Products · Product
Stripe
Raised as a usability problem by 207 people on Hacker News over 19 years (2008–2026), in 143 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Consumers can't easily find and cancel subscriptions and paymentsUnreviewed
20082026- Keeping subscription status in sync between the app and Stripe is annoyingly hard2025-01-26
- Can't cancel a recurring payment myself; must get the merchant to cancel2022-10-09
- Could not get a way to stop a recurring charge without closing the account2022-05-24
Pages load very slowly and animations make them unusable on slow hardwareUnreviewed
20082026- Documentation pages are slow to load and render2024-09-14
- Page loads so slowly it shows a white screen for seconds2022-10-13
- Page animations stutter and scrolling is janky, making the browser slow and laptop fans spin2020-07-21
Hijacked Ctrl+F makes finding text in the docs frustratingUnreviewed
20082026- Ctrl+F opens custom search, native search only after a delayed second press2024-03-08
- Ctrl-F is hijacked by a search pop-up that rarely finds what the user needs2021-12-06
- Docs page hijacks Ctrl+F, making browser search very hard to use2020-07-21
Text is hard to read against the rainbow image backgroundUnreviewed
20082026- Animated gradient background makes text hard to read and hurts eyes2026-09-23
- Light gray text on the web page is hard to read2024-02-19
- Text is hard to read against the rainbow image background2020-07-21
Payment Intents API is hard to choose methods for compared to ChargesUnreviewed
20082026- Payment Intents model is confusing until the user learns their approach2019-11-06
- Sources and payment methods look identical in the UI but are fetched by different API calls2019-11-05
- Payment Intents integration is horrible; some payments never reach succeeded state, needing workarounds2019-09-20
PaymentIntent flow forces users to be redirectedUnreviewed
20082026- Fees are linked to the wrong transactions, so the user can't reconcile payments2023-08-02
- Shows an error after payment went through, so user retries and pays twice2021-08-24
- PaymentIntent flow is overly complicated and forces users to be redirected2021-05-05
Sign-up form is sparse and confusing, forcing users to email supportUnreviewed
20082026- Sign-up form was sparse and confusing, so user had to email support2021-09-29
- Account gets created silently before signup, so the user is confused about being logged in2011-09-29
- Confusing sign-up; user thought it was a test account and couldn't sign up2011-09-29
PaymentIntents require listening for webhooks, complicating integrationUnreviewed
20082026- Integrating PaymentIntents requires listening for webhooks, making the API integration complicated2022-10-09
- Can't find which webhooks to listen to for simple subscriptions2022-10-09
- Subscriptions fire 10-15 overlapping webhooks per payment, hard to tell which matter2022-03-03
Important subscription behaviour is undocumented, so getting it right is hardUnreviewed
20082026- Checkout and Elements subscriptions differ subtly; docs favor Checkout and are hard to navigate2026-04-20
- Documentation is verbose and lacking, making basics like subscription item ids slow to understand2024-02-26
- Important subscription behaviour is undocumented, so getting it right takes much more work than expected2017-08-01
Card declines give no detailed error, so buyers can't tell what went wrongUnreviewed
20082026- Card declined with no bank notification, leaving the user no way to authorize2026-08-28
- Users see card details pre-filled they never entered, causing distrust, with no opt-out2014-03-06
- Card declines give no detailed error, so buyers can't tell what went wrong2013-11-23
Authenticator app verification is slow and defeats one-click paymentUnreviewed
20082026- Authenticator app verification feels slow and defeats the one-click purpose2022-04-15
- Account setup and verification takes days and involves many painful steps2017-07-19
- Identity code entry times out so quickly user must hold app ready2016-09-19
Hosted checkout changed without warning, confusing customers into contacting supportUnreviewed
20082026- Can't find out why customers leave the checkout page2024-05-16
- Hosted checkout changed behaviour without warning, confusing customers who then contacted support2016-10-15
- Unannounced changes to checkout confused customers and caused support issues2014-03-05
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Animated gradient background makes text hard to read and hurts eyes2026-09-23
- Card declined with no bank notification, leaving the user no way to authorize2026-08-28
- Commenter finds the APIs unintuitive, with many options and weird edge cases2026-08-17
- Merchant can't see or predict which refunds will become disputes, disputes arrive without warning2026-06-17
- Support chatbot performs very poorly for getting help2026-04-20
- Checkout and Elements subscriptions differ subtly; docs favor Checkout and are hard to navigate2026-04-20
- Stripe implies SEPA and iDEAL work out of the box, but they need complex custom logic2025-11-26
- Dashboard freezes and takes 10-20 seconds to register a click2025-08-28
- Dashboard is so slow that clicking customers or subscriptions barely works2025-08-27
- Service fee is hidden, so users can't find it when buying credits2025-05-03
- Cannot separate projects under one account; the interface is messy2025-04-29
- All-powerful API keys are too easy to create by accident2025-02-20
- Keeping subscription status in sync between the app and Stripe is annoyingly hard2025-01-26
- Removed expand parameter; new include parameter only works on some endpoints, making the API confusing2024-12-30
- Documentation pages are slow to load and render2024-09-14
- Developer docs have become confusing; hard to find which part is needed2024-09-02
- Stripe integration with subscriptions and 3DS/SCA takes months to build correctly2024-08-25
- Documented payout method filter is missing; settings only offer automatic schedules, making it confusing2024-05-21
- Can't find out why customers leave the checkout page2024-05-16
- Payment triggers a Link account creation disguised as a necessary order confirmation email2024-05-05
- Stripe has become as hard to set up as older payment processors2024-04-26
- Ctrl+F opens custom search, native search only after a delayed second press2024-03-08
- Error message seems to reject personal addresses despite saying they're allowed, leaving unclear what to enter2024-02-28
- Documentation is verbose and lacking, making basics like subscription item ids slow to understand2024-02-26
- Light gray text on the web page is hard to read2024-02-19
- Scrolling and navigating the page is hard, and the font is bad2024-01-04
- Confusing interface; user had no idea what to do2024-01-04
- Chrome crashes when jumping to section links in the docs2023-09-26
- Fees are linked to the wrong transactions, so the user can't reconcile payments2023-08-02
- Every card fails with a generic authentication error, and support can't fix it directly2023-06-29
- Proration radio stays on by default, so staff forget to turn it off and customers get charged wrong amounts2023-06-27
- Protecting against card testing requires manual configuration of custom rules, consuming significant ongoing time2023-06-05
- Genuine payments rejected on first try and must be retried for days2023-06-05
- Docs are confusing and hard to tell which parts apply2023-05-06
- Developer documentation is hard to follow and confusing2023-03-10
- Support search is terrible and returns pages with no content2023-02-07
- Customers don't know where to tap their card, often tapping the iPad screen instead2023-01-24
- Stripe now has more products and options, making it more complicated than before2022-12-09
- API became extremely complex, with scattered docs and confusing terminology like selling prices2022-12-09
- Support only sends bots and boilerplate, with no human who can explain the suspension2022-11-25
- Bloated, obtuse API and hard-to-navigate interface with contradictory documentation2022-11-25
- Finding specific transactions in Stripe is very difficult2022-11-11
- Page loads so slowly it shows a white screen for seconds2022-10-13
- Billing and Checkout overlap confusingly, making even basic setups hard to implement2022-10-13
- Must read multiple scattered doc articles and can't tell which intent or confirm function to use2022-10-10
- Support bounces them between Stripe and AMEX and sends irrelevant password reset emails2022-10-09
- Card gets permanently tied to spouse's email, with no way for the user to change it2022-10-09
- Tipping options show high percentages even for purchases where tipping doesn't make sense2022-10-09
- Integrating PaymentIntents requires listening for webhooks, making the API integration complicated2022-10-09
- Payment refused because a Dutch bank account can't be used from Germany2022-10-09