Arc and Stripe address different sides of a company's finances rather than competing directly. Arc manages a company's own idle cash, cards, and debt…
| Arc | Stripe | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Payments | Payments |
| Rating | Not documented | Not documented |
| Pricing model | Free plan + paid membership tiers | usage-based/pay-as-you-go with custom enterprise pricing |
| Starting price | Free (Essentials plan, no membership fee) | 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card transaction (US) |
| Free plan | Yes | Not documented |
| Free trial | Not documented | Not documented |
| Platforms | Web | Not documented |
| Team collaboration | Not documented | Not documented |
| AI features | Yes | Not documented |
| Public API | Not documented | Not documented |
Core Function
Arc: Arc handles treasury and cash management for a company's own funds: yield, a cashback card, debt capital raising, and an AI CFO Agent.
Stripe: Stripe handles payment processing and financial infrastructure for accepting and moving money, covering 195 countries and 135+ currencies.
Solving 'where do we bank and raise capital' versus 'how do we get paid' are fundamentally different problems.
Pricing Model
Arc: Arc is Freemium, with a free Essentials tier at $0/month and Premium/Enterprise as custom annual memberships that unlock higher yield and cashback.
Stripe: Stripe is Usage-based, with no setup fee or monthly base fee on standard payment processing — cost is purely per-transaction.
Arc's cost is about opting into higher membership tiers, while Stripe's bill scales directly with transaction volume.
Product Breadth
Arc: Arc bundles cash management, a business card, debt capital raising, and an AI CFO Agent in one platform.
Stripe: Stripe offers modular, separately-priced products beyond core payments: Billing, Invoicing, Tax, Connect, Issuing, and Identity.
Stripe's modularity lets companies pay only for needed products, but per its own documented con, that makes total cost less predictable than a single flat number.
Yield on Cash
Arc: Arc pays brokerage net yield up to roughly 4.6% depending on membership tier.
Stripe: Stripe's documented features don't include yield on held balances — it is a payment processor, not a treasury/yield product.
Idle cash sitting with Stripe isn't documented to earn yield the way Arc's does.
Global Reach & Marketplace Payouts
Arc: Arc's documented footprint is US-based, headquartered in San Francisco, CA and New York, NY, with no international payment-acceptance feature listed.
Stripe: Stripe supports 195 countries and 135+ currencies, with Connect enabling marketplace payouts to multiple parties via a platform fee.
Companies needing to pay out to sellers or contractors across many countries need Stripe Connect, not Arc.
| Feature | Arc | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Yield on idle cash | Available | Unavailable |
| Business card with cashback | Available | Unavailable |
| Debt capital raising | Available | Unavailable |
| AI financial assistant | Available | Not documented |
| Feature | Arc | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Global payment acceptance | Not documented | Available |
| Marketplace/multi-party payouts | Not documented | Available |
| Billing/subscription management | Not documented | Available |
| Tax calculation | Not documented | Available |
| Card issuing | Not documented | Available |
| Identity verification | Not documented | Available |
| Feature | Arc | Stripe |
|---|---|---|
| Free entry point | Available | Available |
| Custom/enterprise pricing tier | Available | Not documented |
| Founding year disclosed | Available | Not documented |
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
Pros
Cons
Pros
Cons
Not directly. Arc manages a company's own cash, card spend, and debt financing, while Stripe processes payments from customers; many companies use both.
Stripe's documented features focus on payment processing and modular financial products (Billing, Tax, Connect, Issuing, Identity); no yield-on-balance feature is documented, unlike Arc's brokerage yield up to roughly 4.6%.
Both, in different ways — Arc has a free Essentials membership tier ($0/month), and Stripe has no setup fee or monthly base fee on standard payment processing.
Yes, via Connect, which charges a platform fee for routing payments to multiple parties — useful for marketplaces.
Axos Financial announced a definitive agreement in July 2026 to acquire Arc Technologies, Inc., which may bring platform changes. No similar ownership change is documented for Stripe.
Stripe documents support for 195 countries and 135+ currencies. Arc's documented headquarters are San Francisco, CA and New York, NY, with no international payment-acceptance feature listed.