Choose which type of card to issue
Decide on physical or virtual cards for your cardholders.
Stripe offers several options for the types of cards that can be issued to cardholders. This page describes these options at a high level, including tradeoffs and use cases for each.
You can issue multiple card types simultaneously for your card program and can also transition to different options as your business needs change. For example, if you wanted to create a custom card, you could issue an instant physical card while you’re working with the Stripe team to manufacture your custom design. The following options aren’t mutually exclusive.
Virtual cards | Physical cards | |
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Overview | Cards with no physical representation, but which include all the card information required for digital transactions. Read more about virtual cards. | Cards that can be physically personalized and shipped to cardholders. Read more about physical cards. |
Best for | Virtual cards are best for use cases where card transactions are expected to be completely digitized, or if you plan to use your card to complete a backend process, such as fulfilling a customer’s order with a third party. Examples of use cases that would benefit from virtual cards would be B2B payments (a business is paying a supplier for a good or service) or buy now, pay later payments (a business is paying a merchant). | Physical cards are best when you expect to support a high degree of in-person point-of-sale transactions and you don’t want to rely on digital wallets alone. Use cases such as fleet or contractor purchases or expense management often require virtual cards. |
Customization | Not applicable for virtual cards. | Physical cards have two customization options:
For more on the types of physical cards available, see Physical cards. |
Creating cards | Virtual cards can be created using the Dashboard or API. Once created, cards are immediately generated and available for use. | You can create physical cards using the Dashboard or API. After they’re created, cards are printed and shipped out within a few days. From there, time of delivery to the cardholder depends on the shipping speed you choose. See Shipping your cards for more details. Note: Custom cards must be manufactured, tested, and stocked in inventory before they can be printed out and shipped. Lead times and prices will vary depending on the level of customization. See Stripe Support for more details. |
Cost | Virtual cards are 0.10 USD each in the US, 0.10 GBP in the UK and 0,10 EUR in the EU. | Standard cards are 3.50 USD each in the US, 3.50 GBP in the UK, and 3,50 EUR in the EU. Shipping costs apply for each region. Custom card prices depend on the level of customization of your card design. See Stripe Support for more details. |
Digital Wallet support | Digital wallets support all of our card types. A cardholder can add a representation of your virtual or physical card to their digital wallet for Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay. Because of market variations, the lead times for digital wallets vary depending on region and might require partnering with Stripe. See Stripe Support for more details. |