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 programme. You 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.

	Virtual cards	Physical cards
Overview	Includes all the card information required for digital transactions, but there’s no physical card.	A customisable card that’s shipped to cardholders.
Use cases	Best for use cases where card transactions are expected to be completely digitised, or where you plan to use your card to complete a backend process, such as: Third-party logistics (a business is using a third party to fulfil a customer’s order) B2B payments (a business is paying a supplier for a good or service) Buy now, pay later payments (a business is paying a merchant)	Best for use cases where 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, such as: Fleet purchases Contractor purchases Expense management
Customisation	Not applicable for virtual cards.	Issue standard or custom physical cards.
Creating cards	Create a virtual card using the Dashboard or the Cards API.	Create a physical card using the Dashboard or the Cards API.
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 customisation of your card design. See Stripe Support for more details.