Stripe

Stripe provides financial infrastructure for businesses. Its core product accepts online payments by card and digital wallets, and its APIs let developers build checkout, subscriptions, invoicing and custom revenue models into websites and apps. Stripe also offers hosted options, such as Stripe Checkout and Payment Links, for businesses that do not need a custom payment form.

Stripe sends webhooks when something happens, such as a successful payment, a failed renewal or a refund. Applications listen for these events to update orders, unlock memberships or send receipts, so payment status and business records stay in step.

What Stripe handles

• One-time payments by card and digital wallets
• Subscriptions and recurring billing
• Hosted Checkout and Payment Links
• Invoices and receipts
• Refunds, disputes and payouts in the Stripe Dashboard
• SDKs for web and React Native mobile apps

Payments inside custom software

Stripe is often the payment layer in custom applications: event ticketing, membership dues, donations, deposits for services and in-app purchases of physical goods. The application keeps the business logic, such as who registered for which event, while Stripe handles card details, so sensitive card data does not pass through the application's own servers when Stripe's hosted fields or Checkout are used.

Stripe also works as a payment gateway for WooCommerce and many other platforms through plugins.

When Stripe fits

Stripe fits businesses that take payments inside a website or app they control, especially custom software, memberships and recurring billing. Hosted store platforms such as Shopify usually come with their own payment options. Test mode in Stripe lets a payment flow be checked end to end before real cards are charged.