Glossary
Available vs Pending Balance
Your Stripe balance is split into pending funds, which you have earned but cannot yet pay out, and available funds, which are cleared and eligible to be sent to your bank.
Also called: Stripe pending balance, Stripe available balance, available_on, Stripe balance status
Definition
Stripe shows two numbers where most people expect one. Money from a successful payment does not become payable immediately. It lands in the pending balance, waits out a settlement period, and then moves to the available balance, which is the only pool a payout can draw from.
Stripe defines the two directly. Available funds are the ones "you can transfer or pay out automatically by Stripe or explicitly through the Transfers API or Payouts API." Pending funds are simply "funds that aren’t available in the balance yet." Every balance transaction carries a status field holding one of those two values, described as "the transaction’s net funds status in the Stripe balance."
The practical consequence is a permanent gap between the day you earn money and the day it can reach your bank. That gap is not a delay in Stripe sending your payout. It is the settlement period the funds have to clear first, and the two are separate mechanisms that people routinely merge into one.
Key points
- +Pending funds are earned but not yet clearable. Available funds are eligible for payout.
- +Every balance transaction carries a status of either pending or available.
- +The available_on field is the date a transaction’s net funds become available.
- +Settlement timing is expressed as T+X, where T is when the payment was confirmed or captured.
- +Changing your payout schedule does not change how fast funds clear. It only changes when they are sent.
- +A payout draws on the available balance at the moment it is created, not on the day’s sales.
The available_on date is the one that matters
Every balance transaction has two timestamps, and confusing them is the single most common source of month-end differences between Stripe and the bank.
The created field is, in Stripe’s words, the "time at which the object was created," measured in seconds since the Unix epoch. That is when the sale happened. The available_on field is "the date that the transaction’s net funds become available in the Stripe balance." That is when the money joins the pool a payout can draw from.
When those two dates fall in different months, the same sale sits in one period on your income statement and a later period in your bank account. Nothing is wrong. A March 31 charge with an April 2 available_on date is revenue in March and cash in April, and any reconciliation that assumes sales and deposits share a period will show a difference for exactly this reason.
Note that available_on refers to net funds, meaning after Stripe’s fee. The gross amount, the fee, and the net are three separate fields on the balance transaction, and only the net ever becomes available.
How long funds stay pending
Stripe expresses settlement timing as T+X days, where T is the time of the original payment confirmation or capture. The window depends on the country your account is registered in, and for many countries it starts longer for new accounts and shortens once the account is established.
In Stripe’s published timing, United States and Australian accounts settle in 2 business days. Several European countries and Canada begin at 7 calendar days and settle at 3 business days by default. Japan begins at 7 calendar days and settles at 4 business days. India is 2 business days for domestic payments and 5 for international. Brazil is the outlier at 30 calendar days, with shorter windows for some local methods. Stripe distinguishes calendar days, which include weekends and holidays, from business days, which do not.
New accounts have an extra wait at the start. Stripe notes that it typically schedules an initial payout 7 to 14 days after you successfully receive your first payment, and that the first payout can take longer depending on industry risk and country.
One more mechanic is worth knowing if you use Instant Payouts: Stripe reports a separate instant_available figure, defined as the funds "you can pay out using Instant Payouts." That is a different pool from the ordinary available balance.
Payout schedule and settlement are not the same thing
This is the distinction that resolves most support questions about slow payouts. Stripe states it plainly: "Choosing a payout schedule doesn’t change how long it takes for your pending balance to become available. It only controls when payouts are sent."
Settlement decides when money becomes eligible. The schedule, which can be daily, weekly, monthly, or manual, decides when Stripe actually sends what is already eligible. Switching from weekly to daily payouts will get cleared money to your bank sooner, but it will not clear money faster.
The second half of the same idea explains why deposits rarely equal a clean day of sales. Stripe says each payout "reflects your available account balance at the time it was created." A payout is a snapshot of what had cleared at that moment, not a summary of what you sold that day. On a daily schedule with a 3-business-day settlement window, the payout you receive is funded by transactions captured three business days earlier, mixed with any refunds, fees, and adjustments that hit the balance in the meantime.
For bookkeeping this means a payout amount is an output of the balance, not an input to it. Working backwards from the deposit to figure out the sales behind it is the wrong direction, which is why a holding or clearing account exists in the first place: it holds the difference while it resolves.
Where the pending gap shows up in QuickBooks
Acodei records the movements that create and resolve this gap rather than only the deposit at the end of it, which is what keeps the clearing account honest while funds are still in flight.
Two cases are worth knowing because they both extend the wait. Reserve holds and releases, which are Stripe holding back part of your balance, are aggregated and posted as line items through the product you map under Account Mapping, in the Balance Transaction Mapping section. Holds and releases net to zero over time, so a hold in one period released in the next makes one month look worse and the following one better. Acodei’s documentation is explicit that this is a timing artifact rather than a loss.
Failed and canceled payouts are the other case. When a payout to your bank fails or is canceled, the funds return to your Stripe balance. Acodei marks the payout as failed and does not post it as a bank deposit, so QuickBooks continues to show the money sitting in your Stripe holding account, which is where it actually is. No manual reversal is needed.
The effect in both cases is the same: the holding account carries funds that Stripe has but your bank does not yet, and it returns to zero once the money lands.
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Start a free trialFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between available and pending balance in Stripe?
Pending funds are ones you have earned but that have not cleared yet, described by Stripe as funds that are not available in the balance yet. Available funds are cleared and can be transferred or paid out. Only the available balance can fund a payout.
Why is my Stripe balance pending?
Because the settlement period for those payments has not elapsed. Stripe expresses this as T+X days from the original payment confirmation or capture, and the window depends on your country. United States accounts settle in 2 business days, while several European countries and Canada settle in 3 business days after an initial period of 7 calendar days.
What does available_on mean on a balance transaction?
It is the date the transaction’s net funds become available in your Stripe balance. It is normally later than the created date, and when the two land in different months they produce a legitimate difference between the revenue you booked and the cash your bank received.
Will changing my payout schedule make funds available sooner?
No. Stripe states that choosing a payout schedule does not change how long it takes for a pending balance to become available, and that it only controls when payouts are sent. A faster schedule delivers cleared money sooner but does not clear it faster.
Why does my payout not match the sales for that day?
Because a payout reflects your available account balance at the time it was created. It is funded by transactions that cleared earlier, and it is reduced by any fees, refunds, and adjustments that hit the balance in between. It is a snapshot of the balance, not a summary of a day of sales.
What happens in QuickBooks if a Stripe payout fails?
The funds go back to your Stripe balance. Acodei marks the payout as failed and does not post it as a bank deposit, so QuickBooks keeps showing the money in your Stripe holding account rather than recording a deposit that never arrived.
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