Hi all,
Stripe refused to work with me and closed my account because they said my business does not comply with their policies. They did not give me any other details.
So, are there any alternative payment methods, and if possible, free ones? I cannot pay $50 monthly subscription to barely collect $5-10 subscription from my members. Does Ghost have plans to integrate other services, and if yes, when? If that is not resolved, this would be a reason for me to leave Ghost.
Thanks!
Albena
Hi, did you manage to find an alternative? Stripe said it is being selective for my country and will consider my account in about 2 years. Please let me know if you did because I am in desperate need for an alternative.
Hi there Krati,
No, unfortunately not. I am working with Loop Crypto for donations in cryptocurrencies, but I haven’t found a solution for fiat payments.
Let me know if you find something.
Best,
Albena
Know this thread stretches back to 2023, but since people are still asking in Jan 2025 whether this is possible, wanted to add an actual answer.
I’ve been building PayGlue, a relay connecting Ghost to payment providers beyond Stripe. To be upfront: it’s not free, starts at 19€/mo, plus whatever fees the payment provider itself charges. So if the goal is truly zero cost, this isn’t that. And since PayGlue itself is still early-stage, I don’t have years of revenue behind it to point to as proof of long-term reliability, just being honest about that.
One thing worth mentioning though: the waitlist currently has a one-time Founding Member payment that locks in a much cheaper monthly rate for life once public pricing kicks in, the exact rate depends on when you join, since spots advance through tiers. Might be worth a look if cost is the main blocker.
Worth checking out one of the 7 providers it currently supports too: Polar, Lemon Squeezy, PayPal, Gumroad, Paddle, Ko-fi, or Creem. Each runs its own KYC process, though worth knowing Lemon Squeezy processes payments as a Stripe partner under the hood, so if the original account closure was Stripe-side, that specific one might not actually get you clear of it.
Creem.io specifically is EU-based, and it’s actually what I use for PayGlue’s own billing, so I’ve had decent hands-on experience with it if you have questions.
Crypto (which @Albena_Kostova mentioned using via Loop Crypto) is on the backlog too, for exactly this kind of situation.
Honestly though, if the underlying issue is your business type being restricted across processors generally, PayGlue might not be the right fix here, it changes the plumbing, not each provider’s own policies.
Cheers,
André