Stripe vs Adyen vs Checkout.com 2027: US and UK card fees side by side

Summary. Stripe is the only one of the three that publishes a complete card price list for both markets. In the US it charges 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card payment, plus 1.5% for international cards, 1% when currency conversion is needed and 0.5% for manually entered cards. In the UK it charges 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards, 2.8% + 20p for premium (business) UK cards, 2.5% + 20p for EEA cards and 3.15% + 20p for other international cards, plus 2% for conversion. Adyen publishes a fixed processing fee ($0.13 on its global page, £0.11 on its UK page) plus interchange++ and a 0.60% markup for Visa and Mastercard, with no setup or monthly fees but an unpublished minimum invoice. Checkout.com publishes no rates and quotes either a flat rate or interchange++. In our worked examples, Stripe costs a US SaaS company 3.28% of a $400,000 month and a UK online shop 2.15% of a £250,000 month. Adyen beats those figures only if interchange plus scheme fees average below about 2.61% and 1.33% respectively. Our view: Stripe for predictability and US commercial-card mixes, Adyen once volume clears its minimum and your interchange is low, Checkout.com when you have the volume to negotiate.

About this article. For finance, product and engineering leads at US and UK online businesses choosing or renegotiating a card processor. On 13 November 2026 we checked every figure against Stripe's, Adyen's and Checkout.com's own pricing pages and help articles, the Payment Systems Regulator, the Federal Reserve and Nacha. Stripe's US page redirected us to a regional version, so we read the Internet Archive copy captured on 12 November 2026. All prices are list prices before tax and negotiated terms, and Adyen calls its published fees indicative. This is general information, not financial advice, and no vendor paid for inclusion. Researched with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team.

The pricing picture in one table

This is what each vendor shows on its public pricing pages. Not published means the figure was absent from the vendor's own page on 13 November 2026, not that the fee is zero.

Two facts shape everything below. First, Stripe's UK page splits domestic cards into standard and premium tiers, and the gap is 1.3 percentage points on every business-card payment. Second, Adyen's processing fee is per transaction, while its 0.60% markup sits on top of interchange and scheme fees that it passes through. You cannot compare the two without knowing your own card mix.

Stripe: blended pricing in the US and UK

Stripe charges no setup, monthly or closure fees on standard pricing. Every card fee is a percentage plus a fixed amount per successful payment, and the rate depends on where the card was issued and, in the UK, what kind of card it is.

Stripe's support article defines the UK tiers. Standard cards are consumer cards from Visa, Mastercard and Cartes Bancaires, plus every card from American Express, Discover, Diners Club, Maestro and UnionPay. Premium cards are commercial, corporate or business cards from Visa, Mastercard and Cartes Bancaires. Stripe classifies each card from network data at capture and says the split applies to businesses based in the UK or EEA; the US page shows one domestic rate. Stripe adds that business buyers most likely pay with such cards, even when the card is issued to an individual employee.

The conversion fee applies only when the charge currency differs from your settlement currency. A US SaaS company that prices and settles in dollars pays no Stripe conversion fee, even on foreign cards, although the cardholder's bank may charge the customer. A UK shop that sets its own euro prices for EEA shoppers and settles in pounds pays the 2%. Stripe's Adaptive Pricing, which shows prices in the shopper's currency, carries no extra charge for merchants on standard pricing; the customer is shown a conversion fee starting at 2% instead.

Three other Stripe lines matter. Card refunds carry no extra fee, but Stripe keeps the original processing and conversion fees. Stripe Billing on pay-as-you-go costs 0.7% of billing volume in both countries, which matters for SaaS teams running subscriptions on it. And Stripe may charge tax on its own fees depending on your location and status, so check how VAT appears on a UK statement. Larger merchants can ask for custom pricing, including interchange-plus (IC+), volume discounts and country-specific rates, but Stripe publishes no volume threshold.

Adyen: a processing fee plus interchange++

Adyen charges each transaction a fixed processing fee plus a fee set by the payment method. The global page shows the processing fee as $0.13 and the UK page as £0.11. For Visa, Mastercard and Maestro the payment method fee is interchange++ plus 0.60%.

Interchange++ means you pay three things: the interchange fee paid to the card issuer, the scheme fee charged by Visa or Mastercard, and Adyen's markup. Adyen's UK page gives a rough guide to the first: around 0.3% to 0.4% in Europe and around 2% in the US. Its April 2026 explainer puts EEA interchange at about 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit and US interchange at typically 1.5% to 3.5% or more, and notes that commercial and rewards cards cost more than consumer cards.

Adyen charges no setup, monthly, integration or closure fees, but its FAQ says a minimum invoice applies depending on industry or business model, without giving the amount. It also calls the listed fees indicative. On payouts, you choose when and in which currency to settle, and Adyen can link bank accounts in several currencies to avoid conversion. Settlement, FX and chargeback fees do not appear on the page, so treat them as quote items.

Checkout.com: quote-only pricing

Checkout.com's pricing page offers two structures and no numbers. Its fully flat-rate option is priced on your business profile and risk category. Its interchange++ option shows card scheme, processor and interchange fees separately. Registered charities get free processing in the countries where it operates.

The page lists no setup fees, no account maintenance fees, data migration assistance and dedicated account management. Its meta description says the company is open about interchange and FX rates, yet neither rate appears on the page. Checkout.com runs one global English pricing page rather than US and UK versions, and its footer says US money transmission is provided by Checkout US Inc. (NMLS 1791692). It claims processing in more than 150 currencies, with domestic coverage in more than 45 countries.

So Checkout.com cannot be compared on paper. Ask for both structures, priced on the same transaction file you send to the other two.

Why EEA cards cost UK merchants more

The biggest UK-specific cost driver sits outside all three vendors. The Payment Systems Regulator found that during 2021 and 2022 Mastercard and Visa raised interchange on EEA-issued cards used online at UK businesses fivefold: from 0.2% to 1.15% for debit and from 0.3% to 1.5% for credit. It estimates the increases cost UK businesses £150 million to £200 million a year.

The PSR proposed a price cap in December 2024. On 10 October 2025 it dropped the interim cap, after Mastercard, Visa and Revolut sought judicial review, and said it would set a cap only after building a methodology for the right level. It consulted on that methodology until 5 December 2025, and in February 2026 invited comment on a merchant survey, run by IFF Research, that will feed a merchant indifference test. Its 2026/27 plan lists next steps on cross-border fees, while the PSR itself is being consolidated into the FCA. As of 13 November 2026 no cap level or start date has been published.

How this reaches your bill depends on the model. On Stripe UK's blended pricing, an EEA card costs 2.5% + 20p whatever the underlying interchange. On Adyen or Checkout.com interchange++, you pay the actual 1.15% or 1.5% plus scheme fees plus the markup. If a cap arrives, interchange++ merchants see the saving directly; blended-rate merchants see it only if the provider cuts its list price.

Payout and FX fees

Payout and conversion lines come from the same pricing pages.

A UK merchant on Stripe standard pricing pays 2% on every converted charge, double the US rate. Adyen's alternative is to settle in the currency you charged and hold several currency accounts, which avoids conversion but needs a bank account in each currency.

Which provider fits which merchant

The American Express row is 2.9% of $200 plus 30¢ at Stripe, against $0.13 + 3.3% of $200 + $0.10 at Adyen.

Worked cost: a US SaaS firm and a UK online shop

Both examples use list prices checked on 13 November 2026, exclude disputes and VAT, and assume card payments only. Interchange++ rows are shown as a range because interchange and scheme fees depend on your card mix; those percentages are scenarios, not vendor prices.

US B2B SaaS: $400,000 a month

A hypothetical US SaaS company bills 2,000 card payments a month at an average of $200, all priced and settled in dollars. 85% of volume is on US-issued cards and 15% on cards issued abroad. Stripe's rates come from its US page, Adyen's from its global page.

Adyen's fixed parts cost $2,660, so it is cheaper only while interchange plus scheme fees average below ($13,100 minus $2,660) ÷ $400,000, or about 2.61% of volume. Adyen's own guide puts typical US interchange at 1.5% to 3.5% or more before scheme fees, and commercial cards sit at the expensive end. For this company the honest answer depends on the statement: pull three months of transactions and ask Adyen for a simulation. If it also needs subscription billing, Stripe Billing adds $2,800 a month, while an Adyen setup needs a separate billing engine whose cost is not included here.

There is a cheaper lever than switching processors. A $20,000 annual invoice paid by card on Stripe costs $580.30; the same invoice by ACH Direct Debit costs $5 on Stripe because of the cap, or $0.40 at Adyen's posted ACH rate. Moving large B2B invoices to bank debit saves more than most card renegotiations.

UK e-commerce: £250,000 a month

A hypothetical UK direct-to-consumer retailer takes 5,000 card orders a month at an average of £50, priced in pounds. 80% of volume is on standard UK consumer cards, 5% on UK business cards, 10% on EEA cards and 5% on other international cards. Rates come from Stripe's and Adyen's UK pages.

Adyen's fixed parts cost £2,050, so its break-even against Stripe is (£5,368.75 minus £2,050) ÷ £250,000, or about 1.33% of volume. Here the published anchors favour interchange++. Take UK consumer cards at 0.35% interchange (the middle of Adyen's 0.3% to 0.4% guide), EEA cards at the PSR's 1.5% credit level, and UK business and non-EEA cards at an assumed 2%. The interchange-only blend is then 0.28 + 0.15 + 0.10 + 0.10, or 0.63%, leaving about 0.7 percentage points for scheme fees before Stripe wins. The catch is Adyen's unpublished minimum invoice, which can wipe out a saving at this size, so get the figure before you build anything.

For Checkout.com, run the same two tables with its quoted flat rate and its quoted interchange++ markup.

US and UK buying notes

United States. Stripe's US page lists one domestic card rate, with no separate line for American Express or commercial cards, which is valuable for B2B sellers. On interchange++, debit cards from issuers with $10 billion or more in assets carry capped interchange under the Durbin Amendment, which Adyen summarises as 0.05% plus 21 or 22 cents. The Federal Reserve proposed a lower cap in October 2023, but the eCFR shows no amendment to the fee standard since. That makes consumer debit cheap on interchange++ and corporate credit expensive. For large B2B balances, bank rails beat cards; our Same Day ACH $10 million guide covers the rise in the per-payment limit from $1 million on 17 September 2027.

United Kingdom. Watch three things: your share of business cards (2.8% + 20p on Stripe), your share of EEA cards (1.15% to 1.5% interchange on interchange++ until a cap arrives), and whether you set prices in euros (2% conversion on Stripe). For recurring revenue, compare Stripe's Bacs Direct Debit at 1% capped at £4 with Adyen's £0.11 + £0.55, and look at bank-led options such as commercial variable recurring payments.

Both markets. Portability matters as much as price, so ask how card tokens move if you leave. Checkout.com lists data migration assistance, and Stripe sells a Vault and Forward API, priced through sales, that routes payments to other processors while cards stay in Stripe's vault.

Selection and migration checklist

1. Export three months of transactions with card brand, consumer or commercial flag, issuing country, wallet, currency and amount.

1. Send the same file to all three and ask Adyen and Checkout.com for an interchange++ simulation and Checkout.com for a flat-rate quote.

1. Get the minimums in writing: Adyen's minimum invoice, any Checkout.com volume commitment and Stripe's custom-pricing thresholds.

1. List the unpublished fees: chargebacks, settlement, FX markup, refunds, 3D Secure, network tokens and account updater.

1. Check payout timing and currency against your cash-flow model, especially for UK businesses holding euro or dollar balances.

1. Plan token migration before signing, including PCI scope and who runs the transfer.

1. Rebuild webhooks, idempotency and reconciliation for the new provider; our e-commerce system design guide covers the failure cases.

1. Pin and test SDK versions, as covered in our note on Stripe's September 2026 SDK runtime drops.

1. Run a parallel cohort for four to six weeks and compare authorisation rates as well as fees. On the US example, one extra percentage point of approvals is worth $4,000 of revenue a month, five times the $800 saved by a 0.2-point fee cut.

1. Re-check the PSR and FCA before signing a long UK contract, since a cross-border cap would favour interchange++.

How eCorpIT can help

eCorpIT is a Gurugram-based technology organisation, founded in 2021, assessed at CMMI Level 5 and MSME certified, with senior-led engineering teams working across AWS, Microsoft and Google platforms. We model your processor fees from a transaction export and then build the checkout, subscription billing, webhook and reconciliation work a switch needs, through our application development services. Talk to us at /contact-us/.

Last updated: 13 November 2026.

References

1. Pricing and fees (United States), Internet Archive copy of 12 November 2026 — Stripe

1. Pricing and fees (United Kingdom) — Stripe

1. Pricing for supported payment methods (global page, USD) — Adyen

1. Pricing for supported payment methods (United Kingdom page, GBP) — Adyen

1. Pricing — Checkout.com

1. What's the difference between standard and premium cards? — Stripe Support

1. Supported currencies: presentment and settlement — Stripe Docs

1. What are interchange fees, how they work, and what they cost, 1 April 2026 — Adyen

1. PSR confirms competition concerns about cross border card fees and proposes price cap to protect UK businesses, 13 December 2024 — Payment Systems Regulator

1. Market review into cross-border interchange fees — Payment Systems Regulator

1. MR22/2.9 Decision not to proceed with interim cap on cross-border interchange fees: statement of reasons, 10 October 2025 — Payment Systems Regulator

1. MR22/2.8 Consultation on methodology for developing a price cap remedy, 10 October 2025 — Payment Systems Regulator

1. Cross-border interchange fees market review: invitation to comment on merchant survey draft questionnaire, 26 February 2026 — Payment Systems Regulator

1. PSR to press ahead on card fees, fraud and payments reform in 2026/27, 26 March 2026 — Payment Systems Regulator

1. The PSR's response to HMT consultation: a streamlined approach to payment systems regulation, 21 April 2026 — Payment Systems Regulator

1. Federal Reserve Board requests comment on a proposal to lower the maximum interchange fee that a large debit card issuer can receive, 25 October 2023 — Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

1. Version history for 12 CFR Part 235 (Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing) — eCFR

1. Increasing the Same Day ACH dollar limit to $10 million — Nacha