Xsolla vs Stripe: Which Is Better for Gaming Payments Processing?

If you're a game developer planning to grow your direct-to-consumer sales, you may be considering choosing a payment processing solution or a gaming commerce platform. With multiple options available, it's crucial to select a payment processing partner that caters best to your specific needs, whether you’re looking to sell games, skins, keys, subscriptions, merchandise or promote in-game purchases.

In this guide, we compare Stripe and Xsolla from the perspective of online payment processing for game developers in the UK and Europe, including pricing, available features and potential drawbacks. The information is gathered from their respective websites and external reviews in October 2024 and is subject to change.

Overview

Xsolla

Founded in 2005 in Russia, Xsolla is owned by Alexander Agapitov. It positions itself as a video game commerce company rather than a payment processor, providing a bundle of services to the video gaming industry. Xsolla helps developers monetise their games, with a suite of services that includes payment processing, game distribution, and funding solutions.

Stripe

Stripe, founded in 2010 in the United States by Patrick and John Collison, aims to simplify online payments for businesses globally. The company's business model revolves around providing a highly scalable and developer-friendly payment infrastructure for companies in various industries, including gaming.

Supported Markets and Customer Base

Geographic coverage

Xsolla operates in over 200 countries, with broad global coverage, including the UK and Europe.

Stripe also provides services globally, covering more than 40 countries, including full support for UK and European merchants.

Supported languages and currencies

Xsolla supports over 130 currencies and interfaces in 20 languages, making it a solid partner for gaming companies with an international audience.

Stripe supports over 135 currencies, allowing for seamless international transactions. 

Industries served

Xsolla serves game developers, publishers, and related gaming services. It has a laser focus on the gaming sector, providing tailored services like player acquisition tools.

Stripe serves a much broader range of industries, including gaming, retail, SaaS, and more. While gaming is not its exclusive focus, Stripe's versatility makes it a popular choice for developers.

Xsolla versus Stripe for Online Payments

Supported payment methods

Xsolla feature called Pay Station offers a wide array of over 700 payment methods globally, including credit cards, digital wallets, crypto payment, mobile carrier billing and some more industry-specific methods like gift cards, SkinsCash, Multi Game Card and others.

Stripe supports over 100 payment methods globally such as credit and debit cards, wallets, bank transfers and major alternative payment methods such as BNPL (Klarna, Afterpay) or regional payment methods (Bancontact, EPS, Przelewy24 and others).

Recurring billing and subscription management

Xsolla offers subscription management and recurring billing for game developers, allowing them to easily monetise subscription-based content.

Stripe provides a robust subscription management system, which is flexible and integrates well with other features, making it useful for various recurring revenue models.

Unique features

Xsolla offers specific gaming-focused features, including:

Site Builder: Allows developers to quickly create custom-branded landing pages and websites, enabling them to showcase and sell their games directly to players.

Rewards: A system that enables developers to incentivise players with in-game rewards, enhancing user engagement and retention.

In-game Services: Tools to manage in-game item sales and microtransactions, allowing developers to easily create and monetise virtual goods.

Merchant of Record (MoR) Service: Xsolla acts as the MoR, handling all aspects of payment processing, taxes, and regulatory compliance. This is particularly advantageous for developers looking to offload administrative responsibilities, such as managing VAT and dealing with chargebacks.

Stripe, while not as gaming-centric, offers support for multiple advanced features like Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) in multiple markets. It also offers in-person payments through POS terminals, which may be useful for game developers involved in physical events or conventions.

Stripe vs Xsolla Integration

Xsolla provides Software Development Kits (SDKs) for popular game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine, as well as APIs. You can use these SDKs or make API calls to integrate Xsolla services directly into your game. For those using Xsolla Website Builder, it comes with built-in payment processing via Xsolla Pay Station.

Stripe provides flexible API and SDK integration. It offers plugins for a range of e-commerce platforms, including Shopify and WooCommerce for those looking to sell merchandise, downloadable content or virtual goods. Multiple third-party integrations are available too, for example, for accounting tools like Xero and QuickBooks. 

Ease of Use

Xsolla provides a dedicated dashboard tailored to gaming businesses, including detailed reporting on player spending habits. It comes with pre-built dashboards as well as allows for customisation.

Stripe offers a user-friendly dashboard with robust reporting tools, suitable for developers across different industries.

Xsolla vs Stripe Pricing

Setup costs and fees

Xsolla has no setup fee and is charging a flat 5% fee for each transaction plus the cost of channel. The latter is publicly unavailable, however, according to some reviews, total costs of services charged by Xsolla often add up to 7-10%, including their MoR services.

Stripe has no setup fee and is charging 1.5% + £0.20 for UK cards (including wallets like Google Pay, Apple Pay), 2.5% + £0.20 for EU cards and 3.25% + £0.20 for international cards. Fees for alternative payment methods in different markets vary from as little as 0.5% for some of the direct bank transfers to over 6% for services like BNPL. See the provider's website for a complete and up-to-date pricing breakdown.

Additional fees

Xsolla may have additional fees for currency conversion and chargebacks ($7-15), which can add to the overall cost.

Stripe charges extra for currency conversion and for chargebacks (£20 per dispute). The standard payout is free, but using the Instant Payouts option comes with a fee of 1% of the payout volume, with a minimum fee of 40p. A range of additional services such as post-payment invoices, fraud and risk management screening and more come with their own fees.

Settlement Times

Xsolla's settlement times depend on the specific contract terms agreed upon between the merchant and Xsolla. Generally, Xsolla does not offer early payouts, in order to avoid payout delays for partners, which aligns with standard industry practice.

For the UK, Stripe offers daily, weekly, monthly, or manual payout schedules. The standard payout speed is "T+3" business days, meaning funds are paid out three business days after capture. The initial payout may take 7-14 days, depending on risk level. Instant Payouts, available within 30 minutes, are offered for qualifying users only.

Support

Xsolla provides 24/7 support via email and chat, along with a dedicated account manager for larger clients.

Most reviews on Trustpilot are from end-users of the service, gamers, and feedback is mixed. Many users praise Xsolla's support as fast, responsive, and professional, resolving issues quickly. Negative feedback commonly mentions challenges with obtaining refunds, and repetitive support team responses. The Xsolla Trustpilot rating is 4.0.

Stripe offers email, chat, and phone support. However, the availability of a dedicated account manager is usually restricted to higher-tier customers.

Stripe has mixed reviews on Trustpilot, with many merchants praising the customer support team for being responsive and helpful, especially when dealing with technical issues. However, a lot of reviewers express frustration over account closures, frozen funds, and poor communication regarding support or risk decisions. The Stripe Trustpilot rating is 2.2.

Xsolla or Stripe? Conclusion

Xsolla is a solid choice for smaller to medium-sized game companies that would like to sell directly to consumers, bypassing traditional platforms like Steam and others, however, may lack the resources to manage complex payment systems, fraud prevention, and affiliate networks on their own.

Such companies may be willing to pay Xsolla's high transaction fees but should be aware that there would be no flexibility in choosing payment processors, as merchant accounts are bound to Xsolla’s platform, fees and payment methods of their partners.

Stripe is better suited for developers wanting flexibility over their own payments across industries, with competitive fees for UK and European cards and additional features like BNPL and crypto payments. However, it lacks gaming-specific features, has higher fees for international cards, and customer support may be limited.

Consider Alternatives: Noda for Gaming

Noda provides a pay-by-bank solution for gaming merchants, focusing on fast settlements and lower fees. Unlike Stripe and Xsolla at Noda, we leverage open banking technology that allows merchants to accept payments directly from customers' bank accounts in 28 countries, bypassing card networks and reducing costs. Along with that, Noda eliminates chargebacks and rolling reserves associated with traditional card networks.

Explore some of Noda features loved by gaming businesses:

• Full C2B2C payment cycle: Noda manages all aspects of payments, including both pay-ins and payouts to bank accounts and cards, allowing for instant rewards and refunds.
• 'Noda Buffet' presents users with multiple payment buttons for their specific location, tailored to each country's major banks, boosting user engagement and payment volumes 2.5 times.
• Quick repeat payments: Players can make repeat payments in just a few clicks using the bank they have previously paid with, creating a smooth experience that encourages them to return.
• Insights from open banking data enable merchants to understand their customer spending habits, identify high-value players, and use this data for KYC or marketing purposes.
• Merchant of Record services: We're happy to take the compliance and tax management burden off your shoulders, letting you focus on what's important – developing the best games out there!

Join Wargaming and hundreds of gaming businesses in streamlining their payments with Noda! Contact us today for a free consultation; we will be happy to look into your specific case.