Reasons You May Have Outgrown Stripe — And What to Do Next

Outgrown Stripe? How to Decide Whether to Stay, Optimise or Switch

Stripe may have helped your business begin accepting payments quickly.

The integration worked, pricing was easy to understand and your developers were familiar with the platform.

Several years later, the business may be processing hundreds of thousands or millions of pounds each month. You might now accept payments internationally, offer subscriptions or use several Stripe products across the company.

What began as:

Stripe Payments

may now involve:

Payments + Billing + Connect + Radar + Tax + Invoicing + Revenue Recognition + payouts

At that point, asking whether you have outgrown Stripe is not one simple question.

It is several:

• Are your current costs still competitive?
• Are enough genuine customer payments being approved?
• Does your settlement arrangement support your cash flow?
• Does Stripe still fit your sector and business model?
• Are the payment methods right for each market?
• Does your current support arrangement match the importance of payments to the business?
• How dependent has the business become on Stripe’s wider technology?
• Would switching improve the position or create a larger operational problem?

Stripe is not only a start-up payment provider. It offers enterprise pricing, more than 100 payment methods, subscription billing, marketplace infrastructure, revenue tools and custom commercial arrangements. Its published UK pricing also confirms that businesses with larger payment volumes or unusual requirements can request options including volume discounts and IC+ pricing. 

The right question is therefore not necessarily:

Have we outgrown Stripe?

It may be:

Have we outgrown the Stripe pricing, configuration or operating model we started with?

This guide explains how to review that question properly.

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Quick answer: How do you know whether you have outgrown Stripe?

You may need to review your Stripe arrangement where:

• Processing volume has increased substantially
• Standard pricing is no longer commercially suitable
• International-card and currency-conversion costs are increasing
• Payment approval performance is affecting revenue
• You need different acquiring routes or payment methods
• Settlement no longer supports cash flow
• Stripe’s restricted-business rules no longer fit the activity
• Subscription or marketplace requirements have become more complex
• The business needs a stronger support arrangement
• Too much of the payment operation depends on one provider
• You need operational resilience through an additional provider
• Migration risk is becoming more significant each year

These signs do not automatically mean you should leave Stripe.

The review may lead to one of four outcomes:

1. Stay with Stripe unchanged
2. Optimise or renegotiate Stripe
3. Add another provider alongside Stripe
4. Migrate away from Stripe

The best result is the one supported by your actual payment data, costs and operational requirements.

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Stripe versus your current Stripe arrangement

This is the first distinction to make.

A merchant may say:

Stripe is too expensive.

But the underlying issue could be:

• Standard pay-as-you-go pricing
• International-card mix
• Premium UK cards
• Currency conversion
• Billing charges
• Connect charges
• Instant Payouts
• Multi-currency settlement
• Invoicing
• Radar configuration
• Dispute fees
• Other optional products

Another business might say:

Stripe cannot support our subscription model.

But the real issue could be:

• An old integration
• Subscription logic built outside Stripe
• Incorrect Billing configuration
• A need for negotiated enterprise contracts
• Migration complexity between product and billing systems

And a platform might say:

We need marketplace payments.

without realising that it has already built substantial payment infrastructure around Stripe Connect.

MAS insight: Diagnose the arrangement before replacing the provider

A payment review should establish:

What exactly is wrong?

Is the issue:

price

payment acceptance

fraud

settlement

support

sector appetite

integration

billing

marketplace architecture

or:

concentration risk?

Replacing Stripe will not necessarily fix a problem that actually sits in the checkout, billing logic or internal reporting.

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What does Stripe currently charge in the UK?

As at July 2026, Stripe’s published standard UK online-card pricing includes:

These are Stripe’s published standard prices, not a quotation for every merchant or use case. Stripe also offers custom commercial packages for businesses with larger payment volumes or unusual requirements, including IC+ pricing, volume discounts, multi-product discounts and country-specific rates. Stripe’s current UK pricing is available here.

Pricing can change, so the live Stripe pricing page and the merchant’s own agreement should be checked before publishing comparisons or making a decision.

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MAS insight: “Stripe fees” may include several separate products

Stripe may be used for:

• Online card processing
• Payment Links
• Checkout
• Terminal
• Billing
• Invoicing
• Connect
• Tax
• Radar
• Revenue Recognition
• Instant Payouts
• Multi-currency settlement
• Currency conversion
• Data and reporting tools

These costs should not be treated as one indistinguishable transaction rate.

A useful review separates:

payment-processing cost

billing-platform cost

fraud and dispute cost

international and FX cost

platform or marketplace cost

payout cost

reporting and finance cost

and:

internal development cost

Only then can the business establish what it is attempting to reduce.

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Sign 1: Your payment volume has moved beyond standard pricing

Stripe’s standard pricing can be attractive when a business values:

• Fast onboarding
• No ordinary setup fee
• No ordinary monthly Payments fee
• Published transaction pricing
• One integration
• Limited commercial negotiation

As volume increases, a business may need a different commercial structure.

For example:

£20,000 per month

and:

£2 million per month

should not automatically be reviewed in the same way.

At larger volumes, even a small pricing difference can become meaningful.

However, turnover alone does not prove that Stripe is expensive.

The result also depends on:

• Number of transactions
• Average transaction value
• UK, EEA and international-card mix
• Consumer and commercial cards
• Premium cards
• Payment methods
• Currency conversion
• Refunds
• Disputes
• Products used
• Existing custom terms
• Payment-approval performance

Compare using real transaction data

Do not compare:

Stripe’s standard UK consumer-card price

with:

another provider’s lowest advertised rate.

Instead, take a representative month and model the same:

• Transactions
• Values
• Card countries
• Card types
• Currencies
• Refunds
• Disputes
• Payment methods
• Additional services

under every proposed arrangement.

MAS explains this process in more detail in its guide to auditing payment fees for high-turnover businesses.

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Example: Why the transaction percentage is not enough

Consider a merchant with:

Monthly card volume: £1,000,000
Transactions: 20,000
Average payment: £50

Suppose a proposed alternative appears to save:

0.20%

That looks like a potential processing saving of:

£2,000 per month

But the review must also consider:

• Fixed authorisation charge
• Gateway charge
• Scheme fees
• International-card pricing
• Commercial-card pricing
• 3D Secure fees
• Fraud tools
• Refund fees
• Chargeback fees
• Integration cost
• Token migration
• Development
• Additional failed payments

A provider that is 0.20% cheaper but approves fewer genuine transactions may produce a worse commercial result.

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Sign 2: You have never asked Stripe for a pricing review

Stripe publicly offers custom commercial arrangements for businesses with high payment volumes or unique business models.

Published options include:

• IC+ pricing
• Volume discounts
• Multi-product discounts
• Country-specific rates

A business may not have outgrown Stripe.

It may have outgrown standard Stripe pricing. 

Questions to ask during a Stripe pricing review

• Does our current volume qualify for custom pricing?
• Can Stripe offer IC+ rather than blended pricing?
• Which products are covered by the quotation?
• Are Checkout and Payment Links included?
• How are Billing, Radar and Connect charged?
• What happens to 3D Secure and optimisation-tool pricing?
• Are domestic, EEA and international cards priced differently?
• Is there a minimum commitment?
• Is a fixed contract required?
• Are volume tiers measured monthly or annually?
• How are refunds and disputes charged?
• Does the pricing apply to Terminal as well as online payments?
• Are multi-product discounts available?
• How long are the rates fixed?

Obtain the complete commercial proposal rather than comparing one headline percentage.

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Sign 3: Payment approval performance is becoming more important than simplicity

When a business launches, its main requirement may be:

Can we start accepting payments quickly?

At higher volume, the question becomes:

How much genuine revenue are we losing through unnecessary declines?

Stripe offers payment-optimisation tools including network tokens, card updating, selective retries and authentication functionality. Some are included within standard pricing, while separate or additional pricing can apply under custom arrangements. 

The fact that tools are available does not prove that the merchant’s present setup is optimised.

A useful performance review should break approval rates down by:

• Customer country
• Card country
• Issuer
• Card type
• Payment method
• Currency
• Device
• Checkout journey
• New versus returning customer
• One-off versus recurring payment
• Authentication result
• Decline reason
• Time of day
• Transaction value

Approval rate versus approved revenue

Suppose a merchant submits:

100,000 payments

and approves:

90,000

The approval rate is:

90%

But that does not show whether the declined payments were worth:

£50,000

or:

£5 million

For larger businesses, it is useful to measure:

• Number of approved payments
• Value of approved payments
• Number of declines
• Value of declines
• Recovered revenue
• Fraud losses
• Refunds
• Chargebacks

MAS covers this in its guide to improving enterprise payment-authorisation rates.

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MAS insight: A cheaper payment rate can cost more

Compare two arrangements.

Existing Stripe arrangement

• Processing cost: £100,000 per year
• Legitimate approved revenue: £20 million

Alternative arrangement

• Processing cost: £80,000 per year
• Legitimate approved revenue: £19.8 million

The alternative saves:

£20,000 in fees

but loses:

£200,000 in approved revenue

The lower transaction rate has not created the better commercial outcome.

That does not mean Stripe will always approve more payments than another provider.

It means that payment performance should be tested rather than assumed.

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Sign 4: International growth has changed your real cost

Stripe supports more than 100 payment methods and payment acceptance across more than 135 currencies. Its dynamic payment-method functionality can determine which eligible methods to display using factors including transaction amount, currency, payment flow and customer characteristics. Availability still varies by account location, payment method, currency and integration. 

The old argument that Stripe has very limited local payment-method capability is therefore too broad.

The better questions are:

• Does Stripe support the exact method needed in each market?
• Is that method enabled in the current integration?
• Is it displayed to the correct customers?
• Does it support recurring payments?
• What does it cost?
• How long does it take to settle?
• Can it be refunded?
• Does it have a chargeback or reversal model?
• Can the merchant receive the desired settlement currency?
• Is local acquiring available?
• Would another provider perform better in a strategically important country?

Payment-method availability is not universal

A payment method may be unavailable because of:

• Merchant-account country
• Customer country
• Currency
• Transaction amount
• Product
• One-off or recurring use
• Integration
• Sector
• Payment-method rules

For example, some methods cannot be saved for future payments, while others have currency or transaction-value limits. Stripe’s documentation specifically notes that not all payment methods support every product or recurring-payment use case. 

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Payment currency, settlement currency and FX

A merchant might charge its customer in:

EUR

but receive settlement in:

GBP

after conversion.

The business should distinguish between:

• Customer-presentment currency
• Processing currency
• Stripe balance currency
• Settlement currency
• Bank-account currency

Stripe’s published standard pricing currently applies an additional charge where currency conversion is required. It also publishes separate pricing for multi-currency settlement and instant currency conversion. 

For an international merchant, review:

• Card-country mix
• Customer currencies
• Bank-account currencies
• Currency conversion
• Like-for-like settlement
• Refund conversion
• Cross-border cost
• FX margin
• Currency exposure

A Stripe alternative with a lower card rate may still cost more if its currency arrangement is worse.

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Sign 5: Subscription billing has become more complicated

Stripe Billing currently supports functionality including:

• Fixed recurring subscriptions
• Usage-based billing
• Multi-phase subscription schedules
• Smart Retries
• Recovery automations
• Customer portal
• Automated reminders
• Quotes
• Invoice reconciliation
• Subscription-state controls

Stripe currently publishes pay-as-you-go Billing pricing of 0.7% of Billing volume, alongside monthly and custom arrangements. Custom pricing is available for companies with larger Billing volumes or unusual business models. 

The relevant question is not:

Does Stripe offer subscription billing?

It clearly does.

The question is:

Does our current Stripe Billing architecture still fit the subscription business we have become?

Review these subscription requirements

• Monthly and annual plans
• Free trials
• Introductory prices
• Upgrades
• Downgrades
• Proration
• Usage billing
• Seat-based billing
• Credits
• Enterprise contracts
• Invoice terms
• Customer self-service
• Failed-payment recovery
• Multiple currencies
• Subscription reporting
• Tax
• Revenue recognition
• Customer migration

A sophisticated subscription business may conclude that Stripe Billing remains suitable.

It might instead decide that it needs:

• Different Billing pricing
• A specialist billing layer
• A separate subscription platform
• Another payment processor
• A more portable multi-provider architecture

MAS covers the wider billing lifecycle in its guide to subscription payment processing.

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MAS insight: Billing software and payment processing are not the same decision

A business may like Stripe Billing but want to review its acquiring arrangement.

Or it may like Stripe Payments while needing a different subscription-management system.

These should be assessed separately.

Ask:

Which system decides what the customer owes?

Which system stores the subscription state?

Which system submits the payment?

Which system stores the credential?

Which system controls access to the product?

Replacing the payment processor does not automatically replace the billing system.

Replacing the billing system does not automatically require leaving Stripe Payments.

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Sign 6: Your marketplace or platform model has developed

Stripe Connect is designed for platforms and marketplaces and supports connected-account onboarding, verification, payment allocation, platform fees, balance management and payouts. It can support several fund-flow models, including direct charges, destination charges and separate charges and transfers. 

The correct question is:

Does our current Connect configuration still fit our platform model?

Review the Connect structure

• Who contracts with the buyer?
• Who contracts with the seller?
• Who is merchant of record?
• Which connected-account type is used?
• Who controls onboarding?
• Who sets payment pricing?
• Who carries dispute liability?
• Who carries negative balances?
• Who controls refunds?
• When are sellers paid?
• How does the platform earn revenue?
• Which countries are supported?
• Which licences and compliance responsibilities sit with Stripe?
• Which remain with the platform?
• Can connected accounts be moved elsewhere?
• How much internal operational work is required?

A platform may decide to:

• Keep Connect unchanged
• Change its Connect configuration
• Negotiate different commercial terms
• Introduce another embedded-payment partner
• Add specialist acquiring in selected markets
• Move to another platform-payment model

MAS covers this topic in its guides to marketplace payment gateways and SaaS payments and monetisation.

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MAS insight: Moving away from Connect is not simply a gateway switch

A Connect migration can involve:

• Connected sellers
• KYC and verification status
• Bank details
• Payment credentials
• Balances
• Payout schedules
• Platform fees
• Reserves
• Negative balances
• Refunds
• Disputes
• Tax records
• Seller reporting
• Customer support procedures

The platform needs to establish whether the alternative provider can reproduce the complete operating model - not simply process a card payment.

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Sign 7: Stripe’s restricted-business rules no longer fit the activity

Stripe maintains prohibited and restricted-business policies.

Some listed activities are not supported. Others may be considered only following additional review and explicit approval.

Stripe explains that a lawful business can still fall outside its appetite because of its own requirements, the requirements of financial partners or the risk exposure involved. Its list is also described as representative rather than exhaustive. 

The important questions are:

• Is the activity prohibited?
• Is it restricted?
• Is prior approval required?
• Has Stripe approved the exact activity?
• Have all products been disclosed?
• Are the customer countries approved?
• Has the business model changed?
• Has the website changed?
• Are third-party sellers involved?
• Is the business now operating as a platform?
• Has the merchant entered a new regulated activity?

Do not rely on an old approval where the business has materially changed.

Avoid broad assumptions about sectors

It would be inaccurate to say:

Stripe does not support software businesses.

or:

Stripe does not support supplements.

or:

Stripe does not support coaching.

Those descriptions are too broad.

Provider appetite can depend on the exact:

• Product
• Claims
• Customer
• Country
• Regulation
• Fulfilment model
• Billing structure
• Platform structure

Review the live policy and obtain specific confirmation for the actual business.

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What should you do if Stripe no longer supports the activity?

First establish:

• What Stripe says the issue is
• Which product or activity is affected
• Whether additional evidence can be supplied
• Whether an appeal or review is available
• Whether only one part of the business is affected
• What happens to existing payments and payouts
• Whether the account has a termination date
• Whether any reserve or hold applies
• What data and reports need downloading

Do not route the same activity through another undisclosed Stripe account.

Any replacement provider should receive a complete and accurate description of:

• Business model
• Products
• Countries
• Processing history
• Previous account action
• Refunds
• Chargebacks
• Required payment methods

MAS has a separate guide for businesses where Stripe has closed an account with funds remaining.

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Sign 8: Settlement and cash flow no longer suit the business

Stripe separates:

settlement timing

from:

payout schedule

Settlement timing determines when funds become available within the Stripe balance.

The payout schedule determines when available money is sent to the merchant’s bank.

Choosing daily payouts does not make pending funds available more quickly. Stripe’s documentation also notes that account country, business type and other factors can affect timing. 

A Stripe settlement review should consider:

• Standard settlement timing
• Daily, weekly, monthly or manual payouts
• First-payout timing
• Weekend and bank-holiday treatment
• Instant Payout eligibility
• Instant Payout cost
• Settlement currency
• Multi-currency settlement
• Negative balances
• Reserves
• Payout holds
• Bank-arrival time
• Reporting

Stripe currently publishes UK Instant Payout pricing of 1% of the Instant Payout value, subject to a minimum fee and eligibility. Standard scheduled payouts are available without the accelerated-payout charge. 

Do not review settlement separately from cost

Compare:

Arrangement A

• Lower card rate
• Slower settlement
• Reserve
• Additional payout fee

Arrangement B

• Slightly higher card rate
• Faster reliable settlement
• No reserve
• Better reconciliation

Arrangement B could produce the stronger cash-flow outcome.

MAS explains the full process in its guide to card payment settlement times.

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Sign 9: Your support requirement has changed

Stripe currently advertises 24-hour phone, chat and email support. It also offers managed-support plans and professional services. The support attached to a particular account or commercial arrangement can still vary. 

The better question is:

Does our current support arrangement match the operational importance of payments to the business?

A growing merchant may need:

• Named commercial contact
• Technical escalation
• Risk escalation
• Settlement tracing
• Incident communication
• Launch support
• Integration assistance
• Regular service reviews
• Faster response expectations
• Support across several countries
• Platform or connected-account support

Do not compare providers using:

Stripe has no support

versus:

Alternative provider gives excellent support.

Compare the actual service offered under each proposed contract.

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Sign 10: One provider now controls too much of the payment operation

A business may use Stripe for:

Checkout

↓

Customer credential

↓

Subscription billing

↓

Tax calculation

↓

Invoice

↓

Revenue recognition

↓

Fraud controls

↓

Payout reporting

That integration can be a major advantage.

It can also create concentration and migration risk.

The issue is not that the tools are inherently unsuitable.

It is:

What happens if the business needs to change one part of the stack?

Questions to ask

• Where do customer records live?
• Where are payment credentials stored?
• Where does subscription status live?
• Which system stores product and price information?
• Which system controls customer access?
• How many internal processes depend on Stripe webhooks?
• Can another acquirer be added?
• Can Billing continue if processing changes?
• Can credentials be migrated?
• Which Stripe reports does finance rely on?
• How are refunds handled after a migration?
• How are historic disputes handled?
• What happens to Connect accounts?
• What happens to tax and revenue reporting?

MAS insight: The more useful Stripe becomes, the harder it may be to replace

That is not necessarily a reason to leave.

It is a reason to understand the architecture.

There is a significant difference between:

Changing a card processor

and:

Rebuilding billing, tax, marketplace, reporting and customer-payment infrastructure.

A payment-rate saving can disappear quickly if the migration requires months of engineering and creates revenue disruption.

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Sign 11: You need another provider, but not necessarily a replacement

The decision does not have to be:

Stripe or no Stripe.

A growing business might add another provider for:

• A specific country
• A specialist product
• Higher-risk activity
• Local acquiring
• Operational resilience
• Higher transaction values
• A particular payment method
• A separate legal entity
• Authorisation optimisation
• In-person payments
• Backup capability

Possible models

Stripe remains the only provider

Appropriate where simplicity, performance and commercial terms remain strong.

Stripe plus a specialist provider

Different routes support genuinely different products, sectors, countries or legal entities.

Stripe plus a second acquirer

The business introduces another acquiring route for resilience or performance.

Payment orchestration

Transactions can be routed across more than one provider using defined rules.

Stripe’s Vault and Forward API

Stripe currently advertises a Vault and Forward API that can store credentials in its PCI-compliant vault while routing payment requests to other processors. Availability and commercial terms require engagement with Stripe. 

This makes the decision more nuanced than simply moving every payment away from Stripe.

MAS has a separate guide to payment orchestration.

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MAS insight: A second provider needs a real operating purpose

Adding another processor creates complexity.

The business needs rules covering:

• Which payments go where
• How credentials are stored
• How retries are handled
• Fraud controls
• Refund routing
• Disputes
• Reporting
• Settlement
• Customer support
• Provider outages
• Reconciliation

A second provider should solve a defined problem.

It should not be added merely because:

Multi-provider sounds more sophisticated.

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The four possible decisions

A Stripe review should end with a decision—not just a list of complaints.

Option 1: Stay with Stripe unchanged

This may be the right decision where:

• Costs remain competitive
• Approval performance is strong
• Settlement works
• Stripe supports the sector
• Payment methods fit the markets
• Billing or Connect works well
• Support is sufficient
• Migration offers no clear commercial benefit

Doing nothing can be a valid conclusion where it follows a proper review.

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Option 2: Optimise or renegotiate Stripe

This may be appropriate where:

• Standard pricing no longer fits the volume
• Custom pricing has not been requested
• Checkout configuration needs improvement
• Payment methods are not enabled correctly
• Fraud rules are blocking genuine customers
• Billing needs reconfiguration
• Connect configuration needs reviewing
• Settlement or support options can be changed
• Additional Stripe products solve the problem

The business keeps the existing provider while improving the arrangement.

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Option 3: Add another provider

This can make sense where:

• One country needs a different acquiring route
• One product requires specialist appetite
• Operational resilience is important
• High-value payments need a separate arrangement
• A different payment method is needed
• Multiple legal entities have different requirements
• Payment orchestration is commercially justified

Stripe remains part of the architecture.

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Option 4: Move away from Stripe

A full migration may be appropriate where:

• Stripe no longer supports the business model
• Commercial terms remain uncompetitive after review
• Essential functionality cannot be provided
• Settlement is unsuitable
• Support arrangements do not meet the requirement
• Another provider offers a demonstrably stronger outcome
• Concentration risk is unacceptable
• The migration cost and operational risk have been assessed

The decision should be supported by a full migration plan before the old arrangement is cancelled.

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What does switching away from Stripe involve?

For a simple one-off ecommerce checkout, a move may be relatively contained.

For an established Stripe business, it may involve:

• New merchant-account underwriting
• New gateway or PSP
• New checkout
• New API integration
• Payment-method changes
• Fraud-tool changes
• Token migration
• Subscription migration
• New webhooks
• Refund routing
• Historic disputes
• Reporting changes
• New settlement reconciliation
• Customer communications
• Finance-system changes
• Parallel processing
• Closing the old arrangement

Do not cancel Stripe before the replacement is:

• Approved
• Contracted
• Integrated
• Tested
• Reconciled
• Ready for production

MAS covers the wider process in its guide to switching merchant-account providers.

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Can saved card details be migrated from Stripe?

Stripe states that it can securely transfer customer card data to another PCI DSS Level 1-compliant payment processor.

The receiving provider must satisfy Stripe’s security requirements, and the transfer takes place directly between the relevant organisations rather than through the merchant downloading unencrypted card details.

Stripe’s documentation also says that consumer credentials saved through Link are excluded from payment-data exports and cannot be transferred between processors. 

Questions to ask before choosing the new provider

• Can it receive a Stripe card-data export?
• Is it PCI DSS Level 1 compliant?
• Has it completed Stripe migrations previously?
• Which card fields can be imported?
• Are network transaction identifiers transferred?
• Can stored-credential relationships continue correctly?
• Which payment methods cannot migrate?
• How are customer records mapped?
• How long will the transfer take?
• Can the business test a sample?
• What happens to Link users?
• Will some customers need to enter payment details again?

MAS insight: Token migration is only one part of a subscription migration

The business may also need to transfer:

• Customer
• Plan
• Price
• Billing date
• Trial date
• Discount
• Credit
• Subscription status
• Cancellation state
• Past-due balance
• Invoice history
• Payment mandate information

A successful card migration does not prove that the subscription relationship has migrated correctly.

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Build a dependency map before switching

List every way the business currently uses Stripe.

Customer payments

• Checkout
• Elements
• Payment Links
• Terminal
• Invoicing
• Virtual or staff-assisted payments

Stored payments

• Customer cards
• Recurring payments
• Subscriptions
• Network tokens
• Account updater

Revenue products

• Billing
• Usage metering
• Tax
• Revenue Recognition
• Quotes
• Customer portal

Platforms

• Connect
• Connected accounts
• Seller onboarding
• Transfers
• Payouts
• Platform fees

Operations

• Radar
• Disputes
• Refunds
• Reporting
• Sigma
• Data exports
• Webhooks
• Accounting connections

For each dependency, decide:

• Keep it
• Replace it
• Rebuild it
• Integrate it with the new provider
• Run it temporarily in parallel

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Run Stripe and the replacement provider in parallel

A controlled transition may involve a period where:

• New customers use the new provider
• Existing subscriptions remain on Stripe temporarily
• Payment credentials are migrated in stages
• Refunds continue through Stripe
• Historic disputes remain with Stripe
• Old payouts and reserves are reconciled
• Performance is compared between providers

Parallel operation creates additional work.

But it can reduce the risk of a single cutover affecting every customer at once.

The migration plan should specify:

• Which transactions move first
• How providers are identified in reporting
• How customers are routed
• How duplicate payments are prevented
• How refunds find the original transaction
• How finance reconciles both providers
• When the old integration can be retired

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MAS insight: Do not judge a new provider using a tiny unrepresentative test

A new provider might initially receive only:

• Difficult countries
• Failed Stripe payments
• Unusual transactions
• One specialist product

Its approval rate may then look worse because it received the hardest traffic.

A meaningful comparison should account for:

• Customer mix
• Card mix
• Countries
• Payment values
• Fraud rules
• Authentication
• Traffic source
• New versus returning customers

Otherwise, the business may compare two providers processing completely different transactions.

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What should happen to refunds after switching?

A refund should normally be linked to the provider and original transaction that processed the payment.

After migration, the business may need continued Stripe access for:

• Historic refunds
• Chargebacks
• Evidence submission
• Settlement reports
• Customer support
• Reserve releases
• Tax and finance records

Do not assume all historic transactions can be refunded through the new provider.

Record:

• Final Stripe processing date
• Historic refund procedure
• Access permissions
• Old bank account requirements
• Remaining balance
• Reserve or hold
• Reporting-retention plan

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What should you compare with a Stripe alternative?

Do not begin with:

What is your card rate?

Begin with the complete requirement.

Provider appetite

• Does it support the sector?
• Does it support every product?
• Which countries are approved?
• Does it support the transaction values?
• Are subscriptions or marketplace payments accepted?

Commercial structure

• Blended, IC+ or IC++?
• Fixed authorisation fee?
• Scheme fees?
• Gateway charges?
• Monthly minimum?
• Refund fees?
• Dispute fees?
• FX?
• Payment-method costs?
• Contract term?

Payment performance

• Local acquiring?
• Network tokens?
• Account updater?
• Retry capability?
• Authentication controls?
• Routing?
• Fraud tools?
• Reporting by issuer and decline reason?

Settlement

• T+1, T+2 or another timetable?
• Working or calendar days?
• Reserve?
• First-payout delay?
• Weekend payments?
• Multi-currency settlement?
• Instant funding?
• Negative-balance process?

Technology

• Checkout?
• API?
• Payment Links?
• Billing?
• Usage pricing?
• Marketplace onboarding?
• Payouts?
• Webhooks?
• Token migration?
• Accounting integrations?

Support

• General support?
• Named account manager?
• Technical escalation?
• Risk escalation?
• Incident process?
• Launch support?
• Service reviews?

Migration

• Development cost?
• Implementation time?
• Data transfer?
• Customer disruption?
• Parallel running?
• Reporting changes?
• Exit terms?

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Find Your New Processor

The Stripe review file

Before making a decision, collect:

• Last three to six months of transaction data
• Total Stripe payment volume
• Transaction count
• Average transaction
• Maximum transaction
• UK, EEA and international-card mix
• Consumer and premium-card mix
• Payment methods
• Payment currencies
• Settlement currencies
• Processing fees
• FX charges
• Billing charges
• Connect charges
• Radar or optimisation charges
• Instant Payout charges
• Refunds
• Disputes
• Approval rates
• Decline reasons
• Fraud losses
• Payout schedule
• Stripe products used
• Support arrangement
• Current contract or custom pricing
• Integration dependencies
• Stored credentials
• Active subscriptions
• Connected accounts
• Development estimates

MAS insight: Do not review Stripe using only the bank payout

The payout received in the bank may combine:

• Sales
• Refunds
• Disputes
• Processing fees
• Currency conversion
• Adjustments
• Previous negative balance

It will not necessarily show the cost and performance of each Stripe product.

The review needs transaction, fee and product-level data.

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Find Your New Processor

A practical decision table

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Has your business outgrown its current Stripe arrangement?

Tell Merchant Advice Service:

• Monthly Stripe processing volume
• Number of transactions
• Average transaction
• Maximum transaction
• Customer countries
• Card and payment-method mix
• Payment currencies
• Stripe products used
• Current pricing
• Approval rates
• Refund and dispute profile
• Settlement schedule
• Current integrations
• Active subscriptions
• Connect or marketplace requirements
• What you want to improve

MAS can help establish whether the next step is likely to involve:

• Reviewing Stripe costs
• Requesting different commercial terms
• Optimising the existing arrangement
• Adding another provider
• Comparing Stripe alternatives
• Planning a full migration

Merchant Advice Service does not act for Stripe and cannot alter a Stripe account, reverse a Stripe decision or guarantee that another provider will offer lower costs or better payment performance.

If your Stripe review forms part of a wider question around fees, integrations, international growth or payment infrastructure, explore our Payments Strategy Library for further guidance on reviewing and restructuring payments.

Sources and product references

• Stripe — UK pricing and fees
  Stripe’s current published UK pricing for cards, payment methods, disputes, Instant Payouts, multi-currency settlement and custom commercial arrangements.
• Stripe Billing — Features and pricing
  Stripe’s current Billing functionality and pricing, including subscriptions, usage billing, Smart Retries, customer portal and subscription schedules.
• Stripe Connect — Platform and marketplace payments
  Stripe’s platform infrastructure for connected-account onboarding, embedded payments, transfers, platform revenue and payouts.
• Stripe Connect — Marketplace payments
  Information on seller onboarding, verification, marketplace payments and recipient payouts.
• Stripe Documentation — Dynamic payment methods
  Guidance on payment-method eligibility, dynamic display and the limitations that can apply by currency, transaction and recurring-payment use.
• Stripe Documentation — Payout and settlement timing
  Stripe’s explanation of settlement timing, payout schedules, business days and bank-arrival times.
• Stripe Documentation — Instant Payouts
  Guidance on eligibility and timing for accelerated Stripe payouts.
• Stripe — Prohibited and restricted businesses FAQ
  Stripe’s explanation of business restrictions, additional reviews and explicit approval requirements.
• Stripe Documentation — Exporting payment data
  Guidance on securely transferring eligible customer card data to another PCI DSS Level 1-compliant processor.

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About Merchant Advice Service

Merchant Advice Service provides free, independent guidance to businesses looking for help with card payments, payment gateways and more complex payment requirements.

Where appropriate, MAS may introduce a business to a relevant payment provider. We may receive a referral fee or commission if an introduction results in a completed account or service.

MAS does not necessarily compare every provider in the market, and all applications remain subject to the relevant provider’s own assessment, underwriting and approval.

This article provides general payments information and does not constitute legal, regulatory, financial, accounting or technical advice. Stripe products, functionality, pricing, business restrictions and availability can change. Businesses should review their own Stripe agreement and current Stripe documentation before making a decision.

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