash-flow forecast.

No — Stripe publishes country-specific schedules. Reported figures: UK standard 1.5% + 20p per domestic card, 2.5% + 20p for EEA cards, 3.15% + 20p for other international cards; euro-area rates range 1.4%–2.9% + €0.25 depending on card type. Your account country, not the client's, determines which schedule applies — then surcharges layer on top.

Stripe, usually, for card payments. Reported domestic: Stripe 2.9% + $0.30 vs PayPal invoice/checkout 3.49% + $0.49 — Stripe wins by 0.6% + $0.19 per transaction, or $3.19 on a $500 invoice. PayPal wins on client convenience (clients already have accounts) and on buyer-paid flows. Many freelancers run both: Stripe for embedded checkout and subscriptions, PayPal as the familiar backup — with the fee priced into rates either way.

A reported +1.0% when Stripe must convert currencies. It stacks on top of the transaction fee and any international-card surcharge. Avoid it by pricing in your settlement currency where the client accepts it, or by using Wise/Stripe's multi-currency features to hold balances in the client's currency and convert strategically instead of per-transaction.

No — Stripe charges per successful charge. Declined authorizations do not incur the processing fee. But repeated declines from the same client are a signal: card on file expiring, insufficient funds, or bank blocking — chasing them costs you time (see the meeting cost calculator for what your hour is worth) even when it does not cost you fees.

stripe.com/pricing for your country, then one real transaction. Divide the fee shown in a transaction's dashboard breakdown by the gross amount. If it matches the calculator's breakdown, your inputs are right; if not, update them — pricing changes, and premium/volume pricing can differ from the standard schedule.