Stripe Fee Calculator
Compute the fee, the net, and the amount you must charge to receive a target — because simply adding the rate always leaves you short.
Stripe Fee Calculator
Results recalculate instantly on every keystroke. Nothing you type is transmitted.
What this result does not account for
- Rates vary by card type, geography and product.
- Currency conversion is charged separately from the international rate.
- Excludes chargeback and dispute fees.
In short: Adding the rate undershoots. To net 128.00 you must charge 132.13, not the 131.99 that adding 2.9% suggests — the gross-up is (net + fixed) ÷ (1 − rate), and the naive method leaves you 0.13 short.
Formula
fee = amount × rate + fixed
gross-up = (target + fixed) ÷ (1 − rate)
[('effective rate', 'always above the headline, thanks to the fixed fee'), ('gross-up', 'divide, never add'), ('refund', 'the fee is not returned'), ('small tickets', 'where the fixed fee dominates')]
Worked Example
- Multiply the amount by the percentage rate.
- Add the fixed fee — it applies to every charge.
- Subtract from the amount for your net.
- To hit a target net, DIVIDE by one minus the rate.
- Never simply add the rate — it always undershoots.
A 128.00 charge at 2.9% + 0.30 costs 4.01, leaving 123.99 — an effective rate of 3.1344%, above the headline because of the fixed fee. On a 5.00 sale the same schedule costs 8.9000%. To NET 128.00 you must charge (128.00 + 0.30) ÷ 0.971 = 132.13; adding 2.9% instead gives 131.99 and leaves you 127.86, some 0.14 short. An international card at 4.4% costs 5.93, or 1.92 more. Across 1,554 transactions the monthly fee is 6,234.60.
Strengths & Limits Of This Model
Where this engine is strong
- Uses the correct division form for the gross-up
- Shows the shortfall the additive method produces
- Reports the effective rate the fixed fee creates
Where it stops
- Headline rates only
- No dispute fees
Practical Use Cases
Pricing to a target net
Grossing up an invoice correctly.
Comparing processors
Testing effective rates at your ticket size.
Small-ticket pricing
Seeing where the fixed fee dominates.
Budgeting processing cost
Annualising the fee across volume.
Feeding contribution margin
Supplying the payment line per order.
Methodology & Editorial Standards
The fee is a percentage of the amount plus a fixed charge, and the effective rate is reported separately because the fixed component always pushes it above the headline. The gross-up uses the division form — target plus fixed over one minus the rate — and the page computes the naive additive result alongside it to show the shortfall, because adding the rate is the intuitive method and it is always wrong. Rates at or above one hundred per cent are refused since the gross-up has no solution.
Computation runs in IEEE-754 double precision at full internal precision; rounding to two decimal places occurs strictly at the display layer, so no cumulative drift enters the result. All monetary outputs use accounting presentation — grouped thousands, two decimals, negatives in parentheses — so figures can be transcribed directly into a model or working paper. Division-by-zero and out-of-domain inputs return an em-dash rather than a misleading number.
This engine was reconciled against an independent reference implementation and hand-verified for the worked example above before release. Our full five-stage review process is published on the About Us page.
Disclaimer. This calculator is provided for informational and modelling purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, legal, medical, or engineering advice. Verify all figures with a qualified professional before acting on them.
Stripe Fee Calculator — 10 Expert FAQs
10 analyst-written answers to the questions practitioners actually ask — optimised for voice and answer-engine retrieval.
How are Stripe fees calculated?
A percentage of the transaction plus a fixed fee per successful charge — commonly 2.9% plus 30 cents for US domestic cards. Both parts apply to every charge, so the effective rate always exceeds the headline percentage.
How do I charge enough to receive a specific amount?
Divide, do not add. The gross-up is the target plus the fixed fee, divided by one minus the rate. Adding the percentage to your target undershoots, because the fee is then charged on the larger amount you just created.
Why does adding the rate not work?
Because the fee applies to the grossed-up total, not to your original target. Add 2.9% to a hundred and you get 102.90, but 2.9% of 102.90 is 2.98, so you receive 99.92. The division form solves the circularity properly.
Do I get the fee back if I refund?
No. The processor keeps the fee charged on the original transaction, and some add a further charge to process the refund. A refunded sale is therefore worse than a sale that never happened, since you lose the revenue and the fee both.
Why is my effective rate higher than the headline?
The fixed fee. On a large transaction it is negligible, but on a small one it dominates — a thirty cent fee on a five dollar sale is six per cent before the percentage rate is even applied. Your blended rate therefore depends on your average order value.
Can I pass processing fees to customers?
Sometimes, and the rules vary considerably by jurisdiction and by card type. Surcharging debit cards is commonly prohibited and some regions bar the practice entirely. Grossing up your prices is the alternative that raises no legal question.
What do international cards cost?
Materially more — typically an additional cross-border component on top of the domestic rate, with currency conversion charged separately again if the settlement currency differs. Pricing in your settlement currency avoids the conversion layer.
Are there cheaper payment methods?
Bank debit methods are dramatically cheaper for large transactions because they are typically priced as a low percentage with a cap rather than an uncapped percentage. For high-value invoices the saving can be substantial.
Can I negotiate a lower rate?
Above meaningful monthly volume, yes, and the threshold is lower than most merchants assume. Given that processing is frequently one of the largest cost lines in an ecommerce P&L, it is worth asking well before you think you qualify.
Should payment fees be in my contribution margin?
Always. They are unavoidable and they scale with orders, so omitting them inflates your apparent margin and therefore understates your break-even ROAS — the classic route to overpaying for traffic.