Businesses look for a Stripe alternative when the headline card rate stops being the whole bill, when they want a processor that quotes interchange-plus, or when they sell digital goods and want someone else to carry sales tax. They move to a European acquirer, a bank-payment network, a merchant of record or a PayPal-owned gateway, depending on which cost or duty drove the search.
Short answer: Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. For Stripe users, the top three picks from our payment processing software ranking are Mollie, Adyen and Checkout.com. Pick Mollie if you sell mainly in Europe and want a published price for each local payment method. Each of the 11 alternatives sits in Best Payment Processing Software in 2026 and is described against Stripe.
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Pricing: Published pay-as-you-go card rates with no setup or monthly fee; interchange-plus on request
Established in: United States
Built for: Software teams who want an API-first processor with public rates and global reach.
Not for: Shops wanting one flat all-in price including tax handling.
01
Why buyers look past Stripe
01
The card rate is only the start of the bill
Stripe's Netherlands pricing page lists EEA standard cards at 1.5% + EUR 0.25, UK cards at 2.5% + EUR 0.25 and international cards at 3.15% + EUR 0.25, with an extra 2% when currency conversion is needed. Add-ons are priced on top: Billing at 0.7% of billing volume on pay-as-you-go, Tax Basic at 0.5% per transaction, Radar from EUR 10 a month. A shop selling across currencies can pay noticeably more than the first line suggests.
02
Interchange-plus is only available by negotiation
The standard Stripe account is blended pricing. Interchange-plus, fixed discounted rates and volume discounts exist, but the page states no rates for them and sends high-volume businesses to sales. Adyen publishes its model openly (a fixed fee plus interchange++ for cards), and Checkout.com and Braintree quote interchange-plus or custom rates to established merchants, so a large merchant can compare structures instead of accepting a blended rate.
03
Leaving is possible but not complete
Stripe will transfer customer card data to a PCI DSS Level 1 processor as an encrypted JSON file, but the export holds customers, cards, emails and metadata only. Payment history and subscriptions must be pulled through the API or Dashboard, and credentials saved through Link are excluded. A switch therefore needs a migration plan for subscriptions, not just a new gateway.
you want a lightweight merchant of record for digital products and accept the Stripe link
#12
03
What each one does differently
1
Mollie
Netherlands · Published
The closest European match for online shops. Mollie publishes a long per-method table, such as EEA consumer cards at 1.80% + EUR 0.25 and iDEAL at EUR 0.32, with no monthly fee and payouts free up to five a month. Volume pricing starts above EUR 100,000 a month by quote. It covers Europe and the UK, not a global footprint.
Switch from Stripe if you sell mainly in Europe and want a published price for each local payment method.
Published model of a fixed processing fee (USD 0.13 on the page) plus a method fee, with interchange++ on major cards and no setup, monthly or closure fees. The page notes a minimum invoice that depends on business model. It is built for large merchants and platforms, and the price table lists around 70 country entries.
Switch from Stripe if your volume is high enough that interchange++ and one global acquirer beat a blended rate.
No prices on the pricing page: it offers flat-rate or interchange++ structures, set by business profile and risk category, and asks you to contact sales. It states 150+ currencies and domestic coverage in 45+ countries, and free processing for registered charities. Small shops get no figure to compare.
Switch from Stripe if you are a mid-size or enterprise merchant ready to negotiate an acquiring contract.
Now documented on PayPal's site, with a US standard rate of 2.89% + USD 0.29 and chargebacks at USD 15. Established businesses can request custom flat rates or interchange-plus. The published rates apply to US accounts only, and the fee page does not list other countries.
Switch from Stripe if you are a US merchant who also wants PayPal and a gateway under one contract.
Commercial rate of 2.9% + a fixed fee in the UK, 1.2% for card payments from users without a PayPal account, plus 1.29% to 1.99% cross-border. An optional tiered plan drops to 2.1% above GBP 8,000 a month. It is a wallet first, and the standard dispute fee is GBP 12.
Switch from Stripe if your buyers already pay with PayPal and you want it as the main method.
Combines point of sale and online selling. UK online card payments cost 1.4% + 25p for UK cards, in person 1.75%, with a Free plan at GBP 0 and Plus from GBP 29 a month. The page we could read lists no other countries. It suits small shops with tills, not subscription software.
Switch from Stripe if you sell in a shop or market and want one system for till and website.
A single published online rate of 2.50% with no monthly cost or set-up fee on the UK page, and custom pricing for SDK or API integrations. Payment links, invoices and a store builder are included. Its online side is simpler than a developer platform, and subscription billing is not listed on that page.
Switch from Stripe if you are a small seller who wants payment links and invoices without a developer.
A traditional acquirer with quote-based pricing. The page shows indicative UK figures: a 4.5p authorisation fee, GBP 20 a month per terminal, a GBP 15 minimum monthly service charge and a GBP 20 chargeback fee, then a custom quote tool. Online pricing is not a single published rate.
Switch from Stripe if you take card payments in person and online and want a conventional acquiring contract.
Bank payments, mainly Direct Debit, not cards. Standard is 1% + 20p capped at GBP 4, with Advanced and Pro tiers adding failed-payment recovery and fraud tools. Since 1 September 2026 it has been owned by Mollie. It suits recurring invoices, and it will not replace a card checkout.
Switch from Stripe if most of your revenue is recurring and you would rather collect it by bank debit.
A merchant of record: Paddle is the seller, so it collects and remits sales tax, at 5% + USD 0.50 per checkout with no monthly fee. It pays out monthly only once fees pass 100 in the payout currency. It is for software and digital products, not physical goods, and you lose the direct customer billing relationship.
Switch from Stripe if you sell software globally and want tax filing taken off your hands.
Also a merchant of record at 5% + 50 cents per sale, payouts twice a month by bank wire or PayPal. Stripe acquired it in 2024, and a January 2026 post says the team is building Stripe Managed Payments and aims to help users migrate to it. Its long-term standalone future is therefore unclear.
Switch from Stripe if you want a lightweight merchant of record for digital products and accept the Stripe link.
Stripe remains the right choice when a developer team wants one API for cards, wallets, bank methods, invoicing and subscriptions at published, no-minimum rates, and the volume is too small to negotiate anything. The list is on one page: no setup or monthly fee for a standard account, 195+ countries for cardholders and 100+ payment methods as the vendor states them. If your cost problem is only the blended rate, ask Stripe for custom interchange-plus pricing before you rebuild your checkout.
05
What moving off Stripe involves
01
Ask for the card export early
The export needs the receiving processor to show a current PCI Attestation of Compliance and a PGP key of 4096 bits or more. Stripe asks you to name the new processor and says it can usually confirm eligibility. Start this before you cancel, and do not close the account, because Stripe keeps Dashboard and API access only while the account stays open.
02
Plan the subscriptions and history separately
Stripe does not export payment history or subscriptions in the card file. Pull invoices, charges and subscription schedules through the API or Dashboard, and decide per customer whether the renewal date and price carry over. Customers who saved details through Link must enter their card again.
06
Questions about replacing Stripe
6 answers
What is the cheapest alternative to Stripe?
It depends on the product. For European online shops, Mollie lists EEA consumer cards at 1.80% + EUR 0.25 against Stripe's 1.5% + EUR 0.25, so it is not cheaper on cards.
For recurring bank debits, GoCardless Standard is 1% + 20p capped at GBP 4. Compare your own mix of methods, not a single rate.
Is there a Stripe alternative with interchange-plus pricing?
Adyen publishes interchange++ for major cards. Checkout.com offers it as an option on request, Braintree and Stripe offer it to established or high-volume businesses by negotiation. Only Adyen shows the model on its public page.
Which alternative handles sales tax for me?
Paddle and Lemon Squeezy act as merchant of record, so they collect and remit sales tax and VAT. Stripe has its own merchant of record product, Managed Payments, at 3.5% per transaction on top of Payments fees. All three suit digital products only.
Is Lemon Squeezy still independent of Stripe?
No. Lemon Squeezy announced on 26 July 2024 that Stripe had acquired it, and its legal entity now appears as Link, LLC f/k/a Lemon Squeezy LLC. A January 2026 post says it is building Stripe Managed Payments and wants to help users migrate there.
Is there a European alternative to Stripe?
Mollie and Adyen are Dutch payment providers. Checkout.com operates through a UK company, and GoCardless is UK-based and now a Mollie company. Stripe contracts with EEA, UK and Swiss merchants through Stripe Payments Europe, Limited in Ireland.
Can I take my saved cards to another processor?
Yes, to a PCI DSS Level 1 processor, as an encrypted file prepared by Stripe. It holds customers, card details, emails and metadata. Subscriptions and payment history are not included, and credentials saved with Link are excluded.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Checked and edited by Sebastiaan Smits, last on 2 November 2026. The editorial process explains the method.
