How to accept payments on your website: Stripe, PayPal or Square?

Card payments on a website don't go to your bank directly. They go through a payment processor, a company that takes the money from the customer, checks the payment and pays it out to your bank account minus its fee. Below are the main options for a small business, what each costs, and what your site needs before a processor will approve it. What the rest of an online store costs is in our guide to online store pricing.

Stripe vs PayPal vs Square: what each costs

Three processors cover most small business websites in the US:

Prices are from each company's own pricing page in October 2026. All three add about 1.5% for cards issued outside the US, and charge extra when a currency has to be converted. Square's online rate depends on your plan, so comparisons that show 2.9% + 30¢ for every Square user are out of date.

What it costs on a real month

A percentage means little until you put your own volume on it. Take 100 orders a month at $50 each, $5,000 in sales:

The fixed fee matters most on small orders: on a $10 sale, Stripe's 30¢ adds another 3%. If your average order is small, compare the total, not the percentage.

What processors check before approving you

Every processor reviews your business and your website before it lets you take payments, because it answers to the card networks for the merchants it signs up. Have ready:

• Business details on the site: legal name, address, email and phone.
• Terms of service and a privacy policy.
• Shipping and refund policy, with timeframes and who pays for returns.
• Final prices on every product or service.
• A business bank account and your tax ID (EIN or SSN for sole proprietors).

What else the law expects on a business website is in our guide to website legal requirements.

Hosted checkout or a card form on your own page?

For most small businesses, the hosted checkout page is the right choice. The customer clicks "Pay", lands on the processor's page (Stripe Checkout, for example), pays and comes back to your site. Card numbers never pass through your server, so you qualify for the shortest PCI self-assessment and have far less to secure.

A card form embedded in your own page looks more seamless, but it takes more work to build and more care to keep secure. For a small shop, the conversion gain rarely pays for the effort.

Turn on Apple Pay and Google Pay in the processor's dashboard; there's usually no extra charge. On a phone they cut checkout to a tap, because the customer doesn't type a card number.

Getting paid without an online store

You don't need a shopping cart to take card payments. A few options:

• Payment links: Stripe Payment Links, PayPal and Square create a link you put on a button or send by email and text. Good for deposits, gift vouchers, classes and services paid upfront.
• Deposits at booking: booking systems can take a card deposit when the client books, which cuts no-shows. See online booking for salons and clinics.
• Subscriptions: monthly or yearly recurring payments for memberships, classes or retainers. Stripe and Square both support them.

If you sell food, ordering directly on your own site without delivery-app commission is covered in commission-free online ordering.

Payouts, sales tax and disputes

Payouts. Processors pay out on a schedule, usually a couple of business days after the payment. The payout is net of fees, so your bank statement won't match your orders one to one. Your bookkeeper needs the processor's payout report, which lists each payment and its fee.

Sales tax. Since the Supreme Court's South Dakota v. Wayfair decision in 2018, states can require out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax once they pass an economic threshold. If you ship to other states, check with your accountant; Stripe, Square and most store platforms can calculate the tax for you.

Disputes. When a customer disputes a charge with their bank, the processor asks you for evidence: order confirmation, proof of delivery, messages. At Stripe in the US, each dispute costs $15. Clear descriptions on your site and confirmation emails are what win disputes.

Checklist

1. Your site shows business details, terms, shipping, refunds and final prices.
2. You compared at least two processors on your real monthly volume.
3. Checkout runs on the processor's hosted page, with Apple Pay and Google Pay on.
4. Customers get a payment confirmation and receipt by email.
5. Your bookkeeper gets the payout report every month.
6. Someone knows how to answer a dispute and what evidence to send.

We connect the sites and stores we build to the processor you choose and to your invoicing, so a paid order flows through to the receipt on its own. See our web development page.