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FractionalPay

Dots alternatives

Dots payouts alternative for marketplaces that collect on Stripe

Dots is a payout layer: you fund it, tell it how much each seller earned, and it sends the money over one of its rails. If your checkout already runs on Stripe, FractionalPay is the alternative that works out each seller's share of every order, reverses shares on refunds, keeps a double-entry ledger and pays sellers from the same Stripe account the money arrived in.

Teams usually compare the two when the payout file stops being the hard part. The hard part becomes the number on it: which share of which order, after which refund, minus which fee.

Try the split simulator See pricing
  • Splits run the moment a Stripe payment succeeds
  • Refunds reverse every share in proportion
  • Flat monthly plans, no per-payout fee from us

Order #61407 on your Stripe account

Split by rule v2

Gross payment

$260.00 USD

  • Seller $208.00
  • Platform $39.00
  • Referral partner $13.00
Shares add up to the order $260.00
Platform founder reviewing payment settings on a laptop

Why teams compare

What Dots does well and where the split work stays with you

Dots is a payouts company from the Y Combinator S21 batch. Its pitch is reach: more than 300 payout rails in more than 190 countries, including bank transfer, ACH, RTP, wires, PayPal and Venmo, with W-9 and W-8BEN collection, identity checks and 1099 e-filing in the same flow. For a gig platform paying thousands of individuals who each want a different way to get paid, that is a real advantage.

What Dots does not do is decide how much each person earned. A buyer pays 260 USD on your Stripe checkout. Somebody has to calculate that 208 USD belongs to the seller, 39 USD to the platform and 13 USD to the referral partner, then send Dots the 208 and the 13. That calculation lives in your own code, and so does the job of undoing it when the buyer returns half the order two weeks later.

So a marketplace on Dots ends up with three records of the same money: Stripe for the charge, your database for the split, Dots for the payout. Most of the month-end work is getting those three to agree. That is what sends operators looking for Dots alternatives, more than the fees.

  • Percentage, fixed and remainder lines on every Stripe order
  • Proportional refunds, even after the seller was already paid
  • One double-entry ledger from the charge to the payout
  • Daily reconciliation against your Stripe balance transactions

Ledger journal

Balanced

txn_8M2D5Q ·Split of order 61407 by rule v2

  • Stripe balance (your account) Dr$260.00
  • Payable to Seller Cr$208.00
  • Platform revenue Cr$39.00
  • Payable to Referral partner Cr$13.00

TotalDr $260.00 · Cr $260.00

Dots pricing and features

Dots compared with FractionalPay on Stripe

Dots figures come from its public pricing page. Enterprise contracts are quoted by Dots sales, so your agreement may differ. Where Dots does a job FractionalPay does not, the table says so.

  • Main job

    FractionalPay
    Splitting each incoming payment by rule, then paying the shares
    Dots
    Sending payouts you already calculated

  • Where the money sits

    FractionalPay
    Your own Stripe platform account
    Dots
    A Dots balance you fund

  • Per-order split rules

    FractionalPay
    Yes
    Dots
    No

  • Proportional refunds across shares

    FractionalPay
    Yes
    Dots
    No

  • Double-entry ledger per beneficiary

    FractionalPay
    Yes
    Dots
    Payout and wallet records

  • Payout rails

    FractionalPay
    The bank and card destinations your Stripe Connect accounts support
    Dots
    300+ rails, including ACH, RTP, wire, PayPal and Venmo

  • Countries

    FractionalPay
    The countries your Stripe account supports
    Dots
    190+

  • 1099 filing

    FractionalPay
    Tax form status and yearly earnings statements on Growth
    Dots
    Yes, 5 USD per form on Core, 3.50 USD on Scale

  • Per-payout fees

    Dots figures from usedots.com/pricing

    FractionalPay
    None from us, Stripe's own Connect fees apply
    Dots
    Domestic 2 USD on Core, 1 USD on Scale. International 3.9% + 2 USD on Core, 2.9% + 1 USD on Scale

  • Platform price

    FractionalPay
    199, 499 or 1,499 USD per month, half that billed yearly
    Dots
    Core 19 USD per month, Scale 999 USD per month, Enterprise custom

  • API access

    FractionalPay
    REST API and signed webhooks on every plan
    Dots
    Listed on Scale and Enterprise

FractionalPay never holds, pools or transmits funds and is not a payment institution. Payments land in your Stripe platform account, and we calculate the shares, keep the ledger and send payout instructions to that account. Plan limits are on the pricing page.

Fee math

What 300 seller payouts a month cost on each setup

Take a US marketplace that pays 300 sellers once a month, 240,000 USD in total, by domestic bank transfer, and needs API access. On Dots Scale that is 999 USD plus 300 payouts at 1 USD. On FractionalPay Growth with Stripe Connect, where your platform handles pricing, Stripe adds 2 USD per active seller and 0.25% plus 25 cents per payout. Card processing is the same in both setups, so it is left out.

  • Dots Scale

    Detail
    999 USD plan plus 300 domestic payouts at 1 USD
    Amount
    $1,299.00

  • Stripe Connect fees

    Detail
    300 active accounts at 2 USD, 0.25% of 240,000 USD, 300 payouts at 25 cents
    Amount
    $1,275.00

  • FractionalPay Growth

    Detail
    Billed yearly, 249 USD per month
    Amount
    $249.00

  • Stripe Connect plus FractionalPay

    Detail
    Per month, billed yearly
    Amount
    $1,524.00

On raw payout fees Dots comes out cheaper here, and Dots Core at 19 USD plus 2 USD a payout is cheaper still if you can work without the API. What the Dots column leaves out is the split engine, the refund reversals and the reconciliation between three systems, which you build and maintain yourself. Run your own numbers with your payout count and Stripe pricing, and see how payouts are scheduled on marketplace payouts.

What you stop building

The work FractionalPay takes off your engineers

A marketplace that pays sellers through Dots usually builds the same pieces in-house first. In FractionalPay they come built in.

Each feature is included from the plan shown and in every plan above it. Compare plans.

  • Split rules per order

    Starter+

    Seller percentage, platform fee, partner share and a remainder party, matched by product or metadata.

  • Refund and dispute reversals

    Starter+

    A partial refund reverses every share in proportion, including shares already paid out.

  • Payout schedules

    Starter+

    Daily, weekly or monthly with a minimum amount, set per beneficiary.

  • Holds and reserves

    Growth+

    Keep a percentage back until the return window or delivery date passes.

  • Daily reconciliation

    Growth+

    Ledger matched against Stripe balance transactions, with mismatch alerts.

  • Approvals above a threshold

    Scale

    Four-eyes approval for large payouts before they leave the account.

Backend developer testing an API integration

Honest fit

When to stay on Dots

Dots is the better tool in several real situations, and switching would make your payouts worse. Keep it when payout reach matters more than split logic.

  • Your payees want PayPal, Venmo or local rails such as UPI or M-PESA
  • You pay people in countries your Stripe account does not reach
  • Each payout is a single fixed amount, not a share of an incoming order
  • You need 1099s e-filed with the IRS for thousands of US payees every January
  • Your checkout is not on Stripe and will not move there

Other options

Other Dots alternatives US platforms evaluate

FractionalPay fits one shape of business: payments already collected on Stripe and split between three or more parties. These are the other tools that usually make the shortlist next to Dots, with the job each one is built for.

  • Stripe Connect on its own, when your split is a single application fee and refunds only ever touch one seller (see Stripe Connect split payments)
  • Routable, when you want bank-rail payouts with W-9 collection and 1099 filing, priced as a flat platform fee
  • Trolley, when you pay creators or rights holders worldwide and recipient tax forms are the main job (see our Trolley alternative page)
  • Tipalti, when the real work is accounts payable with invoice approvals and supplier onboarding (see our Tipalti alternative page)
  • Hyperwallet, now PayPal Enterprise Payouts, for prepaid cards, checks and cash pickup in 200+ markets (see Hyperwallet alternatives)

Switching

Moving seller payouts off Dots in four steps

You do not have to switch on one day. Most teams send new orders through FractionalPay while the last Dots batch settles, then stop funding the Dots balance. Engineers can do each step through the payouts API.

  1. 01

    Connect Stripe

    Link the Stripe platform account where checkout already runs. Charges, refunds and disputes start mirroring automatically.

  2. 02

    Onboard sellers to Connect

    Import sellers who already have connected accounts by CSV, and send the rest through Stripe's hosted onboarding.

  3. 03

    Write the split rule

    Seller percentage, platform fee, partner share and a hold for your return window. Test it on a real order amount first.

  4. 04

    Set the payout schedule

    Daily, weekly or monthly with a minimum amount, and each payout written to the ledger next to the orders it came from.

Related pages

More on marketplace payments and payouts

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Something else on your mind? Write to [email protected] or read the API documentation.

What is the best alternative to Dots for payouts?
For a marketplace that already collects on Stripe, the usual alternative is Stripe Connect payouts with a split and ledger layer such as FractionalPay, because sellers are paid from the account the money arrived in. If you need PayPal, Venmo or local rails in 190+ countries, Dots, Hyperwallet or Trolley remain the stronger choice.
How much does Dots cost?
Dots lists a Core plan at 19 USD per month and a Scale plan at 999 USD per month, with Enterprise priced by sales. Domestic payouts cost 2 USD on Core and 1 USD on Scale, international payouts 3.9% plus 2 USD or 2.9% plus 1 USD, and 1099s 5 USD or 3.50 USD per form.
Does Dots have an API?
Yes. Dots offers a REST API and SDKs for onboarding payees and sending payouts, and its pricing page lists API access on the Scale and Enterprise plans. FractionalPay includes its REST API, test and live keys and signed webhooks on every plan, starting with Starter.
Does Dots split payments between sellers?
No. Dots sends outbound payouts from a balance you fund, so the amount for each seller has to be calculated before it reaches Dots. FractionalPay calculates those shares from each Stripe payment by rule and reverses them on refunds, then pays them through your Stripe Connect accounts.
Can FractionalPay pay sellers to PayPal or Venmo?
No. FractionalPay sends payout instructions to your Stripe Connect accounts, so sellers receive money at the bank account or debit card linked to their connected account. If many payees insist on PayPal or Venmo, keep a payout tool for them and use FractionalPay for the split and the ledger.
Does FractionalPay file 1099s like Dots?
Not fully. Growth and Scale track tax form status per beneficiary and produce yearly earnings statements your accountant can file from. Dots e-files 1099s with the IRS for you, and Stripe Connect can generate 1099 forms for connected accounts, which matters if you pay thousands of US sellers.
How fast can we test FractionalPay?
The same day. The split simulator needs no account, and after signup the sandbox runs with test keys and demo data, so you can split a copy of a real order and see the ledger and payout dates before you connect your live Stripe account.

Split one of last month's orders before you decide

Enter an order amount, the seller, your fee and any partner in the simulator, and see the shares, ledger lines and first payout date in under a minute.

Try the split simulator See pricing

No transaction fees from us. Runs on your own payment account at a licensed operator. FractionalPay never holds your funds.