Test Credit Card Numbers for Stripe, PayPal, Adyen & Braintree
A complete reference of test credit card numbers for Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, and Braintree — plus how to trigger declines, 3D Secure challenges, and disputes in QA.
· 7 min read
Every QA engineer eventually needs the same thing: a reliable list of test credit card numbers that work in their payment provider's sandbox. Here is a clean reference covering the four most common providers, the cards you need for the happy path, and the ones that trigger the failure modes you are usually paid to verify.
Stripe test cards
Stripe's sandbox accepts any future expiry date, any 3-digit CVC, and any postal code. The classic success card is 4242 4242 4242 4242. For Visa debit use 4000 0566 5566 5556. For Mastercard use 5555 5555 5555 4444. American Express is 3782 822463 10005.
To trigger a generic decline use 4000 0000 0000 0002. Insufficient funds: 4000 0000 0000 9995. Expired card: 4000 0000 0000 0069. To force a 3D Secure authentication challenge use 4000 0027 6000 3184. To simulate a dispute after a successful charge use 4000 0000 0000 0259.
PayPal sandbox cards
PayPal's sandbox accepts the standard test card 4032 0392 9809 6359 and the Mastercard equivalent 5328 0407 0673 6745. Use any future expiry and any CVC. For PayPal-wallet flows you do not need a card at all — create a personal sandbox buyer in the developer dashboard and use those credentials.
Adyen test cards
Adyen ships an extensive matrix of test cards. The default success Visa is 4111 1111 1111 1111. Mastercard: 5555 4444 3333 1111. To force a refused authorization use 4000 0000 0000 0119. To trigger 3D Secure 2 frictionless flow use 4917 6100 0000 0000. Adyen's full list (refusals, fraud, network errors) lives in their docs and is worth bookmarking.
Braintree test cards
Braintree mirrors Stripe closely. Visa: 4111 1111 1111 1111. Mastercard: 5555 5555 5555 4444. Discover: 6011 1111 1111 1117. To trigger a processor decline use 4000 1111 1111 1115. To trigger a gateway rejection set the amount to 2000.00 — Braintree decides outcomes by amount, not by card, for many failure scenarios.
How to keep these one keystroke away
Pasting these from a doc gets old fast. Store the cards your team uses every day in a TestAssets list, organized by provider, and paste them straight into your checkout form with a shortcut from your browser, desktop, or mobile autofill. The reference stays in source control; the muscle memory disappears.