Stripe quietly rolled out a reduced-fee tier for accounts under $5K monthly volume. The structure: standard processing fees but no platform pass-through for the first 12 months.
For solo creators pre-monetization, this effectively defers a chunk of infrastructure cost until you're bringing revenue. The fine print matters — eligibility is based on 90-day rolling average, not point-in-time volume — but the intent is clearly to lower the activation cost for new solo founders.
Worth a careful read if you're pre-launch or just crossed into monetization. If you're already above $5K MRR, this isn't for you.