Credit card processing companies, compared honestly

The short answer

• You want the simplest start, with no monthly fee: Square, Stripe (best suited to online sales) or PayPal POS.
• You need a full point of sale, not just card payments: Shopify, Clover, Toast, Lightspeed or SpotOn. Our POS comparison goes deeper.
• Your sales are steady and larger: price interchange-plus at Helcim or Stax.
• You bank with Chase: Chase offers same-day deposits into a Chase business checking account.
• You want a sales rep and a custom setup: Heartland, which publishes only starting-at prices.

All twelve, side by side

Every number on this page comes from the provider’s own US website, checked on the date shown in the table. We don’t use review sites or sales sheets. Here’s how we verify prices.

Flat-rate processors

Square. Square sells card processing and a POS app in one, with plans for restaurants, retail, services and beauty. On the Free plan you pay $0 a month and 2.6% + 15¢ per in-person payment, or 3.3% + 30¢ online. It fits new and smaller businesses that want to start without a monthly bill. The catch: the Free plan has Square’s highest rates. Plus ($49 a month) and Premium ($149 a month) cut the in-person rate to 2.5% and 2.4% + 15¢, but those fees are charged per location. Keyed-in payments cost 3.5% + 15¢ on every plan.

Stripe. Stripe is a payments company built around online checkouts. Online cards cost 2.9% + 30¢, and in-person payments on its readers cost 2.7% + 5¢. Stripe says it charges no setup, monthly or closure fees. It fits online shops and businesses with their own website or app. The catch: Stripe doesn’t sell a POS plan, so selling in person means buying a reader (from $59) and pairing it with POS software. International cards add 1.5%, manually entered cards add 0.5%, and disputes cost $15, plus another $15 if you contest one.

PayPal POS. PayPal POS is PayPal’s free point-of-sale app, with card readers you buy outright. In-person card payments cost 2.29% + 9¢, with no monthly or setup fees. The first card reader is $29, and each one after that is $79. It fits solo sellers, market stalls and small shops. PayPal itself says Tap to Pay in its app could suit you if you “don’t have staff or employees” and your “backend operations are straightforward.” The catch: standard online card payments cost 2.99% + 49¢, and PayPal Checkout or Venmo cost 3.49% + 49¢. Chargebacks cost $20, plus a $15 dispute fee. PayPal’s fee page also says it may raise the percentage part of its fees, up to 5.00% per transaction, after 30 days’ notice.

Chase. Chase Payment Solutions is card processing from Chase bank. Cards cost 2.6% + 10¢ in person (Tap to Pay on a phone included), 2.9% + 25¢ online and 3.5% + 10¢ keyed in. It fits businesses that already bank with Chase. Payments completed by 5 p.m. PT land the same day in a Chase business checking account, at no extra cost. The catch: Chase says “monthly fees may apply to certain products and pricing plans” but doesn’t publish them. Hardware is extra. And Chase’s own pages disagree on the keyed-in rate: its fees page says 3.5% + 10¢, while its payments overview says 3.5% + 15¢.

POS companies that process your cards

Shopify. Shopify is an online store builder with its own POS and its own processor, Shopify Payments. On the Basic plan ($39 a month, or $29 billed yearly), in-person cards cost 2.6% + 10¢ and online cards 2.9% + 30¢. Rates drop on the bigger plans. It fits businesses that sell online and in a store and want one product list. The catch: using a processor other than Shopify Payments adds a 2% fee per sale on Basic. Store features like staff roles and inventory management need POS Pro, at $89 a month per location, billed yearly.

Clover. Clover sells POS hardware and software, both directly and through banks. Clover says you can “pay as little as 2.3% + 10¢” in person. Its cheapest retail bundle charges 2.6% + 10¢, and keyed-in payments cost 3.5% + 10¢. Bundles include hardware, with retail starting at $16 a month for 36 months. It fits shops and restaurants that want hardware and software in one package. The catch: at the end of a hardware subscription, it carries on at the same monthly charge unless you buy or return the equipment, with 30 days’ notice. Clover’s web prices “are only available on Clover.com.” Its bank partners (Clover names Citi, PNC and Wells Fargo) set their own contract terms and termination fees.

Toast. Toast is a POS built for restaurants, with a retail version for convenience, grocery and liquor stores. Restaurant POS plans start at $69 a month. With Toast’s traditional pricing (hardware up front, software monthly), cards cost 2.49%. Its pay-as-you-go Starter Kit has no upfront hardware cost and no monthly basic software fee, but charges 3.09% per card payment. It fits restaurants that want restaurant-only software. The catch: Toast doesn’t publish a per-payment cents fee, or its online and keyed-in rates. Its services “may only be used on approved Toast hardware.” And Toast says it is “not a payment card processor” but a payment facilitator that partners with processors.

Lightspeed. Lightspeed is POS software for retail stores and restaurants, with its own Lightspeed Payments. Cards cost 2.6% + 10¢ in person, and Lightspeed says the rate is “always the same no matter what card your customer chooses.” Retail plans are $89, $149 or $289 a month billed yearly, or $109, $179 or $339 billed monthly. Restaurant plans are $69, $189 or $399, and Lightspeed doesn’t label the billing period. It fits established stores and restaurants that need deeper inventory and reporting tools. The catch: you can’t reuse terminals you already own, chargebacks cost $15, and online and keyed-in rates aren’t published.

SpotOn. SpotOn sells restaurant POS systems, plus a simpler terminal for other small businesses. Its POS Essentials plan is $55 per station a month, month to month, with cards at 2.45% + 15¢ in person (Amex is 3.19% + 15¢). Its All-In plan is $0 per station with hardware included, but cards cost 2.79% + 20¢. It fits restaurants that want a month-to-month plan with published rates. The catch: All-In has “processing minimums” and a 2-year minimum term. SpotOn says you can’t use your own POS hardware, Essentials hardware is extra “plus implementation costs,” and online rates aren’t published.

Interchange-plus and membership pricing

Helcim. Helcim is an interchange-plus processor with free POS tools. Its markup is 0.40% + 8¢ in person and 0.50% + 25¢ for keyed and online payments, at up to $50,000 a month in sales. The markup drops as your volume grows, down to 0.15% + 6¢ in person at the top tier. There are no monthly, PCI or statement fees, no contract and no cancellation fee, and deposits arrive the next business morning. It fits growing businesses that want to see exactly what the processor keeps. Helcim says most merchants end up with a total in-person rate “near or below 2%” (their claim). The catch: your total moves with the cards your customers use, a lost chargeback costs $15, and Helcim’s pricing page is shared with Canada and doesn’t label its currency.

Stax. Stax charges a monthly membership instead of a percentage markup. You pay interchange plus 8¢ per in-person payment, or 15¢ online and keyed in. The membership is $99 a month for up to $150,000 a year in card sales, $139 for $150,000 to $250,000, and $199 or more above that. Funding arrives the next business day. It fits higher-volume businesses, where a fixed fee is spread over a lot of sales. The catch: you pay the membership in a slow month too. Stax’s page says “No cancellation fees (long term contracts),” which is unclear, so ask for the term in writing. Chargeback, PCI and statement fees aren’t on its pricing page.

Quote-first

Heartland. Heartland calls itself “a Global Payments company” and says it is “transitioning to the Global Payments brand.” It publishes only starting-at prices: card processing starting at 2.6% + 10¢ in person, and restaurant and retail POS starting at $89 a month. It fits owners who want a sales rep to build a package, or in Heartland’s words, “pick the rate plans, devices and integrations that work best for your business.” The catch: because there are several rate plans, the starting rate may not be the one you’re offered. Actual rates, contract terms and fees all need a quote.

Where to go next

• The short version: our picks for credit card processing for small business, with a quick quiz.
• Credit card processing fees explained: what each line on your statement means.
• POS systems compared, and by type: restaurants and retail stores.
• Fee calculators for Square and Stripe.
• Some of these companies may pay us if you sign up. It never changes the numbers. Here’s how we make money.