Summary: Credit card processing fees have three layers: interchange (set by the card networks, 0.05 to 2.40 percent), network assessments (0.13 to 0.15 percent), and the processor's markup, the only negotiable piece. A healthy effective rate in 2026 is 1.8 to 2.4 percent for card-present businesses and 2.1 to 2.9 percent for online businesses. Flat-rate providers like Square (2.6% + 15c in person, 3.3% + 30c online) win under about $10,000 a month; interchange-plus wins above it.
Your processor's headline rate is not your cost. Enter your monthly card volume, transaction count, and how much is card-present versus online, and this calculator prices your business across four real pricing models, Square, Stripe, interchange-plus, and subscription, so you can see the effective rate you would actually pay.
Cheapest option for your volume
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| Pricing model | Monthly fee | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| Square (flat rate) | $0 | 0% |
| Stripe | $0 | 0% |
| Interchange-plus (typical) | $0 | 0% |
| Subscription ($99/mo) | $0 | 0% |
Illustrative comparison using published 2026 rates and typical interchange. Your card mix (rewards vs debit) moves the real numbers.
Every time a customer pays by card, three parties take a cut. Interchange goes to the bank that issued the customer's card and ranges from 0.05 percent for regulated debit to 2.40 percent for premium rewards credit cards; it is set by Visa and Mastercard and is completely non-negotiable. Network assessments, 0.13 to 0.15 percent, go to the card networks themselves and are equally fixed. The processor's markup is the only layer you can negotiate, and on interchange-plus pricing it is quoted openly, typically 0.10 to 0.75 percent plus 5 to 15 cents per transaction.
Flat-rate pricing bundles all three layers into one number, 2.6 percent plus 15 cents in person at Square, 2.9 percent plus 30 cents online at Stripe. The bundle is simple and it hides the processor's margin inside the average. That is fine at low volume, where simplicity beats optimization, and expensive at high volume, where you are subsidizing the processor's averaging on every cheap debit transaction.
Ignore headline rates and compute one number: total processing fees divided by total card volume. That is your effective rate, and it is the only figure that lets you compare processors honestly. For a well-optimized standard merchant account in 2026, a healthy effective rate falls between 1.8 and 2.4 percent for card-present businesses and 2.1 to 2.9 percent for online-first businesses. If yours is above those bands and you are not in a high-risk category, your pricing model is almost certainly the problem.
Two factors swing the effective rate more than the processor choice: card mix and ticket size. A business whose customers pay with premium rewards cards will run 0.5 to 1.0 points higher than an identical business paid mostly in debit, on any processor. And per-transaction fixed fees punish small tickets: at 1,000 transactions a month, the difference between 15 cents and 8 cents a sale is $70 a month before percentages enter the picture.
Under about $10,000 a month, flat-rate wins on simplicity and often on price: no monthly fee, no statement to decode, and the premium over interchange-plus is small in dollars. From $10,000 to $20,000 a month, interchange-plus typically pulls ahead by 0.3 to 0.8 points, and the transparency lets you verify you are not being overcharged. Above $20,000 a month, subscription pricing with zero percentage markup and a flat monthly fee (around $99) usually wins, because the fixed fee spreads thinner as volume grows.
The breakpoints move with your ticket size. Large, infrequent payments favor subscriptions dramatically: a consultant running fifty $1,000 invoices a month saves roughly $500 a month on subscription versus flat-rate. Small tickets favor low per-transaction fees over low percentages. Run your own numbers in the calculator above rather than trusting a rule of thumb.
Most US small businesses run an effective rate of about 2.2 to 3.3 percent once interchange, assessments, and markup are combined. Flat-rate providers charge around 2.6 percent in person and 2.9 percent online; interchange-plus merchants processing over $10,000 a month often land at 1.7 to 2.2 percent.
Interchange-plus splits your bill into the actual interchange cost (passed through at cost) plus a fixed processor markup, typically 0.10 to 0.75 percent plus 5 to 15 cents per transaction. It is the most transparent model and usually the cheapest above $10,000 in monthly volume.
For in-person sales Square's 2.6 percent plus 15 cents usually beats Stripe's online-oriented pricing; for online sales Stripe's 2.9 percent plus 30 cents and Square's 3.3 percent plus 30 cents are close. The calculator above prices both on your exact volume and mix.
You can negotiate the processor's markup and remove junk fees (statement, PCI, gateway add-ons), especially with volume. You cannot negotiate interchange or network assessments; anyone promising to lower those is misleading you.
Between 1.8 and 2.4 percent for card-present businesses and 2.1 to 2.9 percent for online-first businesses, on a well-optimized standard merchant account. Above that, your pricing model is likely the problem.
Figures: 2026. Sources: published 2026 processor rate schedules (Square, Stripe), Visa and Mastercard 2026 interchange schedules, the Federal Reserve (Durbin Amendment debit caps), and the Merchants Payments Coalition. This page is for planning only and is not financial, tax, or legal advice. Verify with the cited source or a qualified professional.