Stripe Billing

Overview

Stripe Billing manages the subscription and recurring payment lifecycle for SaaS businesses, membership sites, and any service with recurring charges. It handles subscription creation, billing cycle management, proration, usage-based metering, invoicing, and dunning (failed payment retry logic). Stripe Billing scripts appear on customer-facing pages where users manage their subscriptions, update payment methods, or view billing history.

What This Script Does

Stripe Billing integrates through the core Stripe.js library and Stripe's hosted billing portal.

• Scripts loaded: js.stripe.com/v3/ — handles payment method tokenization, subscription checkout sessions, and the customer billing portal
• Billing Portal: Stripe's hosted billing portal (billing.stripe.com) can be embedded or linked, allowing subscribers to update payment methods, switch plans, cancel subscriptions, and view invoice history without the merchant building a custom interface
• Checkout Sessions: For new subscriptions, Stripe Billing can redirect to a Stripe-hosted checkout page that collects payment details, applies trial periods, and initiates the billing cycle
• Cookies set:
  • __stripe_mid — First-party cookie (1-year expiry). Machine identifier for fraud detection.
  • __stripe_sid — First-party cookie (30-minute expiry). Session identifier for the current billing interaction.
• Data transmitted: Subscription plan details, payment method tokens, billing cycle events, and customer identifiers are transmitted to Stripe's servers. Invoice and receipt data flows back to the merchant's application.
• Webhooks: While not client-side, Stripe Billing sends server-to-server webhook events for subscription lifecycle changes (created, updated, canceled, payment failed), which the merchant's backend processes.

Consent & Compliance

Stripe Billing falls under the essential consent category.

Under GDPR and ePrivacy, Stripe Billing is strictly necessary for managing recurring payment relationships. The cookies serve fraud prevention and session management for payment interactions explicitly initiated by the subscriber. This falls under the ePrivacy Directive's exemption for cookies required by a service the user has requested. GDPR legal basis is Article 6(1)(b) — contract performance for the subscription agreement.

Under CCPA/CPRA, subscription and payment data processed by Stripe Billing is necessary for delivering the purchased service. Stripe acts as a service provider, and this processing does not constitute a "sale" or "sharing" of personal information.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

No. Stripe Billing is essential infrastructure for managing subscriptions and recurring payments. Blocking it would prevent subscribers from managing their accounts, updating payment methods, or completing subscription purchases. All cookies serve payment security, not advertising or analytics.