Billing and pricing

Learn about Stedi account types, pricing plans, and billing.

Account types

Every Stedi account is either a sandbox account or a production account.

Sandbox accounts

Sandbox accounts are free and limited to test mode. You can use sandbox accounts to:

• Run mock eligibility checks.
• Explore the Stedi portal.
• Build and test your eligibility integration using test API keys. Developers and coding agents can run eligibility checks in a free sandbox account using test API keys. When they're ready to move to production, they can upgrade in account settings and swap in a production API key.

Sandbox accounts don't support submitting test claims through the API or SFTP. You need a production account to access these features.

Production accounts

Production accounts can process unlimited real transactions with payers. Stedi offers production accounts on two pricing plans: pay-as-you-go for per-transaction billing with volume discounts, or custom plans for high-volume customers requiring enterprise features.

All production accounts include:

• Unlimited user seats and providers
• Transaction enrollment, including the Transaction Enrollment API
• A searchable, programmatic payer list
• All transactions and APIs available on our pricing page
• The Stedi MCP server for AI agents
• Stedi Agent, an in-app AI assistant
• Real-time support over Slack, Microsoft Teams, and email

Upgrade to production

To upgrade from a sandbox account to production, click Upgrade account in the side navigation. Then, follow the upgrade flow.

Pricing plans

Production accounts are available on one of two pricing plans:

Pay as you go

The pay-as-you-go plan uses prepaid credits with usage-based pricing and automatic volume-based discounts. The plan uses tiered pricing – for most transactions, the per-transaction rate drops as your monthly volume grows.

When you sign up for the pay-as-you-go plan, you add a credit card and fund an initial Stedi account balance, starting at $25.

Each transaction draws down the balance at the rate for its pricing tier. Visit our pricing page for an estimator and full breakdown of each tier.

Stedi automatically adds to your balance when it drops below a trigger you set. For example, you can add $100 to your balance whenever it falls below $10, the minimum trigger.

Your balance rolls forward month to month. At the end of each month, Stedi sends an invoice that covers your monthly usage. If you send zero transactions in a month, you pay nothing.

Custom

The custom plan offers discounted usage rates for customers with high transaction volume. Custom plans also include enterprise features like SSO, SCIM, and consolidated billing for integrated accounts.

To request a custom plan, contact us.

Billing

Manage your payment methods and understand how Stedi billing works.

Add or update payment method

This section applies to pay-as-you-go accounts.

To add or update your payment method:

1. Go to your Account settings.
2. Click Billing.
3. In the Payment method section, click Edit.

Stedi bills any charges to the payment method on file.

Download W9 form

To download Stedi's W9 tax form:

1. Go to your Account settings.
2. Click Billing.
3. In the Tax information section, click Download.

Pay-as-you-go billing

Manage your pay-as-you-go billing, including viewing your balance, downloading receipts, manually adding funds, and configuring auto-recharge settings.

View your current balance

To view your current account balance:

1. Go to your Account settings.
2. Click Billing.

The billing page displays your current balance as well as your pricing plan at the top of the page.

Review payment history

To view your payment history and download receipts:

1. Go to your Account settings.
2. Click Billing.
3. View your payment history in the Payments section and download receipts for individual payments.

Manual top-up

You can manually add funds to your balance at any time. Charges and the updated balance are reflected immediately.

To manually add to your balance:

1. Go to your Account settings.
2. Click Billing.
3. In the Manual top-up section, enter the amount you want to add (minimum $25).
4. Click Top-up.

Configure auto-recharge settings

You can configure when Stedi automatically adds to your balance and how much to add each time.

To configure your auto recharge settings:

1. Go to your Account settings.
2. Click Billing.
3. In the Auto recharge section, click Edit and set your preferred values:
   • When balance is below: The minimum balance that triggers an automatic recharge (minimum $10).
   • Add this amount: The amount to add when your balance falls below the trigger (minimum $25).

Stedi automatically charges your payment method on file when your balance drops below the reload trigger.

When your account balance reaches $0, access is suspended immediately. You'll be unable to process new transactions. To avoid this, set your recharge amount and threshold based on your usage, and leave a generous buffer.

Failed payments

This section applies to pay-as-you-go accounts. When an automatic recharge payment fails, you'll receive email and in-app notifications. You must take action to resolve the issue. You retain full access to your account until your balance reaches $0.

Resolve failed payments

If auto-recharge fails, you must resolve the issue to avoid service interruption. The fastest way to restore a positive balance in your account is to retry the failed payment:

1. Go to your Account settings.
2. Click Billing.
3. Check that your payment method is valid and has sufficient funds. For example, ensure your credit card hasn't expired and has enough available credit.
4. Update your payment method if needed.
5. Retry the failed payment.

Failed payment notifications

You'll receive email and in-app notifications at key points in the failed payment process:

• Payment failure: When an auto-recharge payment fails.
• Access suspended: When your balance reaches $0 and account access is suspended.
• 16-day reminder: When your account has been suspended for 16 days, reminding you that your account will be closed after 30 days of suspension.
• 25-day reminder: When your account has been suspended for 25 days, reminding you that your account will be closed after 30 days of suspension.
• Access restored: When your balance returns to positive and access is restored.

Stedi sends all email notifications to your admin account email and billing email addresses.

Account suspension and closure

When your balance reaches $0 or goes negative, Stedi immediately suspends your account:

• API access is suspended: You cannot process new transactions.
• Portal access is limited: You can only access billing and payment settings to resolve the issue.

As soon as your balance returns to positive (through a successful retry payment or an auto recharge), Stedi restores full access.

If your account remains suspended for 30 consecutive days, it becomes eligible for closure. You'll receive reminder emails at 14 days and 5 days before closure.

Custom billing

Manage your custom plan billing, including downloading invoices.

Download invoices

To download invoices:

1. Go to your Account settings.
2. Click Billing.
3. Download your latest invoice from the top of the page, or download past invoices from the Invoices section.