Connecting Stripe is one of the most important setup steps: it's what lets you charge your clients for your software. This article covers why it matters, how to connect, and where to manage the connection afterward.
Why Connect Stripe
What It Unlocks
Connecting Stripe unlocks selling paid plans, with a fully integrated checkout and customer portal. Your clients can subscribe to a paid plan and pay you every month, letting you build real monthly recurring revenue directly through the platform.
Is It Required?
You Can Start Without It
No, you can use the platform without Stripe. But without it you can't sell paid plans: you're limited to free plans, with no integrated checkout and no way to collect payments through the platform. Free plans are still useful on their own — for example, as a bonus for existing clients — but if you're serious about building a software business, we strongly recommend connecting Stripe.
What Stays Closed Until Stripe Is Connected
Until Stripe onboarding is finished, the money-related parts of the platform show the Connect Your Stripe Account screen instead of their content: the Sales section, Payments, and in Settings the Coupons, Payouts, Methods, Accounting and Profile pages. The Affiliate settings are hidden too, and choosing to create a paid plan sends you to the Stripe page rather than the plan editor.
Connecting Your Account
Where to Start
Go to Settings > Stripe, in the Finance group of the sidebar. An Owner or an Admin can open it. Click Start Connecting Stripe.
Select Your Country
A dialog titled Select Your Country asks you to pick, in the Business Country dropdown, the country where you (as an individual) or your business is registered. The list only contains countries Stripe supports for this type of account — Stripe supports the vast majority of countries, though not all. Click Connect Stripe and the platform creates your account and opens Stripe's onboarding flow.
If the country turns out not to be supported, Stripe tells you so and you'll need to disconnect and restart with an account registered in a supported country.
If you already have a Stripe account, just log in with your existing credentials. Stripe creates a new Stripe Connect account under your existing one, dedicated to payments coming from Climbo, which makes the process quick.
If you don't have a Stripe account yet, you can create one directly from the onboarding flow.
If You Leave Onboarding Halfway
If you close Stripe before finishing, the Climbo screen now shows a Connect Stripe button. Click it to reopen the onboarding flow and pick up where you left off.
Providing Your Details
Identity Verification
During onboarding, you first choose whether to connect as an individual or as a company. Stripe then asks for identity verification details — provide everything it requests. Your connection only counts as complete once Stripe confirms you've submitted all the required details.
This data goes directly to Stripe, not to Climbo. Climbo only integrates with Stripe Connect; Stripe itself is responsible for collecting and securing this information, since as a payments provider it's required to verify the identity of whoever it processes payments for.
Setting Up Payouts
Where Your Money Goes
As the final onboarding step, you add a bank account or debit card. This is where your payouts go: the money collected through the platform is transferred here automatically.
Once onboarding is complete, Stripe shows a confirmation message.
After Onboarding: Where Stripe Notifications Appear
Settings > Profile
If Stripe ever needs additional information after onboarding — for example, further identity verification documents — a notification appears at the top of Settings > Profile, in the Finance group. This is where all Stripe-related notifications appear. Clicking one opens the relevant Stripe portal, where you can upload what's requested.
If there are no notifications there, that means your Stripe connection is healthy and nothing is pending.
The Menu Changes Shape
Once onboarding is complete, the Stripe entry disappears from the Finance menu and is replaced by the pages it was blocking: Coupons, Payouts, Methods, Accounting, Affiliate and Profile. If you ever see Stripe back in that menu, it means the connection needs attention.
Stripe Connect and Express Accounts, Explained
What Kind of Account You Get
The account connected to Climbo is a Stripe Express account, not a standard Stripe account — and understanding the difference matters.
Stripe Connect is the underlying Stripe product that lets a platform like Climbo enable its users to accept payments and receive payouts, without each of them building their own full Stripe integration. When you connect Stripe, Climbo creates a "connected account" for you through Stripe Connect.
How You Check Your Numbers
Stripe offers a few types of connected accounts, and Climbo uses Express. With an Express account, Stripe still handles identity verification, compliance and payouts, but you don't get a full stripe.com account as you would with a standard Stripe account. Instead, your revenue and payment information is shown inside the Climbo platform itself. Your Stripe Connect account stays linked to your regular Stripe login, but day to day, Climbo is where you check your numbers.
When you do need Stripe's own view, open the Stripe tab in Settings > Account. It shows your Stripe email and account ID, and a Stripe Express button that opens your Stripe Express Dashboard in a new tab.
Disconnecting Stripe
How and When You Can
The same Stripe tab in Settings > Account holds Disconnect Stripe. It opens a confirmation dialog with the checkbox "I confirm I want to disconnect my Stripe account". Disconnecting can't be undone: afterward, you start the onboarding flow again with a different Stripe account.
You can only disconnect when no client has an active subscription: otherwise you'll see "You cannot reset your Stripe account if there are customers with active subscriptions. Please ensure all subscriptions are cancelled before proceeding."