Compare the Payment Element and Card Element
Select the right Element for your payment integration.
Warning
The Card Element is a legacy integration with significantly less functionality than Payment Element. Stripe strongly recommends using the Payment Element to accept payments of all kinds, including card payments.
Previously, each payment method (for example, cards and iDEAL) required integrating a separate Element. Now you can use the Payment Element to accept payments from one or multiple payment methods, including cards and cards alongside other payment methods.
The Payment Element’s integration effort is the same as the Card Element and it supports all the common payment flows. The Payment Element also gives you instant access to additional payment methods, including Google Pay and Apple Pay. Accepting more payment methods can help your business expand its global reach and improve checkout conversion.
Additionally, Stripe continues to develop and improve the Payment Element and its UI based on data from millions of transactions.
If you’re already using the Card Element, migrate to the Payment Element by following our migration guide to ensure you have the most up-to-date Stripe integration.
Core Functionality
| Feature | Card Element | Payment Element |
|---|
| Card payments | | |
| Card validation | Basic | Enhanced |
| Card formatting | | Improved UX |
| Card brand detection | | Improved visuals |
| Card brand detection | Optional | Optional with improved UX |
Maintenance and updates
| Feature | Card Element | Payment Element |
|---|
| Active development | Maintenance only | |
| Automatic updates | Limited | Comprehensive |
| Payment method requirement updates | Manual | Automatic |
Payment method support
UX
| Feature | Card Element | Payment Element |
|---|
| Appearance Customisation | Limited | Supports the Appearance API |
| Responsive design | Basic | Enhanced |
| Accessibility features | Limited | Optimised |
| Error messaging | Basic | Enhanced guidance |
| Internationalisation | Limited | Comprehensive |
| Dynamic field validation | Basic | Enhanced real-time validation |
| Autofill | Basic | Enhanced |
Advanced features
Integration and development
| Feature | Card Element | Payment Element |
|---|
| Integration complexity | Moderate | Moderate |
| Dashboard configuration | Limited | Extensive |
| Server-side confirmation | | |
| Client-side confirmation | | |
| Set up future usage | | Enhanced options |
| Subscriptions | | Enhanced options |
| Webhook handling | | |
| Testing tools | Basic | Enhanced |
| Feature | Card Element | Payment Element |
|---|
| PCI compliance | | |
| Performance optimisation | Basic | Enhanced |
| Fraud prevention | Basic | Enhanced |
| Risk assessment | Basic | Enhanced |
