Websites · Glossary
What is Stripe Checkout?
Stripe Checkout is Stripe's prebuilt payment page. A site creates a Checkout Session on its server with the items, prices and currency, then sends the customer to the page Stripe hosts, or shows it embedded. Stripe collects the card or other payment method, handles authentication, and sends the customer back with an event the site can trust.
Checkout keeps card numbers off your site entirely. The site decides what is being bought and for how much; Stripe's page takes the payment.
Indunil Asanka · Co-founder
4 min read · Published
| Question | Checkout | Payment Links | Elements |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A prebuilt payment page per session | A reusable link to a prebuilt page | Components to build your own payment form |
| Code needed | A server call to create each session | None | Front end and server code |
| Cart and dynamic prices | Yes, set per session | Fixed products and prices per link | Yes, fully custom |
| Where it shows | Stripe hosted page or embedded | Stripe hosted page | Inside your own page |
| Best for | Sites with carts, bookings or variable prices | Selling a few fixed items without a site | Full control of design and flow |
What it is
Checkout is one of Stripe's ready made payment interfaces. Stripe's documentation offers it as a full page, either hosted by Stripe or embedded on your site, or as an embedded form, beside Elements for fully custom forms. The page shows the line items, collects payment details, supports cards, wallets and local payment methods you enable, handles 3D Secure authentication and can collect addresses, tax and promotion codes. It is translated and adapts to phones without extra work.
How a Checkout Session works
When the customer presses Pay, the site's server calls Stripe to create a Checkout Session with line items, currency, the mode (payment, subscription or setup) and success and cancel addresses. Stripe returns a session with a URL. The customer pays on that page and is sent to the success address. The success page is not proof of payment, so the site also listens for the checkout.session.completed webhook event and marks the order paid only when it arrives. Sessions expire if unused, and the server can expire one early, for example when stock runs out.
When it matters
Checkout suits most small businesses that sell online: shops with a cart, studios selling class passes, clubs taking memberships, venues taking deposits. It removes most card security work from the site, because card details never touch your servers, which keeps PCI compliance at its simplest level. It also gives customers a payment page they may recognise. Elements is worth the extra work only when the payment form must be part of a custom page design.
Common mistakes
Sending prices from the browser to the server, which lets a customer change them; prices should come from the server's own records. Treating the redirect to the success page as payment. Creating products in the dashboard and in the site's database without a link between them. Forgetting to enable the payment methods customers expect. Leaving test mode keys in a live site. And building a multi step custom form with Elements when Checkout would have done the job in a day.
Where it shows up in OneCraft
Payments on OneCraft sites go through Stripe Checkout as a direct charge on the owner's connected Stripe account: one off orders, subscriptions from a plans table, and the Stripe billing portal for subscribers. Prices are read from the site's own database, never from the browser, and a webhook marks the order paid or refunded. Stripe is connected once in account Settings, Payments. The platform fee is 2% on Starter, 1% on Pro and 0.5% on Pro+, plus Stripe's own fees, and the free plan cannot take payments. Payments run through Stripe only.
Questions people ask
Does Stripe Checkout cost extra?
Stripe does not list a separate fee for using Checkout; you pay Stripe's normal processing fees for each payment method, which vary by country and card type. Platforms that connect your Stripe account may add their own fee on top, so read both price lists before comparing totals.
Can I customise the look of Stripe Checkout?
Partly. You can set your logo, brand colours, button shape and fonts, and choose which fields to collect, in the dashboard's branding settings or when creating the session. The layout itself stays Stripe's. For a fully custom form inside your own page, Stripe offers Elements instead.
Does Stripe Checkout support subscriptions?
Yes. Create the session in subscription mode with a recurring price, and Checkout collects the payment method and starts the subscription. Customers can later change their card, switch plans or cancel through the Stripe customer portal if the site links to it.
Is Stripe Checkout safe for customers?
Yes. Card details are entered on Stripe's page or an embedded form served by Stripe, so they never pass through the business's own servers. Stripe handles encryption, fraud screening and strong customer authentication where banks require it. Customers should still check the address bar shows checkout.stripe.com when redirected.
What is the difference between Stripe Checkout and Payment Links?
Payment Links create a reusable link to a Checkout page for fixed products, with no code, which suits selling a few items from social media or email. Checkout Sessions are created by a site's server for each purchase, so the cart, prices and customer can change every time.
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Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .