Which Stripe Integration has the lightest PCI Compliance burden on clients?

The integration method that carries the lightest PCI compliance burden on clients is Checkout, Stripe.js, and Elements. This is primarily due to how these tools are designed to handle sensitive payment information.

Checkout is a pre-built, hosted payment page that allows users to securely process payments without handling any card data on their own servers. By redirecting users to a Stripe-hosted page, businesses are significantly relieved of the responsibilities for PCI compliance because they are not directly managing card data.

Similarly, Stripe.js and Elements are client-side libraries that allow developers to create custom payment forms while still keeping sensitive card information securely with Stripe. These libraries ensure that card data can be collected directly from the customer’s browser and sent securely to Stripe, which means the merchant's systems are not involved in the storage or transmission of card details. This further minimizes their PCI footprint, as the integration can be configured to avoid the need for extensive compliance measures that would otherwise be necessary if the business were to handle card information directly.

In contrast, methods like webhooks and direct API calls, as well as custom payment flows, often require more comprehensive compliance efforts because these approaches may involve storing or processing card data on the client’s infrastructure. Consequently, these would have a heavier PCI compliance burden compared to