The short version
2026 editionKey takeaways
Each takeaway links to its canonical data row. Reported figures belong to their cited producer; modeled results are labeled as calculations.
- Stripe Payments · online card: modeled processing fee on a USD 1000 payment: $29.30 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- Stripe Payments · online card: modeled processing fee on a USD 5000 payment: $145.30 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- Stripe Payments · ACH Direct Debit: modeled processing fee on a USD 1000 payment: $5.00 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- Stripe Payments · ACH Direct Debit: modeled processing fee on a USD 5000 payment: $5.00 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- Square Free · invoice card: modeled processing fee on a USD 1000 payment: $33.30 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- Square Free · invoice card: modeled processing fee on a USD 5000 payment: $165.30 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- Square Free · invoice ACH: modeled processing fee on a USD 1000 payment: $10.00 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- Square Free · invoice ACH: modeled processing fee on a USD 5000 payment: $50.00 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- PayPal Invoicing · standard card: modeled processing fee on a USD 1000 payment: $30.39 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- PayPal Invoicing · standard card: modeled processing fee on a USD 5000 payment: $149.99 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- PayPal Invoicing · Pay by Bank: modeled processing fee on a USD 1000 payment: $10.00 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
- PayPal Invoicing · Pay by Bank: modeled processing fee on a USD 5000 payment: $10.00 (Public pricing checked September 12, 2026).Workspace369 calculation
What are the published card and ACH processing rates?
The selected providers publish percentage fees with different fixed charges, minimums and caps. Square Free invoice ACH has a minimum and no cap listed; its paid-plan and API caps must not be substituted.
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| Provider and method | Percentage fee | Fixed fee (USD) | Minimum (USD) | Cap (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe Payments · online card | 2.9% | $0.30 | None listed | No cap listed |
| Stripe Payments · ACH Direct Debit | 0.8% | None listed | None listed | $5.00 |
| Square Free · invoice card | 3.3% | $0.30 | None listed | No cap listed |
| Square Free · invoice ACH | 1% | None listed | $1.00 | No cap listed |
| PayPal Invoicing · standard card | 2.99% | $0.49 | None listed | No cap listed |
| PayPal Invoicing · Pay by Bank | 1% | None listed | None listed | $10.00 |
Processing only. Stripe Payments is not the full Stripe Invoicing product: invoicing and bank-verification add-ons may cost extra. PayPal figures use Invoicing rates, not PayPal Checkout, Venmo or Pay Later. Square figures use the Free plan, not Plus, Premium or API rates.
Primary sources: Stripe — checked September 12, 2026 · Square — checked September 12, 2026 · PayPal — checked September 12, 2026
How much does processing cost at different payment amounts?
ACH processing costs less than the paired card method at every payment size modeled here, before add-ons and operational differences. Each asterisk is a Workspace369 calculation, not a reported industry average.
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| Payment amount | Stripe Payments · online card | Stripe Payments · ACH Direct Debit | Square Free · invoice card | Square Free · invoice ACH | PayPal Invoicing · standard card | PayPal Invoicing · Pay by Bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD 50 | $1.75 | $0.40 | $1.95 | $1.00 | $1.99 | $0.50 |
| USD 100 | $3.20 | $0.80 | $3.60 | $1.00 | $3.48 | $1.00 |
| USD 250 | $7.55 | $2.00 | $8.55 | $2.50 | $7.97 | $2.50 |
| USD 500 | $14.80 | $4.00 | $16.80 | $5.00 | $15.44 | $5.00 |
| USD 1,000 | $29.30 | $5.00 | $33.30 | $10.00 | $30.39 | $10.00 |
| USD 2,500 | $72.80 | $5.00 | $82.80 | $25.00 | $75.24 | $10.00 |
| USD 5,000 | $145.30 | $5.00 | $165.30 | $50.00 | $149.99 | $10.00 |
| USD 10,000 | $290.30 | $5.00 | $330.30 | $100.00 | $299.49 | $10.00 |
All fees are USD per successful payment, rounded to cents. Provider-specific settlement, bank verification, returns, disputes and refund costs are excluded.
Primary sources: Stripe — checked September 12, 2026 · Square — checked September 12, 2026 · PayPal — checked September 12, 2026
What percentage of the payment goes to processing fees?
Fixed card charges increase the effective rate on smaller payments, while capped ACH fees reduce the effective rate as payment size grows.
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| Payment amount | Stripe Payments · online card | Stripe Payments · ACH Direct Debit | Square Free · invoice card | Square Free · invoice ACH | PayPal Invoicing · standard card | PayPal Invoicing · Pay by Bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD 50 | 3.5% | 0.8% | 3.9% | 2% | 3.98% | 1% |
| USD 100 | 3.2% | 0.8% | 3.6% | 1% | 3.48% | 1% |
| USD 250 | 3.02% | 0.8% | 3.42% | 1% | 3.19% | 1% |
| USD 500 | 2.96% | 0.8% | 3.36% | 1% | 3.09% | 1% |
| USD 1,000 | 2.93% | 0.5% | 3.33% | 1% | 3.04% | 1% |
| USD 2,500 | 2.91% | 0.2% | 3.31% | 1% | 3.01% | 0.4% |
| USD 5,000 | 2.91% | 0.1% | 3.31% | 1% | 3% | 0.2% |
| USD 10,000 | 2.9% | 0.05% | 3.3% | 1% | 2.99% | 0.1% |
Effective rate = rounded modeled processing fee ÷ payment amount × 100. This is not a survey of merchant effective rates or an all-in cost comparison.
Primary sources: Stripe — checked September 12, 2026 · Square — checked September 12, 2026 · PayPal — checked September 12, 2026
Does this comparison include every payment-related cost?
No. It isolates published standard processing charges; subscription and invoice-product charges, verification, disputes, returns, currency conversion, international cards, tax and custom contracts are outside the model.
Payment methods also differ in authorization, settlement timing and reversal risk. A lower processing fee alone does not establish the best payment method for a business.
Primary sources: Stripe — checked September 12, 2026 · Square — checked September 12, 2026 · PayPal — checked September 12, 2026
Workspace369 calculation · not observed data
What would processing cost for your payments?
Change the payment method, amount and monthly count. Your inputs stay in this browser; they are not submitted.
Effective processing rate: 2.93%
Modeled monthly processing total: $586.00
Processing only: excludes subscription, invoice-product, bank-verification, return, dispute, refund, tax and international charges. Amounts are rounded to cents; monthly totals multiply the rounded per-payment fee. The input range is not a provider transaction limit.
Check the exact plan, rate, minimum and cap →How this report was built
Methodology and limitations
- We read each provider’s original U.S. pricing page on September 12, 2026 and selected the exact product and plan named in the input table. Prices can change; check the source before purchasing or charging a client.
- Scenario fees apply the percentage rate plus any listed fixed fee, then the stated minimum or cap, and round to cents. Effective rates use the rounded fee. Monthly calculator totals multiply that per-payment fee by the user’s count of equally sized payments.
- Unlisted minima, fixed charges or caps are not invented. The model treats a missing fixed charge as zero and applies no unlisted cap or minimum; the table labels these as not listed rather than source-reported zeros.
- This is an original, reproducible Workspace369 comparison based on provider inputs, not a payment-industry survey. The number of modeled examples is not a sample size.
What these numbers cannot tell you
- Published list prices may differ from an account’s actual contract, eligibility or available methods. No provider recommendation or expected business saving is claimed.
- Stripe Invoicing fees and optional instant bank verification are not part of the Stripe Payments processing figures. Square paid plans and API prices are excluded. PayPal Checkout and Pay Later are excluded.
- The calculator accepts payments from USD 1 to USD 1,000,000 for arithmetic illustration, not as a statement of processor transaction limits. All payments are assumed successful, domestic and in USD.
Freshness and corrections
Maintained by the Workspace369 editorial team. Review monthly and whenever a provider announces a pricing change. Recalculate examples after updating verified inputs. The edition date changes only when the evidence or content is substantively reviewed; it does not change the underlying observation period.
First edition: . Data extraction, source attribution and arithmetic checked for this edition. No independent peer review is claimed.
Found an error or a newer primary release? Send a correction with the source and affected statistic. Confirmed corrections should be recorded in the revision history before republishing.
Primary sources and provenance
Every reported numeric cell links directly to its producer. The downloads include exact table or workbook locators, observation periods, access dates, formulas and input references.
- StripeStandard Payments pricing: domestic online cards and ACH Direct Debit ↗Publication date not recorded; see the original source. Accessed September 12, 2026.Public vendor price facts; trademarks and original page content belong to the provider. No affiliation or endorsement.
- SquareSquare Free: online cards and ACH bank transfers via invoice ↗Publication date not recorded; see the original source. Accessed September 12, 2026.Public vendor price facts; trademarks and original page content belong to the provider. No affiliation or endorsement.
- PayPalU.S. merchant fees: Invoicing Transaction Rates and USD fixed fee ↗Publication date not recorded; see the original source. Accessed September 12, 2026.Public vendor price facts; trademarks and original page content belong to the provider. No affiliation or endorsement.
Made to be checked, then cited
How to cite this report
For a source-reported statistic, credit the original publisher and link to the exact row here when using our compilation. For a modeled result, cite Workspace369 and include the assumptions. Linking to this page does not make us the original producer of third-party data.
Workspace369. (2026-09-12). Payment Processing Cost Benchmarks 2026: Cards vs ACH. https://workspace369.com/research/payment-processing-cost-benchmarks/. Primary sources and observation periods as listed in the report.
The downloads are English-language reference datasets, including on translated pages. Source rights remain with their producers. Attribute Workspace369’s compilation and calculations; consult each source’s reuse terms.