Legacy

Connected account types Legacy

Learn about connected account configurations that use legacy account types.

Deprecated feature

The information on this page applies only to platforms that already use legacy connected account types (Standard, Express or Custom accounts). If you’re setting up a new Connect platform, or your integration uses the Accounts v2 API, see the Interactive platform guide. If your existing integration uses the Accounts v1 API, see Design an advanced integration.

When using Connect, you create a connected account for each business or individual that signs up to access your platform’s services. You can configure your platform and connected accounts to fit your business model, distributing specific responsibilities between your platform, Stripe, and your connected accounts.

If your existing connected accounts are configured as one of the account types described here, you can migrate your platform to support new connected accounts using the Accounts v2 API or v1 Accounts with controller properties. During and after migration, your platform can continue to support your existing connected accounts without interruption.

Connect supports the following account types:

Standard
Express
Custom

Choose an account type

You must consider several factors when choosing an account type. Integration effort and connected account user experience are especially important because they can affect engineering resource expenditure and conversion rates. Your choice of account type determines your platform’s liability for fraud, abuse, negative balances, and identity verification. See Best practices for risk management to understand how to balance risk for your platform. After you create a connected account, you can’t change its type.

Stripe recommends that you use controller properties instead of account types. If you want to use account types, we recommend Express or Standard connected accounts because they require less integration effort. For more control over your connected accounts, consider using Custom connected accounts. To learn which account type we recommend for your business, refer to your platform profile.

There’s an additional cost for using Express or Custom connected accounts.

	Standard	Express	Custom
Integration effort	Lowest	Low	Significantly higher
Integration method	API or OAuth	API	API
Fraud and dispute liability	Connected account for direct charges, Platform for destination charges	Platform	Platform
Platform can specify payout timing?	Yes, with Platform controls	Yes	Yes
Onboarding	Stripe	Stripe	Platform or Stripe
Identity information gathering	Stripe	Stripe	Platform or Stripe
Connected account access to the Stripe Dashboard	Full Dashboard	Express Dashboard	None
Supported charge types	Direct only	Destination Separate with transfers Direct 1	Destination Separate with transfers Direct 1
Connected account support provided by	Platform and Stripe	Platform and Stripe	Platform
Automatic updates for new compliance requirements	Yes	Yes	No
Support new countries without integration changes	Yes	Yes	No
Ideal for platforms	With experienced online businesses as connected accounts	Any type	With significant engineering resources to dedicate to a fully white-labelled experience

1 Using direct charges on legacy Express or Custom accounts charges connected accounts directly at standard sticker rates rather than billing the platform. For pricing control, use destination charges instead.

Express connected accounts

With Express connected accounts, Stripe handles the onboarding and identity verification processes. The platform has the ability to specify charge types and set the connected account’s payout settings programmatically. Typically, the platform is responsible for handling disputes and refunds, which is similar to a Custom connected account. However, platforms can enable connected accounts to manage disputes and issue refunds directly through the Express Dashboard.

Although your connected account has interactions with Stripe, they primarily interact with your platform, particularly for the core payment processing functionality. For Express connected account holders, Stripe provides an Express Dashboard (a lighter version of the Dashboard) that allows them to manage their personal information, see payouts to their bank and optionally manage disputes and issue refunds if your platform enables those features.

Use Express connected accounts when you:

Want to get started quickly (letting Stripe handle account onboarding, management, and identity verification)
Want to use destination charges or separate charges and transfers
Want significant control over interactions with your connected accounts

Some examples of platforms that use Express connected accounts are home-rental marketplaces, such as Airbnb, and ride-hailing services, such as Lyft.

Global compliance requirements do evolve and change over time. With Express, Stripe proactively collects information when requirements change. For best practices on how to communicate to your connected accounts when that happens, visit the guide for Express accounts.

Express connected account availability

Select one of the available countries when you create an Express connected account. You can’t change the country later.

Some countries are available only when using cross-border payouts.

To know when Express connected accounts are available in your country, contact Stripe.

Albania

Antigua & Barbuda

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Austria

Bahamas

Bahrain

Belgium

Benin

Bolivia

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Botswana

Brunei

Bulgaria

Cambodia

Canada

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Côte d’Ivoire

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Estonia

Ethiopia

Finland

France

Gambia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Guatemala

Guyana

Hong Kong

Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kenya

Kuwait

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macao SAR China

Madagascar

Malta

Mauritius

Mexico

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Morocco

Namibia

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nigeria

North Macedonia

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Romania

Rwanda

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

South Africa

South Korea

Spain

Sri Lanka

St. Lucia

Sweden

Switzerland

Taiwan

Tanzania

Thailand

Trinidad & Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

Standard connected accounts

A Standard connected account is a conventional Stripe account where the connected account has a direct relationship with Stripe, is able to log in to the Dashboard, and can process charges on their own.

Use Standard connected accounts when you:

Want to get started quickly and don’t need a lot of control over interactions with your connected accounts
Want to use direct charges
Have connected accounts that are familiar with running online businesses or that already have a Stripe account
Prefer that Stripe handles direct communication with the connected account for account issues (for example, to request more information for identity verification purposes)

Some examples of platforms that use Standard connected accounts are store builders, such as Shopify, and Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms, such as an online invoicing and payment service.

Global compliance requirements do evolve and change over time. With Standard connected accounts, Stripe proactively collects information when requirements change. For best practices on how to communicate to your connected accounts when that happens, visit the guide for Standard accounts.

Country can't be changed

After you create a Standard connected account, you can’t change its country.

Custom connected accounts

A Custom connected account is almost completely invisible to the account holder. You – the platform – are responsible for all interactions with your connected accounts, including collecting any information Stripe needs. You have the ability to change all the account’s settings, including the payout bank or debit card account, programmatically.

Custom connected account holders don’t have access to the Dashboard, and Stripe doesn’t contact them directly.

Use Custom connected accounts when you:

Want complete control over interactions with your connected accounts
Can build the significant infrastructure required to collect connected account information, deploy a custom dashboard, and handle support
Want to handle all communication with your connected accounts, involving no direct contact between them and Stripe

Creating and managing Custom connected accounts requires a larger integration effort than the other account types. If you collect identity verification information yourself instead of using Stripe’s hosted onboarding, you’re responsible for handling sensitive personal information (such as government IDs and tax identifiers), which brings additional regulatory and security requirements. To learn more, see Using Connect with Custom accounts.

Global compliance requirements do evolve and change over time. For best practices on how to communicate to your connected accounts when requirements change, see the guide for Custom accounts.

If you decide to use Custom connected accounts, Stripe recommends that you use Connect Onboarding for Custom accounts to collect onboarding and verification information from your connected accounts. That decreases your integration effort and eliminates the need to update your onboarding form when requirements change.

Custom connected account availability

Select one of the available countries when you create a Custom connected account. You can’t change the country later.