How to switch from Stripe: what moves, what doesn't

Moving off Stripe is three jobs. Saved cards move only if Stripe agrees to transfer them to your new processor. Subscriptions and payment history do not move at all, so you rebuild one and export the other. Customers keep getting billed only if the cutover date is planned.

Stripe's own documentation, read November 10, 2026, is the source for each of the three. Where a provider describes an import, its page is linked.

What can you move off Stripe?

Saved cards can move, through a transfer Stripe makes to your new processor. Cards saved with Link, subscriptions, and payment history do not move. The table is from Stripe's payment data export page, read November 10, 2026. Source: Stripe's payment data export page.

What	How it leaves Stripe	Who does the work
Saved cards: number, name, expiry, billing address	Stripe sends an encrypted file to the new processor	Stripe and the new processor, after you ask
Email addresses and metadata attached to those cards	In the same file	Stripe and the new processor
Cards saved with Link	They do not move. Stripe excludes them	The customer enters the card again
Subscriptions	Not exported	You rebuild them on the new system
Payment history and other objects	Not exported. Stripe says to use the API or Dashboard	You, while the account is open

What needs Stripe's approval?

The card transfer does. You cannot download card numbers yourself. Stripe sends them, and only to a processor that is PCI DSS Level 1 compliant.

Stripe asks for the new processor's current PCI Attestation of Compliance, or its listing on Visa's Global Registry of Service Providers. It also asks for a PGP public key of 4096 bits or more, hosted over HTTPS on a domain named in that document. Stripe says that once you tell it which processor you are moving to, it can usually confirm whether the processor meets those requirements. Start by contacting Stripe with the processor's name.

The new processor has to approve the business too. Get that yes before you ask Stripe for the transfer. A test key is not an approval.

Which providers describe a Stripe import?

Braintree, Frame, and Paddle each describe an import, and each is quoted below in alphabetical order. Ask any other provider, in writing, whether it can receive a transfer from Stripe and how long it takes.

Braintree. Its migration page says "we'll import your sensitive customer data into your new Braintree gateway" and "We do not charge any fees for data migrations". It says it cannot migrate subscription or transaction information, so plans and subscriptions are recreated. Source: Braintree's data migration overview.
Frame. Frame says it can import your Stripe data, including card numbers, subject to Stripe's approval. It also imports your historical payment data and makes it available through the Frame API. Ask Frame for the scope in writing.
Paddle. Its subscription migration guide says the former provider transfers payment method details to Paddle's PCI-1 compliant vault, that subscriber data arrives as a CSV, and that the process takes around two weeks on average. Paddle is a merchant of record, so the move also changes who the seller is. Source: Paddle's subscription migration guide.

The other profiles on this site leave the question open. A missing line is not a no. All three were read November 10, 2026.

How do you avoid interrupting subscriptions?

Pick one cutover date, and bill each customer on exactly one system for each period. Stripe does not export subscriptions, so the schedule on the new system is yours to rebuild.

Export customers, subscriptions, prices, and each next billing date from the Stripe API or Dashboard before anything else.
Recreate the plan, the price, the trial, the tax behavior, and the next billing date on the new system.
Ask Stripe for the card transfer, and wait for the new processor to confirm the cards are loaded.
Test five real customers, including one annual plan and one past-due plan. Prorations and metered usage need the same dry run.
On the cutover date, end each subscription in Stripe as it goes live on the new system. Do not let both systems bill the same period.
Email the customers whose cards did not move, cards saved with Link included, and ask them to enter a card before the renewal.
Keep the Stripe account open afterward. Stripe says Dashboard and API access continues after you stop processing, as long as you do not close or delete the account.

Billing software such as Chargebee, Recurly, or Maxio does not remove this work if you are also changing the gateway underneath it. If you only wanted different invoices and you are allowed to stay on Stripe, change the billing tool and leave the processor. Outseta and CheckoutPage will not help you leave Stripe. They sit on it.

What happens to webhooks and accounting?

Every endpoint that listened for invoice.paid, charge.refunded, or customer.subscription.deleted has to learn the new provider's events. Map them before you cut over. Point a week of parallel traffic at the new webhook in shadow mode if the provider allows it.

Payout reconciliation will look different. Stripe's balance transactions are not Helcim's interchange statement and not Paddle's merchant-of-record settlement. Warn the person who closes the books.

What if Stripe has already closed the account?

Plan for customers to enter their cards again. Stripe's export page does not say whether a closed account can still request a card transfer, and it says Dashboard and API access continues only as long as the account is not closed or deleted. Ask Stripe in the same thread as the closure, and start the re-entry plan the same day. The closed-account guide covers the rest.

What should you not do when switching?

Do not run two processors against the same subscription and hope one of them works. You will double-charge someone. Do not point a new checkout at a processor that has not approved the business.

The calm version of a switch, for a low-risk business, is often to stay on Stripe. This guide is for the case where you have a reason to leave that survives the migration cost.

What can you move off Stripe?

What needs Stripe's approval?

The card transfer does. You cannot download card numbers yourself. Stripe sends them, and only to a processor that is PCI DSS Level 1 compliant.

Which providers describe a Stripe import?

How do you avoid interrupting subscriptions?

Pick one cutover date, and bill each customer on exactly one system for each period. Stripe does not export subscriptions, so the schedule on the new system is yours to rebuild.

What happens to webhooks and accounting?

Every endpoint that listened for invoice.paid, charge.refunded, or customer.subscription.deleted has to learn the new provider's events. Map them before you cut over. Point a week of parallel traffic at the new webhook in shadow mode if the provider allows it.

What if Stripe has already closed the account?

Which sources were checked?

How to switch from Stripe: what moves, what doesn't cites 4 source links. Fee figures are from the edition dated November 9, 2026. A later reading is dated where it is cited.

Last verified November 9, 2026.

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