Stripe ACH Fees and Pricing Explained

Short answer: Stripe charges 0.8% per ACH Direct Debit payment, capped at $5.00, on the US pricing pages we checked on 26 October 2026. Add $1.50 if the customer verifies their bank instantly (micro-deposits are free), $4.00 if a payment fails and $15.00 if it is disputed. There is no monthly fee. Standard payments take up to 4 business days to settle; eligible accounts can pay 1.2% for two-day settlement. Against a card at 2.9% + 30¢, ACH saves $24.30 on a $1,000 order.

Stripe ACH fees at a glance#

Stripe's pricing page says it "does not charge setup fees, monthly fees, or any other hidden fees like closure fees." Custom pricing, including interchange-plus and volume discounts, is listed for "businesses with large payments volume or unique business models."

How much does Stripe charge for ACH payments? Worked examples#

The cap is what makes ACH cheap. At 0.8%, the fee reaches $5.00 at a $625 payment, and every payment above that costs the same $5.00.

International cards add 1.5% and manually entered cards add 0.5% on Stripe's standard pricing, so the gap is larger for those buyers.

Two-day settlement changes the maths, because 1.2% has no cap listed:

On large orders, waiting two extra days is worth $55 per $5,000 payment. Turn faster settlement on only if cash flow on smaller orders matters more than fees on larger ones.

Don't forget Billing and Invoicing#

If you collect ACH through Stripe Billing or Stripe Invoicing, those products have their own fees on top. Stripe's pricing page lists Billing pay-as-you-go at 0.7% of Billing volume and Invoicing Starter at 0.4% per paid invoice. A WooCommerce store that takes payments through the Stripe gateway plugin does not use Stripe Billing for one-time orders.

What do failed payments and disputes cost?#

ACH is not a guaranteed payment. Stripe says ACH Direct Debit "can take up to 4 business days to receive acknowledgement of success or failure", and that it can fail for reasons such as insufficient funds, an invalid account number or a customer blocking debits.

What happens next:

• Failed payment. If the funds were already in your Stripe balance, Stripe "immediately removes funds from your Stripe account." The pricing page lists $4.00 for failed payments.
• Dispute. Stripe says customers can dispute a debit on a personal account "for up to 60 calendar days", or up to two business days on a business account. These disputes are final: "You can't submit evidence to contest or appeal a final ACH Direct Debit dispute." The fee is $15.00, and Stripe does not refund it.
• Mandate. A dispute invalidates the customer's mandate, so you cannot charge that saved account again until you collect a new one.
• Retries. Stripe Billing can retry a failed ACH debit up to 2 times within 40 days, and "Debit failure fees aren't charged for retry attempts that we initiate automatically."

So the real cost of ACH on Stripe is the 0.8% plus your failure rate times $4.00 (and the goods you shipped). A store with many first-time buyers on small orders can pay more in failures than it saves over cards. That is why verification and pre-debit checks matter.

How long does Stripe ACH take?#

Stripe's support page adds that faster settlement is generally available to US businesses in good standing after "a minimum of 120 days" on Stripe, and that faster-settlement payments under $1,000,000 submitted before the cutoff "go out on Same Day ACH rails." Settlement happens at T+2 but confirmation comes at T+3, so a payment can still fail after the money first appears.

Refunds also take time. Stripe says ACH refunds are sent as a separate credit within 180 days of the payment and take up to 3 business days. Partial refunds are not supported for ACH Direct Debit, only full refunds.

Stripe ACH Direct Debit vs Instant Bank Payments#

Stripe has two ways to take a US bank payment, and they are priced very differently.

Stripe recommends ACH Direct Debit "for businesses that don't immediately fulfill goods and services, and that can wait up to 4 business days to confirm a payment." Instant Bank Payments cost almost as much as a card on large orders: $26.30 on $1,000. You also cannot show both for the same transaction; if ACH Direct Debit is enabled, it takes precedence. For other ways to get bank money faster, see Can you accept ACH payments instantly?.

How Stripe verifies the bank account#

Stripe's docs say bank accounts "must be verified" before an ACH Direct Debit. There are two routes:

1. Financial Connections. The customer logs in to their bank in a pop-up. Stripe charges $1.50 per successful instant verification.
2. Micro-deposits. The customer types their numbers, Stripe sends small deposits, and the customer confirms them within 10 days. Free, but slower, and the order waits.

For a store with repeat customers, $1.50 once is small. For a store with one-off buyers on $40 orders, $1.50 on top of $0.32 changes the picture, and micro-deposits may be the better trade.

Where Plaid fits with Stripe#

Stripe's own bank login is not the only option. Plaid works with Stripe as a processor partner: the customer logs in through Plaid Link, and Plaid creates a Stripe bank account token (btok_...) that Stripe uses to create the ACH charge. Plaid's docs describe it as money transfers "without the need to ever handle an account or routing number."

Some details from Plaid's Stripe guide that matter in practice:

• The Stripe bank account token "is a one-time use token". Save it to a Stripe customer to charge again.
• To use Plaid with Stripe's Payment Intents API, "you will need to be manually enabled by Stripe."
• Stripe's ACH fees still apply to the payment. Plaid bills its own fees separately, and Plaid's pricing page lists plans (Pay as You Go, Growth, Custom) but no prices.

Why add Plaid when Stripe has Financial Connections? Mainly when you want Plaid's checks before the debit (Balance, Identity, Signal), the same bank connection across WooCommerce and MemberPress, or Plaid Transfer as a second route. Plaid vs Stripe Financial Connections compares them in detail, and Plaid pricing explained covers Plaid's side of the bill.

If you only need Stripe ACH with micro-deposits on one WooCommerce store, the free WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway (700,000+ active installs on WordPress.org, ACH Direct Debit listed) may be all you need. The setup steps are in How to accept ACH payments in WooCommerce.

The case for doing more is the failure maths above: a $4.00 fee plus the order you shipped, on every debit that bounces. Checking the balance and the account owner before you debit is the most direct way to cut that.

How to keep Stripe ACH costs down#

1. Use ACH for large and recurring payments. The $5 cap does the most work above $625.
2. Stay on standard settlement for big orders. Two-day settlement at 1.2% with no cap listed costs more as the order grows.
3. Verify once, charge many times. The $1.50 instant verification is per verification, not per payment.
4. Cut failures before they happen. Each one costs $4.00. A balance check on large debits helps most.
5. Write a clear statement descriptor. Stripe truncates it to the first 16 characters on the bank statement; customers who do not recognize a charge dispute it, at $15.00 each.
6. Hold fulfilment until the payment confirms, or ship early only after risk checks.
7. Watch your return rates. See Nacha return rate thresholds and ACH return codes.

If you are still deciding whether Stripe is the right ACH processor at all, ACH payment processors for small business compares Stripe with Square, Braintree, Helcim, GoCardless and others on the same fee basis.

How BankBridge works with Stripe ACH#

BankBridge adds Plaid Link to WooCommerce checkout and MemberPress signups. The customer picks their bank and account in Plaid's window, and with the Stripe processor route Plaid hands your Stripe account a bank account token, so your site does not store raw account numbers. Before the debit, BankBridge can run Plaid Balance for available funds, Plaid Identity to compare the account owner with the buyer, and Plaid Signal to score the chance of a return. If you would rather Plaid moved the money, Plaid Transfer is the other route, once Plaid approves your business. The setup for both is in the WooCommerce doc.

Plans start at $79 a month for a single site ($149 for five sites, $299 for unlimited). Stripe's ACH fees and Plaid's fees are billed separately by Stripe and Plaid. Try the bank connection in Plaid's Sandbox on the live demo, then pick a plan.

This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Prices are from Stripe's and Plaid's public pages on 26 October 2026 and change over time; your account may be on different pricing. Stripe is a trademark of Stripe, Inc. and Plaid is a trademark of Plaid Inc.; BankBridge is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.