Stripe Integration: Bubble's Stripe vs. Stripe.js vs. API Connector

Questions
1

Hi, bubblers:

I’ve been watching YouTube videos and this forum for Stripe integration for a while now, and the takeaway I got is it can be done by Bubble’s Stripe, Stripe.js2, and API Connector. I tried Stripe.js2 because of the customizable checkout page, but either I do not fully understand how to use it properly or it simply cannot do everything I need.

My requirements include:

  • Someone can purchase and manage his/her membership directly on the Bubble app instead of accessing Stripe.
  • All members are buyers. The only seller is a group of administrators who work as one.
  • Members are allowed to choose whether to auto renew or manually renew their memberships.
  • Administrators need to be able to add and manage product info on the Bubble app.
  • Each product has up to 6 different prices depending on the user’s membership type.
  • Administrators need to be able to manage the products and get a list of purchasers for each product through the Bubble app instead of going directly to Stripe.

In short, any user needs to be able to do every product/membership related without directly going accessing Stripe.

Any input on this would be greatly appreciated as I have already spent a lot of time trying to straighten this out.

Thank you.

3

I’m really interested in this topic: I used Stripe.js for another build and I have to say the customer service has been horrendous from CoBubble, or Copilot - whatever they’re calling themselves. However what’s appealing is refunding from within Bubble, which Stripe.js allows.
I’m interested in whether to jump into webhooks, which have scared me so far!
I like the simplicity / reliability of Bubble’s Stripe plugin, and at least I know they’re always going to develop it.

4

Personally, I never recommend using any plugins for things like Stripe…

It’s literally just as easy to use the API connector and make your own API calls, and then you have full control over every single thing you’re doing rather than having to work within the restrictions of existing plugins and rely on other people to keep them updated.

Once you get your head round APIs and webhooks it’s really very simple (simpler than some of the plugins), so it’s well worth investing the small amount of time needed to learn upfront… that way you’ll always be in control of the apps you’re building rather than getting frustrated with plugins that don’t work quite how you need them to, or don’t quite do what you want them to.

5 Likes
5

gah! It doesn’t feel just as easy but deep down I knew you were right. if anyone has any resources they enjoyed for getting to grips with API connector and Stripe, I’d love it if you could point them my way :slight_smile:

6

We’ll it rather depends on exactly what you need/want to do with Stripe…

But the Stripe API docs are amoungst the best you’ll see, so it’s definitely worth spending some time looking through those.

But if you have any specific questions feel free to ask here in the forum.

I might publish some simple Stripe API guides at some point covering the basics and the most common, and problematic use cases…

7

@adamhholmes Hi there, I am also willing to use API connector to integrate Stripe in my Bubble app. Did you happen to publish the Stripe API guide in the end? If not, if you have any pointer on how to allow users to make a single purchase that’d be wonderful. Thanks