Stripe is a payments API.
PayNow is the business around it.
Stripe has started offering a Merchant of Record product of its own, called Managed Payments, for 3.5% on top of normal processing. We charge between 3.5% and 2.5% depending on plan, and the storefront and in-game delivery come with it, which Stripe doesn’t offer at all.
The short version
Stripe is a payments API, and a very good one, but you have to build the store on it: the storefront, in-game delivery, tax registrations, dispute evidence and fraud rules are all yours to set up and run. And because the account is yours, so is the risk of a processor deciding it doesn’t want game-server goods and closing it with your balance held.
Stripe Managed Payments makes Stripe the seller and handles tax, fraud and disputes for 3.5% on top of processing, but still gives you no store and no in-game delivery. Ours is 3.5% down to 2.5% by plan, on what’s left after the gateway fee, with the storefront, checkout and delivery included, and stores on a Merchant of Record tend to see more checkouts go through.
Two Stripe products, side by side
Stripe direct is you running your own Stripe account: you’re the merchant of record and you add the pieces you need one by one. Managed Payments is Stripe acting as merchant of record for you, for 3.5% on top of the same processing fees. Figures are US pricing from Stripe’s own pages.
| Stripe direct | Stripe Managed Payments | PayNow | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online card, US domestic | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| International card | +1.5% | +1.5% | 2.9% + $0.30 for UK and EU cards, 3.9% + $0.30 for the rest of the world |
| Currency conversion | +1% | +1% | Nothing charged to you. The buyer sees the conversion fee at checkout. |
| Merchant of Record | You are the seller | +3.5% per transaction | 2.5–3.5% platform fee by plan |
| Tax registration and filing | Stripe Tax 0.5% per transaction, calculation only | Handled by Stripe | Handled by PayNow |
| Subscriptions | Stripe Billing 0.7% of billing volume | Billing fees apply separately | Included |
| Fraud tooling | Radar included on standard pricing | Handled by Stripe | Included |
| 3D Secure | Included on standard pricing | Included | Included |
| Dispute received | $15 each, win or lose, plus $15 to respond, refunded only if you win | Handled by Stripe | Ours to fight, no per-dispute fee |
| Payment methods | Stripe’s own catalogue, each one enabled by you | A subset of Stripe methods | 120+ local methods, one toggle each |
| Local entity routing | Not offered. One acquirer, one entity. | Handled by Stripe, through its own local entities | EU payments routed through our EU entity for higher approval rates |
| Currency localisation | Adaptive Pricing available | Adaptive Pricing available | Adaptive currency included |
| Checkout recovery | Not built in. You build and send the recovery emails yourself. | Not built in | Abandoned checkout and follow-up emails included |
| Storefront and delivery | Not provided. You build and host it. | Not provided | Store, checkout and in-game delivery |
| Who carries the liability | You | Stripe, on those transactions | PayNow, on every order |
| What you actually pay | Gateway fee | 3.5% + gateway fee | 2.5% + gateway fee |
Stripe figures as published on stripe.com/pricing and support.stripe.com, checked August 2026. PayNow card rates are the ones on our payment methods page. All totals are estimates modelled on the assumptions shown; your own rate depends on payment method mix, buyer region, volume and plan. See every method and its gateway fee →
Like for like: two Merchants of Record
Both charge a Merchant of Record fee on top of the gateway cost, so here is the same month on each. The example store does $10,000 a month across 500 orders of $20, with 40% of them on international cards, 30% of the volume converting currency and 30% on subscriptions.
| Stripe Managed Payments | PayNow Business | |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway cost | $530 processing, with international and conversion surcharges | $440 to $480: 2.9% + $0.30 on US, UK and EU cards, 3.9% + $0.30 elsewhere, and no conversion fee to you |
| Merchant of Record fee | 3.5% of the full amount, $350 | 2.5% of what is left after the gateway, about $239 |
| Also charged | Stripe Billing fees on the subscriptions | $49.99 a month for the Business plan |
| What it covers | Tax, fraud and disputes. No storefront, no delivery. | Tax, fraud, disputes, storefront and delivery |
| For the month | $880, plus Billing fees | About $730 to $770, all in |
Their surcharge is 3.5% of the full transaction; ours is as low as 2.5% of what is left after the gateway. Put your own volume, method mix and plan into the pricing calculator, and check the gateway fee of each method on the payment methods page.
Included with PayNow. Yours on Stripe.
This is what running Stripe direct actually involves. Stripe’s components are excellent; the job is operating them and carrying the liability yourself.
Tax registration and filing
Stripe Tax calculates. Registering in each market, filing the returns and remitting stays with you.
Dispute handling
$15 for every dispute you receive, win or lose, and another $15 when you respond that you only get back if you win. The evidence is assembled by you, per dispute, on a deadline.
Dispute ratio risk
The ratio sits on your merchant account. Sustained highs mean a monitoring programme, then termination.
Account risk
Most mainstream processors aren’t keen on digital goods for game servers. Accounts in this category get looked at more closely, and it’s not unusual for one to be closed at short notice with the balance held for months to cover possible chargebacks.
Fraud tuned for gaming
Radar is included and it is good, but the rules are yours to tune. Nobody is watching your traffic after a wipe and adjusting the thresholds.
Buyer support
Receipts, refund requests and payment questions come to you, in your players’ timezones.
Storefront and checkout
Not a Stripe product. You design, build and host the store your players actually buy from.
In-game delivery
Plugins for Rust, Minecraft, Garry’s Mod, FiveM, Hytale, 7 Days to Die and more, plus the player and server linking behind them.
Local approval rates
One entity means one acquiring path. Routing EU volume through an EU entity is not something you can add on.
Method coverage
Enabling 120+ local methods, and keeping them working, is your integration and reconciliation work.
Where Stripe wins
If you have a payments engineer on the team, Stripe can be the right call.
Total control. No platform fee ceiling. At high volume, negotiated Stripe rates with an in-house team beat any platform percentage.
You own the relationship. The customer, the data and the cardholder statement are yours outright.
No platform dependency. Your store is not subject to another company’s policy changes.