# Build your Connect integration Select your business model and monetisation strategy, then get a tailored code quickstart. > **Integration guides available:**We've generated integration guides for you. View the quickstart guide or copy integration details for use with an LLM assistant. Configure the following options to get personalised guidance and best practices for building your Connect integration, including: - The recommended charge type - Your risk and compliance responsibilities - A preview of the user experience - A customised code quickstart - A customised LLM prompt that you can copy to use with an AI coding assistant ### 1. Select your business model Your business model determines the appropriate flow of funds for your integration. - **Platform:**Sellers collect payments directly and pay fees to Stripe. For example, an eCommerce platform that processes payments under the hood for independent sellers. - **Marketplace:**Your platform collects payments and distributes funds to sellers. For example, a food delivery service that connects customers with restaurants and drivers. ### 2. Select a monetization strategy You can select one or more ways for your platform to charge connected accounts. - **Application fees:**Charge a commission or fee for each payment. - **SaaS subscriptions:**Charge a SaaS subscription fee to connected accounts. - **Additional Stripe products:**Offer Stripe products with your branding and a markup to connected accounts. For example, instant payouts, Capital financing, or Issuing cards. ## Setup Based on your selections, the sections below provide a personalised setup. ### Accept a payment #### Item 1 A direct charge is a customer payment made directly to a connected account. Customers directly transact with your connected account, often unaware of your platform’s existence. This charge type is best suited for platforms providing software as a service. For example, Shopify provides tools for building online storefronts, and Thinkific enables educators to sell online courses. #### Item 2 Create destination charges on your platform to immediately transfer funds to connected accounts. Customers transact with your platform for products or services provided by your connected accounts. This charge type is best suited for marketplaces such as home rental marketplaces (like Airbnb) or ridesharing apps (like Lyft). You create destination charges on your platform, and as part of the charge operation, funds immediately transfer to the connected account you specify. You can decide whether to transfer some or all of those funds. Unless you’re eligible for [cross-border payouts](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/cross-border-payouts.md), your platform and the connected account you transfer funds to must be in the same region to create a destination charge. Attempting to transfer funds across a disallowed border returns an error. #### Item 3 Create separate charges and transfers to transfer funds from one payment to multiple connected accounts, or when a specific user isn’t known at the time of charge. The charge on your platform account is decoupled from the transfers to your connected accounts. This charge type is best suited for marketplaces that need to split payments between multiple parties, such as DoorDash (a restaurant delivery platform). While separate charges and transfers provide you flexibility, they require a more complex integration to manage account balances between your platform and your users. You must monitor your platform account balance carefully to make sure you have enough available funds to cover the transfer amount. Unless you’re eligible for [cross-border payouts](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/cross-border-payouts.md), your platform and the connected account you transfer funds to must be in the same region to use separate charges and transfers. Attempting to transfer funds across a disallowed border returns an error. ### Risk and compliance responsibilities #### Item 1 #### Item 2 Your platform is liable for losses incurred by negative balances on your connected accounts. Your platform is responsible for reviewing new connected accounts during onboarding and determining the risk profile of your users. Recommended for marketplaces that collect payments from customers to payout sellers, or for advanced platforms that want full control over how risk and negative liabilities are managed on connected accounts: - Your platform must monitor connected accounts for ongoing risk of loss. - Your platform has to build flows to communicate and remediate connected accounts when you detect fraud or risk. - You have the engineering resources to establish processes for managing ongoing risk of loss and preventing fraud. Before creating accounts with this setup, carefully consider and acknowledge your platform responsibilities for negative balance liabilities. Learn about [managing refunds and disputes in your marketplace](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/marketplace/tasks/refunds-disputes.md), particularly for platforms using indirect charges. #### Item 3 Stripe monitors risk signals on connected accounts, implements risk interventions in response to those signals and seeks to recover negative balances from your connected accounts. For most software as a service platforms, this is the best choice, especially if you’re new to embedding payments: - Stripe monitors your connected accounts for credit and fraud risk, as well as protection against risk of loss in the event of negative balances attributed to business risk. - Stripe handles all the end-to-end communications and remediations directly with your connected accounts through hosted flows or embedded components. Learn about [managing funds movement for payment reversals specifically for SaaS platforms](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/saas/tasks/refunds-disputes.md), including how to handle refunds and dispute chargebacks effectively. This configuration works with both the full Stripe Dashboard and the Express Dashboard. If you want a lightweight, platform-branded dashboard for your connected accounts, pair [Managed Risk](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/risk-management/managed-risk.md) with the Express Dashboard. ## Preview the user experience Connected accounts use hosted Onboarding and manage their accounts from a hosted interface. #### Onboarding [Stripe-hosted onboarding](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/hosted-onboarding.md) handles the collection of business and identity verification information from connected accounts, requiring minimal effort from the platform. A web form hosted by Stripe renders dynamically, based on the capabilities, country and business type of each connected account. ![Stripe-hosted onboarding form for a connected account, shown alongside Furever branding](https://b.stripecdn.com/docs-statics-srv/assets/hosted_onboarding_form.e59ba8300f563e43489953f06127f52c.png) #### Dashboard #### Item 1 Provide connected accounts with access to the Stripe Dashboard. The Stripe Dashboard provides connected accounts with access to Stripe functionality, including viewing payouts, managing refunds, handling disputes, accessing reporting and processing charges on their own. Users can sign in to their Stripe Dashboard at any time and access the Dashboard by visiting Stripe directly. Users have access to Stripe support, and Stripe can reach out and communicate with users about their account. Use the Stripe Dashboard when your connected accounts: - Need to manage their own API keys, webhooks, or developer integrations. - Require detailed financial reporting or data exports. - Have teams with different access needs (for example, separate admin and analyst roles). - Use Stripe Apps. You can always add [embedded components](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/get-started-connect-embedded-components.md) to your own website along with providing access to the Stripe Dashboard. #### Item 2 Provide connected accounts with access to the [Express Dashboard](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/express-dashboard.md). The Express Dashboard lets connected accounts view their available balance, see upcoming payouts and track their earnings in real time. Your users can use the Express Dashboard to manage refunds and disputes, view financing offers, update their KYC information and more. Users have access to Stripe support and might receive Stripe communications about their account. Use the Express Dashboard when your connected accounts: - Need to track their payouts and payment activity. - Benefit from a lightweight, platform-branded UI, with basic reporting. - Don’t require developer tools or advanced reporting. [View the demo](https://express.stripe.dev) You can [add your platform’s brand name and icon](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/customize-express-dashboard.md#add-platform-branding) and [customise which features appear](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/customize-express-dashboard.md#customize-features) in the Express Dashboard, such as disputes, refunds and manual payouts. You can always add [Connect embedded components](https://docs.stripe.com/connect/get-started-connect-embedded-components.md) to your own website in tandem with providing access to the Express Dashboard. > #### Preview API version required with the Express Dashboard > > Combining Express Dashboard access with Stripe responsibility for negative balances is in [public preview](https://docs.stripe.com/release-phases.md). Use the current preview version string (`2026-07-29.preview`) in your Stripe SDK configuration when you create connected accounts. > > The generated code and prompt on this page use the current generally available API version. Replace that version with the preview version string if you use this combination. > **Integration guides available:**We've generated integration guides for you. View the quickstart guide or copy integration details for use with an LLM assistant.