Understanding Blended & Interchange+ pricing : Stripe: Help & Support

Understanding Blended & Interchange+ pricing

Stripe offers both Blended and Interchange+ (IC+) pricing for card transactions.

Blended: In a Blended pricing structure, you’ll be charged the same rate for all transactions. It is a predictable “all-in” approach that abstracts away the underlying network costs. This is inclusive of Stripe’s processor fees and network costs (such as the interchange and scheme fees charged by Visa and Mastercard), regardless of card type or brand. Note that Stripe may charge additional fees for ancillary Stripe services or products.
IC+: In an IC+ pricing model (sometimes known as a ‘cost plus’ or ‘network cost plus’ pricing model), you’ll be charged for the underlying card network costs attributed to you, along with Stripe’s processor fees. Network costs for a transaction vary based on many factors including the card network, card type, cardholder country, and transaction amount. As a result, network costs differ by transaction. Additionally, in a IC+ pricing arrangement, you are also exposed to changes in network costs.

Generally, a Blended pricing model offers more predictability in costs and simpler reporting. IC+ pricing often yields more visibility into costs and drivers, but involves more complex reporting and fee variability.

	Blended	IC+
Reporting simplicity	Single rate for each charge, and underlying network costs are abstracted away	Multiple network costs per transaction, and multiple variables that affect those costs
Visibility into costs	Some information about drivers of cost, or levers to reduce costs for your business (e.g. cross-border fees)	Visibility into network costs charged for each transaction, which allows you to optimize network costs if possible
Variation in costs	No volatility given rate remains constant	Network costs change based on transaction characteristics (e.g. different card types, geography, card network). In addition, card networks update costs regularly.

For more information about pricing, head to stripe.com/pricing.