Stripe Fees for SaaS

How Stripe fees compound for SaaS — recurring billing surcharge, international customers, refunds, dunning, and the effective rate that actually shows up on your P&L.

At a glance

Stripe Billing
+0.5% on recurring
Stripe Tax (if enabled)
+0.5%
International card mix
Typically 20–40% in indie SaaS
Realistic effective rate
3.5–4.5%
Refund fee retention
Yes — Stripe keeps the original fee

For SaaS, Stripe fees compound in non-obvious ways. Stripe Billing adds 0.5% to every recurring charge. International customers (typically 20–40% of indie SaaS revenue) pay 4.4% instead of 2.9% in the US. Dunning recovers some failed charges but adds retry-attempt fees. And refunds — common in trial-period SaaS — keep the full processing fee. The net effect: a SaaS with a published 2.9% rate often pays 3.5–4.5% effective.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Stripe Billing cost for SaaS?
Stripe Billing is an additional 0.5% on every recurring charge — on top of the standard processing fee. So a $49/mo US subscription on a domestic card costs 0.5% + 2.9% + 30¢ = $1.97 (vs. $1.72 without Billing). The 0.5% is what funds Stripe’s subscription engine: proration, trial periods, dunning, invoice generation, customer portal, etc.
Is the 0.5% Stripe Billing fee worth it?
For most SaaS, yes — building the equivalent yourself (recurring billing, dunning, proration handling, customer portal, tax invoices) is multi-quarter engineering work, and Stripe Billing is good enough that off-the-shelf usage is hard to beat. The 0.5% is real money at scale, though, and at $1M+/mo MRR it’s worth a conversation with Stripe sales about volume discounts.
How do I forecast SaaS Stripe fees as a percentage of revenue?
Use this calculator in Annual mode (or set a representative $49 transaction with your typical mix toggles on) and multiply by your monthly recurring volume. A 1,000-customer US-only SaaS at $49/mo (75% domestic card / 25% international) typically pays 3.5–3.8% effective. Add 0.5% if you’ve enabled Stripe Tax. The calculator’s Bulk mode also takes a CSV of customer charges and gives you precise per-customer fee data.
Do failed charges cost extra?
A failed authorization is free — Stripe doesn’t charge for declined transactions. But each retry attempt is screened (Radar costs $0.05/transaction if enabled). Stripe Billing’s smart-retry feature (called "Smart Retries") can recover 25–30% of involuntary churn and is bundled in the 0.5% Billing fee.
How does Stripe handle proration on plan changes?
Stripe Billing prorates plan changes automatically — switching a customer from $49 to $99 mid-cycle invoices them only for the remaining-period difference, and the fee calculation is on the prorated amount. The 0.5% Billing fee applies to the prorated charge, same as a regular invoice.

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