Web apps have proliferated in the last 10–15 years. If you’re reviewing tools for your business, you could find yourself signing up for 20 or more websites in a day.
Modern frameworks, tools, and practices that make web design and development faster and easier have contributed to the abundance of web 2.0 apps. One of those tools is Stripe.
Stripe is a turnkey payment solution built from the ground up with programmers in mind. It makes adding a PCI-compliant payment solution to your web app a snap.
Payment processing
Stripe’s core offering helps websites accept credit card payments in three main ways.
The quickest and easiest payment processing solution is Stripe Checkout. Checkout lets you add a full-featured checkout system with a minimum of fuss. The results are clean, polished, and mobile-friendly.
If you want more granular control over the look and feel of your payment process, Stripe offers Elements — single-use form elements that are tightly integrated with the Stripe service. Elements include fields like credit card number and date. Elements make security and PCI compliance easier without causing you to sacrifice consistent web design.
For absolute control, Stripe still offers its original API. PCI compliance is a bit harder when you use the API, but you won’t sacrifice any part of your layout or design. All aspects of the website are completely yours.
Beyond basic processing
Stripe doesn’t stop at payment collection. It offers other services that can benefit your business as well.
Stripe Billing offers a flexible service that covers just about every need for modern websites. You can use the subscription service to create monthly, yearly, and trial billing. You can even bill your users in tiers based on their usage and the number of team members.
Stripe can also handle sales, vouchers, and taxes. It can manage quotes and invoices as part of the sales cycle.
Business and financial services
Stripe has moved beyond its programmer-centric payment platform roots and now focuses on complete small business success.
Stripe in the real world
Stripe offers businesses the ability to collect payment in brick and mortar locations as well as online. Stripe Terminal allows you to create a completely custom POS system for real-world transactions. You can use any card swiper terminal that’s compatible with Stripe’s system. Even better, Stripe sells terminals that are ready to go, easy to set up, and can be centrally managed.
If you want to create a loyalty program or gift cards, Stripe has you covered there too. Stripe cards can be either virtual or physical.
Stripe also offers carbon removal for environmentally conscious businesses. Using its carbon removal tools can show your customers that you run an ethical and progressive business.
Stripe for startups
One of the first steps any small business needs to take is incorporation. Stripe offers a service called Atlas that helps you do it right the first time.
Stripe Atlas takes you through every step necessary to help you get incorporated for one reasonable price. That includes forming a Delaware-based C Corporation, getting an EIN, and issuing stocks to your founders, among other benefits.
After you’ve established your corporation, Stripe offers further services for an additional cost. Those services include help with taxes, banking, and hiring a registered agent.
But how can non-programmers integrate Stripe?
Stripe’s hosted payment pages make adding a Stripe form simple, but there may be limitations that don’t work with your flow or design. You might want to gather more information during the payment process. For example, maybe you want to get referral information to send benefits to the referrer.
If you hit a wall with Stripe’s drop-in solutions, you can extend its functionality with Jotform. Jotform makes creating payment forms fast and easy for programmers and non-programmers alike.
When you use Jotform with Stripe, you get all of the security and benefits Stripe offers with the ease and flexibility of JotForm.
Stripe is a powerhouse
The services mentioned here are only a small selection of Stripe’s extensive offering. Some of the world’s largest companies, like Amazon, Spotify, and Uber, use Stripe for mission-critical operations. Year after year, the company continues to innovate and grow.
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