Stripe Connect
Overview
Stripe Connect is the most widely used marketplace payment solution, providing infrastructure for platform payments in 47+ countries and 135+ currencies. It handles everything from vendor onboarding (KYC/KYB) to split payments and automated payouts. Stripe offers three integration models — Standard, Express, and Custom — giving marketplaces flexibility based on their needs. It's the default payment choice for most marketplace builders including Sharetribe, and powers major platforms worldwide.
Best for: Most marketplaces — the default choice for global payment processing with the most features and widest coverage.
Key features
- Split payments and payouts
- 135+ currency support
- KYC/KYB vendor onboarding
- Subscription billing
- Instant payouts (for eligible accounts)
- Fraud prevention (Radar)
- Comprehensive reporting
- Express and Custom onboarding flows
Pricing
Model: Per-transaction fees
Pros & cons
Pros
- + Most comprehensive marketplace payment solution available
- + 135+ currencies, 47+ countries
- + Three integration levels (Standard, Express, Custom)
- + Excellent developer documentation and APIs
- + Built-in KYC/KYB for vendor onboarding
- + Supports subscriptions with split payments
Cons
- − Flat-rate pricing — no volume discounts
- − Can be complex to implement (Custom integration)
- − Account holds and freezes can be frustrating
- − Support quality varies for smaller platforms
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