User:Louis/Stripe converts free Radar to a paid plan by default

Merchants who had been receiving Stripe's Radar fraud screening at no extra charge were placed on a free trial of a new paid tier, Radar Standard, on July 29, 2026, and their accounts continue on that paid tier automatically once the trial ends on January 22, 2027. Keeping fraud screening free requires the merchant to switch down to Radar Lite, a tier Stripe's own documentation marks unsupported for default rules, default allowlists and blocklists, fraud analytics, & risk level, all of which Radar Standard carries. Stripe's support page tells merchants There's no action needed from you at this time, while Radar Standard is billed starting at £0.04 per screened transaction in the United Kingdom & $0.05 in the United States.

At a glance

• Free fraud screening was moved onto a paid tier. Accounts that had been getting Radar at no extra charge were put on a free trial of Radar Standard on July 29, 2026, & they continue on that paid tier automatically once the trial ends on January 22, 2027.
• Staying free means taking a smaller product. Keeping fraud screening at no charge requires switching down to Radar Lite, which Stripe's own documentation marks unsupported for default rules, default allowlists and blocklists, fraud analytics, & risk level.
• Stripe says no action is needed. Its support page tells merchants There's no action needed from you at this time, while Radar Standard is billed starting at £0.04 per screened transaction in the United Kingdom & $0.05 in the United States.
• Fees run on payment attempts, not completed sales alone. Radar screens all payment attempt types, including successful, declined, blocked, & flagged-for-review attempts, and for subscriptions created through Stripe Billing it always screens & charges for the first payment on a subscription and for the first payment after any payment method change.
• Section 7.1(d) of the Stripe Services Agreement permits it. That clause lets Stripe offer a service without charge & then start charging for it on at least 30 days notice, and California's Automatic Purchase Renewals article, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, & the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 each turn on a definition of consumer that a limited company or sole trader buying payment processing does not meet.

Stripe's support page tells merchants There's no action needed from you at this time and that continued use of Stripe services after January 22, 2027 is subject to the fee changes.

What changed for an account that had Radar on standard payments pricing

Item	Before July 29, 2026	From January 22, 2027 without a switch
Radar tier on the account	Radar on standard payments pricing	Radar Standard
Accounts on Radar for Fraud Teams	Radar for Fraud Teams	Radar Plus, starting at $14 per month
£0.04 per screened transaction in the United Kingdom	Applied only to accounts with custom pricing for any payment method	The pay as you go rate for Radar Standard, listed as starting at £0.04
Free fraud screening	Radar's machine learning listed as included for accounts with all payment methods on standard pricing	Radar Lite, marked unsupported for default rules, default allowlists and blocklists, fraud analytics, & risk level

Four Radar tiers and the automatic conversion

Stripe split Radar into four tiers named Lite, Standard, Plus, & Pro, with the new pricing taking effect January 22, 2027. Accounts that had Radar on standard payments pricing before July 29, 2026 were moved onto a Radar Standard free trial on that date; accounts on Radar for Fraud Teams were moved onto Radar Plus. Stripe describes the exit as one click:

If you prefer to opt out of Radar and continue receiving fraud protection for free, you can switch to Radar Lite in one click at any time from the Dashboard.

Stripe's support page tells existing Radar users that a free trial of Radar Standard started July 29, 2026 and that after it ends on January 22, 2027 their accounts automatically continue on Radar Standard.

A merchant who clicks nothing lands on the published price. In the United Kingdom, Radar Standard is listed as starting at £8.00 per month on a monthly plan, cancellable at any time, & at £0.04 per screened transaction on pay as you go. The United States page lists the same two options as starting at $10.00 per month, cancellable at any time, & at $0.05 per screened transaction. Radar Plus starts at $14 per month & Radar Pro at $20 per month.

On July 28, 2026 Stripe's UK pricing page listed Radar's machine learning as included for accounts with all payment methods on standard pricing, with the £0.04 per screened transaction rate applying only to accounts with custom pricing for any payment method. The same capture prices Radar for Fraud Teams at £0.02 per screened transaction for accounts with all payment methods on standard pricing.

Feature gaps in Radar Lite

Radar Lite is a smaller product than the one these accounts were using. Stripe's How Radar works page publishes a plan comparison matrix, and in its transaction risk prevention table Radar Lite is marked unsupported, & Radar Standard supported, for six capabilities.

Capability	Radar Lite	Radar Standard
Fraud analytics	Unsupported	Supported
Default rules	Unsupported	Supported
Default allowlists and blocklists	Unsupported	Supported
Fraudulent dispute signal	Unsupported	Supported
Early fraud warning signal	Unsupported	Supported
Risk level	Unsupported	Supported

Stripe's transaction risk prevention table marks Radar Lite unsupported, and Radar Standard supported, for fraud analytics, default rules, default allowlists and blocklists, fraudulent dispute signal, early fraud warning signal, and risk level.

The account risk prevention table splits the same way across nine of its 15 rows, from AI-based fraud prevention for accounts through account risk levels. Both tiers keep AI-based fraud prevention across all payment methods, card testing prevention, & fraud alerts.

Stripe's risk controls documentation puts the boundary in one line, stating that Fraudulent card payments is included with Radar Standard and above. The same page describes what a merchant on the free tier therefore does without:

This risk control blocks payments that Stripe Radar determines are likely fraudulent, even when those payments are unlikely to result in a dispute or early fraud warning. Rather than waiting for issuer reports or chargebacks, it acts at the time of payment, stopping fraud before it completes.

Fee scope across ordinary payment activity

The meter does not run on completed sales alone. Radar screens all payment attempt types, including successful, declined, blocked, & flagged-for-review attempts, across cards, wallets backed by a card, ACH Direct Debit, & SEPA Direct Debit. Stripe's documentation states the billing scope directly:

This applies to any authorization or charge evaluated by Radar, including one-off payments, recurring transactions, invoice transactions, and subscription lifecycle events. Fees are charged only when Radar screens a transaction.

Recurring revenue is caught by a fixed rule rather than a merchant setting. For subscriptions created through Stripe Billing, Radar always screens & charges for the first payment on a subscription and for the first payment after any payment method change; only the number of subsequent renewal cycles screened is configurable from the Dashboard.

For users of Stripe Connect, the product platforms and marketplaces use to onboard other merchants and help them accept payments, Stripe charges Radar account fees to the platform & transaction fees at the rate of the account that collected the payment. A platform paying its connected accounts' fees can push those accounts down to the free tier instead, because Enabling Radar Lite prevents connected accounts from incurring fees on platform transactions. That is the same downgrade decision the individual merchant faces, taken by someone else on the merchant's behalf.

UK card rates in the same period

Card processing rates on Stripe's UK page moved inside the same window. On July 28, 2026 the page listed premium UK cards at 1.9% + 20p & international cards at 3.25% + 20p. On August 3, 2026, and on the live page, premium UK cards are 2.8% + 20p & international cards are 3.15% + 20p. Standard UK cards held at 1.5% + 20p across both captures. A merchant taking a premium UK card pays 0.9 percentage points more than Stripe's page carried in July; international volume costs 0.1 points less.

Stripe Services Agreement fee terms

Nothing about this breaks the contract. Section 7.1(c) of the Stripe Services Agreement, last modified November 18, 2025, reserves the pricing power:

Subject to the requirements of Law, Stripe may revise the Fees and Subscription Plans at any time. Stripe will provide User with at least 30 days notice (or longer period if Law requires) of any increase in a Fee or any new Fees for any Service provided to User, or any materially adverse change in a Subscription Plan.

Section 7.1(d) covers this exact move, a waived fee that starts being charged:

Stripe may offer a Service without charge, or waive a Fee for that Service, and may start charging a Fee for that Service upon at least 30 days notice (or longer period if Law requires) to User.

Clause (d) of the Stripe Services Agreement, headed Fee Waivers, lets Stripe waive a fee for a service and then start charging for that service on at least 30 days notice.

Section 7.1(e) supplies the ending: when a free trial expires, the Fees stated on the Stripe Pricing Page will apply. 177 days separate July 29, 2026 from January 22, 2027, about six times the 30-day floor the agreement sets. The downgrade is one click.

Section 7.1(d) is the defect. It permits a seller to give a product away, build it into the buyer's operations, & then convert the buyer's silence into a bill. Stripe's support page states that consent rule outright:

Your continued use of Stripe services after January 22, 2027 is subject to these fee changes.

Stripe classifies the notice describing the fee changes as a legal notice and states that You cannot unsubscribe from legal notices, offering closing the account as the alternative.

Negative-option protection and business customers

California's Automatic Purchase Renewals article, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, & the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 each turn on a definition of consumer that a limited company or sole trader buying payment processing does not meet, which is why negative-option rules written for retail subscriptions do not reach this. California's Automatic Purchase Renewals article describes the mechanism exactly. Business and Professions Code section 17601 defines a free-to-pay conversion as:

a provision under which a customer receives a product or service for free for an initial period and will incur an obligation to pay for the product or service if they do not take affirmative action to cancel before the end of that period

The same section confines the protected consumer to:

any individual who seeks or acquires, by purchase or lease, any goods, services, money, or credit for personal, family, or household purposes

A business buying fraud screening sits outside that definition.

The United Kingdom draws the line in the same place. Consumer Rights Act 2015 section 2 defines a consumer as:

an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual's trade, business, craft or profession

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lands in the same place through different words. Section 280, the interpretation provision for its subscription regime, defines a consumer as an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside the individual's business, & defines business to include a trade, craft or profession. Section 254 confines a subscription contract to a contract between a trader and a consumer.

That Chapter is not yet law in any event: on a page recording its content as current to August 4, 2026, section 254 still carries the note S. 254 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 339(1). The third commencement instrument under the Act, made March 11, 2026, brought Chapter 4 of Part 4 and Schedules 25 to 27 into force on April 6, 2026.

Federal rule after the Eighth Circuit vacatur

The federal rule that would have governed automatic renewals no longer exists. In Custom Communications, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission, No. 24-3137, reported at 142 F.4th 1060 (8th Cir. 2025), decided July 8, 2025, the Eighth Circuit held that the Commission failed to issue a preliminary regulatory analysis required by 15 U.S.C. § 57b-3(b)(1) and wrote we grant the petitions for review and vacate the Rule. The panel stated the scope of that disposition in its own words:

But vacatur of the entire Rule is appropriate in this case because of the prejudice suffered by Petitioners as a result of the Commission's procedural error.

The ground of decision was procedural. The court wrote that it did not endorse unfair and deceptive practices in negative option marketing, and that the procedural deficiencies of the Commission's rulemaking process are fatal here. The FTC then restored the older rule, effective February 12, 2026, to restore it in the form it existed before the 2024 Rule became effective. That restored rule, 16 CFR 425.1, opens by fixing its own scope:

In connection with the sale, offering for sale, or distribution of goods and merchandise in or affecting commerce

Radar is a hosted software service, not merchandise announced and shipped under a prenotification plan, so Part 425 does not reach it whatever the buyer's status.

State statutes covering business contracts

Two American state statutes do protect a business customer against renewal by inaction. Wisconsin Statutes section 134.49 defines its protected customer as a person who conducts business in this state who leases business equipment or purchases business services. Where such a contract renews automatically for an additional period longer than one month, the seller must obtain a signature or initials on a five-item disclosure. The third item is:

A statement indicating whether an increase in charges to the customer will apply upon an automatic renewal or extension

The fourth is A description of action the customer must take to decline renewal or extension. Non-compliance is expensive:

an automatic renewal or extension provision in the contract is not enforceable, and the contract terminates at the end of the current contract term

New York General Obligations Law section 5-903 protects companies by definition, since person there means an individual, firm, company, partnership or corporation. Its subject matter is narrow. The section reaches only a contract for service, maintenance or repair to or for any real or personal property, & it does not apply where the automatic renewal period specified is one month or less.

Neither statute plainly catches this arrangement. There is no fixed renewal term for a Stripe merchant to decline: the account runs continuously, the downgrade to Radar Lite is available from the Dashboard at any time, and the pay-as-you-go tier bills per screened transaction rather than per renewed period.

Wisconsin also excludes a contract the customer can terminate on not more than one month's notice. New York's duty is keyed to service, maintenance or repair of property. Both were drafted around fixed renewal terms.

A consumer moved from free to paid by inaction could point at California's Automatic Purchase Renewals article, or at the UK subscription regime once it commences. A business customer gets section 7.1(d) & the 177 days between July 29, 2026 and January 22, 2027.

See also

• Click-to-cancel
• Enshittification
• Post-purchase EULA modification