Fundamentally Different
There is a fundamental difference between Fullsteam and Stripe and that is based on what each company is.
Fullsteam is a company that buys software companies with the goal of migrating that companies users to FullSteam's internal payment processor. Fullsteam Pay is Fullsteam's payment processing company.
Stripe is the company that powers merchant processing for millions of companies, including Google, Instacart, Lyft, Uber, Postmates, Shopfiy, Zoom. 90% of US adults have bought something from a merchant using Stripe.
The fundamental difference is this:
Fullsteam Pay forces companies to use them by buying the software those companies run their business on and Stripe becomes the number one credit card processing company of the internet by building a fantastic product.
Top Five Reasons why Stripe is better than Fullsteam Pay
Ease of use
Everything is easier in Stripe. From the single things like adding a customer or a credit card, to more complex operations like creating subscriptions or refunds, or tax rates or promo codes, using the Stripe web app interface is a delight. Fullsteam Pay's interface is stuck in the 80's.
Reporting
Stripe's reporting is fantastic, especially if you use Stripe Billing functionality (Stirpe's product for subscription businesses). A quick side note here; Cleanetto is the only Stripe-Verified CRM that uses Stripe Billing to help you manage your recurring bookings as an actual subscription business. When you use it this way you can learn things about your business like what your average revenue per user is, or what their lifetime value is.
These are all metrics that come standard with Stripe. If you want to geek out on subscription metrics you can even connect your Stripe account to something like Baremetrics or Chartmogul and get incredibly detailed view of your business.
Portability
With Stripe, if you ever want to change the CRM you use (there may be many reasons for this) you can un-plug your Stripe account from your CRM and re-connect it to a different CRM. There is no need to migrate anything or ask anyone for anything; it takes thirty seconds to connect your existing Stripe account with all your client data, including their credit cards, to a new CRM. If you want to sell your cleaning business in the future, you will make life for yourself and your buyer much simpler if you are using Stripe.
Integrations
You can connect Stripe with a growing number of apps and partners (see more info here). You can connect Stripe, for example, with your customer support tool like Intercom, so that when a customer starts a chat with you you can see a list of all the payment activity from that customer within Stripe:
Support
Stripe's support is outstanding. They have 24/7 chat and phone support. If you have any question, at any time, you can chat with someone and they will give you comprehensive answers right away or will escalate until it's resolved.
So... why should I care?
These are just the people who run my customers cards, no? What's the big deal?
First, you are busy enough already to waste time with an interface stuck in the 80's. When you want to see how much money is coming to your bank account tomorrow, you need to get that info fast. When you need to issue a refund and add a note for why you are issuing it, you need to do that fast. If you need to teach your support staff how to use a new tool, that tool should look like a tool built for today's needs, not the needs of 30 years ago.
Second, running your business without metrics is like trying to run with a blindfold on. How are you supposed to know how much you can spend acquiring a customer if you don't know what your average customer will pay you over their lifetime? Reporting makes
Third, you never know what your needs are going to be in the future so you want to build your tech stack in a way that allows you to grow by connecting other tools to your existing payment processor or by allowing you to quickly switch CRM's without hassle. This will also make your business more attractive to potential buyers.
Finally, you need the peace-of-mind that come with 24/7 support knowing that when you need help you'll be able to get it.
