Finding the best payment platform for your company is essential.

We already covered Stripe a few times here since this platform is very popular, thus being a good start to draw comparisons with other services in the niche.

This time, we will check what Ripple offers and if it has any features that can prove superior to Stripe in the long run or for certain businesses.

If you want to check the difference between Stripe and another service, say Wave, you can check here.

What Is Stripe?

Stripe is a PayPal-style payment platform through which you can connect your website with a bank account or a stripe account and start charging for your products or services on your own website.

With Stripe everything is much simpler because you can integrate the entire payment process on your own website, without having to send the user to a new window.

At the user experience level for account administrators, one can say that Stripe is also ahead of PayPal in this regard.

For example, for businesses that sell memberships to access premium content, Stripe’s payment gateway is perfect, since it allows you to have very detailed control of your users’ subscriptions.

What Is Ripple?

Ripple is the name of the company and network behind the XRP cryptocurrency. The company was founded as a trusted network that leveraged social media. Users of a network could bypass banks, make loans, and open lines of credit with each other.

In that way, Ripple is a platform and a currency. It is an open-source protocol designed to enable fast and cheap transactions.

The platform has its own currency (XRP), but it also allows anyone to use the platform to create their own currency via RippleNet.

RippleNet is a network of institutional payments providers, such as banks and financial services companies, that make use of solutions created by Ripple to give a unique experience to send money globally.

Fees

Stripe is very clear about what types of fees customers need to pay for each type of service:

• Online Transaction Fee: 2.9% + $0.30
• In-person Transaction Fee: 2.7% + $0.05
• Fraud Protection: $0.05 per screened transaction
• Chargeback Fee: $15
• Dispute Fee: $15
• Recurring Billing: 0.5%
• Invoicing: 0.4% per paid invoice, first 25 invoices free per month
• Early Termination Fee: 0

RippleNet is also straightforward about fees. What will surprise you is that its fees are very low.

The platform allows you to make payments in any currency including Bitcoin and have a minimum internal transaction fee of US$0.00001.

The only reason it’s not free is to prevent DDoS attacks.

Verdict

Comparing a traditional payment processor to a blockchain-based solution seems almost unfair, but blockchain technology is here to stay and its fees are generally that low.

If you want the lowest fees when sending money globally, adopting RippleNet can be ideal.

Also read Stripe Vs Ramp.

How Easy It Is To Use Each One?

Stripe’s function is to receive any type of financial transaction that is common to e-commerce or any type of website (this involves payments, transfers, etc.).

Because it works as a gateway, Stripe ends up not being noticed by the user when he performs a shopping process, for example.

Thus, the customer makes all the payments in an environment specific to the site where he is shopping, but this receipt structure is Stripe’s system that automates and manages.

Stripe’s process is simple. Your customer enters a credit card number, hits are sent, and then they’re taken to your “thank you” or follow-up page. The design and flow are in your hands.

RippleNet also promises to be simple to use, allowing you to implement the system to send huge amounts of money globally.

RippleNet currently supports many financial institutions across the world, but it can also be an opportunity for medium-sized and small businesses to cut costs when sending large sums of money, as is shown at some blogposts on Ripple’s site

The problem is, RippleNet isn’t very clear on how to use it if you are the owner of a small business and are just curious whether this system is any good for you.

Verdict

Being more traditional, Stripe is still more appealing.

Small and medium-sized businesses will have an easier time finding the right info to learn how to adopt Stripe into their functioning than RippleNet.

What About Customer Support?

Stripe provides customer assistance on several fronts in order to better serve clients.

Stripe’s assistance may be reached via the help center, email, social media, or even a phone call if you feel speaking is the best way to convey your problem.

Stripe’s help, on the other hand, has received mixed reviews. It has a rating of 3,3 stars on TrustPilot, for example.

Stripe’s assistance was rated “excellent” by 54 % of customers and “bad” by 38%, thus it appears that getting the proper support is up to your luck.

RippleNet also counts with several ways of addressing client’s issues.

Beginners on the platform might find the FAQ very useful, as in-depth solutions can be assessed with the support team through email, phone, or even written letters.

Verdict

Both companies offer seemingly decent customer support, so it is a tie.

Data Protection

Both Stripe and RippleNet protect users’ data according to their Privacy Policies.

Once you decide you don’t want Stripe’s services anymore, they won’t hold on to your information.

RippleNet also allows you to request the deletion or restriction of your information at any time. 

Verdict

Stripe and RippleNet alike are good options when you are worried about your data.

Receiving Money

In this section, things work very differently.

Stripe is a payment processor for regular businesses, and new customers can only get access to the money paid by clients one or two weeks after the money has shown up at the service’s balance.

RippleNet, on the other hand, is a blockchain-based service, which means payments are instant.

Verdict

There is nothing better than instant payments, so this “round” goes to RippleNet.

Availability of each service

Stripe currently offers its services to 46 countries and countless currencies and is always getting ready to expand its coverage.

Currencies available on Stripe can be viewed here, and the countries covered are listed here.

RippleNet already covers more than 55 countries and can handle over 120 currencies.

Is Amazon Partners With Ripple?

Yes. RippleNet helps Amazon through its distributed financial technology, providing real-time messaging, clearing, and settlement of financial transactions.

Final Verdict

RippleNet and Stripe are two very different financial solutions for businesses and institutions.

On one hand, Stripe makes it easy by offering several essential services for small, medium, or even large-size companies.

On the other hand, RippleNet innovates with blockchain technology to offer instant transactions, strengthening the global payment network.

Then, it all depends on what size your business has and what are the main needs for your company.

While Stripe is a more traditional and very reliable solution that shouldn’t cause any headaches setting up, RippleNet seems worthy of your time if your business dreams to soar high.

Considering all that, we can say that both companies are at a tie if we consider how good each one is in delivering what clients needs.

Each one has a different approach, and you can explore further down each one by going to their sites and even getting in touch with the support for new clients.