Build Payments with Stripe

Use Checkout for fastest implementation—Stripe-hosted, optimized for conversion, includes Apple Pay, Google Pay, and local methods. Use Elements for full UI control with Stripe's PCI-compliant card inputs embedded in your design. Elements requires more work but offers complete customization. Start with Checkout, move to Elements if needed.

Create Products and Prices, then create Subscriptions linking customers to prices. Stripe handles recurring billing, prorations, and invoice generation. Configure billing cycles, trial periods, and metered usage. Use webhooks for lifecycle events (payment succeeded, failed, subscription updated). Customer Portal lets users self-manage.

Connect enables platforms to accept payments on behalf of others (marketplaces, SaaS platforms paying vendors). Three models: Standard (sellers have full Stripe accounts), Express (simplified onboarding), Custom (you control everything). Use Connect when your platform moves money between multiple parties—not for simple direct payments.

Stripe's Smart Retries automatically retry failed payments at optimal times. Configure dunning emails in Billing settings. Use webhooks to handle 'invoice.payment_failed' for custom actions. Enable customer-facing payment update via Customer Portal. Revenue Recovery tools can update expired cards automatically with issuer support.

Stripe handles PCI compliance for you. Card data goes directly to Stripe—your servers never see raw card numbers. Checkout and Elements are PCI-compliant by design. You fill out a simple SAQ-A questionnaire (minimal burden). Never log, store, or pass raw card data through your backend—use tokens instead.

Refunds: call refunds.create() with payment intent ID, amount (partial or full). Funds return 5-10 days typically. Disputes: receive 'charge.dispute.created' webhook, upload evidence via API or dashboard, Stripe handles bank communication. Disputes have strict deadlines—automate evidence collection. Winning rate improves with good documentation.

Verify webhook signatures using Stripe's signing secret—ensures requests come from Stripe. Handle idempotency (webhooks may be sent multiple times). Respond 2xx quickly, process asynchronously for slow operations. Store event IDs to prevent duplicate processing. Use webhook testing in Stripe CLI during development.

Create metered prices in Stripe Billing. Report usage via Usage Records API or from your backend. Stripe aggregates usage and bills per cycle. Supports: sum (total usage), last-during-period (final value), or max (peak value). Common for API calls, compute minutes, storage. Combine with base subscription for hybrid models.

Stripe Tax automatically calculates and collects sales tax, VAT, and GST. Enable on Products, Stripe adds tax line items to invoices. Provides compliance reporting. Available in 40+ countries. Alternative: integrate with tax services like Avalara or TaxJar. For B2B, collect tax IDs for reverse charge.

Use test mode (separate API keys, no real charges). Test cards: 4242424242424242 (success), 4000000000000341 (decline), 4000000000009995 (insufficient funds). Use Stripe CLI for local webhook testing. Create test clocks for subscription scenarios requiring time advancement. Always test edge cases (failures, disputes) before production.

Use Stripe Link for automatic one-click across Link network. Alternatively, save payment methods to Customer objects with 'off_session' flag for future use. Display saved methods in your checkout, create PaymentIntents with existing payment_method ID. Consider SCA requirements—may need 3DS for European cards.

Stripe targets 99.99%+ API uptime (four nines). Status at status.stripe.com shows real-time health. Enterprise plans include SLA credits. For critical paths, implement fallback handling (queue for retry). Stripe's infrastructure spans multiple regions with automatic failover. Historical uptime exceeds stated targets.