Stripe

Stripe is payments infrastructure for the internet — a developer-first platform that lets businesses accept payments online and in person and run their financial operations through clean APIs. Its core Payments product handles cards, wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay), bank debits, and dozens of local methods across 100+ countries and currencies, with prebuilt UIs (Checkout, Payment Links, Elements) and robust APIs so anyone from an indie developer to a global enterprise can start charging quickly.

Stripe has grown into a broad financial stack. Billing handles recurring subscriptions, usage-based pricing, invoicing, and dunning; Connect powers marketplaces and platforms paying out to third parties; Radar adds machine-learning fraud protection; Tax automates sales tax and VAT; and Terminal brings in-person payments. Additional products cover issuing cards, financing, identity verification, and data — all sharing one integration, dashboard, and reporting. Extensive documentation, SDKs, test modes, and reliability have made Stripe a favorite among developers.

Stripe serves startups, SaaS companies, marketplaces, and enterprises worldwide. Pricing is transparent and usage-based with no setup or monthly fees on the standard plan: about 2.9% + $0.30 per successful online card charge in the US, with add-ons like Billing (~0.7%) and Tax (~0.5%), international and currency-conversion surcharges, and custom enterprise rates at volume. It competes with PayPal, Adyen, Square, Braintree, and Razorpay, differentiating on developer experience, breadth of financial products, and global reach.