Payment Gateway Cost 2026: The Ultimate Guide
Everything on this site condensed into one definitive guide. Pricing models, vendor map, hidden costs, segment recommendations.
Under $300K/yr in-person: Square. Under $500K online: Stripe or Shopify Payments. Mid-market ($5M-$50M): negotiated Stripe IC+, Helcim or Stax. Enterprise ($50M+): Adyen, Worldpay, or Checkout.com quote-only with multi-acquirer routing. The headline rate is never the full story; PCI, disputes, FX, and reserves add 50-150 basis points on top of the front-page number.
Part 1: The five-layer fee stack
Every card transaction stacks interchange (to the issuer), assessment (to the network), gateway, processor markup, and ancillary fees. Flat-rate vendors bundle them. Interchange-plus exposes them. See the fee stack page for the full breakdown and a worked $100 sale comparison.
Part 2: The four pricing models
Flat-rate, interchange-plus, subscription, tiered. The structurally cheapest model depends on your annual volume and average ticket. Flat-rate wins below $300K/yr; IC+ wins in $300K-$800K; subscription (Stax) wins above $800K/yr; tiered usually loses. See pricing models and IC+ vs flat-rate break-even.
Part 3: The vendor map
- Published-rate flat: Stripe, PayPal, Square, Braintree, Shopify Payments, Authorize.Net, Mollie, Razorpay, GoCardless, Elavon, Chase, Amazon Pay, Wise Business.
- Published-rate IC+: Helcim.
- Published subscription: Stax.
- Quote-only: Adyen, Worldpay, Checkout.com, NMI, BlueSnap, Fiserv/Clover, Afterpay.
- BNPL: Klarna (5.99% standard, 3.29% negotiated), Afterpay (quote-only).
- Wallet (no merchant fee from the wallet itself): Apple Pay, Google Pay.
Part 4: The hidden costs that wreck headline-rate analysis
PCI fees, monthly minimums, statement fees, batch fees, FX margin, dispute fees, reserves, instant-payout fees, termination fees. See hidden costs for the full inventory and a worked illustrative comparison of apparent vs true annual cost.
“Effective 17 June 2025, Stripe charges a non-refundable receipt fee and a separate refundable counter fee on each dispute. The widely-cited “both fees refunded on win” line is no longer accurate.”— Stripe pricing update, 17 Jun 2025
Part 5: Segment-specific recommendations
- SMB in-person ($0-$300K/yr): Square.
- SMB online ($0-$500K/yr): Stripe or Shopify Payments.
- Mid-SMB ($300K-$1M/yr): Helcim interchange-plus.
- Mid-market ($1M-$50M/yr): Stripe custom IC+, Stax subscription, or Helcim.
- Enterprise ($50M+/yr): Adyen, Worldpay, or Checkout.com quote-only.
- High-risk vertical: specialist processor (3.5%-7%+ rate, 5%-10% reserve).
- Cross-border / multi-currency: Wise Business for receiving, Adyen / Mollie for local methods.
Part 6: The 8-week procurement playbook
See the buying guide. Build the shortlist, send the 27-question RFP, run a 1-week technical bake-off, negotiate in week 6, sign in week 8.
Part 7: When to switch
If the headline rate saving is under 25bps, the implementation cost usually outweighs the recurring saving within 24 months. Above 50bps and $5M/yr GMV, payback under 12 months is typical.