Stripe offers multiple ways to accept payments online, but two of the most popular are Stripe Checkout and Payment Links. At first glance, they might look similar (they both redirect customers to a Stripe-hosted payment page), but the use cases are a little different.
What Is Stripe Checkout?
Stripe Checkout is a hosted checkout page you generate dynamically using Stripe’s API. Instead of hard-coding products or prices, you create a “Checkout Session” on the fly when your customer is ready to pay. You can pass in items, prices, discounts, trial periods, tax, shipping, and even custom metadata.
Think of Checkout as your developer-friendly toolkit for building tailored purchase experiences.
Best for:
- Dynamic carts with changing contents
- SaaS apps with trials or subscriptions
- Platforms/marketplaces that gate access after payment
- Businesses needing control over logic, inventory, or validation before purchase
What Are Stripe Payment Links?
Stripe Payment Links are prebuilt, reusable checkout URLs you configure in the Stripe Dashboard. You set up a product or subscription once, copy the link, and share it anywhere (on your website, in an email, or even as a QR code at an event). No code required.
Think of Payment Links as the no-code, quick-launch option.
Best for:
- Selling a single product or service
- Donations, event tickets, or subscriptions
- Social media and email sales campaigns
- Entrepreneurs or small businesses that don’t want to write code
Comparison
| Feature | Stripe Checkout | Stripe Payment Links |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Requires API integration | No code; configure in Dashboard |
| Flexibility | Fully dynamic (line items, metadata, discounts) | Mostly fixed (each link tied to predefined product/price) |
| Cart & pricing | Dynamic per customer/session | Static per link (quantity options possible) |
| Subscriptions | Supported | Supported |
| Fulfillment | Handle via webhooks | Same webhook events |
| Branding | Stripe-hosted branding | Stripe-hosted branding |
| Best for | Custom apps, gated digital goods, platforms | Quick sales, social media, one-off campaigns |
What to Choose
- If you want to start selling online in minutes → Use Payment Links.
- If you need fine-grained control over what’s being sold and when → Use Stripe Checkout.
- If you’re building an app or SaaS platform → Checkout is the better choice.
- If you’re testing demand with a single product or collecting donations → Payment Links are perfect.
Both Stripe Checkout and Payment Links give you a secure, mobile-friendly, conversion-optimized checkout page hosted by Stripe. The difference really comes down to flexibility vs simplicity. Whichever you choose, you’ll still benefit from Stripe’s global payments network, support for wallets like Apple Pay/Google Pay, and protection from PCI headaches.