Stripe vs Braintree: 2023 Full Comparison

As a business owner, you know how important it is to take care of your brand, help it grow, and give value to the audience, while making profit. There are several online payment methods for digital businesses to use. 

While there are many providers available, two of the most popular are Stripe and Braintree.

When making a decision between these two providers, it’s important to consider factors such as cost, compatibility, security, user experience, reliability, customer support, and scalability. 

In this article, we will compare Stripe vs Braintree and highlight the challenges that a customer might face when choosing a payment provider, to help you make an informed decision for your business.

Braintree vs Stripe Comparative Table: Key Factors to Decide

Payment providers are digital platforms that allow businesses to securely accept customers’ payments. Both services provide payment options, including credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and more. 

Stripe and Braintree ACH payments are the most popular payment providers in the current market. Both have a wide feature and services range to help businesses accept payments online. 

Both of them offer robust solutions for businesses. It is important to compare them side-by-side before picking one to use.

Read more: Alternatives to Payment Gateways: Bank transfers and custom payment systems

But let’s dive deeper into each payment provider to understand who is the best in Braintree vs Stripe and check Stripe and Braintree payment processors.

Braintree Marketplace vs Stripe Connect

Braintree Marketplace and Stripe Connect are both popular payment platforms for building online marketplaces. Braintree Marketplace provides a more integrated solution with built-in split payments, while Stripe Connect offers more flexibility in customizing payment flows. The choice depends on specific requirements and desired level of customization.

Braintree vs Stripe: Features To Compare

No matter which payment gateways you are comparing, the questions are:

• Are they good for my target audience 
• Are they available in the target location? 
• Which one is easier to integrate? 
• Which one is cheaper to integrate with my product? 
• Which online payment gateway charges less?

Stripe vs Braintree Payment Methods

Different providers may support different payment methods, and some of them may be unavailable for your region. Or, if payment methods appear to be crucial for your target audience, you ought to analyze their common needs.

Therefore, we usually check the available market payment providers, then conduct market research and learn which payment method is the most popular among the potential users of this product.

So, what different payment providers do Braintree and Stripe support?

1. Both Stripe and Braintree support the majority of popular credit card types, including Visa, MasterCard, JBC, Diner’s Club, AMEX, Discover.
2. Both providers enable the usage of the modern payment methods, Apple Pay and Android Pay.
3. Whilst both being pretty similar in terms of available payment methods, Alipay can be implemented only with the Stripe integration, while PayPal and Venmo are used with Braintree only.

Stripe vs Braintree pricing: Fees

There are 3 core types of fees that payment gateways can charge you with: card, chargeback and international fees.

• Card fees are equal for Stripe vs. Braintree. Both providers charge 2.9% of the transaction amount + 30 cents for each transaction.
• Chargeback fees. Both Stripe and Braintree charge the industry standard $15 fee for chargebacks. But, Stripe is the only one which will refund a chargeback if the dispute is in your favor.
• International fees are made when using different world currencies and conversions. Both companies support over 100 currencies but charge them different fees from transactions While Braintree charges 1% for international transactions, Stripe processes international transactions for free.

Geolocation

In general, all leading payment providers like Braintree and Stripe are available worldwide: in the USA, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

But, you need to be aware that even top payment gateways have a few geo-restrictions: for example, Stripe is unavailable in the United Arab Emirates and Braintree is not an option for companies targeting users in Norway.

As a vendor, you need to be sure that your users’ geolocation is supported by your payment provider. Sad but true – otherwise your users will not be able to become paying customers.

NB: There are a number of cases when all the top and well-known payment gateways may be unavailable.

Specifics of Payment Gateway Integration

The specifics of payment gateway integration can vary depending on the platform, payment gateway, and specific requirements of the business.

Flexibility

Payment gateway integrations are often implemented on frequently changing projects.

Therefore, it is important to have the opportunity to implement payment gateways quickly and to be able to make quick changes if needed.

On this point, Stripe has greater benefits due to its tools and resources for faster integration and comprehensive support documentation to make the development process easier.

At the same time, Braintree is not far from the Stripe system. It has its own special software development kit named V.zero SDK so that developers can easily make changes and integrate the payment system into their applications.

Geo Limitations

Yes, again talking about geo-restrictions. As mentioned, sometimes payment gateways aren’t available in particular countries like Stripe is restricted in UAE or Braintree doesn’t work in India. So remember to check your location before even thinking of implementation.

Stripe Connect vs Braintree Marketplace for E-commerce

Both Stripe and Braintree are especially great for e-commerce platforms. Let’s see what services each payment provider offers marketplace owners.

Stripe for Marketplaces

Stripe’s most popular solution for marketplaces is Stripe Connect, which allows:

• API-driven development – to optimize your development while connecting Stripe to your marketplace.
• International support: a payment provider that accepts payments in more than 130 currencies and provides payouts in more than 15 currencies.
• Dashboard for management. Stripe provides marketplaces with an opportunity to control the workflow, including control of account history, transfers, and verification, operations.

Braintree for Marketplaces

Braintree also provides a separate solution for online platforms: Braintree Marketplace. This integration allows marketplace owners to:

• Add popular payment methods such as cards, bank payments, PayPal, and leading wallets.
• API integration between the Braintree provider and marketplace.
• Support for the customers via email and phone.

It is worth noting that both Braintree Marketplace and Stripe Connect offer first-rate features to marketplace founders. The choice has to be based more on the specifics of a particular online marketplace.

Cost of Integration Stripe and Braintree Integrations

Factors that may affect the price comprise of:

• Programming languages: if you need a payment integration for a start-up, consider using technologies such as Ruby and PHP. Otherwise, programming languages such as Java or Python will suffice.
• Time: once you choose the technology, consider how much time you will need to implement Braintree or Stripe. Usually, it takes up to 1-2 hours to implement a payment solution.
• Functions you’ll need to integrate: for a clear estimation, all custom solutions and third-party integrations should be determined during the discovery phase.

Other Services Integration

Both Stripe and Braintree allow the integration of mobile services. The only difference is the range of available possibilities.

Braintree:

• Offers the built-in One Touch service which allows customers to perform faster checkouts and store card details.
• Offers the Drop-In service so users can add various payment options to both mobile and web versions.

Stripe:

• It offers several opportunities that can help with making financial management and reconciliation easier. It can also connect accounting systems such as Zoho, FreshBooks, and FreeAgent.
• Stripe also allows integration with various Client Relationship Management (CRMs) and analytics tools. Additionally, transaction monitoring and shipping systems may be the perfect choice for larger businesses.

Why Stripe Is a Better Choice 

Stripe is a technology firm that offers an online payment processing solution for businesses. It’s easy to integrate with a website, it has certain security measures to protect customers and merchants, and it offers some of the lowest fees of any payment provider.

Easy Integration

Integrating Stripe into a website is simple and straightforward. Stripe offers extensive guides that make the process of using a payment system easy and painless. 

Stripe also offers a wide array of plugins and integrations for popular e-commerce platforms like Wix, WooCommerce, Magento, etc.

Security

Stripe has a number of security measures in place to protect customers and merchants. Stripe works with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), which means that it meets the highest standards for data security. 

Stripe also uses tokenization, which ensures that customers’ payment information is never stored on the merchant’s server.

Low Fees

Stripe offers some of the lowest fees of any payment provider. Stripe charges a 2.9% + $0.30 fee for each transaction, which is lower than many other payment providers. Stripe also offers a range of additional services, such as fraud prevention and subscription billing, that can help businesses save even more money.

Why Use Braintree Instead

Braintree is a payment processing company, owned by PayPal, which enables businesses to accept and manage online transactions. It offers a secure and reliable solution for businesses. Braintree processing fees are very affordable, which means most business owners can offer it. With the variety of payment options available, customers can easily pay for their purchases.

Security

Braintree marketplace is a secure and reliable payment provider, ensuring data privacy and protection. All customer data is encrypted and stored using industry-standard methods. Braintree also offers fraud protection to keep businesses safe from fraudulent activities.

Payment Options

Braintree payouts offer a variety of payment options, including debit and credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more. This makes it easier for customers to settle, and businesses can be sure that their customers will have a payment option available to them.

Cost Efficiency

Braintree rates are also cost-efficient. Businesses can save money on transactions, as well as on other services such as customer support. Thus it it easier for businesses to keep their costs low and increase their profits. Overall, Braintree pricing is very friendly.

Market Alternatives to Braintree and Stripe

Braintree and Stripe are two payment processing solutions that have become popular among businesses over time. Stripe and Braintree ACH pricing and features may vary; however, there are other market alternatives that offer similar services.

PayPal

PayPal is a payment processor that has been around for almost two decades, and now it is the most used payment processing in the world. 

Setting up a PayPal account is incredibly easy, and it has become accepted by the majority of online retailers and businesses. PayPal also offers some of the lowest transaction fees available, as well as excellent customer service support. Whether it’s for personal or business use, PayPal is a great choice for those who need a reliable and secure way to process payments.

When it comes to PayPal vs Stripe vs Braintree, you should check how exactly such payment processing fits your business. The main thing is to check whether it is possible to use such a tool in the country you need to work. Then check other pros and cons.

Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay is a payment processor provided by Amazon, designed to make online transactions easier and more secure. 

It’s integrated into the Amazon platform, allowing customers to make purchases and payments with the convenience of their Amazon account. Not only does it offer a streamlined service that simplifies the payment process, but it also has low transaction fees and excellent customer service. 

Furthermore, Amazon Pay can also be used on other websites, giving users the freedom to settle with their Amazon account in more places. Thanks to its convenience and secure payment options, Amazon Pay is quickly becoming the preferred choice for many customers.

Block (Former Square)

Started out with the goal of making it easy for businesses of all sizes to take credit cards online. Today, Block offers a complete suite of business tools and equitable loans that give every eligible business with dream access to funding. From side gigs to sports stadiums, they’re helping power businesses succeed on their own terms.

Using Stripe and Braintree for Our Clients

We’ve had some experience with Stripe / Braintree, which brought great results to our clients.

Case 1. Veeqo

Veeqo is an omnichannel retail platform for various merchants. When we met our client, Veeqo used to process all its numerous payments manually. That was not very convenient that all the invoices used to be arranged via bank transfers or via phone. The whole payment system was manual and required a lot of time and resources to work properly.

Our Solution:

We needed to digitalize and automate payments. Therefore, we chose Stripe as a solution that covers our client’s needs. Moreover, Stripe allows to use of various types of payments and is convenient for both the Veeqo team and Veeqo customers.

Case 2. Salita

Salita is a marketplace that offers access to different interpreters over video and phone conferences. We met our client at the idea stage of the project and built the platform from scratch. A payment provider integration was one of our initial goals.

Our Solution:

We decided to integrate the Stripe payment system to allow Salita users to return money for the interpretation session with a card, negotiate the price, and award the job of the particular interpreter.

Bottom Line

So, which is the best payment gateway? Definitely depends on your needs.

Thus, when choosing a Stripe or Braintree payment methods, a number of project specifics like target audience, location, and necessary features have to be considered.

Both Braintree, Stripe payment gateways offer a variety of payment methods and great features. They are easy to implement, and both suit e-commerce and marketplace businesses. However, in a number of situations, neither Braintree nor Stripe is an option, so there should be payment alternatives for you to consider, like PayPal, Amazon Pay or Block. Quite often, our clients use several payment providers since just one doesn’t fully cover everything 

Sloboda Studio has been integrating various payment providers for over 13 years now. So, if you have doubts or tech difficulties you need assistance with, contact us for a free consultation.

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