---
title: "Introducing Stripe's new public preview release channel"
description: "Stripe announces its new public preview release channel, which provides early access to API features before their General Availability launches. Preview features are described as operationally stable and production-ready, but they may receive breaking changes more often than GA features and may have geographic, onboarding, or approval restrictions. Each preview uses a distinct API version ending in preview, such as 2025-04-30.preview, selected through the Stripe-Version header; preview versions also appear in the API reference and changelog. Beta SDKs will use these preview versions and include preview features, with releases differentiated from GA counterparts by suffixes such as 5.2.0-beta.1. The example shows that a feature released only in preview is rejected by a GA version, requiring an explicit version change before use; this separation lets teams integrate earlier and provide feedback while avoiding unintended adoption of features with known restrictions."
---

# Introducing Stripe's new public preview release channel

[Stripe](https://yomu.fyi/company/stripe) · Paul Anderson · May 7, 2025

**Type:** Announcement

## Summary

Stripe announces its new public preview release channel, which provides early access to API features before their General Availability launches. Preview features are described as operationally stable and production-ready, but they may receive breaking changes more often than GA features and may have geographic, onboarding, or approval restrictions. Each preview uses a distinct API version ending in preview, such as 2025-04-30.preview, selected through the Stripe-Version header; preview versions also appear in the API reference and changelog. Beta SDKs will use these preview versions and include preview features, with releases differentiated from GA counterparts by suffixes such as 5.2.0-beta.1. The example shows that a feature released only in preview is rejected by a GA version, requiring an explicit version change before use; this separation lets teams integrate earlier and provide feedback while avoiding unintended adoption of features with known restrictions.

## Context

Stripe is introducing a release channel for accessing brand-new API features before GA, while preserving a distinction between early-access functionality and GA versions. The channel addresses the risk that users could adopt features with restrictions without noticing them, while still supporting earlier integration and feedback.

## Approach / What changed

Stripe creates distinct preview API versions ending in preview, accessed through the Stripe-Version header. Preview versions are documented in the changelog and API reference, and beta SDKs include preview features using differentiated release suffixes. Preview functionality can be selected for specific API calls while other calls continue using a GA version.

## Takeaways

- Each new public preview API version may contain breaking changes, whereas GA releases introduce breaking changes approximately twice a year.
- Preview API access requires sending a preview version such as 2025-04-30.preview through the Stripe-Version header; upgrading between preview versions may also require handling breaking changes.
- Beta SDK releases use suffixes such as 5.2.0-beta.1 and include preview features alongside functionality already available in GA SDKs.

**Tags:** [Developer Experience](https://yomu.fyi/topic/developer-experience), [Reliability](https://yomu.fyi/topic/reliability)

- Source: [Stripe](https://stripe.dev/blog/introducing-stripes-new-public-preview-release-channel)
- Source URL: https://stripe.dev/blog/introducing-stripes-new-public-preview-release-channel
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-08-28T08:58:40.678Z

[Read original post](https://stripe.dev/blog/introducing-stripes-new-public-preview-release-channel)