Stripe Identity is Stripe's identity verification service: your user photographs a government ID, can take a selfie that's matched to the ID photo, and you get back a verified or failed result. As of October 2026 Stripe charges $1.50 per ID document and selfie verification and 50 cents per ID number lookup, charged when the user completes it, and your first 50 verifications are free.
Two limits catch people out, and both are on Stripe's own pages. ID number lookup only works for US Social Security numbers. And Stripe's docs say it doesn't extract document fields written in Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Korean, Tamil or Thai script. If your users are spread around the world, read those two lines before you promise anyone a smooth check.
What Stripe Identity is built for
Stripe pitches it as a way to confirm the identity of global users and prevent fraud while keeping friction low for real customers. The use cases it lists are:
- Building trust on platforms and communities where strangers deal with each other.
- Giving risk teams a way to collect identity information.
- Onboarding checks for compliance.
- Adding a layer of security before someone gets access to a high-risk feature.
How wide the document coverage goes depends on which Stripe page you read. The marketing page says IDs from over 100 countries. The docs overview says more than 120 countries. Either way, the documents accepted vary by country, and passports are the most widely supported.
The cost-per-check ladder, as of October 2026
These are Stripe's pay-as-you-go prices on its US page, in US dollars. You're charged when a user completes the verification, not when you send them the link.
| Check | What the user does | Price | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your first 50 verifications | Any of the checks below | Free | Applies to the first 50 you run |
| ID number lookup | Types their name, date of birth and ID number, checked against government and third-party databases | 50 cents per lookup | US Social Security numbers only |
| ID document plus selfie | Photographs an ID and takes a selfie matched to the ID photo | $1.50 per verification | Fields in the scripts listed above aren't extracted |
| High volume | Any check | Custom pricing through Stripe's sales team | For businesses verifying more than 2,000 identities a month or with a unique business model |
Notice that the cheaper check is also the narrower one. The 50 cent lookup is a database match on a US Social Security number, so it's only useful if your users are in the US. Everyone else goes through the document route.
What happens during a document check
Stripe's verification checks page describes the steps behind the camera screen your user sees:
- AI models capture high-definition photos of the front and back of the document and analyse them in real time for legibility, warning the user if the document is expired or unlikely to verify.
- The images are checked against a frequently updated database of fraudulent document templates.
- Barcodes and machine-readable features are decoded and compared with the printed data.
- Computer vision confirms the user photographed a physical document, which Stripe says prevents presentation attacks.
- If you've switched on the selfie check, the ID photo is matched against a selfie of the holder, so a stolen document can't simply be reused.
Stripe says it uses a mix of AI models, automated heuristic analysis and manual reviewers. Submitting and processing normally takes a few minutes.
Results, retries and deleting a user's data
Each check runs as a verification session. When every check passes, the status becomes verified. If any check fails, the status becomes requires_input and the error carries a code, for example document_expired, so you can tell the user what to fix. Reusing the same session keeps track of failed attempts, and you can cancel a session before it's processing or verified.
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If a user asks you to delete their data, you can redact the session and Stripe deletes the personal information. Stripe also says users give explicit consent, can manage, retrieve and delete their data, and that personal data is encrypted at rest. The capture screen is localised in 53 languages, works on mobile and web, and Stripe stores the verification data so it never touches your systems.
Setting up Stripe Identity
- Create a verification flow in the Dashboard. Flows are reusable, so if you later add a selfie check by editing the flow, future verifications pick it up.
- Choose the checks: document, selfie, ID number, or a mix.
- Send your user to Stripe's hosted capture screen.
- Wait for the result, normally a few minutes: verified or requires_input.
- Redact the session if the user asks you to delete their data.
My verdict
If you run a platform that's already on Stripe and you need to know who's on the other side, Stripe Identity is a sensible first look. $1.50 a check is easy to budget, the first 50 are free for testing your flow, and you don't have to store passport photos yourself. I'd check two things before I rolled it out to a global audience: the US-only number lookup and the scripts it can't read. And it won't tell you what the law requires of your business, so take advice on that separately. For other options, my roundup of the best identity verification software compares the field, and my guide to fraud detection software covers the tools that sit alongside it.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Stripe Identity cost?
As of October 2026, Stripe's US page lists $1.50 per ID document and selfie verification and 50 cents per ID number lookup, charged when the user completes verification. The first 50 verifications are free.
Does Stripe Identity work outside the US?
Document checks cover government IDs from many countries: Stripe's marketing page says over 100 and its docs say more than 120. The ID number lookup only works for US Social Security numbers.
Which ID documents can Stripe Identity read?
Most government-issued documents such as national ID cards, driving licences and passports, varying by country. Stripe doesn't extract fields written in Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Korean, Tamil or Thai script.
How long does a Stripe Identity check take?
Stripe says submitting and processing a verification normally takes a few minutes.
Can a user ask for their verification data to be deleted?
Yes. You can redact a verification session, and Stripe deletes the personal information in it.
