How To Use Stripe Payment Gateway WooCommerce

I’ll show you how to integrate Stripe into a WordPress + WooCommerce store so customers can pay with credit and debit cards (no PayPal required). This guide walks through the Stripe account essentials, the WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway plugin setup, creating the webhook, and recommended settings to keep checkout smooth and secure.

Table of Contents

• Step 1: What you need before you start
• Step 2: Create and configure your Stripe account
• Step 3: Install the WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway plugin
• Step 4: Enable Stripe inside WooCommerce
• Step 5: Copy your Stripe API keys (live keys)
• Step 6: Create a Stripe webhook for WooCommerce
• Step 7: Recommended Stripe settings in WooCommerce
• Step 8: Test (then go live)
• Quick checklist before accepting live payments
• Embed: Try a quick checkout example
• Resources referenced
• FAQ
• Final notes

Step 1: What you need before you start

Before you touch WordPress, make sure you have these pieces in place:

• A Stripe account – sign up at stripe.com (it’s free).
• A bank account linked to Stripe so deposits can be transferred to you.
• An SSL certificate on your site so payments and customer data stay secure.
• WooCommerce is installed on your WordPress site.

Why SSL matters: Google prefers sites with an SSL padlock, and Stripe requires a secure connection for processing payments. If your host charges for SSL, consider providers that include a free certificate.

Step 2: Create and configure your Stripe account

Create your Stripe account at stripe.com and complete account activation (confirm your email and add business/banking details). In Stripe’s dashboard, set your payout schedule under Business settings → Bank accounts and scheduler.

You can choose automatic daily payouts if you want funds deposited frequently.

Step 3: Install the WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway plugin

1. Go to your WordPress admin → Plugins → Add New.
2. Search for Stripe.
3. Install and activate WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway (the official plugin for integrating Stripe with WooCommerce).

Step 4: Enable Stripe inside WooCommerce

1. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Payments.
2. Find Stripe and click Manage.
3. Toggle to enable Stripe.
4. Set the payment method title and description (for example, “Pay with credit or debit card”).

If you want to test first, leave Stripe in test mode. When you’re ready to accept real payments, switch to live mode and add live API keys.

Step 5: Copy your Stripe API keys (live keys)

In Stripe, go to your dashboard and locate the API keys section. Make sure your account is activated so you can see the live publishable key and live secret key.

Copy both values and paste them into the corresponding fields in the WooCommerce Stripe settings.

Step 6: Create a Stripe webhook for WooCommerce

Webhooks let Stripe notify your site about payment events (successful charges, refunds, etc.).

1. In your WordPress Stripe settings you’ll find the webhook endpoint URL. It commonly looks like this:

   https://your-domain.com/?wc-api=wc_stripe

2. In Stripe, go to Developers → Webhooks → Add endpoint.
3. Paste your site’s webhook endpoint URL.
4. For the events to send, type charge (matching the plugin guidance) and add the endpoint.
5. Open the webhook entry, reveal the signing secret, copy it, and paste that value back into the WooCommerce Stripe webhook secret field.

After this, WooCommerce and Stripe will communicate whenever a charge occurs so orders are updated automatically.

Step 7: Recommended Stripe settings in WooCommerce

• Inline credit card form – enable this to show a simple, single-line card form during checkout for a cleaner user experience.
• Capture charge immediately – enable this to capture funds at checkout without an extra step.
• Enable payment request buttons – toggle on Apple Pay and Google Pay so mobile customers can use their saved payment methods.
• Enable payments via saved cards – allow returning customers to save cards for faster checkout.
• Logging – enable debug logs if you need to troubleshoot payment issues; remember to turn off detailed logging on production when not needed.

Step 8: Test (then go live)

Use Stripe test mode to simulate payments while you confirm the checkout flow and order handling. Test card numbers are available in Stripe’s documentation.

When tests look good, replace the test API keys with the live keys and disable test mode.

Quick checklist before accepting live payments

• Account verified and business details complete in Stripe
• Bank account added for payouts
• SSL certificate installed on your site
• WooCommerce Stripe plugin installed and enabled
• Live publishable and secret keys pasted into WooCommerce
• Webhook endpoint configured and signing secret added
• Preferred settings (inline form, capture immediately, payment request buttons) applied

Embed: Try a quick checkout example

Customers will see both PayPal (if enabled) and a card payment option powered by Stripe. The card option requests the card number, expiry date, and CVC, just like any standard checkout.

FAQ

Final notes

Stripe is a reliable, flexible payment gateway that integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce. With a proper Stripe account, SSL in place, the WooCommerce Stripe plugin installed, live API keys added, and a webhook configured, you’ll be ready to accept card payments quickly and securely.

If you need a quick recap, follow the steps above in order, test thoroughly, then switch to live mode and monitor your first transactions to ensure payouts arrive as expected.