# Product release phases

Learn how Stripe describes product release phases.

Stripe uses specifically-named release phases to describe the availability of features in the Stripe API, Dashboard, and other product areas. These phases enable us to incrementally release new features and improve them based on your feedback.

Use the table below to learn more about each phase and what to expect.

| Product release phase         | Who can request access                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            | Feature completeness                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | How to get support                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| ----------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Private preview**           | - Restricted to a subset of accounts.
  - Access is by invitation only.                                                                                                                                                                                                           | - **Completeness**: Expect incompleteness and some limited functionality as we continue development and build the product in partnership with early users.
  - **Changes**: Breaking changes expected over time as we update and develop functionality.                                                                                                                                       | - **Support**: Directly from the Stripe product team.
  - **Documentation**: Directly from the Stripe product team and from the [Stripe docs](https://docs.stripe.com/.md) and [Stripe support](https://support.stripe.com/) (if applicable). |
| **Frontier**                  | - Available in supported product areas for APIs in frontier domains that change rapidly.
  - Users can self-serve access in the Dashboard.
  - We might close self-serve access after a certain point because we want to stay engaged with the early builders who use these APIs. | - **Completeness**: Core functionality available. Because these APIs support rapidly changing areas, they might change more quickly than APIs in standard phases. They have lower interoperability with other Stripe products and less extensibility.
  - **Changes**: Breaking changes are more likely than in other phases. APIs might require integration changes to support new features. | - **Support**: Directly from the Stripe product team.
  - **Documentation**: From Stripe docs and API reference docs. Docs are labeled as frontier APIs.                                                                                      |
| **Public preview**            | - Open to any user with a Stripe account.
  - Most public previews are self-opt-in, but some might require users to request access from Stripe.                                                                                                                                   | - **Completeness**: Not feature-complete and might include major new functionality or changes before release.
  - **Changes**: Some breaking changes expected as we develop and update functionality.                                                                                                                                                                                         | - **Support**: Stripe Support.
  - **Documentation**: From Stripe docs and support pages.                                                                                                                                                     |
| **General availability (GA)** | - Open to any user with a Stripe account.
  - Most general availability features are self-opt-in, but some might require users to request access from Stripe.                                                                                                                     | - **Completeness**: Feature-complete.
  - **Changes**: No breaking changes expected; any future changes handled through API version upgrades.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | - **Support**: Stripe Support.
  - **Documentation**: From Stripe docs and support pages.                                                                                                                                                     |

Preview products and features (formerly called “beta”) are subject to specific terms for both private and public previews.