The final comparison between Braintree and Stripe: And we have a winner

The shift from web app to mobile app created new opportunities for ecommerce companies. Whether it is booking a flight ticket or buying groceries, everything is moved to mobile. When building such apps, you quickly run into the issue of collecting payments on behalf of the seller.

 

In a survey, it was found that more than 50% of shoppers would cancel their purchase — if the payment method is not of their choice.

 

Your customer checkout experience can be good depending on how the development team customizes and integrates your payment processing solution.

 

When you are developing an app that needs to accept payment, you probably should consider third party service providers such as – Stripe and Braintree.

 

In this post, we look at these two payment gateways —and make a comparison between them. Let’s get started by knowing about each of these payment gateways individually and finally compare them to decide the winner……

 

Braintree

Braintree is a subsidiary of PayPal based in Chicago that specializes in web and mobile payment systems for ecommerce companies. Braintree emphasizes multiple payment method options with high level security and support. Braintree provides its customers with a merchant account along with features that include credit and storage, recurring billing, support for mobile payments and PCI compliance solutions.

 

Braintree provides companies with the liability to accept payments within their mobile. It is a full-stack payment platform that replaces the traditional model of sourcing a payment gateway and merchant account. In order to integrate Braintree, one needs some knowledge of coding and development. Braintree provides client libraries for iOS, Android, Ruby, Java, Python, PHP, .NET and Node JS.

 

Braintree works with leading ecommerce and billing platforms, including –Shopify, Magento, Bigcommerce, Wufoo etc. Braintree desists from several business categories such as – tours, auctions, gaming, charities etc. Companies from around the world get benefited from the technology of Braintree.

 

Stripe

Stripe, a technology company based in US allows private individuals and businesses to accept payments over the internet. The key features of Stripe are – fraud prevention, banking infrastructure and technical support to operate online payment systems. Using Stripe, mobile app developers can integrate payment processing into their apps without the need of having merchant account.

 

If you are running online or mobile business, Stripe is the best platform. Whether you are creating a subscription service, crowdfunding platform or an e-commerce store — Stripe’s unmatched functionality can help you create the best possible product for your customers. Hundreds of companies across the globe are scaling efficiently by building their business on Stripe.

 

One should know that payments are rooted in code and not finance. The additional features in Stripe allow companies to accept credit cards directly on their site through Stripe.com account. According to recent sources, there are more than 4,400 companies that are using Stripe. Some of the popular names in the list include – Task Rabbit, Affirm, Adidas, Squarespace, Rackspace, Slack, Facebook and Instacart.

 

Braintree vs Stripe

Well, we have understood how beneficial these payment gateways are. Now, the question is – how to decide which payment gateway is the best? Both these payment gateways work with reputed brands. For instance – Braintree is opted by Airbnb and Uber, while Adidas, Best Buy and Kickstarter use Stripe. However, we can’t get the answer by just looking at the companies that use Stripe and Braintree.

 

We can decide the winner by reviewing the payment methods they support, charges, and products they offer for online market place.

 

Let’s go through the below factors that help you decide which is the best payment gateway for your ecommerce app.

 

Supported Payment Methods

Ecommerce mobile apps often need to support multiple payment methods such as – Visa, American Express and MasterCard. Besides payment via credit card, ecommerce mobile apps may need support of other payment methods. This is where you can check the difference between Stripe and Braintree.

 

Stripe works with AliPay, which is a Chinese payment platform. Stripe will suit your ecommerce app, if you are targeting Chinese market. Stripe accepts Automated Clearing House (ACH), which means direct charges to bank account. On the contrary, Braintree lacks this feature. To compete with Stripe, Braintree provided integration with PayPal. In other words, users can accept PayPal payments using Braintree.

 

Compatible Platforms

Braintree and Stripe have a well-documented API for top programming languages such as – Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Python, PHP and Node. Stripe and Braintree have APIs on the top operating systems for smartphones such as Android and iOS. Their service is required even with SDK.

 

If you are using Stripe – you do not have the need to send card data directly to your server, as their libraries are compatible with PCI. Their libraries send your credit card details directly to their servers, where they are converted to tokens. These tokens are charged later in your server side code.

 

If you are using Braintree – you should know that there is a Drop-in UI and not custom UI. Braintree offers a complete ready-made payment UI for accepting payments. You can qualify for SAQ A PCI compliance form by using Braintree.

 

Braintree has drop-in UI for both Android and iOS, which makes it much beneficial compared to Stripe.

 

Subscription

Both the platforms have subscription support with trial periods. If you want to use Braintree, you need to create a Control Panel and store the customers in Vault. Braintree’s subscription in trial period is active, which are usually charged on next billing date.

 

On the contrary, subscriptions require more coordination between your site and Stripe. This platform generates invoice that represents the amount customer owes and attempts to charge that amount from customer. Subscription invoice is generated automatically in Stripe, once the period is up.

 

Processing Terms and conditions

The next important thing to consider is how much these platforms charge for their services. There are different types of charges, which we are going to review below!

 

Braintree and Stripe won’t charge you monthly or yearly fees for just using their services. As per industry standards, both these platforms charge 2.9%+$0.30 for each transaction. The fee remains same and doesn’t vary with geography. These charges are only for credit card payments with an exception of American Express.

 

Regarding disputes and refunds, both Stripe and Braintree help you handle them easily –at your expense. They refund you the disputed amount and charge $15 for the transaction. If the dispute is resolved in your favor, both these platforms return the fee of $15. If your merchant account doesn’t have enough money to cover the charges, the money will be debited directly from your bank account.

 

Stripe and Braintree work with different payment methods. Braintree has much better offer for Bitcoin payments and it charges 1% for each Bitcoin transaction. Stripe takes a standard fee of 2.9%+$0.30 for each transaction for AMEX, while Braintree charges 3.25%+$0.30.  Based on this information related to charges, Braintree appears to cost you more than Stripe.

 

Conclusion

There is no straight forward answer as to which payment platform is much better. You can choose a platform based on your business needs and the payment methods your customers prefer. Stripe is in beta in many countries, while Braintree seems to present in first world countries — which is higher than Stripe. In terms of supported payments, Braintree is much better than Stripe. However, choosing between the two will depend on which features are more important for you.

 

I came across multiple resources while researching for this article and upon reviewing them I believe braintree has an edge. The information provided here is just an outline of both the payment gateway solutions. It is better to make extensive research, before making the final choice.