Zen Payments is known for quick setup of merchant accounts and accepting businesses that mainstream providers turn away. Businesses should familiarize themselves with the terms of their contract to avoid disruptions.
PayKings holds the higher standing — by grade, then mean category score. The row-by-row picture below is what should actually decide it for your business.
Both graded against the same six criteria. How we grade · Last fact-checked September 7, 2026.
The six criteria
PayKings and Zen Payments scored out of 5 on each of the six review criteria.
Criterion
PayKings
Zen Payments
Pricing transparency
4.5✓wins this criterion
2.5
Feature set
4.5
4.5
Ease of use
4.0
4.5
Published facts
Straight from each provider's published documentation. Where a number isn't published, we say so rather than estimate.
Published rates, fees and terms for PayKings and Zen Payments.
Metric
PayKings
Zen Payments
Online rate
IC + 1.10% + 25c, or IC + 0.80% + 10c above $100K/mo.
From 2.9% + $0.10, quoted rather than published.
Monthly fee
$13 (waived on Growth).
$29.
Payout
T+2, or next-day above $100K/mo.
About 1 business day.
Contract
No long-term contracts.
Not disclosed
In-person rate
The same published markups apply in person — there is no card-present discount on the Starter tier.
From 2.9% + $0.20, quoted rather than published.
Keyed rate
Same published markups; PayKings does not price by entry mode.
Not disclosed
How our reviewers frame this matchup
From the Zen Payments review
PayKings publishes interchange-plus pricing across three tiers and unlocks account-management perks at $100K per month, which suits mid- to high-volume merchants in restricted verticals. Zen Payments holds up for high-risk businesses that value same-day approval decisions, 15+ bank relationships for placing difficult files, and its 4.8-4.9 star customer ratings.
Pick PayKings if you process higher volume and want published interchange-plus pricing with a dedicated rep
Who each one is for
PayKings
Ideal for
Mid-volume merchants ($100K+/mo) who want IC + markup with a dedicated rep
Merchants graduating from Stripe / Square who need real account management
Businesses that want published interchange-plus pricing as a negotiation anchor before talking to specialty acquirers
Not recommended for
Low-volume merchants under $25K/mo — flat-rate competitors (Square, Stripe) will likely cost less than IC + 1.10%
High card-present-volume retailers — Helcim's ~0.20% CP markup is meaningfully cheaper than PayKings's flat 1.10% Starter markup on the same swipe
Brand-new businesses in unrestricted verticals — flat-rate predictability is easier to forecast in early months
Merchants who refuse to share processing statements during underwriting
Zen Payments
Ideal for
High Risk Businesses
Not recommended for
Strengths and trade-offs
PayKings
✓Publishes interchange-plus pricing across three tiers on its own site — IC + 1.10% + 25c on Starter, IC + 0.80% + 10c above $100K a month — which almost no high-risk specialist does.
✓Publishes settlement speed per tier too: T+2 on Starter, next-day on Growth, same-day where available on Enterprise.
✓Advertises no setup fees and no long-term contracts, and Merchant Maverick's July 2026 review records the same.
✓Approves restricted verticals mainstream processors decline — CBD, nutraceuticals, firearms, debt relief and around fifty others.
✕PayKings is an agent office, not a registered ISO, and its site does not say so. The merchant agreement, the reserve, the funding timetable and any termination fee come from whichever ISO your file is placed with, not from PayKings.
✕Because of that, the published rate card is PayKings' offer rather than a guaranteed contract term — the final paper is the back end's.
✕No card-present discount on the Starter tier: the same 1.10% markup applies to a swipe as to a keyed card-not-present sale, which is expensive for a retailer.
Still deciding?
The full reviews carry the pricing narratives, contract analysis and everything else behind these numbers — or let the matching funnel score the whole directory against your business.
Not supported. PayKings places US merchant accounts only.
Not disclosed
PCI fee
$4.50/month.
$5.95/month.
Statement fee
Not disclosed
$0.
Chargeback fee
$25 per incident.
$45 each.
Last fact-checked
September 7, 2026
September 7, 2026
Low Risk Businesses
✕Rolling reserves are normal on higher-risk files, and neither the percentage nor the release schedule is published.
Zen Payments
✓Approves high-risk industries most processors turn away, across roughly 25 restricted verticals.
✓Same-day funding at no extra cost for merchants with qualifying volume, against next-day or two-day settlement elsewhere; standard settlement is about one business day.
✓Fifteen-plus bank and processor relationships mean a declined file can be re-placed rather than dead.
✓Same-day approval decisions with manual underwriting, which is what a merchant who has just been dropped actually needs.
✕Zen publishes no pricing. There is no rate card on its site, none in its 232-page sitemap and none the Wayback Machine has ever archived — the figures in this review are starting rates it quotes, not published ones.
✕Its BBB customer reviews average 2.15 out of 5 across 13, against 4.9 on Trustpilot — and the BBB complaints are specifically about cost, describing junk fees at twice the national average and unusually high monthly charges.
✕19 BBB complaints in three years, 6 of them closed in the last twelve months, for a company of 11 to 50 people.
✕No published contract length, notice period or termination fee, and Zen's own site acknowledges that ending a merchant account may mean paying one.