Stripe moved 10,000 Macs to Fleet, saving hundreds of thousands annually

Stripe moved 10,000 Macs to Fleet, saving hundreds of thousands annually

Why Stripe needed a change

Stripe manages about 10,000 Macs and 5,000 Chromebooks for employees and support partners. All employee Macs are provisioned automatically with Apple Automated Device Enrollment, and users authenticate into the device during onboarding. Chromebooks have a lower risk profile and are used by support partners.

Stripe has a strong focus on security and automation. Their previous MDM relied on manual, UI-driven workflows, which didn’t fit their “infrastructure as code” approach. Fragmented APIs made it hard to automate even simple tasks, and the team had to build workarounds to fill gaps.

New Apple OS releases introduce features, commands, and profiles. Stripe wanted more visibility and control than their MDM provided. Support for the latest OS only arrived after public release, and they couldn’t inject raw payloads or inspect device responses.

Slow vendor support made these issues worse. Stripe often waited a long time for ticket responses, delaying resolutions. Lower-impact bugs sometimes went unfixed.

The search for a solution

When their previous MDM came up for renewal, Stripe decided to look for alternatives. They evaluated several MDMs against a clear set of requirements.

First, any replacement had to support all critical use cases for Stripe’s Macs. Employee Macs are “business only,” and third-party software must be approved as “business critical” before installation. Stripe’s security teams also use MDM profiles as part of their device-trust decisions. Getting core MDM functionality right was essential.

Next, the MDM had to fit Stripe’s automation workflows. The team focuses on infrastructure-as-code and wanted the MDM to integrate into existing workflows, not introduce another isolated tool. Stripe also prefers open-source tools because they offer more visibility into how the product works.

Finally, the MDM had to support on-premise deployment. Stripe didn’t consider cloud-only MDMs because they view MDM as critical infrastructure. With control over 10,000 Macs, they wanted full control over who could access the system.

Choosing Fleet

During evaluation, Stripe needed to confirm that Fleet could handle their core MDM use cases, including Automated Device Enrollment and deploying security profiles.

Fleet met those requirements, but the open-source model gave Stripe additional confidence. Being able to see how profiles were built and deployed made them comfortable managing Macs with Fleet.

When issues arise, Stripe can also inspect what went wrong themselves. Instead of uploading logs and waiting for a vendor response, they can typically identify where issues originate, which leads to faster resolutions.

Fleet’s API-first design let Stripe automate their entire MDM workflow. They migrated 10,000 Macs in 10 days, and custom profiles allowed them to set up Macs in video conferencing rooms with true zero-touch deployment — something their previous MDM could not support.

The results

Using Fleet as the MDM for Macs gives Stripe’s security and IT teams more control over a critical piece of infrastructure. It has removed manual work and allowed the team to build custom solutions, such as enabling remote screen sharing in meeting rooms without requiring someone on site. Core MDM capabilities are now a pillar of Stripe’s zero-trust device attestation.

Stripe is enthusiastic about Fleet’s support, stating that “[Fleet’s] customer success manager played a key role in the successful migration and rollout.”

Stripe also plans to evaluate the capabilities offered by Fleet’s open-source MDM for other platforms they manage, including Windows VMs and BYOD programs.

About Fleet

Fleet is an Open Device Management platform. Manage configuration, application deployment, and patching from a single console. Fleet supports multiple operating systems, including macOS, iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, and AWS, as well as Google Cloud, Azure Data Centers, and containers.

For security and IT teams, Fleet delivers interoperability and easy automation through open standards, flexible deployment, transparent controls, and real-time visibility of your inventory.

For end users, Fleet builds trust through data transparency and clarity. Devices remain reliable and well-managed, minimizing disruptions and ensuring maximum productivity.