implementation cost
Implementation Cost: The Total Switch Cost
Internal engineering, vendor onboarding, certification work, and the parallel-run cost that nobody budgets for.
$15K-$80K
SMB implementation
$80K-$300K
Mid-market
$300K-$1.5M+
Enterprise
6-12 months
Enterprise parallel run
Headline answer
For SMB, expect $15K-$80K in internal engineering plus 2-4 engineering weeks. For mid-market, $80K-$300K covers Elements / custom checkout + SCA + reconciliation. For enterprise (Adyen, Worldpay, Checkout.com), $300K-$1.5M+ covers acquirer certification, scheme-fee normalisation, parallel-run period of 6-12 months, and the cross-functional change management.
Total cost components
SMB ($1M GMV)
Internal eng (3 weeks x $5K)
$15,000
Vendor onboarding (free)
$0
PCI SAQ-A scan
$300
Parallel run 4 weeks
$2,500
Total
~$17,800
Mid-market ($25M GMV)
Internal eng (10 weeks x $8K)
$80,000
Vendor onboarding fees
$10,000
PCI SAQ-D + QSA helper
$25,000
Parallel run 12 weeks
$45,000
Total
~$160,000
Enterprise ($500M GMV)
Internal eng (40 weeks x $15K)
$600,000
Vendor onboarding + certifications
$120,000
PCI Level 1 RoC project
$180,000
Parallel run 9 months
$540,000
Total
~$1.44M
(illustrative examples, not real companies)
Hidden line items
- Parallel-run cost: running both old and new gateways at the same time for 4-52 weeks. Every transaction pays both fee schedules in this window.
- Customer-saved card re-tokenisation. Some vendors (Stripe to Braintree) offer assisted migration; others (Square to Stripe) require customers to re-enter card details, which kills conversion temporarily.
- Webhook handler rewriting. Vendor-specific webhook payloads mean handler code rarely transfers cleanly.
- Reconciliation tooling. Your finance team's reconciliation reports break the moment the new vendor's report format differs.
- Support and training. Customer support team needs 2-4 weeks to learn the new dispute and refund tooling.
When the cost is not worth the savings
- If the headline rate saving is less than 25 basis points, the implementation cost usually outweighs the recurring saving within 24 months.
- If the rate saving is 50+ bps and your volume is above $5M/yr, payback under 12 months is typical.
- Migrations driven by capability gaps (multi-currency, local methods, marketplace splits) usually pay back on functionality value, not raw fee saving.
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verified Last verified June 2026