The 30¢ Stripe fee is what makes small charges expensive

Stripe's standard US card fee is 2.9% plus 30¢ per charge. The 30¢ is the part that hurts small plans.

A $5 monthly charge pays $0.145 in percentage fee and $0.30 fixed: $0.445, or 8.9% of the sale. A $50 charge pays $1.75, or 3.5%.

Over a year, a $5/month customer is 12 charges and $5.34 in fees. The same customer on a $60 annual plan is one charge and $2.04. Same revenue, $3.30 more in your bank, before you count the 11 fewer chances for a card to fail.

If most of your customers are on low monthly prices, run your real numbers through the Stripe fee calculator and see what an annual option would keep.