Sokin vs Stripe

Overview of Sokin and Stripe

Outside of this, customer support with Stripe is lacking and is often one of the key points raised in customer reviews. The biggest issue seems to be that is hard to solve any problems, particularly relating to account freezes.

As a new account, Sokin does not have the same amount of reviews that Stripe has. So, while on the whole Sokin reviews are positive, there is still an element of unknown.

This being said, Stripe is a good option for domestic payments. The scale of the business, and the ability to have an online and physical presence in one place is beneficial.

Other features

With Stripe there aren't a huge amount of other features outside of incoming payments. For this reason Sokin offers businesses much more for managing international finances.

For companies accepting cross border transactions, a local account means you do not need to convert funds after they have been accepted. Also, you can use these funds to pay suppliers. Again this reduces cost of potentially having to convert funds for a second time.

Outside of other features, Sokin's international transaction costs are cheaper than Stripe.

As a payment gateway, Stripe offers in-person payments which you will not get with Sokin.

The two types of Stripe account

Stripe offers two main pricing structures for processing credit card transactions. Interchange-plus and flat-rate.

Interchange-plus pricing is a model where you pay the exact interchange fee set by the card networks (Visa, Mastercard, etc.). This then has a fixed markup added by Stripe. This can be good for businesses with high transaction volumes from a range of card types. Overall, it can result in lower costs.

Flat-rate pricing is charged as a fixed percentage and fee for all transactions. This is regardless of the card type or network. This offers predictability and simplicity. It is a good option for businesses with lower transaction volumes.

The flat fee approach is also how Sokin Pay works. The difference between Stripe and Sokin here, is that Sokin has a cheaper starting point in the UK (1.2%) vs Stripe (1.5%). For, US payments start at 2.5% for Sokin and 2.9% for Stripe.

Here's the key differences of the Stripe accounts:

Fees in detail per geo

Multi-currency and local accounts

Multi-currency accounts are a way of holding local currencies. You also get local account details. This makes it easier to send and receive cross border payments. Having local accounts synced to a payment gateway, like Sokin Pay, is a massive plus. Airwallex or Payoneer also offer local accounts alongside payment gateways.

The difference here is that you do not need to pay to convert the money after the transaction. Buyers can also purchase from your business in their native currency. All round, this reduces costs.

For comparison, with Stripe, if you were to accept a payment in a different currency, you would then have to pay to convert it.

Here's the different local accounts offered.

Within these accounts you can also earn interest as part of a Sokin balance boost. This will pay 3% for balances locked into a boost for 60 days. Keep in mind you will not be able to access these however. Wise Business also offers interest on some local currency accounts.

Integrations and pre-built options

The marketplace options offered by Sokin and Stripe differ hugely. Stripe has a lot more to offer overall.

Both Sokin and Stripe offer:

• WooCommerce

• Shopify

• Magento

Stripe's additional support covers:

Checkout options compared

Sokin offers the ability to be used as a payment gateway and to create payment links. Stripe offers both of these and in-person transactions.

Of course, what you will need will be dependent on your business. For online and payment link transactions, Stripe is more expensive than Sokin.

If you're looking for physical support as well, and have a need to accept cross border payments: GoCardless is a better option than Stripe.

Again, they are cheaper than Stripe (although, not cheaper than Sokin). This cost translates into the physical devices as well.

Payment links

Payment links and QR codes can be used for generating payment requests through both platforms. There isn't too much in the way of difference between Stripe or Sokin here.

Physical terminals

For those looking to use Stripe for physical use, the terminals available are:

Outgoing cross border payments

Using Sokin you can make international payments. This could be to suppliers, or for things like marketing.

These cost from 0.3% if currency conversion is being used. If you use a balance already in a multi-currency or IBAN account there is no cost.

This option is not available with Stripe.

For Sokin, the breakdown of costs for international payments are:

API support

Experience and support

One of the common problems found with Stripe is how difficult it is to use. Customers regularly vent frustrations at accounts being frozen. Then a lack of customer support in resolving issues, relating to the freezes or otherwise.

Ease of use

As a platform, Sokin has an easy to use dashboard, with most elements available within one or two clicks.

With Sokin, you also support on account setup. Then will have ongoing access to a customer support team, so any problems are easily solvable.

With Stripe this isn't always the case. As the platform attempts to cater for any payment need, it can feel like a lot of the options are irrelevant.

This being said, once you are setup, and working, Stripe remains powerful.

While we've outlined Sokin as being a winner against Stripe in most areas, its 37% market share is a testament to the product as a whole.

Customer feedback

Where Stripe is really hurt, and where Sokin is starting to excel, is customer feedback.

It's not that hard to find bad sentiment for Stripe.

For Sokin, reviews have been largely positive since launch for its business offering. We should say, with Sokin Pay still in its infancy, there isn't a huge amount of customer feedback online yet.

Choosing a winner

Sokin is a winner against Stripe, because of:

Use cases for Sokin and Stripe

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