Credit Card Processing Fees in 2026: The Average Rate and 7 Providers Compared

The median flat in-person rate across five processors is 2.6% + 10c, which costs $2.70 on a $100 sale, the basis for every dollar figure on this page unless a line says otherwise. Online, the median of five is 2.9% + 30c, or $3.20 on the same sale. Both figures are as of October 27, 2026, from the pricing and fee pages we read that day. In-person costs run from $2.38 to $2.75 across the five.

FinanceRadar data: of the five processors that publish a flat in-person rate in the documents we read on October 27, 2026, the median in-person sale costs $2.70. Of the five that publish a flat online rate, the median costs $3.20. The in-person, online and keyed rates each processor and POS provider we track publishes, with the date each was read, are in the payment processing fee dataset, with a CSV download.

Table 1: card processing rates by provider, entry plan, read October 27, 2026 from each provider's own pricing or fee page.

Helcim is interchange-plus, so its figures are margins added to each card's interchange, and it stays out of the flat-rate medians. Authorize.net has no in-person rate, so it enters only the online median. Clover prints no online rate on its retail pricing pages, so it is missing from that median. We have no verified rate for Toast or Stax today, so neither appears in any figure on this page. Both sell card processing, and their current prices are on their own pages: Toast and Stax.

What is the average credit card processing fee?

There is no single average, because the cost depends on the channel and the provider. The simple average of the five flat in-person costs is $2.66 a sale, against the in-person median above. Online, the simple average of five is $3.33 and the median is $3.20. We report the median because one processor with an unusual rate moves an average more than it moves the middle value.

The in-person spread is $0.37 per sale across the five. Online the range is wider, from $3.15 to $3.60, because the fixed fees run from 25c to 49c. PayPal's online rate of 2.99% + 49c carries the highest fixed fee of the five, and it costs $3.48 a sale, second highest of the set. Square's Free plan has the highest online percentage at 3.3%, so its online sale costs $3.60, the most of the five.

Why do online and keyed payments cost more?

At every flat-rate provider that prints both an in-person and an online rate, the online cost is higher. Chase's online rate, 2.9% + 25c, sits above its in-person rate. The gap is wider for a card typed into a terminal. Chase and Clover Basic both charge 3.5% + 10c for keyed payments, or $3.60 on the same sale, which is $0.90 more than their tapped rate. On Clover Standard and Advanced, the keyed gap is $1.20.

Stripe's keyed rate is the highest of the five flat-rate keyed prices. Stripe adds 0.5% to its online rate for manually entered cards, which makes it 3.4% + 30c, or $3.70 a sale. PayPal's virtual terminal comes close at $3.68.

What makes up a processing fee?

A card fee has three parts. Interchange is set by the card networks and paid to the card issuer, and it changes with the card type. Card network fees come on top of interchange, and Helcim's fee disclosure says it passes them to the merchant directly. The processor's margin is what the provider keeps. A flat rate hides the first two inside one number, while interchange-plus shows the margin on its own line.

Visa's U.S. interchange schedule, effective October 24, 2026, sets the card-side rates. Its CPS/Retail debit row for regulated issuers is 0.05% + 21c, far below its credit rows, which is why the same sale can cost a merchant very different amounts depending on the card in hand.

Interchange-plus vs flat rate, in dollars

Take a $100 in-person sale on a debit card from a large issuer. Visa's CPS/Retail debit row for regulated issuers costs 0.05% + 21c, or $0.26, plus $0.01 for issuers certified on fraud prevention. Helcim adds its tier 1 margin of 0.40% + 8c, or $0.48. The total is $0.74, or $0.75 with the certification surcharge. At the flat in-person median, the same sale would cost about $1.96 more. Debit cards from smaller issuers fall under Visa's exempt row, 0.80% + 15c, which makes the same sale $1.43 at Helcim. These examples leave out card network fees, which come on top of interchange and, on Helcim's interchange-plus pricing, are passed through to the merchant.

Credit cards follow different rates. Visa's lowest Retail Credit rates, from 1.43% + 10c, are for merchants above its volume thresholds. A credit sale that misses the requirements of Visa's rate programs falls to its "Non-Qualified Consumer Credit" rate, 3.15% + 10c for every card type.

For an online or keyed sale on a regulated debit card, Visa's CPS/Card Not Present debit row costs 0.05% + 21c, or $0.26. Helcim's online and keyed margin of 0.50% + 25c adds $0.75, for $1.01 in total. This example uses debit only, because we did not read the card-not-present credit rows.

Fees outside the rate

• Monthly fees. Square charges $49 a month on Plus and $149 on Premium, per location. Authorize.net's all-in-one plan costs $25 a month. Clover's Standard system adds $84.95 a month. Stripe, Helcim and PayPal card processing carry no monthly fee on the pages we read, and Chase says monthly fees may apply to some products without giving an amount.
• Chargebacks. PayPal charges $20 per chargeback. Stripe charges $15 per dispute received and another $15 to contest it, refunded if you win. Helcim charges $15, refunded if you win. Authorize.net charges nothing on card chargebacks but $25 on an eCheck. We found no chargeback fee for Square or Chase on the pages we read.
• PCI fees. Helcim's pricing page lists its PCI fee as $0. The other providers' PCI terms were not on the pages we read, so no PCI fee is counted for them.
• Instant payouts. PayPal's instant transfer costs 1.50% with a $0.50 minimum. Clover's Rapid Deposit costs 1.75%. Helcim deposits next business morning at no charge.

How to pay less

At the providers in Table 1 that print both rates, card-present is the cheapest channel. On Chase, or Clover Basic, moving a sale from a typed-in card to a tapped card saves 0.9% of the sale amount, since the 10c fixed fee is the same on both rates. On Clover Standard or Advanced the saving is 1.2% of the sale. A merchant who takes many phone or invoice payments pays that gap on every one.

Plans buy a lower rate only at volume. Square Plus cuts the in-person rate from 2.6% + 15c to 2.5% + 15c, a saving of 0.1% of each in-person sale. At $49 a month per location, Plus breaks even after $49,000 of in-person sales a month. Clover's Standard system lowers the in-person rate to 2.3% + 10c, which saves 0.3% of each in-person sale against Basic. If Basic's Starter plan is free, the $84.95 monthly fee needs about $28,300 of in-person sales a month to pay for itself (less if Starter has a fee), before the Standard system's higher hardware price.

Interchange-plus cost depends on the card, and the margin is not fixed. Helcim's margin falls at each volume tier above tier 1, so a large merchant pays less margin than a small one. On credit cards, whether interchange-plus or a flat rate is cheaper depends on the card type and the merchant's Visa volume tier.

How we compared

We read the pricing, fee and disclosure pages of seven of the nine providers on October 27, 2026: Square, Stripe, PayPal, Clover, Chase, Authorize.net and Helcim. The flat in-person median uses the five flat-rate providers with an in-person rate. The online median uses five providers with a flat online rate, Authorize.net included. Each median uses the entry plan and the cost of one sale in each channel, and it is the middle value of those costs. "Not printed" means the provider's pages we read do not state the figure, which is not the same as free. Nothing was tested by hand and no merchant account was opened.

The main sources are the providers' own pages: Square's processing fees, Stripe's pricing, Clover's retail pricing, Chase's merchant fees, PayPal's business fees, last updated October 1, 2026, Authorize.net's pricing, Helcim's pricing and its fee disclosures, effective April 1, 2026, and Visa's U.S. interchange schedule.

FinanceRadar may earn a commission from some links; it never affects rankings (how we make money). This is general information, not personalized financial advice.

For the wider market, see the best credit card processing providers and the best POS systems. Consumer apps such as Venmo and Cash App charge differently, and payment app fees compared covers them. For the fees a bank charges on its own accounts, see hidden bank account fees in 2026. The small business section covers the rest of the business account picture.

FAQ

What is the average credit card processing fee in 2026?

There is no single average. Among the five flat-rate providers we read on October 27, 2026, the in-person median is 2.6% + 10c and the online median comes to $3.20 on a $100 sale.

Why do keyed card payments cost more than tapped ones?

Chase charges 3.5% + 10c for a keyed payment, or $3.60 on a $100 sale, which is $0.90 more than its tapped rate. Clover Basic has the same $0.90 gap. Clover Standard and Advanced, which tap at 2.3% + 10c, have a $1.20 gap.

Is interchange-plus cheaper than a flat rate?

For a debit card from a large issuer it is: interchange plus Helcim's margin comes to $0.74 a sale, well under the in-person median. On credit cards the answer depends on the card type and the merchant's Visa volume tier.

Does Stripe charge a monthly fee?

Stripe's pricing page, read October 27, 2026, prints no monthly or hidden fee. Its in-person Terminal rate is 2.7% + 5c for domestic cards, and its online rate is 2.9% + 30c for domestic cards, plus 0.5% when a card number is typed in.

How much does Square charge each month?

Square's Free plan costs $0 per location. Plus costs $49 a month per location and Premium costs $149 a month per location, read October 27, 2026. The monthly fee applies to each location you run.

Which providers are missing from the online median?

Clover prints no online rate on its retail pricing pages, so it is left out. Stax and Toast have no verified rate today, so they are left out of every figure on this page.

What does Helcim charge for a chargeback?

Helcim charges $15 per chargeback, refunded if you win the dispute. Its pricing page lists its PCI fee as $0 and no monthly software or statement fee.

Cite this: FinanceRadar, "Credit Card Processing Fees in 2026: The Average Rate and 7 Providers Compared", October 2026.