BookingNinja does not charge any commission on bookings and makes no financial gain from using Stripe as our payment provider. We picked Stripe because it's the fastest, most secure and simply the best experience for your customers when booking.
It offers very low fees, but we find that others payment providers often mislead customers about how these fees work and quote customers their physical terminal fees, which are much cheaper, when they are in reality no cheaper than Stripe online.
When customers pay at your physical terminal this is called "card present", and the fees are typically lower than when they pay online "card not present" This difference exists because:
Card networks charge higher interchange fees for online transactions.
Additional security measures are required for online payments.
Many payment processors don't clearly communicate this distinction, leading to unexpected costs for businesses transitioning to online payments.
A common misconception we see is businesses comparing Stripe's online payment fees to what they currently pay for in-store terminal transactions. This creates a false equivalency for several reasons:
Your current terminal provider almost certainly charges different rates for card-present vs. card-not-present transactions
If you were to process online payments through your existing provider, you would pay their higher card-not-present rates, not their lower in-store terminal rates.
Many traditional payment processors obscure this distinction in their marketing materials.
Some providers advertise their lowest possible rate (for in-store transactions) while burying the higher online transaction fees in the fine print.
When making a fair comparison, you should compare Stripe's transaction fees with your current provider's online/card-not-present rates—not their in-store terminal rates.
Provider | Typical Fee Range |
Stripe | 1.5% + 20p |
Dojo | 1.4-1.8% + 10p |
Square | 1.4% + 25p for UK |
Worldpay | 1.5% + 0-0.15p |
SumUp | 2.5% |
Barclaycard Card | 1.8% |
The exact difference varies by provider, card type, and business category. Information collected March 2025.
Our online payment system integrates with Stripe as our payment gateway. We selected Stripe because it offers:
Industry-leading competitive rates for online transactions.
Seamless integration capabilities. We think it's imperative it's quick and easy for your customers to be able to make bookings using the payment methods that work best for them. With Stripe we can offer a complete experience without your customer ever having to leave your booking form!
Built-in support for modern payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay without extra charges
Strong security and fraud prevention tools
When implementing online payments with Stripe:
You'll maintain your current in-venue terminal provider for in-person transactions, joining Stripe is a 5 minute process.
Stripe will handle your BookingNinja transactions separately and the transactions will go directly to your Stripe account.
Funds from online payments will be deposited directly into your bank account, with no additional fees.
This dual-provider approach allows you to optimize costs while expanding your payment capabilities.
