stripe vs braintree, verified June 2026

Stripe vs Braintree Pricing 2026: Head-to-Head

Side-by-side cost-per-$100 across four GMV bands, with each vendor's published rate card, dispute fees, and cross-border surcharge laid out under a single decision aid.

Decision aid

Stripe wins on API freshness, dashboard polish, and the speed at which new payment methods land. Braintree wins on PayPal-network access and slightly cheaper headline (2.89% + 29c vs 2.9% + 30c). The 1c per transaction gap matters at $10M+/yr. Pick by whether PayPal-as-method drives meaningful conversion lift in your vertical.

Both vendors at a glance

Stripe
Stripe
Median band
2.9% + 30c (US online card)
Model: flat-rate
Monthly: $0
Dispute: $15 non-refundable receipt fee + $15 refundable counter (since 17 Jun 2025); Smart Disputes waives counter for 30% of disputed amount on win
Cross-border: +1.5% on international cards (3.9% + 30c)
FX: +1% on currency conversion
Braintree
Braintree
Median band
2.89% + 29c (standard)
Model: flat-rate
Monthly: $0
Dispute: $15 per chargeback
Cross-border: +1% cross-border surcharge
FX: +1% currency conversion

Feature comparison

Stripe
Public flat-rate card✓ Included
PayPal wallet at checkout✗ Missing
Native marketplace splits✓ Included
Newer API surface✓ Included
Dispute fee under $20✓ Included
ACH at <1%✓ Included
Recurring billing native✓ Included
Multi-currency presentation✓ Included
Braintree
Public flat-rate card✓ Included
PayPal wallet at checkout✓ Included
Native marketplace splits✓ Included
Newer API surface✗ Missing
Dispute fee under $20✓ Included
ACH at <1%✓ Included
Recurring billing native◐ Add-on
Multi-currency presentation✓ Included

Cost-per-$100 across four GMV bands

Illustrative examples, not a real company. Cost models use each vendor's published headline rate and per-transaction fixed fee. Quote-only vendors are not estimated.

$300k/yr, $50 ticket
Stripe
2.9% + 30c (US online card)
~$10,500
Braintree
2.89% + 29c (standard)
~$10,410
Braintree cheaper
$2M/yr, $75 ticket
Stripe
2.9% + 30c (US online card)
~$66,000
Braintree
2.89% + 29c (standard)
~$65,530
Braintree cheaper
$10M/yr, $120 ticket
Stripe
2.9% + 30c (US online card)
~$315,000
Braintree
2.89% + 29c (standard)
~$313,170
Braintree cheaper
$50M/yr, $200 ticket
Stripe
2.9% + 30c (US online card)
~$1.525M
Braintree
2.89% + 29c (standard)
~$1.518M
Braintree cheaper

Switching cost

If you're on Stripe and considering Braintree

Stripe to Braintree is 4-6 engineering weeks for a typical SaaS or ecommerce stack. The big lift is recurring-billing migration if you used Stripe Billing natively; Braintree's recurring tooling is thinner and many teams add a billing layer on top. PayPal-as-method on Braintree is a 1-line add. Customer-saved cards do not transfer; expect a re-tokenisation flow.

Related

See all vendor pages on the vendor index, or run your own numbers in the cross-vendor cost calculator.

verified Last verified June 2026