We grade payment processors on pricing transparency, features, support and contract terms — then publish the reasoning behind every grade.
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independent
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The report card
real directory dataStripe
Payfac / Aggregator
PayKings
Agent Office / Reseller
Square
POS & Business Software
The evidence
Rates, fees, payout times and contract terms come from published documentation and public filings — never from a sales call. Each review carries the date it was last fact-checked.
Where a provider doesn't disclose a number, the review says so. We don't estimate, and we don't fill gaps with marketing copy.
The fact sheet
real directory dataHelcim
Fact-checked September 7, 2026
Every value above is published by the provider. A processor that doesn't publish a number gets “Not disclosed” in that cell — never an estimate.
The grade
Pricing transparency, feature set, ease of use, customer support, contract terms and industry reputation — every review scores all six, and the grade is what the scores say it is.
No pay-to-play, no sponsored placements. A provider can't buy a better grade; they can only earn one, and the reasoning is published either way.
The scorecard
real directory dataHelcim
Mean category score 4.5/5
The six weighted scores produce the letter grade — the same rubric for every review in the directory.
Head to head
Same criteria, same evidence, side by side — with a winner called per row and overall, and the reasoning for each call.
Where the honest answer is “it depends on your business”, the comparison says that instead of forcing a verdict. And it's not just the featured matchups — any two of the reviewed processors can be compared.
Head to head
real directory data| Zenoti | Boulevard | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan, one location | Not disclosed | $159 a month (Essentials, up to 5 providers) |
| Multi-location plans | Not disclosed | $325 or $455 a month per location (Premier, Prestige) |
Full transparency
Lawsuits, regulatory actions, undisclosed pricing, contract traps — when the evidence turns up a problem, it goes in the review with the same prominence as the praise.
A grade you can trust has to be allowed to be bad. Every item in this feed links to the review that documents it.
Watch out
from published reviewsCFPB consent order: In the Matter of Wise US Inc.
Wise Business · January 30, 2025
Multistate consent order: Wise US Inc. (CA, MA, MN, NE, NY, TX)
Wise Business · July 9, 2025
Daugherty v. Wise Group plc, No. 26-cv-06582 (S.D.N.Y.)
Wise Business · July 31, 2026
Blankers et al. v. Pushpay USA Inc., No. 2:21-cv-01549 (W.D. Wash.)
Pushpay · 2022-10-21
Doesn't publish its pricing
Zenoti
Doesn't publish its pricing
2C2P
Documented in the linked reviews — legal actions are listed with case title, date and status.
Top rated
Ranked by grade, then by average category score. Equal grades share a position. An acquirer and an agent office are not the same purchase — pick a category to rank like against like.
Stripe is a leading payment processor known for its developer-friendly API, transparent pricing, and comprehensive suite of payment solutions for businesses of all sizes.
PayKings is a specialized payment processor offering tailored solutions for high-risk industries with a strong emphasis on fraud prevention.
Square offers simple, transparent payment processing ideal for small businesses. Flat-rate pricing, no monthly fees, and excellent software make it a top choice — but account holds and limited support are key concerns.
Helcim is a Calgary-based payment processing company that offers genuinely transparent interchange-plus pricing with no monthly fees, no hidden charges, and a comprehensive suite of free payment tools.
Adyen is a global, enterprise-grade payments platform that unifies acquiring, processing, routing and risk management into a single stack for merchants with international and omnichannel needs.
Shopify Payments is Shopify’s own branded payments service — processed by Stripe, per Shopify’s published processor list — giving merchants one-click access to accepting cards and wallets inside Shopify, simplifying setup and eliminating third-party gateway fees for supported merchants.
The directory
Zenoti is cloud software for salons, spas, medspas, barbershops and gyms, covering booking, point of sale, memberships, marketing, payroll and a growing set of AI agents. It was founded in 2010 in Hyderabad, India, as ManageMySpa and is now based in Bellevue, Washington. Card payments run through Zenoti Payments, which Zenoti integrates on top of Adyen or Stripe. In the US and Canada, Zenoti's help centre lists Zenoti Payments as the only supported payment gateway. As of October 2026, Zenoti publishes no software prices and no processing rates: both are quoted, and the processing rate is agreed when you register. US payouts arrive one or two business days after the sale, and the faster schedule adds 0.03% to your rate. The contract term is whatever your order form says, and it then renews for a year at a time unless either side gives 60 days' notice. Zenoti can raise fees by up to 20% at renewal, or at any time on 60 days' notice. Software reviewers rate it well, at 4.4 from 1,291 reviews on Capterra and 4.4 on Trustpilot. However, the BBB gives it an F and lists nine complaints in three years, several about sales promises, onboarding and refunds.
Tyl by NatWest is the card-acceptance service of National Westminster Bank plc, sold to UK small businesses since 2019. 'Tyl by NatWest' is a trading name of the bank itself, so NatWest is the acquirer and holds the merchant agreement. As of October 2026, businesses taking up to £50,000 a year in card payments pay 1.39% + 5p on UK and European personal cards and 1.99% + 5p on every other card, including business and international cards. Businesses above £50,000 get a custom quote built on five rate bands. Card machines rent for £13.99 to £19.99 a month plus VAT on a 12-month contract. Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android has no rental fee, and the online payments package costs £14.95 a month plus VAT on a one-month rolling plan. Money is settled the next business day into any UK bank account, and you do not need to bank with NatWest. The weak points are what Tyl does not publish: Amex rates, the chargeback handling fee, the PCI SafePay fee and the early termination fee all sit in quotes or in terms that are visible only after you sign up. Trustpilot reviewers rate Tyl highly overall, but a steady minority complain about support, held funds and contracts that renewed automatically.
2C2P is a Southeast Asian payments company, founded in Bangkok in 2003 by Aung Kyaw Moe and now headquartered in Singapore. Since April 2022 it has been majority-owned by Ant International (then Ant Group's international business), and since October 2025 it has traded as "2C2P by Antom". It still signs and onboards merchants under its own name. Merchants contract with a local 2C2P company in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines or Hong Kong. In Indonesia the published agreement is with PT Dompet Elektronik Indonesia, and in Vietnam the licensed provider is partner M-Pay. 2C2P collects payments on their behalf through its partner acquiring banks and payment channels, deducts its fee and remits the rest. As of October 2026 it says it supports more than 400 payment methods, including cards, wallets, QR, bank transfers, instalments and cash at over 600,000 over-the-counter points, along with payouts, card and wallet issuing, and an airline payment orchestration product. It holds a Major Payment Institution licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and its Thai companies hold Bank of Thailand payment licences. Pricing is quoted per account, and settlement timing is set in each merchant's signed proposal. Its published Merchant Service Agreement runs for a year, renews automatically, needs 90 days' written notice to end, and lets 2C2P withhold funds for up to 180 days after the last transaction. It suits mid-size and large businesses selling across several Southeast Asian markets. Small single-country sellers will find onboarding heavier than self-serve alternatives.
Lloyds Bank Cardnet is the card-acquiring business of Lloyds Bank plc, run as a joint venture with Fiserv, and it serves UK businesses only. It is not available to US merchants, and every figure in this review is in pounds sterling (GBP). The merchant agreement is with Lloyds Bank plc trading as Cardnet. Cardnet Merchant Services Limited, the joint-venture company, is controlled by Lloyds, and its 2025 accounts say Fiserv's FDR Limited, LLC holds about 49% of its shares. The UK Payment Systems Regulator counts Cardnet among the five largest UK acquirers. The joint-venture company's 2025 accounts report about £57.5 billion of card payments across more than a billion transactions. Cardnet publishes no rate card. Each account is priced individually, and the pricing page gives only worked examples, such as 0.5% plus a 3p authorisation fee on a £100 in-person Visa debit payment. Card machines rent for £21 or £23 a month plus VAT, there is a £10 minimum monthly charge, and other fees, such as PCI DSS management, are set in each merchant's own schedule. Both versions of the merchant agreement that Lloyds publishes roll on with one month's notice, but leaving within six months triggers an early-termination fee, which the December 2021 version sets at £200. Lloyds also sells Lloyds Accept, a separate pay-as-you-go app for its own business-account customers with card turnover under £100,000, at a published 1.5% + 20p.
Usio, Inc. (Nasdaq: USIO) is a San Antonio, Texas payments company that started in July 1998 as Billserv.com. It became Payment Data Systems in 2003 and Usio in 2019. Its main pitch is to software companies: through its PayFac-in-a-Box or Payfac-as-a-Service program, a software platform can sign up its own customers as sub-merchants and share in the processing revenue, without registering as a payment facilitator itself. Around that sit ACH processing (Usio is a Nacha Certified Third-Party Sender), card processing, PINless debit, remotely created checks, prepaid card issuing, and a bill print, mail and e-billing business. In 2025 Usio processed $8.4 billion across all payment types and reported revenue of $85.4 million and a net loss of $2.5 million. Usio does not publish its processing rates. Pricing is quoted per account, and its terminals are the only prices on its website. Its 2025 annual report says most of its merchant customers sign long-term contracts, generally for three years. There is very little public feedback from merchants: the BBB has no complaints and no rating, Trustpilot has no reviews, and G2 shows 24 reviews, all five-star.
Boulevard is booking, point-of-sale and client-management software for appointment-based salons, spas, barbershops and medspas, built by Boulevard Labs, Inc. in Los Angeles. Card payments run through its own Boulevard Payments, which uses Adyen for Platforms underneath and is sold only to Boulevard software customers. As of October 2026, Boulevard's pricing page lists plans from $143 to $416 a month per location, depending on tier, billing period and whether you run a salon or a medspa. It says card processing starts at 2.65%, and the exact rate is set in your order. With its Offset surcharge program, the business's share falls to about 1%, because clients pay a 3% credit-card fee. Deposits arrive in about two business days, and Instant Payouts cost 1.75%. The catch is the contract. Boulevard's Main Services Agreement defaults to a 12-month term that renews automatically. If you leave mid-term, you owe the rest of the term, and fees are non-refundable. Software reviewers rate it highly, at 4.6 from 390 reviews on Capterra. However, its small Trustpilot profile is mostly one-star reviews about technical and checkout problems, support and the one-year commitment.
Zoho Payments is the payment processing service built into Zoho's finance apps, including Zoho Books, Zoho Invoice, Zoho Billing, Zoho Inventory, Zoho Commerce and Zoho Checkout. Zoho announced its US launch on 14 May 2025, although archived Zoho pages show it already open to US-registered businesses by July 2023; it launched in India in August 2024. This review covers the US product. It takes cards and ACH bank debits online, through invoices, payment links, hosted payment pages, online store checkout and an embeddable widget. It does not offer US in-person payments. As of October 2026, US pricing is 2.9% + 30¢ for domestic cards, American Express included. International cards cost an extra 1.5%, and ACH costs 0.8% capped at $5. There is no setup or monthly fee and no contract. A $15 fee applies to every dispute, whatever the outcome. Zoho onboards and underwrites each business, but card processing and settlement run through Stripe and Adyen, and each merchant also accepts their platform terms. Card payments settle two business days after the sale and ACH payments four, then pay out on the schedule you choose. The product has almost no reviews of its own yet. Zoho's company-wide BBB file carries a complaint-pattern alert about support and billing, though that file covers all of Zoho's apps, not just payments.
Omise is an online payment company founded in Bangkok in 2013 that takes card, QR, bank and e-wallet payments for merchants in Thailand, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. Its parent rebranded as Opn in May 2022 and switched back to the Omise brand in March 2025; the holding company is still OPN Holdings Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, and opn.ooo now redirects to omise.co. Each country has its own published, pay-per-transaction price list with no setup or monthly fee. As of October 2026, cards cost 3.65% plus 7% VAT in Thailand, 3.30% + SGD 0.30 in Singapore and 2.50% (domestic) or 3.80% (international) in Malaysia. In Japan, card rates start at 2.95% and rise to 4.55% if you want your money sooner. Local methods are often cheaper: PromptPay is 1.65% in Thailand, PayNow 1.00% + SGD 0.15 in Singapore and DuitNow QR 1.50% in Malaysia. Omise signs the merchant agreement itself, collects the money on your behalf, keeps it on hold for a set period (7 days in Thailand, 1 in Singapore, 3 in Malaysia, 21 by default in Japan) and then lets you withdraw it for a small transfer fee. It is licensed by the Bank of Thailand and holds a Major Payment Institution licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Public merchant reviews are scarce, so its reputation rests mostly on its licences, its long history and its backers rather than on user ratings.
Clio Payments is the payment processing built into Clio Manage, the legal practice-management software from Clio (Themis Solutions Inc.), which was founded in Vancouver in 2008. Clio first sold a payments add-on powered by LawPay from 2015, then launched its own native Clio Payments in the US in October 2021 and in Canada in November 2022. Card processing is provided by Stripe: each firm accepts Stripe's Connected Account Agreement, and Clio handles enrolment, fees and support. There is no separate monthly fee, but you need a Clio Manage subscription, which starts at $49 per user per month. As of October 2026 Clio's own pages list a flat 2.95% for standard credit and debit cards with no per-transaction fee, and 1% for US eCheck and direct ACH payments. American Express is 3.75% on Clio's current comparison page, or 3.5% for firms switching from the LawPay integration. Clio does not publish Canadian rates on its Canadian site. The trust-account handling is the main reason to use it: trust payments are deposited in full, and processing fees, chargebacks and the $15 (US) or $20 CAD dispute fee always come out of the operating account. Card funds take one to two business days in the US and three in Canada, and eChecks five to seven. Clio itself is well rated on Capterra, but its BBB file is rated F for unanswered complaints, mostly about subscription billing. Clio ended its LawPay integration on 31 August 2026, which leaves Clio Payments as Clio's own way to take payments inside Clio Manage.
Compare processors on published facts — rates, fees, contract terms and support — with a grade that explains itself.
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Expert insights and industry analysis.
Dynamic currency conversion lets a foreign card pay in its home currency at a rate your provider sets. The tourist pays the markup and you usually get an unpublished share, under Visa and Mastercard rules everywhere and EU and UK law in Europe. What it earns, what it costs and the disputes it invites.
Federal wage rules let an employer pass the card fee on a tip to the employee who earned it, but only the actual fee and never by holding the tip back. California, Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Minnesota and New Jersey forbid it. The rules as of October 2026, and the fee on a $20 tip at six processors.
Marketplaces take 15% to 30% of a delivery order, with card processing included at DoorDash and Uber Eats. A POS ordering page charges only the online card rate, but delivery through it still needs a courier at about $7 a trip. We priced a $40 order through both.
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