Stripe Connect is the default way for a software platform to let its own customers accept payments. Marketplaces, vertical SaaS products and other ISVs use it to onboard merchants, route funds and take a cut. It is well documented and quick to launch. But once payments become a meaningful part of a platform's revenue, the questions change: who sets the price your merchants pay, how much of it do you keep, and who decides which merchants get approved?
Below are seven Stripe Connect alternatives, how each one is priced, and the situation in which each one fits. Paydude is one of them, so we have tried to be plain about where we are the wrong answer. If you are a single business looking to replace Stripe for your own payments rather than for your merchants, read the best Stripe alternatives instead.
Stripe Connect alternatives at a glance
| Provider | Pricing model | Merchant fee on a $100 sale | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe Connect (Stripe handles pricing) | Merchants pay Stripe's rate; no Connect fees to the platform | $3.20 at 2.9% + 30¢ | Fastest launch, global marketplaces |
| Stripe Connect (platform handles pricing) | Processing + $2 per active account + 0.25% + 25¢ per payout | Set by you | Platforms that want Stripe and pricing control |
| Paydude | ISV program, platform pricing by quote | Set by you | US SaaS platforms that want to price merchants and earn on volume |
| Adyen for Platforms | Interchange + markup + 13¢ processing fee | Set by you | Large platforms with merchants in many countries |
| Finix | Custom/quote-based (flat-rate or interchange-plus) | Set by you | Platforms that may later become their own payfac |
| Rainforest | Custom/quote-based | Set by you | Vertical SaaS wanting a payments partner |
| Worldpay for Platforms (formerly Payrix) | Custom/quote-based | Set by you | Platforms that want a large acquirer behind them |
| Your own payfac registration | Interchange + sponsor bank and processor costs | Set by you | High-volume platforms with a risk team |
Stripe Connect platform costs at 10, 100 and 1,000 connected accounts
| Connected accounts | Account fees ($2 each) | Payout volume fees (0.25%) | Per-payout fees (25¢) | Monthly total | Yearly total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $20 | $500 | $50 | $570 | $6,840 |
| 100 | $200 | $5,000 | $500 | $5,700 | $68,400 |
| 1,000 | $2,000 | $50,000 | $5,000 | $57,000 | $684,000 |
On those assumptions Connect costs the platform $57 per account per month, about 0.29% of volume, at any number of accounts, and the 0.25% payout fee is most of it. Accounts with less volume or fewer payouts cost less; the $2 account fee is the floor for any account that is paid out that month.
How Stripe Connect is priced
Stripe's Connect pricing gives a platform two choices, and the choice decides who controls the merchant's rate.
- Stripe handles pricing. Your platform pays no Connect fees. Stripe bills your merchants directly at its standard pricing, starting at 2.9% + 30¢ per card charge. You can add an application fee on top, and Stripe says qualifying platforms can earn a revenue share.
- You handle pricing. You set what merchants pay, and Stripe charges your platform $2 per monthly active account (any account that receives a payout that month) plus 0.25% + 25¢ per payout sent, on top of payment processing.
- Under either model: Instant Payouts cost 1% of payout volume, cross-border payouts start at 0.25% of payout volume, and US 1099 e-filing is priced per form.
A worked example of the second model: 100 merchants, each processing $20,000 a month and paid out 20 times a month. That is $200 in account fees, $5,000 in percentage payout fees on $2 million of payouts and $500 in per-payout fees, or about $5,700 a month before a single card has been processed. That figure is not a reason to leave on its own, but it belongs in any comparison.
Why platforms look for a Stripe Connect alternative
- Revenue share. In the Stripe-handles-pricing model, your merchants pay Stripe's rate and anything you add makes them pay more. Platforms whose merchants process real volume often want to own the margin between cost and price instead.
- Control of merchant pricing. Vertical SaaS products often want to bundle payments into a plan, offer a lower rate to win a large merchant, or price by vertical. That needs a provider that lets you set the rate without adding a second layer of fees.
- Onboarding and underwriting. When merchant applications are approved, declined or put on a reserve by an automated system you cannot see into, your support team absorbs the fallout. Some platforms want a provider with a human in the loop, or a say in the decision.
- Lock-in. Connect ties your merchants, their saved cards and your fund flows to one processor. Platforms that expect to grow into payment facilitator status, or that want negotiating leverage, prefer a path that does not start from a single-processor integration.
1. Paydude — best for US SaaS platforms that want to price their merchants
Paydude is a payments API for software businesses, with an ISV program for platforms that embed payments for their own customers. Platforms set their own merchant pricing and earn on the volume their merchants process. Merchants get connected accounts under your platform, and the API will feel familiar to anyone who has built on Stripe: customers, payment methods, payment intents, refunds and signed webhooks, with typed SDKs, an open sandbox and an MCP server for coding agents.
Pricing for platforms is by quote rather than a published platform rate. For context, Paydude's own published card rate for direct merchants starts at 2.6% + 25¢, with ACH at 0.6% (75¢ minimum, $3 cap). See Paydude vs Stripe for the direct-merchant comparison.
Choose it when you are a US software platform taking online card and ACH payments for your merchants, and you want to set their rate and earn on their volume without registering as a payfac. Skip it when your merchants mainly sell in person with terminals, you need local acquiring in many countries, or you need card issuing or a merchant of record to handle global sales tax.
2. Adyen for Platforms — best for large, global platforms
Adyen offers a dedicated platforms product. Its documentation describes splitting each payment between sub-merchants and the platform, deducting commission or platform fees, and charging sub-merchants fees such as subscriptions or chargeback fees. Adyen prices on an interchange-plus basis: interchange, plus a markup that varies by payment method, plus a 13¢ processing fee. Platform terms are negotiated. See Paydude vs Adyen.
Choose it when your merchants sell in many countries, in person and online, and your volume is large enough for Adyen to take you on. Skip it when you are an early-stage platform or your merchants are mostly small US businesses.
3. Finix — best for a path to becoming your own payfac
Finix sells payments infrastructure to software platforms and positions itself around giving platforms ownership of their payments, including a route to registering as a payment facilitator on its technology later. Its platform pricing is quote-based; its site describes both flat-rate and interchange-plus structures for platforms. Confirm current terms with Finix.
Choose it when you expect to grow into your own payfac registration and want infrastructure that can follow you there. Skip it when you want a fixed, published rate today and no pricing negotiation.
4. Rainforest — best for vertical SaaS that wants a payments partner
Rainforest is an embedded payments provider built specifically for vertical software platforms, with embeddable onboarding and payment components and support for PayPal and Venmo through the same integration. It does not publish a platform rate card, so pricing is custom/quote-based.
Choose it when you run vertical software in the US and want a provider focused only on platforms like yours. Skip it when you need published pricing up front, or merchants outside the US.
5. Worldpay for Platforms (formerly Payrix) — best for a large acquirer behind you
Payrix rebranded as Worldpay for Platforms in 2025, putting one of the largest merchant acquirers behind an embedded payments product for software companies. It offers models that range from referral-style integrated payments to payfac as a service, so a platform can choose how much underwriting and compliance work it takes on. Pricing is custom/quote-based.
Choose it when you want a large acquirer's scale and a range of risk models to grow through. Skip it when you want a lightweight, self-serve integration and a quick sandbox-to-live path.
6. Braintree — no longer a marketplace option
Braintree Marketplace, PayPal's old answer to Connect, is discontinued: it closed to new integrations in September 2017, and Braintree's policy updates record the product as discontinued, with the Marketplace agreement removed for US merchants effective November 7, 2024. Braintree's standard 2.89% + 29¢ processing is still a reasonable choice for a single business, but it is not a Connect replacement. PayPal points platforms that need payouts to Hyperwallet or its sales team. See Paydude vs Braintree and the best Braintree alternatives.
Choose it when you only need PayPal and Venmo at checkout for your own business. Skip it when you need to onboard and pay out merchants of your own.
7. Becoming your own payment facilitator — best at high volume
The final option is to register as a payment facilitator yourself: sign a sponsor bank, connect a processor, and underwrite, monitor and fund merchants under your own master merchant account. You keep the most margin and control every decision. You also carry the losses from fraud and unpaid chargebacks, the PCI DSS and card network obligations, and the cost of a risk and compliance team.
Choose it when your platform processes enough volume that the extra margin pays for a dedicated risk and compliance team, and you are prepared to absorb merchant losses. Skip it when payments are still a side line for you; payfac as a service from one of the providers above gets most of the economics with far less of the risk.
When to stay on Stripe Connect
Stay if your merchants and fund flows span many countries and currencies, if you depend on Stripe products such as Issuing, Terminal or Treasury for your merchants, or if you are early and want the fastest possible launch with no pricing negotiation. Connect's Stripe-handles-pricing model costs your platform nothing, and for a platform with little volume, a revenue share on someone else's rate can be the sensible trade.
How to choose
- Decide whether you want to set merchant pricing. If you are happy for merchants to pay a processor's rate, Stripe Connect's Stripe-handles-pricing model is hard to beat for simplicity.
- If you do, add up your current Connect costs: processing, $2 per active account, 0.25% + 25¢ per payout and Instant Payouts. Divide by volume to get your platform's real effective rate.
- Ask each shortlisted provider for a written quote at your volume and vertical mix, and model your margin at the price you would charge merchants. The payment processing for SaaS calculator is a starting point.
- Ask who underwrites merchants, who carries losses, how reserves are set, and how long onboarding takes. These decide your support load more than the rate does.
- Confirm how existing merchants and their customers' saved cards move across, and plan a staged migration rather than a cut-over. See how to switch from Stripe.
Paydude surcharges Amex at +0.3%
Excluding Amex, counted above
Stripe surcharges these; Paydude does not
Take these shares from a real statement rather than estimating. Card mix moves the answer more than the headline rate does, which is the entire reason this calculator asks for it.
- Stripe
- $1,8693.74%
- Paydude (Starter)
- $1,5933.19%
- Difference per month
- $276
- Surcharged share
- 25%Amex + premium
Paydude is cheaper here at any card mix — even if every single transaction were on a surcharged card, the base rate difference would still cover it.
Annual saving at other Amex + premium shares
Excludes chargeback and dispute fees, where Paydude charges $12 against a $15–$25 norm. Those depend on your dispute rate rather than your volume, so they are left out of the comparison above.
If you are also reviewing recurring billing, read Stripe Billing alternatives and Stripe alternatives for SaaS.
Sources
- Stripe Connect pricing page (stripe.com/connect/pricing), checked November 2026
- Stripe pricing page (stripe.com/pricing), checked November 2026
- Adyen pricing page (adyen.com/pricing), checked November 2026
- Paydude pricing page (paydude.io/pricing), checked November 2026
Good questions
Frequently asked
What is the best alternative to Stripe Connect?+
It depends on what you want to change. For a US software platform that wants to set its own merchant pricing and earn on volume without becoming a payment facilitator, embedded payments providers such as Paydude, Finix, Rainforest and Worldpay for Platforms are built for that. For a large platform with merchants in many countries, Adyen for Platforms. For full control of underwriting and economics at very high volume, registering as your own payment facilitator.
How much does Stripe Connect cost?+
It depends on who handles pricing. If Stripe handles pricing, your platform pays no Connect fees and your merchants pay Stripe's standard rate, which starts at 2.9% + 30¢ per card charge. If your platform handles pricing, Stripe charges $2 per monthly active account plus 0.25% + 25¢ per payout sent, on top of payment processing. Instant Payouts cost 1% of payout volume under either model.
What is payfac as a service?+
Payfac as a service is an arrangement where a provider that is already a registered payment facilitator lets a software platform onboard merchants, set their pricing and share in the payment revenue, while the provider carries the sponsor bank relationship, underwriting, compliance and much of the risk. It gives a platform most of the economics of being a payfac without registering as one.
Can a platform earn revenue on payments with Stripe Connect?+
Yes. A platform can add application fees on top of each charge, and when Stripe handles pricing, qualifying platforms can earn a revenue share from Stripe. The limit is that in the Stripe-handles-pricing model your merchants pay Stripe's own rate, so any fee you add raises their total cost; to set the merchant rate yourself you take on Connect's per-account and per-payout fees.
Is Braintree Marketplace still available?+
No. Braintree Marketplace stopped accepting new integrations in September 2017, and Braintree's policy updates record the product as discontinued, with its Marketplace agreement removed for US merchants effective November 7, 2024. Platforms that want PayPal's payouts tooling are generally pointed to Hyperwallet or to Braintree's sales team instead.
How much does Stripe Connect cost for 100 connected accounts?+
If your platform handles pricing, Stripe charges $2 per monthly active account plus 0.25% + 25¢ per payout. For 100 accounts that each process $20,000 a month and are paid out 20 times a month, that is $200 in account fees, $5,000 in payout volume fees and $500 in per-payout fees: $5,700 a month, or $68,400 a year, before card processing. At 10 such accounts it is $570 a month and at 1,000 it is $57,000. If Stripe handles pricing instead, the platform pays no Connect fees and merchants pay Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢.