Stripe looks cheap at 1.5 percent, but the fee on your invoice depends on which card your client pays with, where that card was issued, and whether Stripe has to convert the currency. This guide shows every rate, with worked examples, so you know what you actually keep before you quote.
You are here because you want one thing: to know exactly how much Stripe takes from a freelance invoice, and what lands in your bank. That answer is in the next section. The rest of the guide covers international clients, the fees hiding outside the headline rate, and how to set your price so the deduction is already covered.
How much does Stripe charge freelancers per invoice?
For a UK freelancer on Stripe standard pricing, a domestic invoice paid by a standard UK card costs 1.5 percent plus 20p, so a £1,000 invoice loses £15.20 and you keep £984.80. Premium, European and international cards cost more, and US freelancers pay 2.9 percent plus 30 cents on domestic cards.
There is no setup fee and no monthly fee on standard pricing. Stripe only charges when a payment succeeds, and it deducts the fee before the money reaches your balance. That is why your payout is always lower than your invoice total, even though your client paid the full amount.
One warning before the table: several popular fee guides and calculators still show Stripe’s old UK rates of 1.9 percent for premium cards and 3.25 percent for international cards. Stripe repriced during 2026. The current figures below are the ones on Stripe’s own UK pricing page, checked this month.
Fees last verified: October 2026, against Stripe’s GB pricing page and Stripe’s US pricing page.
Every Stripe fee at a glance
Stripe charges a percentage of the payment plus a fixed fee, and the percentage depends on the card your client uses, not on the work you did. Premium cards are commercial, corporate and business cards. You cannot tell in advance which card a client will pull out, which is why the range matters.
| Fee | UK account | US account |
|---|---|---|
| Standard domestic card | 1.5 percent + 20p | 2.9 percent + 30 cents |
| Premium (commercial) card | 2.8 percent + 20p | Included in the standard domestic rate |
| EEA card | 2.5 percent + 20p | Counts as international, see below |
| International card | 3.15 percent + 20p | Standard rate + 1.5 percent |
| Currency conversion | + 2 percent if conversion is required | + 1 percent if conversion is required |
| Dispute (chargeback) received | £20 | $15 |
| Dispute countered manually | £20, returned if you win | $15, returned if you win |
| Refunds | No fee to issue, but the original processing fee is not returned | Same |
| Setup and monthly fees | None on standard pricing | None on standard pricing |
Run any invoice size through LancerBill’s Stripe fee calculator and it applies the right card rate, including the conversion add-on, so the net payout stops being a guess.
Tip: The card type is decided by your client’s card, not your client’s location. A UK client paying with a company credit card costs you the premium rate of 2.8 percent plus 20p, nearly double the standard rate, on exactly the same invoice.
What do you keep on a £100, £500 and £1,000 invoice?
The fastest way to understand Stripe fees is to watch the card type change the answer on the same invoice. These are UK account figures, with no currency conversion.
| Invoice | Card | Arithmetic | Fee | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £100 | Standard UK | 1.5 percent of £100 = £1.50, plus £0.20 | £1.70 | £98.30 |
| £100 | Premium UK | 2.8 percent of £100 = £2.80, plus £0.20 | £3.00 | £97.00 |
| £100 | EEA | 2.5 percent of £100 = £2.50, plus £0.20 | £2.70 | £97.30 |
| £100 | International | 3.15 percent of £100 = £3.15, plus £0.20 | £3.35 | £96.65 |
| £500 | Standard UK | 1.5 percent of £500 = £7.50, plus £0.20 | £7.70 | £492.30 |
| £1,000 | Standard UK | 1.5 percent of £1,000 = £15.00, plus £0.20 | £15.20 | £984.80 |
| £1,000 | International | 3.15 percent of £1,000 = £31.50, plus £0.20 | £31.70 | £968.30 |
Worked example, step by step. You invoice a UK client £1,000 for a website build, and they pay with a standard UK debit card. Stripe takes 1.5 percent of £1,000, which is £15.00. It adds the 20p fixed fee, so the total deduction is £15.20. Your payout is £1,000 minus £15.20, which is £984.80.
Now watch the fixed fee on small invoices. On a £50 invoice at the standard rate, the fee is £0.75 plus £0.20, which is £0.95. That is an effective rate of 1.9 percent, not 1.5 percent. On a £100 invoice the effective rate is 1.7 percent. The smaller the invoice, the harder the 20p bites, so batching small jobs into one monthly invoice genuinely saves you money.
The annual view is the one most freelancers miss. Twelve monthly £1,000 invoices from UK clients cost you £15.20 each, which is £182.40 a year. If those clients all pay with premium company cards, the same work costs you £28.20 per invoice, which is £338.40 a year. Same clients, same work, £156 gone, decided entirely by which card they used.
What does an international client really cost you?
An international client costs you the international card rate of 3.15 percent plus 20p if your account is in the UK, and Stripe adds a further 2 percent if it has to convert the payment into pounds. On a £1,000 invoice that is £31.70 before conversion, or £51.70 with conversion, leaving £948.30.
The two layers stack because they pay for different things. The international card rate covers the higher cost of accepting a card issued outside the UK and the EEA. The conversion fee applies only when the payment currency differs from your payout currency and Stripe converts it for you. It is charged as an extra percentage on top of the exchange rate Stripe applies, not instead of it. A US client who pays in pounds on a US card triggers the first layer but not the second.
US freelancers face the mirror image. Your domestic rate is 2.9 percent plus 30 cents, so a $1,000 invoice from a US client costs $29.30 and you keep $970.70. An international card adds 1.5 percent, taking the fee to $44.30. Conversion, where Stripe has to convert the payment into dollars, adds a further 1 percent on a US account.
Watch out: Quoting overseas clients the same price as domestic clients means you absorb both layers yourself. Either build the higher rate into international prices, invoice in your own currency where clients accept it, or move regular overseas clients to a cheaper rail. Our guide to PayPal fees for freelancers shows how the same stacking pushes a cross-border PayPal payment past 7 percent.
How do you price so the Stripe fee does not eat your rate?
Divide, do not add. To keep a set amount, add the fixed fee to it, then divide by one minus the percentage rate. For a UK standard card that is (amount you want + £0.20) divided by 0.985. Adding 1.5 percent on top undercharges you, because Stripe takes its percentage from the higher total.
Worked example. You want to keep exactly £1,000 from a UK client paying by standard card. Add the £0.20 fixed fee to get £1,000.20. Divide by 1 minus 0.015, which is 0.985. That gives £1,015.43. Check it: 1.5 percent of £1,015.43 is £15.23, plus £0.20 is £15.43, and £1,015.43 minus £15.43 is exactly £1,000.00.
| You want to keep | Invoice this (UK standard card) | Stripe takes |
|---|---|---|
| £250 | £254.01 | £4.01 |
| £500 | £507.82 | £7.82 |
| £1,000 | £1,015.43 | £15.43 |
| £2,500 | £2,538.27 | £38.27 |
Whether you gross up the invoice or absorb the fee is a commercial choice. Most freelancers build payment costs into their standard rate, which keeps the invoice clean and the conversation simple. Check what the fee does to the job itself with LancerBill’s profit margin calculator. If a 1.5 to 3 percent fee wipes out your profit, the job was priced too tightly before Stripe got involved. The reverse mode in the Stripe calculator above does the gross-up maths for any card type.
The fees that sit outside the headline rate
Three costs catch freelancers out because none of them appear in the headline percentage.
Refunds. Issuing a refund costs nothing extra on standard pricing, but Stripe does not return the original processing fee. Refund a £1,000 payment in full and you are still £15.20 down, on top of the unpaid work. Build a deposit or milestone structure into larger jobs so a change of mind does not leave you funding the fee.
Disputes. If a client raises a chargeback, Stripe charges £20 for each dispute you receive on a UK account, and another £20 if you respond manually. You get the second fee back if you win, and you do not get it back if you lose. On a US account both fees are $15. One dispute on a small invoice can cost more than the processing fees on your last twenty invoices combined, which is why a clear, numbered invoice and a written agreement matter. Create that invoice with LancerBill’s free invoice generator and keep the paper trail in one place.
Payout speed. Standard payouts to your bank are free. If you use Instant Payouts to get the money within minutes, Stripe charges a percentage of the payout on top: 1.5 percent with a 50 cent minimum on a US account. Treat it as an emergency lever, not a habit, because it quietly doubles the cost of a small invoice.
Tip: Keep your Stripe fee reports with your bookkeeping. Card processing fees you pay to earn your income are generally an allowable business expense for UK sole traders, so the fees reduce your taxable profit rather than coming straight out of your pocket twice.
Stripe, PayPal or bank transfer: which should you offer?
Stripe is rarely the wrong answer, but it is not always the best one. The right rail depends on the client, the invoice size, and how much trust already exists between you.
| Situation | Sensible default | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Client wants to pay by card | Stripe | At 1.5 percent plus 20p on a standard UK card, it is roughly half the cost of PayPal’s 2.9 percent plus 30p on the same £1,000 invoice (£15.20 against £29.30) |
| New overseas client, first job | Stripe or PayPal | Both are familiar and fast. Stripe is cheaper on the card fee, but watch the conversion layer on either rail |
| Regular UK client, monthly work | Bank transfer | No percentage fee at all, and the relationship already carries the trust a card payment was providing |
| Lots of small invoices under £100 | Batch, or use bank transfer | The 20p fixed fee pushes your effective rate towards 1.9 percent, and batching dilutes it |
| Marketplace work on Upwork or Fiverr | The platform’s own payment system | You have no choice of rail, and the platform fee dwarfs the card fee. See the full picture in our freelance platform fees comparison |
One last comparison worth knowing: Stripe’s standard pricing is the same blended rate for everyone, with no negotiation and no volume discount until you reach the scale where custom pricing and interchange-plus deals apply. For a solo freelancer that simplicity is the point. You pay a known percentage, only when you get paid, and nothing at all in a quiet month.
Key takeaways
- UK freelancers pay 1.5 percent plus 20p on a standard UK card, so a £1,000 invoice returns £984.80.
- The card decides the fee: premium UK cards cost 2.8 percent plus 20p, EEA cards 2.5 percent plus 20p, and international cards 3.15 percent plus 20p. Older guides showing 1.9 and 3.25 percent are out of date.
- Currency conversion adds a further 2 percent on a UK account, taking an international £1,000 invoice to £51.70 in total fees.
- Gross up with division, not addition: to keep £1,000 on a standard UK card, invoice £1,015.43.
- Refunds do not return the original fee, and a UK dispute costs £20 to receive plus £20 to counter.
- US freelancers pay 2.9 percent plus 30 cents at home, with 1.5 percent added for international cards and 1 percent for conversion.
Frequently asked questions
Does Stripe charge a monthly fee for freelancers?
No. On standard pricing there is no setup fee, no monthly fee and no closure fee. You only pay the per-transaction fee when a client pays you, so a month with no invoices costs you nothing.
How much does Stripe take from a £1,000 invoice?
It depends on your client’s card. A standard UK card costs £15.20 (1.5 percent plus 20p), so you keep £984.80. A premium UK card costs £28.20, an EEA card £25.20, and an international card £31.70, or £51.70 if currency conversion is also required.
Why is my Stripe fee higher than 1.5 percent?
Three usual reasons: your client paid with a premium commercial card (2.8 percent plus 20p in the UK), the card was issued abroad (2.5 percent for EEA cards or 3.15 percent for other international cards), or Stripe converted the currency, which adds 2 percent on a UK account. The fixed 20p also pushes the effective rate up on small invoices.
Does Stripe refund its fee if I refund a client?
No. Issuing the refund itself is free on standard pricing, but Stripe keeps the processing and conversion fees from the original payment. A full refund of a £1,000 standard UK payment still leaves you £15.20 out of pocket.
Can I pass the Stripe fee on to my client?
You can build processing costs into your price, and most freelancers do, using the gross-up formula in this guide. Adding a separate surcharge at payment is riskier: UK rules ban surcharging most consumer card payments, and clients dislike surprise fees. A standard rate that quietly covers processing is the cleaner approach.
Is Stripe cheaper than PayPal for freelancers?
For UK card payments, usually yes. On a £1,000 domestic invoice Stripe’s standard card rate takes £15.20 while PayPal’s commercial rate of 2.9 percent plus 30p takes £29.30. The gap narrows or reverses on some international routes once conversion is added, so compare the full stack for overseas clients, not just the headline rate.
Fees last verified: October 2026. Stripe changes its rates from time to time, and several secondary guides still show the pre-2026 figures, so check the rate on Stripe’s own pricing page before relying on a figure for a large invoice.
This guide is for general information only and is not financial, tax or legal advice.