Stripe Connect is Stripe's product for platforms and marketplaces that need to model multiple accounts and move money between parties. Each business that uses the platform gets a connected account. With direct charges, the customer pays the connected account directly and the money sits in that account's own balance, then pays out to its own bank. Stripe ties each account to the tax ID and legal entity of one business, so a group that runs an LLC per location needs a separate Stripe account for each LLC. Connect is how software takes payments into each of those accounts.
What is Stripe Connect?
Connect is the part of Stripe built for software that sits between payers and the businesses they pay. Stripe describes it as the way to build "a platform, marketplace, fintech, or other business that requires you to model multiple accounts and move money between parties." The software is the platform. Each business it serves is a connected account.
What is a connected account?
A connected account is a Stripe account that belongs to one business but is linked to a platform. Stripe's docs say you create a connected account "for each business or individual that signs up to access your platform's services." The connected account has its own balance, its own payout bank account and its own settings. Depending on how the platform is set up, the account holder may log in to the full Stripe Dashboard, a lighter Express Dashboard, or no Stripe dashboard at all.
How does money move through Connect?
Stripe offers a few charge types. The two most common are:
| Charge type | Who the customer pays | Where the money lands |
|---|---|---|
| Direct charge | The connected account | The connected account's balance, with any platform fee taken from it |
| Destination charge | The platform | The platform's balance, then transferred to the connected account |
Stripe says that with direct charges, "your connected accounts transact directly with their customers, who are often unaware of your platform's existence." By default, charges made for a connected account build up in its balance and pay out on a daily rolling basis.
Why would a group with an LLC per location use separate Stripe accounts?
Because Stripe requires it. Stripe's page on multiple accounts says you can only associate each account "with the tax ID and legal entity of one business." If you run businesses with separate tax IDs, such as one LLC per location, "you must create additional accounts for each."
Stripe lists other effects of separate accounts:
- Each has its own statement descriptor, so a customer sees the name of the business they bought from.
- Reporting and reconciliation stay apart, which makes it easier to match payouts to each bank account.
- Each can pay out to its own bank account, though you can use the same one if you want.
Stripe also offers organizations for centralized reporting and management across related accounts.
Where does Connect fit for a multi-location group?
Separate Stripe accounts solve the legal side. The work is getting each payment into the right one. Software built on Connect can take a payment for the Denver LLC into the Denver account and a payment for the Phoenix LLC into the Phoenix account. Each location's money then lands in its own balance and its own bank. Running several Stripe accounts from one CRM is covered in Multiple Stripe accounts in HubSpot. For the entity question itself, see One LLC per location.
Who handles disputes on a connected account?
It depends on the setup. For legacy Standard accounts with direct charges, Stripe's table puts fraud and dispute liability on the connected account. For destination charges, it sits with the platform. Ask any platform which charge type it uses before you connect.
- Stripe: Connect
- Stripe: Connected account types
- Stripe: Charge types
- Stripe: Payouts to connected accounts
- Stripe: Multiple separate accounts
Every figure on this page was checked against these sources on Oct 6, 2026. General information, not legal or tax advice.