Is Stripe Down? How to Check Stripe Status in Real-Time

Quick Answer: To check if Stripe is down, visit apistatuscheck.com/api/stripe for real-time monitoring, or check the official status.stripe.com page. Common signs include payment processing failures, API timeout errors, webhook delays, and dashboard loading issues.

When your payment processing suddenly stops working, every second counts. Stripe powers millions of transactions daily for businesses worldwide, making any downtime a critical revenue blocker. Whether you're seeing failed payments, API errors, or webhook delays, knowing how to quickly verify Stripe's status can save you valuable troubleshooting time and help you make informed decisions about your payment flow.

How to Check Stripe Status in Real-Time

1. API Status Check (Fastest Method)

The quickest way to verify Stripe's operational status is through apistatuscheck.com/api/stripe. This real-time monitoring service:

• Tests actual API endpoints every 60 seconds
• Shows response times and latency trends
• Tracks historical uptime over 30/60/90 days
• Provides instant alerts when issues are detected
• Monitors multiple regions (US, EU, APAC)

Unlike status pages that rely on manual updates, API Status Check performs active health checks against Stripe's production endpoints, giving you the most accurate real-time picture of service availability.

2. Official Stripe Status Page

Stripe maintains status.stripe.com as their official communication channel for service incidents. The page displays:

• Current operational status for all services
• Active incidents and investigations
• Scheduled maintenance windows
• Historical incident reports
• Component-specific status (API, Dashboard, Webhooks, Checkout)

Pro tip: Subscribe to status updates via email, SMS, or webhook on the status page to receive immediate notifications when incidents occur.

3. Check Your Dashboard

If the Stripe Dashboard at dashboard.stripe.com is loading slowly or showing errors, this often indicates broader infrastructure issues. Pay attention to:

• Login failures or timeouts
• Payment list loading errors
• Delayed data refresh
• API key management access issues

4. Test API Endpoints Directly

For developers, making a test API call can quickly confirm connectivity:

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/charges \
  -u sk_test_YOUR_SECRET_KEY: \
  -d amount=100 \
  -d currency=usd \
  -d source=tok_visa

Look for HTTP response codes outside the 2xx range, timeout errors, or SSL/TLS handshake failures.

Common Stripe Issues and How to Identify Them

Payment Processing Failures

Symptoms:

• Charges consistently failing with generic error messages
• Increased card_declined errors across multiple cards
• Timeouts during charge creation
• 500/502/503 HTTP errors from Stripe API

What it means: When payment processing is degraded, legitimate transactions that should succeed start failing. This differs from normal card declines—you'll see a pattern of failures across different cards and payment methods.

API Errors and Timeouts

Common error codes during outages:

• api_connection_error - Cannot reach Stripe's servers
• api_error - Generic server-side error (500)
• rate_limit_error - Unusual if you're within normal limits
• Connection timeout errors (no response within 30-60 seconds)

Gateway errors:

• 502 Bad Gateway - Stripe's load balancer cannot reach backend
• 503 Service Unavailable - Stripe is temporarily overloaded
• 504 Gateway Timeout - Request took too long to process

Webhook Delivery Delays

Webhooks are often the first system affected during partial outages:

• Events not arriving at your endpoint
• Significant delays (hours instead of seconds)
• Missing webhook signatures
• Retry attempts exhausted

Check your webhook logs in the Stripe Dashboard under Developers → Webhooks. If delivery attempts are failing or delayed, and your endpoint is confirmed working, the issue is likely on Stripe's side.

Dashboard Loading Issues

Signs the dashboard is impacted:

• Infinite loading spinners
• "Unable to load data" errors
• Stale data (not updating)
• Navigation failures between sections

Dashboard issues often accompany API problems but can also occur independently due to frontend infrastructure issues.

Stripe Checkout.js and Elements Issues

Indicators:

• Checkout form not rendering
• Card Element showing errors
• Payment confirmation hanging
• Redirect failures after authentication

Since Checkout and Elements load from Stripe's CDN, issues here may indicate CDN problems rather than core API outages.

The Real Impact When Stripe Goes Down

Immediate Revenue Loss

Every minute of Stripe downtime translates to direct revenue impact:

• E-commerce sites: Customers cannot complete purchases
• SaaS platforms: New signups blocked, subscription renewals fail
• Marketplaces: Payouts and escrow transactions halted

For a business processing $10,000/hour, a 2-hour outage means $20,000 in lost or delayed revenue.

Failed Subscription Billing

Stripe's intelligent retry logic handles most failed subscription charges, but during outages:

• Monthly/annual renewals fail simultaneously
• Retry attempts exhaust during extended downtime
• Customers get marked as past_due incorrectly
• Service access disrupted for paying customers

Recovery burden: After resolution, you may need to manually retry thousands of failed charges and handle customer support inquiries about service interruptions.

Broken Payment Flows

Modern applications integrate Stripe deeply into user experiences:

• Onboarding flows halt at payment step
• In-app purchases fail
• Upgrade/downgrade processes break
• Refund processing delayed

Each broken flow creates support tickets, frustrated users, and potential churn.

Webhook Processing Backlog

When webhooks resume after an outage, you may receive:

• Thousands of delayed events simultaneously
• Events arriving out of order
• Duplicate events (if Stripe retries)

This can overwhelm your processing infrastructure and create data consistency issues if not handled properly.

Reputation and Trust Damage

For businesses running on Stripe:

• Customer trust erodes with each failed transaction
• Social media complaints spike
• Competitors may gain advantage
• Customer lifetime value decreases

While Stripe's overall reliability is excellent (99.99%+ uptime), even rare outages can have lasting effects on customer perception.

What to Do When Stripe Goes Down

1. Implement Robust Retry Logic

Idempotent requests: Always use idempotency keys to safely retry failed charges:

stripe.charges.create({
  amount: 2000,
  currency: 'usd',
  source: 'tok_visa',
}, {
  idempotencyKey: 'order_123456'
});

This ensures retries don't accidentally charge customers twice.

Exponential backoff: Retry failed API calls with increasing delays:

const retryWithBackoff = async (fn, retries = 3) => {
  for (let i = 0; i < retries; i++) {
    try {
      return await fn();
    } catch (error) {
      if (i === retries - 1) throw error;
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 1000 * Math.pow(2, i)));
    }
  }
};

2. Queue Payments for Later Processing

When Stripe is down, queue payment intents instead of failing immediately:

if (stripeDown) {
  await paymentQueue.add({
    customerId: customer.id,
    amount: 5000,
    currency: 'usd',
    metadata: { orderId: order.id }
  });
  
  // Notify customer
  await sendEmail(customer.email, 
    'Payment Processing Delayed',
    'We're experiencing payment processing delays. Your order is confirmed and will be charged within 24 hours.'
  );
}

This prevents lost sales while maintaining customer experience.

3. Consider Fallback Payment Processors

Enterprise businesses often implement multi-processor strategies:

• Primary: Stripe for main payment flow
• Fallback: PayPal, Braintree, or Adyen for outages
• Routing logic: Automatic failover based on error patterns

Implementation example:

async function processPayment(amount, paymentMethod) {
  try {
    return await stripe.charges.create({...});
  } catch (error) {
    if (isStripeOutage(error)) {
      logger.warn('Stripe down, failing over to PayPal');
      return await paypal.payment.create({...});
    }
    throw error;
  }
}

This approach requires additional integration effort but provides true payment resilience.

4. Communicate Proactively with Customers

Transparent status updates:

• Update your website with a banner: "Experiencing payment processing delays"
• Send email notifications to customers with pending payments
• Post updates on social media channels
• Update support documentation

Customer service preparation:

• Brief support team on the outage
• Prepare templated responses
• Offer alternative payment methods (invoicing, bank transfer)
• Extend trial periods or grace periods as needed

5. Monitor and Alert Aggressively

Set up comprehensive monitoring:

// Health check every 60 seconds
setInterval(async () => {
  try {
    await stripe.balance.retrieve();
  } catch (error) {
    await alert.send({
      channel: '#critical-alerts',
      message: 'Stripe API health check failed',
      error: error.message
    });
  }
}, 60000);

Subscribe to alerts:

• API Status Check alerts - automated monitoring
• Stripe status page notifications
• Your own synthetic monitoring
• Error rate monitoring in your application logs

6. Post-Outage Recovery Checklist

Once Stripe service is restored:

1. Process queued payments from your payment queue
2. Retry failed subscriptions using Stripe Dashboard or API
3. Review webhook backlog and process critical events
4. Audit for data inconsistencies (subscriptions marked past_due incorrectly)
5. Analyze financial impact (lost revenue, failed charges)
6. Update incident documentation for future reference
7. Review and improve resilience based on lessons learned

Frequently Asked Questions

How often does Stripe go down?

Stripe maintains exceptional uptime, typically exceeding 99.99% availability. Major outages affecting all customers are rare (1-3 times per year), though regional or component-specific issues may occur more frequently. Most businesses experience zero downtime from Stripe in a typical year.

What's the difference between Stripe status page and API Status Check?

The official Stripe status page (status.stripe.com) is manually updated by Stripe's team during incidents, which can sometimes lag behind actual issues by several minutes. API Status Check performs automated health checks every 60 seconds against live API endpoints, often detecting issues before they're officially reported. Use both for comprehensive monitoring.

Can I get refunded for losses during Stripe outages?

Stripe's Terms of Service include availability guarantees but typically exclude liability for consequential damages like lost revenue. Enterprise customers with custom agreements may have SLA credits for downtime. Review your specific agreement or contact Stripe support for clarification on your plan's terms.

Should I use Stripe webhooks or polling for critical operations?

For critical operations, implement a hybrid approach: rely on webhooks for normal operation but include scheduled polling as a backup. During outages, webhooks may be delayed or lost, so polling your Stripe account periodically (every 5-15 minutes) ensures you don't miss important payment status changes.

How do I prevent duplicate charges during Stripe outages?

Always use idempotency keys when creating charges or payment intents. These unique identifiers (typically your order ID or a UUID) tell Stripe to treat multiple identical requests as a single operation. Even if your retry logic runs multiple times due to timeout errors, Stripe will only create one charge.

What regions does Stripe operate in?

Stripe operates globally with infrastructure in multiple regions including the United States, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. An outage may affect specific regions while others remain operational. Check regional status on status.stripe.com or monitor specific regional endpoints if your business operates internationally.

Is there a Stripe downtime notification service?

Yes, several options exist:

• Subscribe to official updates at status.stripe.com
• Enable email/SMS notifications on Stripe Dashboard
• Use API Status Check for automated alerts via email, Slack, or webhook
• Set up custom monitoring with tools like Pingdom, Datadog, or New Relic

Stay Ahead of Stripe Outages

Don't let payment processing issues catch you off guard. Subscribe to real-time Stripe alerts and get notified instantly when issues are detected—before your customers notice.

API Status Check monitors Stripe 24/7 with:

• 60-second health checks across all regions
• Instant alerts via email, Slack, Discord, or webhook
• Historical uptime tracking and incident reports
• Multi-API monitoring for your entire payment stack

Start monitoring Stripe now →

---

Last updated: February 4, 2026. Stripe status information is provided in real-time based on active monitoring. For official incident reports, always refer to status.stripe.com.