What the Stripe API gives you
Stripe covers one-off payments, subscriptions, invoicing, marketplace payouts through Connect, fraud checks through Radar, and webhooks for every payment event. A custom integration uses the parts your business needs and connects them to your own system.
Who it's for
- SaaS and subscription platforms Your own plans, trials, per-seat billing and upgrade paths, with access granted and removed by payment status. See Stripe subscription billing.
- Marketplaces Customers pay the platform, and Connect splits the money between sellers and your fee automatically. See Stripe Connect for marketplaces.
- B2B invoicing Invoices and payment links sent automatically from your client portal or internal tools, with payments matched when they arrive. Need it in your books too? See Xero and Stripe.
- Membership sites Stripe confirms the payment, your system grants access, and renewals and lapses are handled without anyone stepping in.
Why custom rather than a plugin
Payment plugins handle a standard checkout. They can't follow your subscription rules, split payments between parties or start your own workflows when a payment succeeds or fails. When your business model is specific, the payments need to match it. Read Stripe plugin vs custom integration to see where the line falls, and how Stripe webhooks work.
What's included
- Stripe keys stored securely on the server
- Webhooks for every event you need, with signatures checked
- Products, prices and Radar rules set up in your account
- Testing in Stripe's test mode, including failures, renewals and refunds
- A handover document, and the code is yours
Not included: your Stripe account and verification, Stripe's transaction fees, and changes to your platform outside the integration.
Payment is 50% to start and the balance on completion. For what drives the price, read what a Stripe integration costs. Comparing providers? See GoCardless vs Stripe and PayPal vs Stripe.
Try it
The Stripe webhook demo lets you trigger real Stripe events, such as a successful payment, a declined card or a refund, and watch them being handled.
How it's built
- The price is set on the server The customer's browser never decides what they pay. Amounts come from your own product catalogue on the server, so nobody can edit a request and pay £1 for a £100 product.
- Webhooks do the real work A payment isn't treated as complete because the customer landed on a thank-you page. It's complete when Stripe sends a signed event saying so. Every event is checked to be genuinely from Stripe, recorded so a repeat delivery is never processed twice, and handled in a way that copes with events arriving out of order.
- Strong Customer Authentication handled UK and EU cards often need a 3D Secure check from the customer's bank. The integration handles the extra step properly, including off-session renewals where the bank asks the customer to confirm.
- Subscriptions tested over time Renewals, failed payments, retries, upgrades part-way through a month and cancellations are tested by moving Stripe's test clock forward, so you see a whole year of billing play out before a real customer pays.
- Customers can manage themselves Card changes, invoices and cancellations can go through Stripe's hosted customer portal, so you're not doing it by hand.
Built from experience
I've built Stripe into my own platforms, not just client projects. TradingPit uses Stripe billing with subscription tiers enforced through webhooks. The Repair Works takes card payments for repair bookings, with prices checked on the server against the live catalogue. ReGraded, my trade-in platform, runs its subscription billing on Stripe, with upgrades, downgrades, cancellations and the customer portal.
How to get a price
Send a short written spec by WhatsApp, text, email or the form: how you take payment, what should happen after it, and your platform. I'll reply within 24 hours with a quote.