Vendor account types

When a vendor onboards through Split Pay, Stripe creates a connected account for them — the account that receives the funds you transfer. Stripe offers three account types, and they differ in three ways: who controls onboarding, which dashboard the vendor gets, and how much of the experience and responsibility sits with your platform.

Split Pay creates Standard accounts by default and lets you switch to Express with a setting. Custom isn’t a dropdown choice, but developers can select it (or any Accounts v2 configuration) with a filter.

Standard accounts#

With a Standard account, the vendor gets a full, independent Stripe account and the complete Stripe Dashboard. They manage their own account — payouts, disputes, and settings all sit with them. Onboarding is Stripe-hosted, so your platform never touches the vendor’s details directly.

Your platform carries the least overhead here. Standard is the best fit when your vendors want their own full Stripe relationship rather than a dashboard scoped to your marketplace. This is what Split Pay creates unless you choose otherwise.

Express accounts#

Express accounts also use Stripe-hosted onboarding, paired with the lighter, Stripe-hosted Express Dashboard. Your platform owns more of the vendor experience and takes on more responsibility for the connected account in exchange.

Express is the best fit for marketplaces that want a streamlined, consistent vendor experience. Choose this type if your Stripe platform is configured for Express.

Custom accounts#

With a Custom account, your platform builds the entire onboarding flow and dashboard experience yourself. It gives you the most control and the most responsibility, and it requires development work. Stripe now frames Custom through controller properties on Accounts v2 rather than a single account-type keyword.

Split Pay doesn’t offer Custom as a dropdown choice. Developers can still select it — or any Accounts v2 controller configuration — with the spp_account_create_args filter. The example below returns controller args that keep losses and fees with the platform (application), collect requirements through the platform, and give the connected account no Stripe dashboard:

add_filter( 'spp_account_create_args', function ( $args, $context ) {
    // Create a Custom-style connected account via Accounts v2 controller properties.
    $args['controller'] = array(
        'losses'                 => array( 'payments' => 'application' ),
        'fees'                   => array( 'payer' => 'application' ),
        'requirement_collection' => 'application',
        'stripe_dashboard'       => array( 'type' => 'none' ),
    );

    return $args;
}, 10, 2 );

See spp_account_create_args in the developer filters reference for the full signature.

Choosing your account type in Split Pay PRO#

The Vendor account type setting lets you pick between Standard and Express without touching code (new in 3.8.1).

Existing connected accounts are not changed. The setting only affects accounts created after you save it — switching to Express won’t convert a vendor who already onboarded as Standard.

Hosted onboarding and regulations#

Both Standard and Express use Stripe-hosted onboarding, so your platform never creates accounts manually. That matters where local regulations require accounts to be created through Stripe’s hosted flow rather than by the platform — for example in France. With either type, the vendor completes onboarding on Stripe’s pages, and your store receives the connected account ID at the end.

Advanced: overriding the setting#

The spp_account_create_args filter overrides the Vendor account type setting entirely — whatever controller or type args you return win over the dropdown. Use it when you need an Accounts v2 configuration the setting doesn’t expose, such as Custom.

The filter receives a second argument, $context, telling you which onboarding path triggered account creation:

• 'shortcode' — the [split_pay_vendor_connect] shortcode.
• 'connect_link' — a vendor-specific connect link.
• 'connect_link_generic' — a generic connect link not tied to a specific vendor.
• 'admin' — the admin Onboard new account button.

Branch on $context when you want different account types for different onboarding paths.

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Related pages#

• Connecting Vendor Stripe Accounts — the onboarding flows that create these accounts.
• Stripe Connect Prerequisites — what your platform needs before any vendor can connect.
• Stripe’s own Connect account types reference — authoritative detail on Standard, Express, and Custom.