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Accept a payment

Securely accept payments online.

Build a payment form or use a prebuilt checkout page to start accepting online payments.

Embed a prebuilt payment form on your site using Stripe Checkout. See how this integration compares to Stripe’s other integration types.

Embedded Checkout previewEmbedded Checkout preview
powdur.me

Integration effort

Low code

Integration type

Embed prebuilt payment form on your site

UI customization

Limited customization

Use the branding settings in the Stripe Dashboard to match Checkout to your site design.

First, register for a Stripe account.

Use our official libraries to access the Stripe API from your application:

Command Line
# Available as a gem
sudo gem install stripe
Gemfile
# If you use bundler, you can add this line to your Gemfile
gem 'stripe'

Create a Checkout Session
Server-side

From your server, create a Checkout Session and set the ui_mode to embedded. You can configure the Checkout Session with line items to include and options such as currency.

You can also create a Checkout Session for an existing customer, allowing you to prefill Checkout fields with known contact information and unify your purchase history for that customer.

To return customers to a custom page that you host on your website, specify that page’s URL in the return_url parameter. Include the {CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID} template variable in the URL to retrieve the session’s status on the return page. Checkout automatically substitutes the variable with the Checkout Session ID before redirecting.

Read more about configuring the return page and other options for customizing redirect behavior.

After you create the Checkout Session, use the client_secret returned in the response to mount Checkout.

# This example sets up an endpoint using the Sinatra framework.
# To learn more about Sinatra, watch this video: https://youtu.be/8aA9Enb8NVc.
require 'json'
require 'sinatra'
require 'stripe'

# Set your secret key. Remember to switch to your live secret key in production.
# See your keys here: https://dashboard.stripe.com/apikeys
Stripe.api_key = 
'sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc'


post '/create-checkout-session' do
  session = Stripe::Checkout::Session.create({
    line_items: [{
      price_data: {
        currency: 'usd',
        product_data: {
          name: 'T-shirt',
        },
        unit_amount: 2000,
      },
      quantity: 1,
    }],
    mode: 'payment',
    ui_mode: 'embedded',
    return_url: 'https://example.com/checkout/return?session_id={CHECKOUT_SESSION_ID}'
  })

  {clientSecret: session.client_secret}.to_json
end

Mount Checkout
Client-side

Checkout is available as part of Stripe.js. Include the Stripe.js script on your page by adding it to the head of your HTML file. Next, create an empty DOM node (container) to use for mounting.

index.html
<head>
  <script src="https://js.stripe.com/v3/"></script>
</head>
<body>
  <div id="checkout">
    <!-- Checkout will insert the payment form here -->
  </div>
</body>

Initialize Stripe.js with your publishable API key.

Create an asynchronous fetchClientSecret function that makes a request to your server to create the Checkout Session and retrieve the client secret. Pass this function into options when you create the Checkout instance:

index.js
// Initialize Stripe.js
const stripe = Stripe(
'pk_test_TYooMQauvdEDq54NiTphI7jx'
);

initialize();

// Fetch Checkout Session and retrieve the client secret
async function initialize() {
  const fetchClientSecret = async () => {
    const response = await fetch("/create-checkout-session", {
      method: "POST",
    });
    const { clientSecret } = await response.json();
    return clientSecret;
  };

  // Initialize Checkout
  const checkout = await stripe.initEmbeddedCheckout({
    fetchClientSecret,
  });

  // Mount Checkout
  checkout.mount('#checkout');
}

Checkout renders in an iframe that securely sends payment information to Stripe over an HTTPS connection.

Common mistake

Avoid placing Checkout within another iframe because some payment methods require redirecting to another page for payment confirmation.

Customize appearance

Customize Checkout to match the design of your site by setting the background color, button color, border radius, and fonts in your account’s branding settings.

By default, Checkout renders with no external padding or margin. We recommend using a container element such as a div to apply your desired margin (for example, 16px on all sides).

Show a return page

After your customer attempts payment, Stripe redirects them to a return page that you host on your site. When you created the Checkout Session, you specified the URL of the return page in the return_url parameter. Read more about other options for customizing redirect behavior.

When rendering your return page, retrieve the Checkout Session status using the Checkout Session ID in the URL. Handle the result according to the session status as follows:

  • complete: The payment succeeded. Use the information from the Checkout Session to render a success page.
  • open: The payment failed or was canceled. Remount Checkout so that your customer can try again.
get '/session-status' do
  session = Stripe::Checkout::Session.retrieve(params[:session_id])

  {status: session.status, customer_email:  session.customer_details.email}.to_json
end
client.js
const session = await fetch(`/session_status?session_id=${session_id}`)
if (session.status == 'open') {
  // Remount embedded Checkout
} else if (session.status == 'complete') {
  // Show success page
  // Optionally use session.payment_status or session.customer_email
  // to customize the success page
}

Redirect-based payment methods

During payment, some payment methods redirect the customer to an intermediate page, such as a bank authorization page. When they complete that page, Stripe redirects them to your return page.

Learn more about redirect-based payment methods and redirect behavior.

Test your integration

To test your embedded payment form integration:

  1. Create an embedded Checkout Session and mount Checkout on your page.
  2. Fill out the payment details with a method from the table below.
    • Enter any future date for card expiry.
    • Enter any 3-digit number for CVC.
    • Enter any billing postal code.
  3. Click Pay. You’re redirected to your return_url.
  4. Go to the Dashboard and look for the payment on the payments page. If your payment succeeded, you’ll see it in that list.
  5. Click your payment to see more details, like a Checkout summary with billing information and the list of purchased items. You can use this information to fulfill the order.

Learn more about testing your integration.

Card numberScenarioHow to test
The card payment succeeds and doesn’t require authentication.Fill out the credit card form using the credit card number with any expiration, CVC, and postal code.
The card payment requires authentication.Fill out the credit card form using the credit card number with any expiration, CVC, and postal code.
The card is declined with a decline code like insufficient_funds.Fill out the credit card form using the credit card number with any expiration, CVC, and postal code.
The UnionPay card has a variable length of 13-19 digits.Fill out the credit card form using the credit card number with any expiration, CVC, and postal code.

See Testing for additional information to test your integration.

See also

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Code quickstart
On this page
Create a Checkout Session
Mount Checkout
Customize appearance
Show a return page
Test your integration
See also
Related Guides
Elements Appearance API
More payment scenarios
How cards work
Products Used
Payments
Elements
Checkout