Stripe Has a Free Payment API — Accept Payments in 135+ Currencies With 5 Lines of Code

Building payment processing from scratch means PCI compliance, fraud detection, currency conversion, and regulatory nightmares. Stripe handles all of this. No monthly fees — you only pay per transaction (2.9% + 30¢).

Free to Start

• No setup fees
• No monthly fees
• Pay per transaction only (2.9% + 30¢)
• Test mode with unlimited test transactions
• All features available from day one
• 135+ currencies supported

Quick Start: Checkout Session

const stripe = require('stripe')('sk_test_...');

// Create a checkout session — redirect users to Stripe's hosted page
const session = await stripe.checkout.sessions.create({
  line_items: [{
    price_data: {
      currency: 'usd',
      product_data: { name: 'Premium Plan' },
      unit_amount: 4999 // $49.99 in cents
    },
    quantity: 1
  }],
  mode: 'payment',
  success_url: 'https://yoursite.com/success',
  cancel_url: 'https://yoursite.com/cancel'
});

// Redirect user to session.url

Subscriptions

// Create a subscription
const subscription = await stripe.subscriptions.create({
  customer: 'cus_xxx',
  items: [{ price: 'price_xxx' }],
  trial_period_days: 14,
  payment_behavior: 'default_incomplete',
  expand: ['latest_invoice.payment_intent']
});

Webhooks

app.post('/webhooks/stripe', (req, res) => {
  const event = stripe.webhooks.constructEvent(
    req.body, req.headers['stripe-signature'], webhookSecret
  );

  switch (event.type) {
    case 'checkout.session.completed':
      const session = event.data.object;
      fulfillOrder(session);
      break;
    case 'invoice.paid':
      activateSubscription(event.data.object);
      break;
    case 'invoice.payment_failed':
      notifyCustomer(event.data.object);
      break;
  }
  res.sendStatus(200);
});

The Bottom Line

Stripe is the gold standard for payment APIs. No upfront costs, world-class documentation, and it handles everything from simple one-time payments to complex marketplace payouts.

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