Adyen vs Stripe

Adyen is a global payments company founded in Amsterdam in 2006 by Pieter van der Does and Arnout Schuijff, and listed on Euronext Amsterdam since 2018. Adyen runs its own acquiring, processing and risk stack in one system, so a merchant gets one contract and one report for card payments, local payment methods and in-store terminals across many countries. Customers include Uber, Microsoft, eBay and OpenAI.

The platform covers online checkout through Drop-in and Components SDKs, point-of-sale terminals, Tap to Pay on phones, RevenueProtect fraud scoring, network tokenization, payouts, and Adyen for Platforms for marketplaces that onboard and pay sub-merchants. Pricing is published and usage-based: a fixed $0.13 processing fee per transaction plus a payment method fee, such as Interchange++ plus 0.60% for Visa and Mastercard. There are no setup or monthly fees, though a minimum invoice can apply depending on industry.

Adyen fits large retailers, travel and mobility companies, and marketplaces processing high volumes across several regions, where unified data and acquiring margins matter. It is a poor fit for small shops: onboarding is sales-led, integration needs developers, and support is tuned for enterprise accounts. Stripe is easier for startups and SaaS billing, PayPal brings consumer wallet reach, and Square suits small in-person sellers.

Adyen keeps growing: H1 2026 net revenue was about EUR 1.3 billion, up 19% year on year, and in July 2026 it completed the acquisitions of Talon.One (loyalty and promotions) and Orb (usage-based billing).

Stripe is a payments infrastructure company founded in 2010 by Irish brothers Patrick and John Collison, with headquarters in San Francisco and Dublin. Its APIs and documentation set the standard for developer experience, and it processes payments for businesses ranging from early-stage startups to some of the largest internet companies.

The platform covers online card and local payment method acceptance, prebuilt Checkout and Payment Links, Billing for subscriptions and invoices, Connect for marketplaces and platforms, Radar for fraud prevention, Tax for calculating and collecting sales tax and VAT, Terminal for in-person payments, Atlas for incorporating a US company, and treasury, card issuing and capital products. Recent moves include the acquisition of Lemon Squeezy, a merchant of record for digital products, and of Bridge for stablecoin payments. Fees are charged per transaction, with add-on products priced as a percentage of volume and custom pricing for large businesses.

Stripe is the default for online and SaaS businesses in its roughly 46 supported countries. Turkey is not among them, so companies based in Turkey use a merchant of record such as Paddle or Lemon Squeezy, local gateways such as iyzico or PayTR, or incorporate abroad, for example through Atlas. Adyen competes for enterprise volume, PayPal Braintree is common for marketplaces, and merchants of record trade higher fees for taking over tax compliance entirely.