Is Stripe Down Right Now?
Developer guide to Stripe API status — check payment processing, webhooks, checkout, and dashboard availability. Error codes and revenue-protection troubleshooting.
📡 Monitor your APIs — know when they go down before your users do
Better Stack checks uptime every 30 seconds with instant Slack, email & SMS alerts. Free tier available.
Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you
Check Stripe Status
Stripe publishes a detailed status page showing per-component health in real time:
Stripe Service Components
Stripe's platform has multiple independent components. A webhook outage doesn't mean payments are failing — identify the affected service:
Core charges, payment intents, and refunds API
Event delivery for payment and subscription lifecycle
Web dashboard at dashboard.stripe.com
Hosted payment pages and embedded Checkout
Multi-party payment routing for platforms/marketplaces
Subscriptions, invoicing, and metered billing
Fraud detection and prevention engine
One-click checkout with saved payment methods
Don't let a Stripe outage halt your revenue
Get instant alerts the moment your payment flow breaks. Better Stack provides 30-second checks so you can switch to backup processors before customers notice.
Try Better Stack Free →Manage payment outage updates for your customers
Revenue-impacting outages require immediate, clear communication. Use Buffer to sync status updates across your customer-facing social channels.
Try Buffer Free →Common Stripe Error Codes & Fixes
card_declinedCard declined by issuing bank (not Stripe)Fix: Show user "Card declined. Try another card or contact your bank."
insufficient_fundsCard does not have enough fundsFix: Ask customer to use a different card or check their balance
rate_limitToo many API requests in a short windowFix: Implement exponential backoff; default limit is 100 read/25 write per second
authentication_requiredPayment requires 3D Secure (SCA) authenticationFix: Confirm the PaymentIntent with next_action handling in your frontend
idempotency_key_in_useAnother request with same idempotency key is in-flightFix: Wait and retry — do not use the same key for genuinely new requests
500 Server ErrorStripe infrastructure error (rare)Fix: Check status.stripe.com; retry with exponential backoff
💰 Protect Revenue During Stripe Outages
Stripe processes billions in payments daily — even a 30-minute outage can mean real revenue loss for high-volume merchants. Build resilience before it happens.
Outage Resilience Checklist
- ✅ Subscribe to status.stripe.com email/SMS alerts
- ✅ Implement idempotency keys on all charge requests
- ✅ Add retry logic with exponential backoff (3 retries, 1s/2s/4s)
- ✅ Show users "Payment processing — check back in a moment" vs hard failure
- ✅ Monitor your own webhook endpoint health separately
- ✅ Keep a payment queue for retrying after recovery
Troubleshooting Stripe Issues
Check status.stripe.com first
Most payment failures are card declines (not Stripe downtime). Check Stripe's status page — if all systems are green, the issue is likely a card decline or Radar rule.
Use Stripe Dashboard Events to debug
Go to Dashboard → Events and filter by your customer or payment intent ID. Each event shows the exact API response, including the decline code and any Radar rule that triggered.
Verify webhook signatures
If webhooks are failing, verify your STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET matches the signing secret in your dashboard. A mismatch causes all webhook deliveries to return 400.
Monitor payment success rate
Track your payment success rate as a metric in Better Stack or your observability platform. A sudden drop in success rate is an early warning of issues.
Alert Pro
14-day free trialStop checking — get alerted instantly
Next time Stripe goes down, you'll know in under 60 seconds — not when your users start complaining.
- Email alerts for Stripe + 9 more APIs
- $0 due today for trial
- Cancel anytime — $9/mo after trial
Related Guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Stripe down right now?
To check if Stripe is down, visit the official Stripe status page at status.stripe.com. Stripe reports status for API, Dashboard, Webhooks, Checkout, Connect, and Billing separately. You can also check APIStatusCheck.com/api/stripe for third-party monitoring. Stripe's status page updates in real time during incidents.
Why are Stripe payments failing right now?
Stripe payment failures can be caused by: (1) Stripe infrastructure outage — check status.stripe.com, (2) Card issuer decline (most common — not Stripe's fault), (3) Radar fraud rules blocking the transaction, (4) Incorrect API keys or mode mismatch (live vs test), (5) Webhook delivery failures causing duplicate charge attempts, (6) Rate limiting on high-volume merchants. Check the Stripe Dashboard > Events to see detailed error codes for each failed payment.
Why are Stripe webhooks not delivering?
Stripe webhook delivery failures can be caused by: (1) Your endpoint returning non-2xx HTTP responses, (2) Stripe infrastructure outage on webhook delivery, (3) Endpoint timeout exceeding 30 seconds, (4) Your server rejecting Stripe's IP ranges, (5) Webhook signature verification failures. Check the Stripe Dashboard > Webhooks > your endpoint to see delivery attempts, response codes, and retry history. Stripe retries failed webhooks with exponential backoff for up to 3 days.
What is the difference between a Stripe decline code and an error code?
Stripe error codes (like card_declined, insufficient_funds, expired_card) describe the specific reason for a payment failure. Decline codes are a subset of error codes that come from the card network or issuing bank. When Stripe itself is down, you will see connection or server errors (5xx HTTP responses), not decline codes. If you are seeing decline codes, Stripe is working — the issue is with the specific card or transaction.
How do I protect revenue during a Stripe outage?
To minimize revenue loss during Stripe outages: (1) Implement a payment retry mechanism with exponential backoff, (2) Show users a clear "payment processing delayed" message instead of an error, (3) Queue payment intents for retry when Stripe recovers, (4) Monitor status.stripe.com via webhook or RSS and trigger graceful degradation, (5) For critical paths, consider a secondary payment processor (PayPal, Adyen) as a fallback. Most Stripe outages resolve within 30-60 minutes.
🌐 Can't Access Stripe?
If Stripe is working for others but not for you, it might be an ISP or regional issue. A VPN can help bypass network-level blocks and routing problems.
Troubleshoot with a VPN
Connect from a different region to test if the issue is local to your network. Also protects your connection on public Wi-Fi.
Try NordVPN — 30-Day Money-Back GuaranteeSecure Your Stripe Account
Service outages are a common time for phishing attacks. Use a password manager to keep unique, strong passwords for every account.
Try NordPass — Free Password Manager🛠 Tools We Use & Recommend
Tested across our own infrastructure monitoring 200+ APIs daily
Uptime Monitoring & Incident Management
Used by 100,000+ websites
Monitors your APIs every 30 seconds. Instant alerts via Slack, email, SMS, and phone calls when something goes down.
“We use Better Stack to monitor every API on this site. It caught 23 outages last month before users reported them.”
Secrets Management & Developer Security
Trusted by 150,000+ businesses
Manage API keys, database passwords, and service tokens with CLI integration and automatic rotation.
“After covering dozens of outages caused by leaked credentials, we recommend every team use a secrets manager.”
SEO & Site Performance Monitoring
Used by 10M+ marketers
Track your site health, uptime, search rankings, and competitor movements from one dashboard.
“We use SEMrush to track how our API status pages rank and catch site health issues early.”