Side-by-side matchups
Payment Processor Comparisons
Find the best payment processor for your business by comparing popular options side by side. Our detailed comparisons cover pricing, features, customer support, and more.
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Tithe.ly vs Pushpay for church giving
BB-
Both sell digital giving and church software to US churches, but they sell it in very different ways. Tithe.ly (now styled Tithely) publishes its prices. As of October 2026, giving costs nothing a month and carries no contract. Card gifts cost 2.9% + $0.30, American Express 3.5% + $0.30 and ACH bank gifts 1% + $0.30. Church management, an app and a website are optional monthly add-ons, or $119 a month for everything in All Access. Pushpay is quote-based. Its pricing page shows no prices, but its own blog gives its card pricing as 2.1% to 2.9% + $0.20 to $0.30 and ACH as 0.5% to 1.0% + $0.20 to $0.30, depending on giving volume, so a large church may be quoted less per gift than Tithe.ly charges. It sells one-, two- and three-year contracts, defaulting to 36 months, that renew automatically for the same length unless you give 90 days' notice. Leaving early means paying the rest of the contract, and Pushpay must be your only payment processor while it runs. Pushpay is quicker to pay out: card gifts arrive in two business days and ACH gifts in about four on a fixed schedule. Tithe.ly's default is a weekly Wednesday deposit, and ACH gifts can take up to ten business days to clear. Pushpay also has the much better BBB record, an A+ against Tithe.ly's F. Payment Review grades Tithe.ly B and Pushpay B-.
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Razorpay vs PayU
B-B-
Razorpay and PayU India publish the same headline prices. Both charge 2% on domestic Visa and Mastercard cards, net banking and wallets, and 3% on Amex, Diners, EMI and international cards. GST at 18% is added to the fee on both, so the all-in cost is 2.36% and 3.54%. The differences are elsewhere. Razorpay publishes a 2% platform fee on UPI; PayU says its UPI pricing varies by business type and volume. Razorpay runs a 0% new-merchant offer and publishes its subscriptions add-on. PayU says it typically settles international payments in T+2 business days; Razorpay says typically T+7. The contracts differ too. PayU's agreement needs 30 days' written notice from either side, and after termination PayU can hold back funds for up to 210 business days. Razorpay can close an account at any time, and it can withhold a sum sized to your chargeback ratio for 120 days. Both hold RBI payment aggregator licences, and both are graded B- on Payment Review. This comparison covers PayU's Indian business (payu.in) only.
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Cantaloupe vs Nayax for vending and unattended payments
B-B-
Cantaloupe and Nayax are two of the largest suppliers of card readers and telemetry for vending machines, laundromats, car-wash vacuums, arcades and micro markets. Both now publish self-serve US prices, so an operator can compare them before talking to sales. Cantaloupe charges one rate, 5.95% of each card sale, plus $9.95 or $12.95 a month per reader bought outright (from $329), with a 12-month commitment on most reader kits. Readers can also be rented through Cantaloupe One from $18.95 a month on a 36-month commitment. Nayax's US shop sells the VPOS Touch reader for $399 (down to $289 each at 15 or more units) plus a one-time $20 activation fee and $9.99 a month. Its processing fee depends on the prices the machine sells at. As of October 2026 its calculator returns 5.95% when the cheapest item is under $5, but 2.5% + 10¢ when every item is $5 or more and 3% + 20¢ from $25. On a $2 snack the two cost the same. On an $8 car-wash vacuum cycle Nayax is cheaper (30¢ against 48¢). On machines whose prices top out at $1 with some items below it, Cantaloupe is cheaper. Cantaloupe publishes its contract terms, including the commitment periods and early-termination fees. Nayax's shop does not publish a contract length, and the shop takes no returns. Cantaloupe has been owned by 365 Retail Markets since 8 May 2026. Payment Review grades both B-.
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Wisetack vs Sunbit for service businesses
B+B
Both let a US service business offer customers monthly payments, and neither is the lender: Wisetack's loans come from Hatch Bank, U.S. Bank and Happen Bank, Sunbit's from TAB Bank. They differ in where they are built to be used. Wisetack publishes a flat 3.9% merchant fee for home services and auto repair, with optional 4.9%, 6.9% and 9.9% plans for longer 0% offers, and finances home-services jobs from $500 to $65,000 over up to 120 months from inside Housecall Pro, Jobber and other field-service software. Sunbit is built for the service counter at auto shops, dental, optical, veterinary and healthcare practices. It finances purchases from $60 to $20,000 over up to 72 months and says 90% of applicants are approved, against Wisetack's stated 74%. For direct merchants Sunbit publishes only a dental fee 'as low as' 1.9%, though Stripe lists Sunbit at 6% + 30¢ for merchants who take it through Stripe. Sunbit's rates page lists two interest-free structures: 'True 0% APR', on which no interest accrues, and 'Avoid Paying Interest', on which interest accrues from the purchase date and is not owed if the financed amount is repaid before the promotion ends; the footnote to its dental no-interest plans describes the second. Wisetack says its 0% offers carry no deferred interest. Payment Review grades Wisetack B+ and Sunbit B.
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Wise Business vs Revolut Business for UK businesses
B-B
Both are London-based multi-currency business accounts, and both price by country, so this comparison uses their UK pages and pounds throughout. Wise Business charges a one-time £50 setup fee and nothing monthly, and charges a conversion fee on every exchange (0.33% for GBP to EUR when checked on 1 October 2026) at the mid-market rate. Revolut Business charges a monthly plan (£10 Basic, £35 Grow, £125 Scale on monthly billing) that includes an allowance of exchange at the interbank rate (£1,000, £15,000 or £60,000 a month), then 0.6% above it and 1% outside market hours. Wise is cheaper for a business converting small or irregular amounts; on Grow, Revolut is cheaper for GBP to EUR conversion between roughly £10,500 and £20,000 a month. The bigger differences are elsewhere: Revolut takes card payments from 0.8% + £0.02 in person, while Wise's card acceptance is closed to new customers, and Revolut is moving business accounts in phases to Revolut Bank UK, where eligible deposits are FSCS-protected up to £120,000, while Wise is an e-money institution that safeguards funds instead. Payment Review grades Revolut Business B and Wise Business B-.
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Payoneer vs Wise Business for getting paid internationally
B-B-
Both give a business local bank details abroad so overseas clients can pay by an ordinary domestic transfer, and both let you hold several currencies and convert when you choose. This comparison is written for a US-based freelancer, agency or online seller, using Payoneer's published standard fee schedule (last updated 1 January 2026; Payoneer says the fees on any one account can vary by country and account type) and Wise's US business pricing as of 1 October 2026. Wise is cheaper on almost every fee a cross-border earner pays: euro and pound receipts into its local details are free where Payoneer charges a US account holder 1% for receiving a currency that is not local to it, its conversion fee is set per currency route on the mid-market rate (0.47% from EUR to USD, 0.29% from USD to EUR on 1 October), and its card has no annual fee. On a €1,000 invoice paid by a German client and withdrawn to a US bank, that works out to about $6.39 at Wise against about $18.29 at Payoneer, even assuming Payoneer converts at the mid-market rate. Payoneer's advantages are reach and access: Upwork, Fiverr, Amazon, eBay, Walmart and what it calls 100+ other platforms pay out to it, it has no setup fee, and a new customer can still send a payment request that a client pays by card, which Wise has closed to new business customers. Payoneer charges $29.95 a year if the account receives under $6,000 in any twelve months; Wise charges a one-time $31 to open account details. Payment Review grades both B-.
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Tabby vs Tamara for merchants
B-B-
Tabby and Tamara are the two big buy now, pay later providers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and many large retailers, including SHEIN, IKEA, Jarir and noon, offer both. They work the same way for a merchant: you are paid the order value less a fee, weekly, and the provider carries the shopper's credit and fraud risk. Neither publishes its merchant rate; both quote a percentage plus a fixed fee per order in your contract. The differences are in the terms. Tabby's published merchant terms are kinder when things go wrong: on a refund it keeps the fixed fee and 2% of its percentage fee and returns the rest, it charges no dispute fee, it gives 30 days' notice of fee changes, and you can leave on 30 days' notice. Tamara can keep all its fees on a refund, charges USD 5 or USD 10 for each dispute you lose, can raise fees on 10 days' notice, and needs 60 days' notice to leave. Tamara is ahead on reach and payout cost: it reports over 130,000 partner merchants to Tabby's 70,000, operates in Bahrain as well, offers plans of up to 24 months in Saudi Arabia, and its help centre sets no fee on payouts above SAR/AED 2,500, where Tabby charges SAR/AED 6. Both are graded B- on Payment Review, and the right choice depends on your market and how often your orders are refunded or disputed.
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Mollie vs Adyen for European businesses
B+A-
Both are Amsterdam payment companies, but they sell to different merchants. Mollie publishes a blended price per payment method, lets a business sign itself up and process its first payments before its account review, and charges nothing monthly on online payments: 1.80% + €0.25 for an EEA consumer Visa or Mastercard on its Dutch price list. Adyen prices cards at €0.11 plus interchange, scheme fees and 0.60%, with no setup or monthly fee but an unpublished minimum invoice that depends on industry or business model, and live accounts go through its sales team. On a €50 EU consumer credit card, Adyen's published formula comes to €0.56 plus scheme fees against Mollie's €1.15, so for a merchant Adyen takes on it is cheaper per card sale unless its pass-through scheme fees exceed €0.59 on that sale. Mollie is cheaper on American Express above about €13, on iDEAL and on SEPA Direct Debit, charges only for successful transactions, and has a far stronger Trustpilot record. Neither has a minimum term, and both terms set two months' notice to leave. Adyen pays out card sales faster, serves merchants in many countries outside Europe, and runs on its own banking licences. Payment Review grades Adyen A- and Mollie B+.
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Affirm vs Sezzle for merchants
B-B-
Affirm and Sezzle both let a shopper split a purchase, pay the merchant up front and carry the shopper's credit and fraud risk, but they are built for different baskets. Affirm is a financing network: Pay in 4 from $50, then monthly plans of up to 60 months at 0% to 36% APR on orders up to $25,000 by its help centre (up to 36 months and $30,000 through Stripe), with no late fees for shoppers. Sezzle is built around short plans on everyday orders: Pay in 4 from $20 and Pay in 2 from $10, with monthly plans for US merchants it approves. Sezzle publishes its direct rate (6.1% + 30¢ standard) and Affirm does not, although Stripe lists Affirm at 6% + 30¢. Affirm charges no monthly minimum, settles in one to three business days, reaches 27.8 million active consumers against Sezzle's 3.16 million, and switches on inside Stripe and Shopify Payments. Sezzle adds a $15 fee in any month under $300 of volume. It charges no dispute fee today, but from 30 October 2026 a new agreement adds a standard $5 fee on each dispute, plus $10 when the merchant loses. Payment Review grades both B-, and the better pick depends on what you sell.
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Razorpay vs Cashfree Payments
B-B-
Razorpay and Cashfree Payments are both Bengaluru payment gateways, and both were authorised by the Reserve Bank of India as online payment aggregators on the same day, 19 December 2023. Their standard pricing is close. Razorpay charges a 2% platform fee on domestic cards, UPI, net banking and wallets. Cashfree charges 1.95%. GST at 18% is added to the fee on both. Razorpay charges 3% on Amex, Diners, EMI and corporate cards; Cashfree charges 2.2% on credit-card EMI but does not clearly publish a domestic Amex, Diners or corporate-card rate. Both settle domestic payments on T+2 working days by default. Cashfree publishes an instant-settlement fee of 0.30% plus GST; Razorpay shows its fee only in the dashboard. Razorpay advertises 24x7 support on its standard plan and prices subscriptions as a percentage add-on. Both are graded B- on Payment Review, and both have poor Trustpilot scores.
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PayMongo vs Xendit for Philippine businesses
BB-
PayMongo and Xendit both let a Philippine business take cards, GCash, Maya, QR Ph and bank payments online, and both are registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as operators of payment systems. On their published Philippine rate cards, PayMongo is cheaper on almost every local method. Both quote fees before 12% VAT. PayMongo charges a flat percentage on e-wallets and QR Ph: 2.23% on GCash and 1.34% on QR Ph. Xendit charges a payment method fee, and from 1 October 2026 adds a ₱11 processing fee to every attempt: 3.00% + ₱11 on GCash and 1.50% (minimum ₱15) + ₱11 on QR Ph. From the same date the ₱11 also applies to failed attempts and refunds, and Xendit bills a US$50 monthly minimum to low-volume accounts. Local cards are close. From 1 October PayMongo's 3.125% + ₱13.39 is cheaper above about ₱640 a sale and Xendit's 3.5% + ₱11 below it; before then, Xendit's 3.5% alone is cheaper below about ₱3,570. Xendit's advantages are reach and range. Its group holds licences in seven Asian markets, and it takes cash payments at 7-Eleven, pawnshops and bills-payment counters, which PayMongo's rate card does not offer. PayMongo is graded B on Payment Review and Xendit B-.
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Clip vs Mercado Pago for Mexican businesses
BB
Clip and Mercado Pago are the two terminal brands most Mexican small businesses choose between, and both charge only per sale, with no rent, monthly fee or minimum. All figures here are Mexican (MXN), and every rate is quoted before IVA, which is charged at 16% on the commission, not on the sale. Mercado Pago charges a flat 3.50% + IVA on its Point terminals, on credit, debit and vales, with the money available instantly. Clip's standard rate is 3.6% + IVA, but new merchants start in its Socio Clip loyalty programme at 2.99% + MX$1 + IVA, falling to 2.59% + MX$1 at MX$100,000 a month. That makes Clip cheaper on sales above about MX$196 for any merchant selling at least MX$10,000 a month on cards, and on meses sin intereses and payment links. Mercado Pago is cheaper on very small tickets and for merchants below MX$10,000 a month, its terminals cost less up front, and it says it will not hold the money from a Point sale while a chargeback is investigated. Both are graded B on Payment Review.
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QuickBooks Payments vs FreshBooks Payments
BB-
Both are payment add-ons to accounting software, so most businesses pick the accounting product first and take the payments that come with it. Neither charges a monthly fee for payments itself. On the payments layer, QuickBooks Payments costs less in more places: a flat 2.99% on invoice card payments whatever the card brand, 2.5% in person with a $49 reader or Tap to Pay on iPhone, 3.5% keyed with no add-on fee, and next-business-day card deposits on payments taken before 3 p.m. PT. FreshBooks Payments, which runs on Stripe, charges 2.9% + 30¢ on consumer cards and 3.5% + 30¢ on American Express and business cards, has no card reader, and pays card money out two business days after the payment. FreshBooks is cheaper on consumer-card invoices above about $333, on chargebacks ($15 against $25) and on instant payouts (1.5% against 1.75%), and its software starts lower: $23 a month against $38 for QuickBooks Simple Start. QuickBooks Payments, graded B on Payment Review, is the better payments product for most businesses. FreshBooks Payments, graded B-, suits service businesses that invoice consumers in larger amounts and already prefer FreshBooks' software.
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PayPal vs Authorize.net
A-A-
PayPal and Authorize.net both let a US business take cards on its own website, but they are built differently. PayPal is the processor and holds the account itself: its Expanded Checkout charges 2.89% + 29¢ on card payments with no monthly fee, and its PayPal and Venmo buttons cost 3.49% + 49¢. Authorize.net, a wholly owned subsidiary of Visa, is a payment gateway. You either buy its all-in-one plan, which bundles a merchant account at 2.9% + 30¢ plus $25 a month, or pay $25 a month plus 10¢ a transaction and a 10¢ daily batch fee to connect a merchant account you already hold. On published self-serve pricing PayPal is cheaper, and it has a published in-person rate of 2.29% + 9¢, which Authorize.net does not. Authorize.net includes recurring billing and its fraud rules in the $25, answers the phone 24/7, and lets an established business keep a merchant account and rate it negotiated with its own bank. Both are graded A- on Payment Review.
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Klarna vs Sezzle for merchants
BB-
Both let a US retailer offer buy now, pay later, pay the merchant up front and carry the shopper's credit and fraud risk. Their standard US rates are close: Klarna's US pricing terms list 5.99% + $0.30 per transaction, and Sezzle's merchant agreement sets a standard 6.1% + 30¢, which either company can quote differently at approval. The bigger differences are elsewhere. Klarna reaches 120 million active consumers in 26 markets and plugs into Stripe, Adyen and other processors, and its Pay in 4 is interest-free for shoppers who pay on time. Sezzle serves the US and Canada, can charge shoppers a service fee on Pay in 4, adds a $15 monthly fee under $300 of volume, and signs merchants to a one-year agreement that renews automatically. Sezzle documents a typical three-business-day settlement. Its merchant agreement sets no dispute fee until 29 October 2026; from 30 October it charges $5 per dispute, plus $10 if you lose. Klarna, graded B on Payment Review, suits most retailers better than Sezzle, graded B-.
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Zeller vs Square for Australian businesses
B+A
Zeller and Square sell the same kind of deal in Australia: a flat rate on every card, American Express included, no monthly fee, no lock-in and hardware you buy outright. The difference is in the numbers and in what surrounds them. Zeller (a B+ on Payment Review) charges 1.4% including GST in person, sells its terminal for A$99 on promotion (A$199 standard), settles the same night into a free Zeller Transaction Account with a debit card, and answers the phone 24/7. Square (an A) charges 1.6% in person and 2.2% online and keyed, sells a A$65 Reader and a A$329 Terminal, pays out next day to any Australian bank, weekends included, and wraps payments in a much broader free software kit: POS, online store, invoices, appointments and an app marketplace. With no fixed fees on either side in person, Zeller is 0.2 points cheaper on every in-person sale. Online, Zeller's 25-cent fee makes Square cheaper on invoices under about $50.
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SpotOn vs Square for restaurants
B-A
Both sell a restaurant point of sale with payments built in, and both publish their US rates. They charge in different ways. SpotOn prices per station: POS Essentials is $55 per station a month at 2.45% + 15¢ in person, and the All-In plan is $0 a month with hardware included, at 2.79% + 20¢, with a two-year minimum term and processing minimums. Square prices per location: its Free plan is $0 at 2.6% + 15¢, Plus is $49 a month at 2.5% + 15¢, and Premium is $149 a month at 2.4% + 15¢. Square charges the same rate on every card brand, needs no contract and charges no early termination fee. SpotOn charges more for American Express, but gives every plan 24/7 support and moves money in under 30 minutes for 0.2%, against Square's 1.95%. Square, graded A on Payment Review, is the better fit for most small and counter-service restaurants. SpotOn, graded B-, earns its place in full-service rooms that want round-the-clock support and same-day cash.
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Epos Now vs Square for UK businesses
B-A
Epos Now and Square both sell a till, the software to run it and the card payments behind it to UK shops, cafés and restaurants, but on opposite commercial terms. This comparison uses each company's UK pages in pounds, not the US figures in the site's reviews. Epos Now (a B- on Payment Review) charges 1.7% on Visa and Mastercard through Epos Now Payments and sells its countertop Complete Solution for £299 + VAT, but that price needs a 12-month payments, care and support subscription starting at £54 a month. Its UK terms add a payments agreement of 12, 24 or 36 months, a £49 monthly inactivity fee if you process too little through it, and exit costs equal to the remaining monthly payments. Square (an A) charges 1.75% on every in-person UK card including Amex. Its POS software is free, it sells its hardware outright (Reader £19 + VAT, Terminal £149 + VAT, Register £699 + VAT), and it has no contract or cancellation fee. Square also pays out the next day including weekends where your bank supports it. The 0.05-point rate gap covers Epos Now's £54 subscription only above about £108,000 a month in card sales, so for most small businesses Square costs less and is far easier to leave.
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Moneris vs Square for Canadian businesses
B-A
Moneris operates only in Canada, so this comparison uses Square Canada's published pricing in Canadian dollars, not the US rates in the site's Square review. Square, graded A on Payment Review, charges 2.5% on in-person credit cards, 2.8% + 30¢ online and 3.3% + 15¢ keyed, with no monthly fee, no contract, hardware you buy (Square Terminal $399) and free POS software. Moneris, graded B-, charges 2.65% + 10¢ in person and 2.85% + 30¢ online on its flat-rate plan, rents its Moneris Go terminal at $34.95 a month, and its merchant agreement runs three years with a $300 deactivation fee per location, which Moneris waives for merchants who apply through its online form. Moneris wins on Interac debit, at 12¢ a transaction against Square's 0.75% + 7¢, and on 24/7 phone support and next-day deposits even on non-business days. RBC and BMO still own Moneris as of September 2026, but agreed in August 2026 to sell it to Francisco Partners.
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GlossGenius vs Vagaro for salons and spas
BB
GlossGenius and Vagaro both sell booking, point-of-sale and marketing software to US salons, barbers, spas and beauty professionals with card processing built in, and Payment Review grades both B. They price the payments very differently. GlossGenius, which runs on Stripe, charges one flat 2.6% with no per-transaction fee however the card is taken: tapped, keyed, stored on file or used for an online deposit. Vagaro, whose processing comes from Vagaro Merchant Services, an ISO of PNC Bank, charges 2.6% + 10¢ in person under $4,000 a month or 2.29% + 19¢ above it for $10 a month, and 3.5% + 19¢ on every keyed, online, card-on-file and membership payment, plus card-brand pass-through fees. As of September 2026 GlossGenius software costs $28, $56 or $168 a month billed monthly by plan tier; Vagaro costs $30 for one calendar ($23.99 for the first six months) plus $10 per extra calendar, reaching $90 a month at seven or more people on its pricing calculator. GlossGenius is cheaper for most solo professionals and small teams and on anything taken online; Vagaro is cheaper on large in-person tickets and for teams of ten or more, lists businesses free on its consumer marketplace, and has the better complaint record.
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Dwolla vs Moov
B-B
Dwolla and Moov are US money-movement APIs that software platforms build on to collect and pay out funds, and both use the same credit union, Veridian, for ACH and RTP payments. The difference is scope and pricing. Dwolla, graded B- on Payment Review and owned by NMI since 19 May 2026, is a bank-transfer platform: standard and Same Day ACH, RTP and FedNow payouts, a stored Dwolla Balance, and push to card through Checkout.com for approved customers, all on custom pricing it does not publish. Moov, graded B, adds card acceptance at interchange plus 0.60% and 15¢ online, push to card, and virtual cards, and publishes a standard rate card: 25¢ per next-day ACH credit, 40¢ same-day, 0.95% on instant payouts with a $5 cap, and a $500 monthly minimum. Dwolla allows larger instant payments by default, $500,000 per transfer against $100,000 on Moov's recommended instant-payment method.
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dLocal vs EBANX for emerging-market payments
B-B-
dLocal and EBANX are the two specialists global merchants usually shortlist to take local payments in Latin America, and both now sell into Africa and Asia too. Both are graded B- on Payment Review. dLocal, founded in Montevideo in 2016 and listed on Nasdaq as DLO since June 2021, says it covers more than 60 countries and over 1,000 payment methods, and processed US$40.8 billion in 2025. EBANX, a Curitiba-based company founded in 2012 and still private, covers more than 20 countries and over 200 payment methods and does not publish its volume, though it says volume grew 48% in 2025. Neither publishes enterprise rates: both quote each merchant. EBANX publishes standard merchant terms (effective March 2021) with a US$15 chargeback fee that may apply, a US$50 fee on extra settlements and a 4% reserve it may hold for the first 180 days; dLocal publishes no enterprise terms, only a price list and terms for dLocal Go, its self-serve tier. Both have poor Trustpilot scores, and dLocal is still defending a US federal securities class action filed in 2023.
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Adyen vs Worldpay
A-C+
Adyen and Worldpay both acquire card payments for large merchants in the US, UK and Europe, but they sell very differently. Adyen, graded A- on Payment Review, publishes one price list: a fixed processing fee of $0.13 (£0.11 in the UK) per transaction plus interchange++ and 0.60% on Visa and Mastercard, with no setup, monthly or closure fees, though it sets a minimum invoice by industry. Its standard terms run indefinitely and end on two months' notice. Worldpay, graded C+ and owned by Global Payments since January 2026, quotes US pricing individually and does not publish its direct US merchant terms. In the UK its online quote tool shows indicative small-business pricing: blended rates plus a 4.5p authorisation fee, a £15 minimum monthly charge, a £5 PCI fee and £20 a month per hired terminal, and its UK terms set an 18-month minimum hire for most smaller incorporated merchants. The same tool shows settlement in 24 hours, against Adyen's default payout delay of two business days, and Worldpay has far better Trustpilot numbers. Adyen is the stronger choice for most enterprise and mid-market merchants; Worldpay suits UK small businesses that want fast settlement and a price they can see before they call.
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Viva.com vs SumUp for UK card machines
BB+
This is a UK comparison, in pounds. Viva.com (formerly Viva Wallet, graded B on Payment Review) and SumUp (graded B+) both charge 1.69% on an in-person payment with a UK consumer card, and neither ties you to a contract. The differences are around that rate. Viva settles card payments into its own account in real time on every plan and charges 2.19% + 24p online, but its terminals start at £220 plus VAT, its £0 plan carries a £3.99 minimum monthly charge, and it charges £20 per lost chargeback. SumUp's readers start at £25 plus VAT list price, it charges a flat 2.5% online and £10 per chargeback, its business account is free, and a £19-a-month Payments Plus plan cuts domestic debit and credit cards to 0.99% in person. SumUp suits most small UK merchants better. Viva is the choice for a business that wants money available the moment a card is tapped.
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Vagaro vs Mindbody
BC+
Vagaro and Mindbody are the two booking-and-payments platforms salons, spas and fitness studios most often weigh against each other. Vagaro, graded B on Payment Review, lists its software at $30 a month for one bookable calendar ($23.99 for the first six months as of September 2026), publishes every card rate, from 2.6% + 10¢ in person on its small-business plan, and runs month to month. Mindbody, graded C+, starts at $79 a month per location, quotes its upper tiers and its US card rates only on request, and signs new customers to a 90-day initial term with 30 days' notice to cancel. Vagaro pays out the next business day and offers instant payouts for 1.75%; Mindbody pays card sales in one to two business days and publishes no instant-payout option. Mindbody's strengths are class and membership scheduling and a consumer app with a larger Trustpilot following. For most salons, spas and solo practitioners Vagaro is the cheaper and more transparent choice.
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Paystack vs Flutterwave
BB-
Paystack and Flutterwave are the two payment gateways most African businesses shortlist first, and in Nigeria, where both started, they compete head to head. Paystack, a Stripe company since 2020 and graded B on Payment Review, charges Nigerian merchants 1.5% + ₦100 on local payments, waives the ₦100 on transactions under ₦2,500 and caps the fee at ₦2,000. Flutterwave, graded B-, has charged a flat 2% with no published cap on local naira payments since 11 April 2025, plus 7.5% VAT, and raised its international card fee to 4.8% in November 2024 against Paystack's 3.9% + ₦100. Both settle local payments the next working day and charge the same ₦10 to ₦50 per transfer. Paystack is cheaper on small payments under ₦2,500 and on anything above about ₦15,000, where Flutterwave's uncapped 2% overtakes it; Flutterwave publishes pricing for 12 African markets and carries the better Trustpilot score.
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Razorpay vs Stripe for Indian businesses
B-A
For a business registered in India the Razorpay-or-Stripe question is decided by two facts before any rate is compared. Stripe is invite-only in India: its support pages state that businesses from India cannot sign up through the website and must request an invite from its sales team, which it grants to a select number of businesses with a focus on international expansion. And an Indian Stripe account takes Visa, Mastercard and American Express only, with no UPI, netbanking, wallets, EMI, Google Pay or Apple Pay, in a market where UPI is the default way to pay. Razorpay, graded B- on Payment Review, is an RBI-authorised payment aggregator with open sign-up, a flat 2% platform fee plus 18% GST across cards, UPI, netbanking, wallets and Pay Later, a 0% platform-fee offer for a new merchant's first 90 days, and T+2 settlement. Stripe, graded A, charges the same 2% on Indian Visa and Mastercard cards, 3% plus a 2% conversion fee on international cards it can present in 135+ currencies, ₹1,000 per dispute, and pays out daily on a two-business-day lag for Indian cards and five for international ones. Razorpay is the practical choice for anyone selling to Indian customers or who needs an account this month; Stripe is worth the invite request for an exporter of software or services whose customers pay by card from abroad and who wants Stripe's Billing, Checkout and Connect tooling.
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Jobber vs Housecall Pro for home-service businesses
B+B-
Jobber and Housecall Pro are the two field-service platforms a plumber, electrician, cleaner, landscaper or HVAC contractor is most likely to shortlist, and both run card processing on Stripe underneath their scheduling, quoting and invoicing tools. They charge for it differently. Jobber, graded B+ on Payment Review, starts at $29 a month billed annually ($49 month to month) and charges 2.9% + 30¢ on cards paid online and 2.7% + 30¢ when a card is tapped to your phone or read by its card reader. Housecall Pro, graded B-, starts at $59 a month billed annually ($79 month to month) and charges percentage-only rates with no per-transaction cents: 2.59% in person, 2.99% on an invoice paid online and 3.49% for anything keyed, saved on file or paid with an American Express or business card, plus $5 a month for each phone that uses Tap to Pay. Both take ACH at 1%, both pay out in about two business days and both offer an instant payout for an extra 1%. Housecall Pro is cheaper per transaction in person and on small online tickets; Jobber is cheaper to subscribe to as a solo operator, offers every plan month to month with self-serve cancellation, and carries a far stronger reputation record.
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GoDaddy Payments vs Square
BA
GoDaddy Payments and Square both give a small business a card reader, a countertop terminal, an online store, invoices and pay links with no monthly fee and no contract, and both publish a full rate card. GoDaddy, graded B on Payment Review, undercuts Square on almost every published rate: 2.5% with no per-transaction cents in person against Square's 2.6% + 15¢, 2.7% + 30¢ on its own online store against Square's 3.3% + 30¢ on the free plan, 3.5% flat on keyed cards against 3.5% + 15¢, and a 1.75% same-day payout against Square's 1.95%. Square, graded A, charges no dispute fee where GoDaddy charges $15, gives away its first magstripe reader and sells its contactless reader for $59 against GoDaddy's $79, and sits on a far deeper platform: restaurant and retail point-of-sale editions, a kiosk, payroll, marketing, loans and a developer API that GoDaddy does not attempt to match. GoDaddy is the cheaper processor for a business already on GoDaddy's website and store products, or one that simply wants the lowest flat rates in the US; Square is the better business platform, and the one to pick if the point of sale has to do more than take a card.
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PaymentCloud vs Durango Merchant Services for high-risk merchants
B+B+
PaymentCloud and Durango Merchant Services are the two names that come up first when a business has been declined or dropped by Stripe, Square or PayPal, and Payment Review grades both B+. Neither publishes a rate card — every account is custom-quoted and placed with an acquiring bank that sets the final terms — so the comparison is about what each discloses, how each works and who each suits. PaymentCloud, founded in Los Angeles in 2015 and a Kurv company since Electronic Merchant Systems bought it in January 2024, is the larger operation: a 4.3 Trustpilot score from 889 reviews, approval in 24 to 48 hours for most applicants, a US-based support team it says is available around the clock, and a gateway choice of Authorize.Net, NMI or USAePay. Durango is a boutique in Durango, Colorado, registered as an ISO of Fifth Third Bank, that publishes a range for what a high-risk account costs — a 1.95% to 4.95% discount rate, 15¢ to 25¢ per authorisation, $15 to $60 a month and a 0% to 10% rolling reserve — serves international and multi-currency merchants across the US, Canada, the EU and the UK, and holds an A+ BBB rating with no complaints in three years, but wants $5,000 a month of US volume ($50,000 international) and answers the phone on Mountain-time business hours. PaymentCloud is the better fit for a US merchant who needs an account fast and a large support operation behind it; Durango for an established merchant with international or hard-to-place volume who values a small shop with a published range and a clean record.
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Fresha vs Vagaro for salons and spas
B+B
Fresha and Vagaro are the two booking platforms a salon, barbershop, spa or studio is most likely to shortlist, and both build card processing into the calendar so deposits, no-show charges and checkout run from the same screen. They price it differently. Fresha, graded B+ on Payment Review, charges $19.95 a month for one person, 2.29% + 20¢ on its terminal and 2.79% + 20¢ online, and takes 20% of a new client's first booking when that client found you on its marketplace. Vagaro, graded B, charges $30 a month for one calendar ($23.99 for the first six months), matches Fresha in person at 2.29% + 19¢ once you process $4,000 a month, charges 3.5% + 19¢ on every online, saved-card and membership payment, and lists you on its marketplace for nothing, taking 20% only on bookings you solicit through its Fill My Books promotions. Fresha is cheaper for a solo professional and for anyone who takes deposits and memberships online; Vagaro is cheaper for a business that fills its book from the marketplace or runs seven or more calendars, and it is the only one of the two with same-day and instant payouts.
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Dodo Payments vs Polar
C+B-
Dodo Payments and Polar are the two young merchants of record that indie developers and SaaS founders now weigh against Paddle and Lemon Squeezy: both are the legal seller on every transaction, collect and remit sales tax and VAT worldwide, carry chargeback liability and pay the developer a net amount. Dodo, a Bengaluru start-up founded in 2023 or 2024 depending on the source and graded C+ on Payment Review, leads on headline price with a published 4% + 40¢ on US cards and no monthly fee, accepts PayPal and buy-now-pay-later for a 3% uplift, prices bank debit at 1.5% capped at $15, and ships SDKs in nine languages. Polar, founded in Stockholm in 2022, open source and graded B-, charges 5% + 50¢ on its free tier but sells paid plans from $20 a month that cut the rate to 3.8%, 3.6% and 3.4%, adds no subscription surcharge on new accounts, charges $15 per dispute against Dodo's $30, and lets you withdraw whenever the balance passes $10 instead of waiting for Dodo's twice-monthly cycle and $50 minimum. The contracts differ too: Dodo's master agreement still quotes 5% + 50¢, lets Dodo terminate at a 0.5% chargeback, cancellation or refund rate, and its Trustpilot record is dominated by accounts closed with balances held for 120 days; Polar's terms allow payment delays of up to 120 days on suspended accounts but its complaint record is thinner. Dodo is cheaper for a seller under about $10,000 a month who wants PayPal or bank debit; Polar is the better platform above that and for anyone who values on-demand payouts, a lower dispute fee and a better-capitalised, open-source operator.
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Wix Payments vs Squarespace Payments
B-B-
Wix Payments and Squarespace Payments are the built-in processors of two website builders, and both start at 2.9% + $0.30 on US cards with no separate processing contract, no monthly fee beyond the site plan and no early-termination fee. The differences are in the second row of the rate card. Squarespace Payments (a B- on Payment Review) gets cheaper as the plan gets dearer — 2.7% + $0.30 on Plus and 2.5% + $0.30 on Advanced — charges 3.2% + $0.30 on American Express against Wix's 3.7% + $0.30, offers ACH at 1% (1.5% on Basic) where Wix lists no bank-debit rate, and pays out daily with funds arriving in one to two business days; but its $19 Basic plan adds a 2% platform fee on every sale. Wix Payments (also a B-) charges 2.9% + $0.30 on every plan, lists no platform fee on sales, has a real in-person rate of 2.6% on its POS hardware, takes PayPal, Venmo, Affirm, Afterpay and Klarna at published rates where Squarespace publishes none, charges $15 rather than $20 per chargeback, and answers support 24/7 by chat and callback — but a payout takes three to five business days to land. A store that also sells in person or leans on wallets and buy-now-pay-later gets more from Wix; a store on a higher plan, one collecting by ACH, or one that needs its money quickly does better on Squarespace.
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GoCardless vs Stripe for recurring payments
BA
GoCardless and Stripe both collect US bank debits at a published, capped rate with no monthly fee and no contract, and on that one row GoCardless is cheaper: 0.5% + $0.05 capped at $5 on its Standard plan against Stripe's 0.8% capped at $5. Everything else separates them. GoCardless (a B on Payment Review) is a bank-debit specialist: ACH in the US and the equivalent direct debit schemes in 30-plus countries from one integration, mandate handling and retry logic built for recurring billing, and no card acceptance of any kind — most businesses run it alongside a card processor. Stripe (an A) is the full stack: cards at 2.9% + $0.30, wallets, ACH, SEPA and Bacs, Stripe Billing for subscriptions, Radar for fraud and 24x7 support. GoCardless was bought by Mollie in a deal that completed on 1 September 2026, with no immediate change to contracts. If your revenue is fixed recurring amounts collected from bank accounts — memberships, utilities, retainers, B2B invoices — GoCardless costs less per collection and pays out slightly faster; if customers pay by card, or you want one provider for everything, Stripe is the only one of the two that can do the job.
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Cybersource vs Authorize.net
BA-
Cybersource and Authorize.net are the same family: Cybersource bought Authorize.net in 2007 and Visa bought Cybersource in 2010, and both now sit under Visa Acceptance Solutions. They serve opposite ends of the market. Authorize.net (an A- on Payment Review) publishes its prices — $25 a month plus 2.9% + $0.30 on the all-in-one plan with a merchant account, or $25 a month plus $0.10 a transaction and a $0.10 daily batch fee if you bring your own — with no set-up fee, no contract and no early-termination fee on the gateway, fraud tools and recurring billing included, self-serve sign-up and 24/7 live support. Cybersource (a B) publishes no price at all: it is sold through Visa's enterprise sales team and through acquirers, priced by module, and built for merchants that need 200-plus acquirer connections across 160-plus countries, 50-plus settlement currencies and Decision Manager, a fraud engine drawing on VisaNet data. A US small or mid-sized business gets everything it needs from Authorize.net for a known price; a multi-country enterprise with a payments team is the customer Cybersource is designed for, and the sales process is the point of entry.
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SumUp vs myPOS for UK card machines
B+B
SumUp and myPOS are the two pay-as-you-go card machines a UK sole trader or small shop is most likely to weigh, and both are London-based, FCA-authorised e-money institutions with no contract and no monthly fee. They price in opposite ways. SumUp (a B+ on Payment Review) charges a flat 1.69% on every in-person card — domestic, EEA, Amex, business cards alike — and 2.5% online, and pays out free to any UK bank account in one to two business days, or by 7am the next day into its own Business Account. myPOS (a B) charges 1.10% + 7p on domestic consumer cards in person and 1.30% + 15p online, but 2.20% + 7p on EEA cards, 2.45% + 7p on Amex and 2.85% + 7p on business and non-EEA cards, settles every payment into its e-money account within seconds, and charges £1.50 to move money to your bank. On a domestic consumer card the two cost the same at a ticket of about £12: below that SumUp's flat rate is cheaper, above it myPOS is. Which cards your customers carry matters as much as the ticket — a business taking many corporate or Amex cards pays far more on myPOS.
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Square vs Tyro for Australian businesses
AB+
Square and Tyro are the two names an Australian café, shop or tradie most often weighs for EFTPOS, and they sell opposite deals. Square (an A on Payment Review) charges 1.6% on every in-person card including Amex, has no monthly fee, sells its hardware outright from $65, bundles a free POS app and online store, and pays out next day to any bank. Tyro (a B+) charges 1.3% on Visa, Mastercard and eftpos but rents its Pro terminals at $19 to $29 a month, settles the same day seven days a week into its own bank account, integrates with more than 580 POS and PMS systems, and staffs phones 7am to 9pm every day. On the published rates Tyro's 0.3-point advantage covers a $19 Pro Lite rental at roughly $6,300 of monthly card turnover and a $29 Pro Touch at about $9,700; below that Square is cheaper, above it Tyro is. Tyro also has an introductory 1% rate until 31 March 2027, but only for businesses already transacting more than $20,000 a month.
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Airwallex vs Stripe for international payments
BA
Airwallex and Stripe both accept online card payments in the United States at a published pay-as-you-go rate with no monthly fee and no contract, and the numbers are close: Airwallex charges 2.80% + $0.30 on domestic cards and 4.30% + $0.30 on international ones, Stripe 2.9% + $0.30 and 4.4% + $0.30. Where they part is everything around the card. Airwallex (a B on Payment Review) is a cross-border finance platform — a multi-currency wallet you can hold, spend and pay out from without converting, FX at 0.5% to 1% above interbank, free transfers to 120+ countries, corporate cards and expense tools — with no in-person hardware and support that runs through an in-app chatbot and web form. Stripe (an A, and first of 31 payment facilitators on the site) is the broader payments stack: Terminal for in-person at 2.7% + $0.05, ACH at 0.8% capped at $5, Billing, Tax, Radar and the developer tooling the industry copies, with 24x7 phone, email and chat on the free plan. If most of your money arrives in foreign currencies and leaves the same way, Airwallex's wallet and FX margin save real money; if you sell mainly at home, in person, or need the deepest integrations and support, Stripe is the safer choice.
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Teya vs Dojo for UK card machines
BB
Teya and Dojo are two London-based acquirers selling Android card machines to UK shops, cafés, salons and restaurants, and both earn a B on Payment Review. They sell in opposite ways. Dojo publishes its small-business price: the Fix plan is £39.99 a month covering the first £3,999 of monthly card turnover with 1% above that, on a 12-month term, with hardware bought outright from £149. Teya publishes only a floor — machines from £14.99 a month and rates 'from 1.59%' — and quotes each business individually, but the default contract has no lock-in, the machine comes with a free e-money business account paying 0.5% cashback, and support is 24/7. At Teya's published starting rate Dojo's Fix plan is cheaper for almost any business under £100,000 a year; Teya's case is flexibility, settlement options and the bundled account rather than headline price.
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Polar vs Lemon Squeezy
B-C+
Polar and Lemon Squeezy are both merchants of record for software and digital products: they are the legal seller on every sale, collect and remit VAT and sales tax worldwide, and pay the developer a net amount. They start at the same price — 5% + 50¢ per transaction — but diverge from there. Polar, an open-source Stockholm start-up graded B- on Payment Review, sells paid plans from $20 a month that cut the rate to 3.8%, 3.6% and 3.4%, charges no subscription surcharge on new accounts, and lets you withdraw whenever the balance passes $10. Lemon Squeezy, owned by Stripe since July 2024 and graded C+, has one rate plus 1.5% on international cards, 1.5% on PayPal and 0.5% on subscriptions, pays out on the 14th and 28th after a 13-day hold with a $50 minimum, and has spent 2026 building Stripe Managed Payments, the product it says it wants its users to migrate to. Polar is the better choice for a developer starting today; Lemon Squeezy's remaining case is a US seller who wants PayPal checkout and free US payouts and is content to move to Stripe's successor when it opens.
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Melio vs BILL for paying vendors
B-B
Melio and BILL both let a US business pay vendors by ACH, check, wire or card from a single dashboard and sync the results to its accounting software. They are not merchant accounts. Melio, owned by Xero since October 2025 and graded B- on Payment Review, prices per account: a free Go plan, then $25, $55 and $80 a month with extra users at $10 each. BILL, a public company graded B, prices per user at $49, $65 and $89 a month. Melio's per-payment fees are lower on the everyday methods — 50¢ ACH against 59¢, $1.50 checks against $1.99, and standard ACH arrives in 3 business days rather than 4 — while BILL is cheaper on expedited checks and connects to more ERPs, including Sage Intacct, Microsoft Dynamics and Acumatica. Melio is the better fit for a small business or a one- or two-person finance function; BILL for a larger team that needs multi-step approvals and an ERP beyond QuickBooks, Xero and NetSuite.
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Wave vs QuickBooks Payments
B-B
Wave and QuickBooks Payments are both payment services bolted onto accounting software, and both publish every rate. Wave's accounting and unlimited invoicing are free, and it charges 2.9% + 60¢ on cards and 1% on bank payments; QuickBooks Payments has no fee of its own but sits behind a QuickBooks Online subscription, and charges 2.99% with no per-transaction cents on invoices, 1% on ACH, 2.5% in person and 3.5% keyed. On a typical invoice the card cost is nearly identical — QuickBooks is cheaper below about $667 and Wave above it — so the decision turns on everything else. QuickBooks, graded B, deposits next business day, takes in-person payments, staffs support six days a week and charges $25 per chargeback. Wave, graded B-, has no in-person option, deposits US card payments in two business days, charges $7–15 per chargeback and offers a cheaper 1% instant payout. Wave is the better fit for a very small service business that wants free books and emailed invoices; QuickBooks Payments for a business already on QuickBooks Online or one that also sells face to face.
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Helcim vs Moneris for Canadian businesses
A-B-
Helcim and Moneris are both Canadian processors, but they sell opposite deals. Helcim, graded A-, publishes an interchange-plus margin — 0.40% + 8¢ in person and 0.50% + 25¢ online at the entry tier — with no monthly fee, no contract and hardware you buy outright. Moneris, graded B-, is the RBC–BMO joint venture and Canada's largest acquirer: its published flat rate is 2.65% + 10¢ in person and 2.85% + 30¢ online, its terminals rent at $34.95 a month, and its merchant agreement runs three years with a $300 deactivation fee per location. Moneris answers with 24/7 phone support, next-day deposits including non-business days, and the deepest terminal and integration catalogue in the country. For most small and mid-sized Canadian businesses Helcim is cheaper and easier to leave; Moneris earns its place where a business wants a bank-backed acquirer with round-the-clock support and a full countertop POS estate.
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Gumroad vs Lemon Squeezy
C+C+
Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy both act as merchant of record for digital products — they are the legal seller, collect and remit sales tax and VAT worldwide, and pay the creator a net amount — and both earn a C+ on Payment Review. Compared on their published fees, Lemon Squeezy is much cheaper: 5% + 50¢ all in, against Gumroad's 10% + 50¢ plus 2.9% + 30¢ card processing on direct sales and a flat 30% on marketplace sales. Gumroad pays out weekly and has a marketplace, a volume discount at $20,000 a month and an open-source codebase. Lemon Squeezy pays out twice a month after a 13-day hold and, since Stripe bought it in 2024, has been building Stripe's own merchant-of-record product and steering its users toward it. Lemon Squeezy is the better fit for a software or SaaS seller who wants licence keys and subscriptions at the lowest price and can tolerate slow payouts; Gumroad for a creator who wants weekly money, a discovery marketplace and a platform that is not preparing its own replacement.
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Stax vs Square
BA
Stax and Square sit at opposite ends of small-business pricing. Square charges nothing monthly and a flat 2.6% + 15¢ in person, and gives you free POS software, a $59 reader and an account you can close from the dashboard. Stax charges a subscription from $99 a month and then passes interchange through at cost plus 8¢ in person or 15¢ online, which is a far lower per-transaction cost but only pays for itself once volume is high enough to cover the subscription — Stax's own entry tier is sized for up to $150,000 a year. Square is graded A on Payment Review and Stax B. For most businesses under roughly that volume band, and for anyone who needs a point of sale, Square is the better choice; for an established business processing well above it, especially one invoicing or taking payments online, Stax's model saves real money.
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Airwallex vs Revolut Business
BB
Airwallex and Revolut Business both sell a multi-currency business account with card acceptance bolted on, both publish their rate cards, and both earn a B on Payment Review. Compared on their UK rate cards — the only basis on which both publish acceptance pricing — Revolut is cheaper on the domestic consumer cards most UK shops and websites actually take, settles next day including weekends, and has real terminals and 24/7 chat. Airwallex charges more on those cards but less on commercial and EEA cards, converts currency at 0.5% with no allowance to run out, and can accept card payments in the United States, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore as well as the UK and Europe, which Revolut cannot. Revolut is the better fit for a UK or European business selling mostly to local consumers; Airwallex for one operating across several countries or one that is not in Revolut's acquiring footprint at all.
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Adyen vs Braintree
A-A-
Adyen and Braintree are both enterprise-grade gateways with published pricing, no monthly fees and no early-termination fee, and both earn an A- on Payment Review. The difference is shape, not quality. Adyen is a single global platform that sells interchange++ pricing, in-person terminals, local acquiring and platform payouts to merchants large enough to justify a sales-led onboarding. Braintree is PayPal's online-first gateway: one flat published rate, native PayPal and Venmo in the same integration, an online application, and a merchant agreement you can leave on a day's notice. For an omnichannel or international enterprise, Adyen is the stronger fit. For an online or in-app business that wants PayPal and Venmo at checkout and a rate it can read before it applies, Braintree is.
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Tyro vs Zeller for Australian EFTPOS
B+B+
This is an Australian comparison, in Australian dollars with GST included, of two EFTPOS providers that both price flat and both refuse lock-in contracts. Tyro is a Sydney acquirer with a full banking licence, listed on the ASX since 2019, that rents its Pro Series terminals for $29 a month ($19 for the Pro Lite) and charges 1.3% on every card for businesses transacting under $20,000 a month, with a custom quote above that and a 1% introductory rate until 31 March 2027 for larger new customers who join before 24 November 2026. Zeller is a Melbourne fintech launched in 2021 that sells its terminal outright - both models are A$99 on promotion in September 2026, from A$199 - and charges 1.4% on every card including American Express, or 1.2% when payments run through its free Zeller POS, with no rental. The money moves differently too: Tyro settles the same day, seven days a week, into a fee-free Tyro Transaction Account that is a bank deposit protected by the Financial Claims Scheme; Zeller settles nightly into a free Zeller Transaction Account that its own product disclosure statement says is a stored-value facility held at Cuscal and not protected by the scheme. Zeller charges no chargeback fee; Tyro does not publish one. Payment Review grades both B+.
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Sezzle vs Afterpay for US merchants
B-B
This is a US comparison of two buy-now-pay-later networks that do the same job for a merchant: the shopper splits the purchase into instalments, the merchant is paid up front for the whole order less a commission, and the provider carries the fraud and repayment risk. Neither publishes that commission. Sezzle's merchant support says only that a set percentage plus a small processing fee applies and that the figures are in the agreement you sign; Afterpay's business page promises simple, transparent pricing and prints no price. Where they part company is everything around the commission. Sezzle now publishes its ancillary fees and two of the amounts - a $15 monthly minimum below $300 of order volume, a refund fee (amount unstated) when a refund cannot be drawn from your refund reserve, and a monthly inactive-account fee of 10% of the balance or $1,000, whichever is greater, on dormant accounts holding funds - and documents a common three-business-day settlement. Afterpay publishes none of that, assigns each merchant a settlement period of one to five business days in its agreement, but is owned by Block, is native to Square and Cash App, serves five countries under one brand, and its Pay in 4 is interest-free with no fees for the shopper at partner brands, where Sezzle's Pay in 4 can now carry a service fee shown at checkout. Payment Review grades Sezzle B- and Afterpay B.
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Payoneer vs PayPal for getting paid across borders
B-A-
This comparison is written for a US-based business, freelancer or seller that gets paid by clients, marketplaces and customers in other countries, and it uses each company's US fee schedule - PayPal's dated 1 September 2026, Payoneer's dated 1 January 2026. The two are not the same kind of product. PayPal is a checkout and a wallet: a buyer clicks a button the whole world recognises, and the merchant pays 3.49% plus 49 cents for a domestic wallet payment, 2.99% plus 49 cents for a card, 1.5% more when the payer is abroad, and a 3% or 4% spread if a currency is converted. Payoneer is a receiving account: a client pays into a local-currency account in your name for nothing, a marketplace such as Fiverr or Wish pays out to it at whatever that marketplace has agreed, and the cost sits at the exit - $1.50 to withdraw US dollars to a US bank, 1.2% to 4% when the withdrawal converts currency. A client who insists on paying by card costs up to 3.99% plus 49 cents at Payoneer, which is more than PayPal charges for the same card. Payoneer charges $29.95 a year if the account receives under $6,000 in twelve months; PayPal has no equivalent. Payment Review grades Payoneer B- and PayPal A-, and the gap is reputation and product breadth rather than price.
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takepayments vs Dojo for UK card machines
BB
This is a UK comparison of two card-machine providers that both sell through a sales team on a 12-month term, and the question is what each will tell you before the consultant arrives. Dojo is an acquirer in its own right - Paymentsense Limited, FCA-authorised, settling on its own platform - and for businesses under £100,000 a year in card turnover it publishes a price: the Fix plan at £39.99 a month covering the first £3,999 of monthly turnover and 1% above that, Amex included, on a 12-month price lock, with a 30-day trial first and a fee schedule you can read. takepayments is a reseller: a Global Payments company since June 2024 that supplies the terminal, the onboarding, the PCI help and a seven-day UK phone line, while the merchant signs a separate contract with an acquiring bank it nominates. It publishes no rate, no standing charge and no terminal price, and its 12-month minimum then rolls monthly. What it has instead is the strongest service record on this site by volume - 4.8 on Trustpilot from 67,006 reviews, 94% five-star - against Dojo's 4.2 from 5,613. Payment Review grades both B.
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Stripe vs Checkout.com
AC+
Stripe and Checkout.com are both online payment platforms with developer-grade APIs and global card acquiring, and the search pairing them is usually a growing merchant wondering whether it has outgrown Stripe. The two are sold in opposite ways. Stripe is self-serve: a US business signs up online, pays a published 2.9% plus 30 cents per domestic card transaction with no monthly fee or contract, and negotiates custom pricing only when volume justifies it. Checkout.com is sales-led: it publishes no rate at all, prices every merchant individually on a flat-rate or interchange-plus-plus basis, and counts more than 1,000 enterprise merchants, 63 of them processing over $1 billion a year. Stripe is far larger, handling $1.9 trillion in 2025 against Checkout.com's $300 billion, sells in-person payments and 125-plus payment methods, and settles US merchants on a published T+2 schedule. Checkout.com's case is direct acquiring licences across the US, UK, EEA, APAC and the Middle East for a merchant that already has volume to negotiate with. This comparison uses Stripe's US price list. Payment Review grades Stripe A and Checkout.com C+.
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Afterpay vs Zip for US merchants
BB
This is a US comparison. The Zip reviewed here is the American business formerly called Quadpay, and Afterpay's US price list and merchant terms are the ones compared. Both do the same job for a merchant: the shopper splits a purchase into instalments, the merchant is paid up front and the provider carries the credit and fraud risk on approved orders. The difference is what each will tell you before you sign. Zip publishes a Standard plan at 5.9% plus 30 cents per transaction, a settlement window of two to three business days and a chargeback policy with named exclusions, so a merchant can cost it without a sales call. Afterpay publishes no merchant rate, assigns each merchant a settlement period of one to five business days in its agreement, and leaves refund and reserve terms to the contract - but it is interest-free with no per-order fee for the shopper at partner brands, it is native to Block's Square and Cash App, and it serves five countries where Zip US serves one. Payment Review grades both B.
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SumUp vs Dojo for UK card machines
B+B
This is a UK comparison, because Dojo is a UK acquirer and the question is about card machines. SumUp sells a reader for £15 to £99 plus VAT and charges 1.69% on every in-person payment with no monthly fee, no contract and no minimum; a £19-a-month Payments Plus plan drops domestic consumer cards to 0.99%. Dojo publishes one plan for businesses under £100,000 a year in card turnover - Fix, at £39.99 a month covering the first £3,999 of monthly turnover and 1% above that, on a 12-month price-locked term - and quotes everyone larger individually. On the rate alone Dojo Fix is cheaper once monthly card turnover passes roughly £2,400, because £39.99 is exactly 1% of £3,999 and 1% is well under 1.69%. What SumUp gives up in rate it recovers in freedom: no term, no early-closure charge, a £10 chargeback against Dojo's £28 plus VAT, and money in its business account by 7am the next day including weekends. Dojo's standard settlement is next business day, with weekend and bank-holiday settlement sold as an upgrade, and its ancillary fee schedule only surfaces at signing. Both sit at 4.2 on Trustpilot. Payment Review grades SumUp B+ and Dojo B.
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Stripe vs Mollie for European businesses
AB+
This is a European comparison, because it has to be: Mollie processes for the EEA and the UK only, so the Stripe figures here are from its Dutch price list, not the US one. On that basis Stripe is cheaper on the row that matters most - 1.5% + €0.25 for a standard EEA card against Mollie's 1.80% + €0.25 - and cheaper again on iDEAL, Klarna and in-person EEA cards. Neither charges a monthly fee, a setup fee or an exit fee on online payments. What Mollie sells instead is the experience around the rate: chat support 24/7 and a phone line until midnight CET, a payout schedule you set yourself, a 4.4 Trustpilot score across 12,840 reviews against Stripe's 1.6 across 17,478, and roughly thirty European payment methods under one contract. Stripe's platform is broader - 100+ payment methods, Terminal, Billing, Connect, and global reach when you outgrow Europe - and it is the one to build on. Payment Review grades Stripe A and Mollie B+.
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Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy
BC+
Two merchants of record for software with the same headline price - 5% + 50 cents per transaction, no monthly fee - and very different situations. Paddle, founded in London in 2012, is an independent company used by more than 6,000 software businesses by its own July 2025 count; its published rate is the whole price apart from a currency-conversion margin of 2% to 3% when a sale is not in your balance currency. Lemon Squeezy has been owned by Stripe since July 2024, and its 5% climbs with surcharges - 1.5% on non-US transactions, 1.5% on PayPal, 0.5% on subscriptions - before the cheaper twice-monthly payouts and $15 dispute fee pull some of that back. The decisive difference is not on the price list. In January 2026 Lemon Squeezy's chief executive wrote that the team had been building Stripe Managed Payments, that Lemon Squeezy users had seen slower support and fewer updates as a result, and that the goal was to give them an easy migration to it. Its Trustpilot score is 1.2 from 173 reviews; Paddle's is 3.9 from 11,108. Payment Review grades Paddle B and Lemon Squeezy C+.
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TouchBistro vs Lightspeed for restaurants
C+B+
Both entry plans cost $69 a month, so the decision is made everywhere else. TouchBistro is a restaurant-only iPad system, now owned by Harris - a Constellation Software subsidiary - which bought it in July 2026; every add-on beyond the base POS is quote-only, and its published terms say a merchant may not terminate before the current term expires. Lightspeed Restaurant publishes its whole ladder - $69 Starter, $189 Essential, $399 Premium, $30 per kitchen screen - along with a $15 chargeback fee, two-business-day payouts and instant payouts inside 30 minutes, and it serves restaurants that also run retail, which TouchBistro does not. Both lock you into an auto-renewing term and neither publishes a processing rate. The reputational gap is wide: Trustpilot has TouchBistro at 1.5 from 348 reviews and Lightspeed at 3.8 from 2,509. Payment Review grades Lightspeed B+ and TouchBistro C+.
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Chase Payment Solutions vs Square
BA
Chase undercuts Square on every published card rate - 2.6% + 10c in person against 2.6% + 15c, 2.9% + 25c online against 3.3% + 30c on Square's free plan, 3.5% + 10c keyed against 3.5% + 15c - and if your funds land in a Chase business checking account it deposits same day at no extra cost, where Square charges 1.95% to move money instantly. Square answers with everything around the payment: sign up and sell the same day with no underwriting wait, no chargeback fee at all, published software tiers at $0, $49 and $149 per location, hardware from $59, ACH at 1%, and a month-to-month arrangement you can cancel from the dashboard. The structural difference underneath is that Chase gives you a dedicated merchant account while Square is a payment facilitator placing you on a shared one. Payment Review grades Square A and Chase B.
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Authorize.net vs NMI
A-B-
These two gateways are not bought the same way, and that is the whole comparison. Authorize.net publishes a rate card - $25 a month, plans starting at 10c a transaction - and sells directly to merchants as well as through resellers, with no contract and no early termination fee on the gateway itself. NMI publishes nothing and sells to nobody directly: it is a white-label platform bought by ISOs, software companies and banks, who brand it as their own and set the merchant's price. So a merchant can sign up for Authorize.net this afternoon and cannot sign up for NMI at all, except through whoever is reselling it. Underneath, NMI is the larger platform - 1.2 million merchants, 150+ processor connections, 235,000 connected devices - while Authorize.net serves 430,000 merchants on roughly $149 billion a year and is a wholly owned Visa subsidiary. Payment Review grades Authorize.net A- and NMI B-.
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Stax vs Payment Depot
BC+
Start with the fact most comparisons of these two leave out: they are the same company. Stax acquired Payment Depot in 2021, the brand trades as Payment Depot by Stax, and both are run out of Orlando. The convergence has since reached the price list. As of September 2026 the two pricing pages carry an identical rate card - 0% markup on interchange, $0.08 per card-present transaction, $0.15 card-not-present, ACH at 1% capped at $10, $19 a month for terminal protection, next business day funding and no cancellation fees. The one real difference on the page is that Stax publishes its monthly subscription tiers and Payment Depot publishes no monthly fee at all, sending you to a sales consultant instead. Payment Review grades Stax B and Payment Depot C+.
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Paddle vs Stripe for SaaS
BA
This is not two processors competing on rate. Paddle is a merchant of record: it becomes the legal seller of your software, so the tax registration, the filing and the liability in every jurisdiction are Paddle's rather than yours, and one 5% + 50c fee covers processing, subscription billing, tax and customer billing support. Stripe is a payment processor at 2.9% + 30c, and you remain the seller - which means you own global tax compliance, and Stripe Tax calculates it for you but does not carry it. Stripe is far cheaper on a domestic sale and far more capable everywhere outside digital goods. Paddle is narrower by design: software and digital products only, no physical goods, and it pays out once a month. Payment Review grades Stripe A and Paddle B.
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Affirm vs Afterpay
B-B
Affirm and Afterpay are both buy-now-pay-later networks that approve the shopper, pay the merchant upfront and carry the consumer credit risk. The structural difference is who pays for the plan. Afterpay is entirely merchant-funded: every plan is interest-free to the shopper, so the commission is the whole of Afterpay's merchant economics. Affirm splits it - Pay in 4 is 0% APR and merchant-funded, but its longer monthly plans run at 0-36% APR, so on interest-bearing volume the consumer carries much of the cost and the merchant discount rate falls. That is why Affirm can underwrite a $3,000 purchase over three years and Afterpay cannot. Neither publishes a merchant rate card. Payment Review grades Afterpay B and Affirm B-.
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Shift4 vs Toast for restaurants
B+B
Shift4's restaurant point of sale was called SkyTab until 12 May 2026, when it was rebranded Shift4 Dine; the product, contracts and support channels did not change. Against Toast it presents a clean trade. Toast publishes what it charges - $0 or $69 a month, and 2.49% + $0.15 in person on the paid plan - so a restaurant can work out the cost before speaking to anyone, and it pays out faster. Shift4 publishes neither a software price nor a rate, but advertises no upfront hardware cost with a lifetime warranty, bundles more guest-facing software at the advertised price, and rates far better with its own users. Both lock the restaurant into their own card processing, so the software choice and the processing choice are one decision.
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Klarna vs Afterpay
BB
Klarna and Afterpay both let a shopper split a purchase into four interest-free instalments, pay the merchant upfront and carry the consumer credit and fraud risk themselves. Neither publishes a US rate card, so cost is settled in your contract rather than on a pricing page, and the reported ranges overlap. What actually separates them is reach and ownership. Klarna sells one contract across 26 markets, offers a wider ladder of consumer options and reports its numbers every quarter as a listed company. Afterpay is a Block subsidiary whose strongest pull is native placement across Square and Cash App, at the cost of a much narrower footprint and no standalone disclosure. Payment Review grades both B.
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Adyen vs Checkout.com
A-C+
Both are enterprise acquirers sold by a salesperson rather than a signup form, and both target global merchants processing at serious volume. The difference starts at the pricing page. Adyen publishes its card markup - $0.13 plus interchange-plus 0.60% on Visa and Mastercard - so a finance team can model the cost before the first call. Checkout.com publishes nothing and quotes every merchant individually. Adyen is also several times larger, settles through its own banking licence, and sells in-person payments, which Checkout.com does not offer at all. Payment Review grades Adyen A- and ranks it first of 25 platforms; Checkout.com is a C+ at fifteenth.
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Square vs Lightspeed
AB+
Square publishes every price it charges and asks for no commitment; Lightspeed publishes its software plans but quotes card-not-present rates and hardware privately, and its service agreement bills out the rest of your term if you leave early. Lightspeed buys you materially deeper inventory and purchasing tools, and 24/7 support on every plan. For most single-site and small multi-site merchants Square is the safer, cheaper choice; the case for Lightspeed is a stock-heavy retail operation that needs purchase orders, landed costs and supplier catalogues.
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Clover vs SpotOn for restaurants
BB-
Clover has the lower card-present rate on its full-service restaurant plans — 2.3% + 10c against SpotOn's 2.45% + 15c — but asks for a three-year contract on its subscription route, holds funds for one to three business days as standard, and charges 1.75% to get them sooner. SpotOn will put a full restaurant POS in with $0 monthly software and hardware included on a two-year term, funds the next morning free, and charges 0.2% for money in under 30 minutes. Clover's App Market is the bigger ecosystem; SpotOn sells direct, so the price you read is the price you get.
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Authorize.net vs Braintree
A-A-
Both publish their US pricing in full, which makes this an unusually clean comparison. Authorize.net charges $25 a month and 2.9% + 30c on its all-in-one plan, includes its fraud suite and recurring billing at no extra cost, and answers the phone around the clock — but it requires a merchant account from a US or Canadian provider and settles one currency per account. Braintree charges no monthly fee, 2.89% + 29c, and brings PayPal and Venmo plus 150+ settlement currencies, at the cost of a $15 chargeback fee, paid fraud add-ons and no published support hours.
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Toast POS vs SpotOn for restaurants
BB-
Both sell a restaurant POS on the same two-plan shape: a $0-a-month plan that buries the hardware cost in a higher card rate, and a paid plan that lowers the rate once you buy the hardware outright. The difference is what each will tell you before you sign. SpotOn puts every plan's card-present and keyed rate on its pricing page, sells its paid plan month-to-month, and funds you the next morning for free. Toast publishes plan prices but not rates, sets the term inside the order form, and charges 1.75% to get your money the same day. Toast answers with depth — payroll, inventory, kiosks, scheduling and multi-location tooling that SpotOn does not match.
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Helcim vs Payment Depot
A-C+
These are the two best-known interchange-plus alternatives to flat-rate processing, and on paper Payment Depot's published markup is the lower of the two: 0% over interchange plus 8¢ card-present, against Helcim's 0.40% plus 8¢ at entry volume. The problem is what Payment Depot does not print. Its pricing page refers to subscriptions but names no subscription price, and its per-account quote is the only place the full cost appears. Helcim publishes the whole ladder — five volume tiers, hardware, ACH, chargebacks, cancellation — and charges nothing monthly at all. One of these you can price before you call; the other you cannot.
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Amazon Pay vs PayPal
BA-
These are not really the same kind of product, and pricing them against each other only makes sense on one row. Amazon Pay is a checkout button: shoppers pay with the cards and addresses already in their Amazon account, and the merchant pays 2.9% + $0.30 with no monthly fee. PayPal charges 3.49% + $0.49 for the equivalent wallet button, which is the more expensive of the two by a clear margin — but PayPal is also a full processor, taking ordinary cards at 2.99% + $0.49, in-person QR payments at 2.29% + $0.09, invoices, Pay Later and Venmo. The realistic decision is not which one to use; it is whether adding Amazon Pay alongside PayPal is worth it.
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Shopify Payments vs WooPayments
A-B
Neither of these is a processor you choose on its own — each one only runs on its own platform, so the real decision is Shopify or WooCommerce, and the payments follow. At the entry level both charge exactly 2.9% + 30¢ online. From there they diverge: Shopify buys down the rate on its more expensive plans and charges a penalty if you use anyone else, while WooPayments charges a flat rate forever, costs nothing per month, and lets you swap in any gateway you like at no cost.
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QuickBooks Payments vs Square
BA
Both are pay-as-you-go processors with no contract, but they are built around different halves of a business. QuickBooks Payments is a billing tool: its rates are the lowest published here on every card entry method, and every payment reconciles itself inside QuickBooks. Square is a point of sale: it costs more per swipe on the free plan, but it sells the hardware, runs the register, and charges nothing when a customer disputes a charge. The right answer follows from whether you invoice clients or ring people up.
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Helcim vs Stripe
A-A
This is the clearest interchange-plus versus flat-rate comparison on the market, because both companies publish their numbers in full. Helcim passes interchange through at cost and adds a stated margin that falls automatically as volume rises; Stripe charges the same 2.9% + 30¢ online whether you process $500 a month or $500,000. Helcim also refunds its chargeback fee when you win, funds you the next business morning for free, and includes invoicing and a storefront. Stripe is a developer platform first: a full API, cheaper hardware and 24/7 support on every account.
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Toast vs TouchBistro for restaurants
BC+
Both run restaurants, both charge $69 a month for their core plan, and neither will tell you your card processing rate before you talk to sales. The differences that are knowable up front are hardware and money movement: Toast runs only on Toast-approved hardware but deposits next business day and offers instant payouts; TouchBistro runs on iPads you can buy anywhere, but its next-day deposits depend on you banking with Chase. Toast also carries the healthier public record — an accredited A+ BBB profile against TouchBistro's unaccredited F.
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Shopify Payments vs PayPal
A-A-
For a Shopify store this is rarely an either/or, and the most repeated reason for treating it as one is wrong. Shopify's own documentation states that when Shopify Payments is activated, PayPal is excluded from third-party transaction fees, so accepting PayPal alongside Shopify Payments costs you nothing extra on the Shopify side. The real comparison is narrower: Shopify Payments has the better online rate once you are on a higher plan and is bundled into a subscription you already pay, while PayPal costs nothing to hold, is cheaper in person, and works everywhere Shopify Payments does not.
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Airwallex vs Payoneer
BB-
These two look like competitors and are really answers to different questions. Airwallex is a business financial platform: cheaper card acceptance, a published 0.5% FX markup, free domestic transfers and free cards, but it will not open an account for an individual. Payoneer is a cross-border receiving account built for freelancers, contractors and marketplace sellers, and it charges for almost every step, from a $29.95 annual card fee to 1.2%-4% on a withdrawal that converts currency. If you are a registered business, Airwallex is materially cheaper. If you are not, Airwallex is not an option at all.
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Toast vs Lightspeed for restaurants
BB+
Toast and Lightspeed both sell a restaurant POS at $69 a month and neither publishes a card processing rate, so the comparison is decided elsewhere. Lightspeed publishes the rest of its price list - $189 and $399 for the upper restaurant tiers, $30 a screen for kitchen display, a $15 chargeback fee - where Toast publishes nothing above $69 and quotes everything else. Toast's contract is the easier one to leave: it renews a year at a time on 30 days' notice, while Lightspeed's renews for the whole length of the original term and needs 90 days. Both charge an early termination fee equal to the rest of the term; only Lightspeed also claws back the discount you were given.
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Square vs Shopify Payments
AA-
Square and Shopify Payments come at the same merchant from opposite ends. Square is a processor that grew a store around itself: nothing to pay until you take a payment, money in your account the next business day, no dispute fee, and no contract. Shopify is a storefront that grew a processor inside it: you pay a monthly plan before you sell anything, but the online rate at the entry tier is lower, it falls further as you move up, and you can bolt on a different gateway if you need one. The decision is mostly about where your sales actually happen.
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Klarna vs Affirm
BB-
Klarna and Affirm both let a shopper split a purchase and both pay the merchant up front, but they are built around different baskets. Klarna's volume is short-term - pay in four, pay in thirty days - and it publishes a US rate card at 5.99% + $0.30. Affirm's is long-term: 70% of its FY2026 volume was interest-bearing monthly installments where the shopper pays the interest, which is why its blended merchant take is low even though its 0% APR promotions are the most expensive thing either company sells. Klarna is far larger in reach, with 120 million consumers and 1.2 million merchants against Affirm's 27.8 million and 571,000. Affirm charges a dispute fee only when you lose; Klarna charges one either way.
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Square vs SumUp
AB+
Both charge one flat rate, neither requires a contract, and both will have you taking cards the day the reader arrives. The difference is scope. SumUp is a card reader and a light POS: 2.6% + 10¢ in person, a $99 standalone reader, no monthly fee and nothing else to think about. Square is an entire commerce platform — full hardware line, e-commerce, invoicing with ACH, staff and inventory tools — at 2.6% + 15¢ in person and a nickel more per sale. For a merchant who only needs to take payments in person, SumUp is the cheaper and simpler answer. For nearly everyone else, the five cents buys a great deal.
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Lightspeed vs Clover
B+B
These are the two POS systems a growing retailer or restaurant usually ends up choosing between, and they are built on opposite commercial models. Lightspeed sells software directly at a published monthly price with one card-present rate attached, and supports it in house. Clover sells hardware — cheap to buy outright, cheaper to swipe on — but is mostly distributed by banks and resellers who set their own contract, support and, often, their own rates. Clover wins the price comparison on the published numbers. Lightspeed wins on inventory depth, on knowing what you will pay before you sign, and by a wide margin on customer sentiment.
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Helcim vs Dharma Merchant Services
A-A-
Helcim and Dharma are the two US processors that publish a real interchange-plus margin on their own websites instead of quoting it, which makes them directly comparable in a way most merchant accounts are not. Dharma's markup is lower on every transaction type; Helcim charges nothing fixed at all. The whole decision turns on volume: Dharma's $20 monthly fee costs more than the markup it saves until roughly $8,000 a month in card-present volume, after which it turns cheaper and keeps widening. Helcim wins on everything around the rate — published hardware prices, next-business-morning deposits, longer support hours and self-serve signup.
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Stripe vs Authorize.net
AA-
These are not the same kind of product, and the choice between them is structural before it is financial. Stripe is an all-in-one: gateway, processing and merchant account in a single relationship, at 2.9% + 30c with no monthly fee. Authorize.net is a gateway, owned by Visa and running since 1996, that you normally point at a merchant account you hold with a bank or ISO — $25 a month plus 10c a transaction and a 10c daily batch fee, with your acquirer's rate on top. It also sells an all-in-one plan at the same 2.9% + 30c as Stripe, but with the $25 monthly fee still attached, which makes it the more expensive way to buy the same thing. The reason to choose it anyway is that your merchant account, and the underwriting risk that comes with it, sits with your bank rather than with the processor.
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Square vs PayPal
AA-
PayPal is cheaper to take a card payment. Square is cheaper to run a business. PayPal's published in-person rate of 2.29% + 9c undercuts Square's 2.6% + 15c at every volume, its first card reader is $29 against Square's $59, and its point-of-sale app carries no monthly or setup fee — so on rate alone PayPal wins, and by more than most comparisons admit. Square earns its price back elsewhere: it charges nothing when a customer disputes a payment where PayPal charges $20, it applies no currency conversion spread where PayPal takes 4%, it publishes a next-business-day payout schedule, and its free plan is a real till with inventory, staff logins and offline payments rather than a card-reader app. Which of those two sets of facts matters more is genuinely a function of what you sell and to whom.
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Shopify Payments vs Stripe
A-A
This is not two rival processors. Shopify publishes a legal list of the payment processors behind Shopify Payments, and for the United States it names Stripe, Inc. So the question is not whose processing is better — it is the same processing — but whether you want it wrapped in Shopify's commerce platform or bought directly. Wrapped, you pay a Shopify plan fee from $29 a month and get a rate that improves as you move up plans, from 2.9% + 30c on Basic to 2.25% + 30c on Plus, plus a store, a checkout, POS and inventory. Direct, you pay nothing monthly, stay at 2.9% + 30c on standard pricing, and can build on anything. The row that decides it for most people is neither of those: Shopify charges 2% on Basic for using any processor other than Shopify Payments, which makes running Stripe inside a Shopify store irrational.
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CCBill vs Segpay for high-risk billing
B-B
Start with the thing both have in common: neither publishes a processing rate. CCBill sets out its pricing models — a flat-rate PSP offering with no monthly fee, or interchange-plus, tiered and discount-plus under its ISO offering — without attaching a single number to any of them. Segpay does not have a pricing page at all. So a comparison on price is impossible, and anyone quoting you 'CCBill charges X%' is guessing. What can be checked is everything underneath: which banks each is registered with, which regulators licence them, when they pay you, and how they handle your customers. On those, Segpay is the more disclosed of the two, and the more diversified — seven acquiring relationships against CCBill's concentrated pair, and a published payout day. CCBill is the older and larger platform, and the only one of the two that prints its high-risk registration costs.
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Toast vs Clover for restaurants
BB
Both are restaurant-capable POS systems that bundle hardware, software and card processing, and both lock you to their own devices. Toast is built for restaurants only and publishes the cheapest way in — a $0/month Starter Kit and a $69/month Point of Sale plan — but it does not publish its card rates anywhere on its site. Clover is a general-purpose platform sold in restaurant, retail and services configurations, and it does publish rates: 2.3% + 10c card-present and 3.5% + 10c keyed on the plans you can buy directly at clover.com. The trade is a cheaper, restaurant-native entry (Toast) against published pricing and a broader app market (Clover), with contract exit terms that are unpleasant on both sides.
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Stripe vs Braintree
AA-
These two are closer on price than the marketing suggests and further apart on scope. Braintree's published US card rate of 2.89% + $0.29 is fractionally under Stripe's 2.9% + 30c, it charges no keyed-entry surcharge, and its international surcharge is 1% against Stripe's 1.5%. But Braintree is an online-only processor owned by PayPal: its whole reason to exist is putting PayPal and Venmo in the same checkout as cards, and its US rate card publishes no card-present rate at all. Stripe publishes a full in-person rate and sells its own readers, cannot accept PayPal or Venmo for US merchants, and surrounds the processor with a product line — Billing, Tax, Radar, Connect, Issuing, Terminal — that Braintree does not attempt.
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Helcim vs Stax
A-B
Both sell the same promise — see the interchange, see the markup, no long-term contract — and reach it from opposite directions. Helcim charges nothing monthly and takes a published margin on each transaction, starting at interchange + 0.40% + 8c in person and shrinking automatically as your volume grows. Stax charges a subscription from $99 a month and takes no percentage markup at all, just 8c on a card-present sale and 15c on a keyed one. That makes this a straight arithmetic question for most merchants: below roughly $50,000 a month in card-present volume Helcim's percentage costs less than Stax's subscription, and above it the subscription starts to pay for itself.
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Stripe vs Adyen
AA-
Stripe for almost everyone; Adyen once you have the volume to negotiate and the channels to unify. Both publish their pricing, but they price differently: Stripe charges a flat 2.9% + $0.30 online and 2.7% + $0.05 in person, while Adyen passes interchange and scheme fees through at cost and adds $0.13 a transaction. Adyen's model is cheaper at scale, but it comes with a minimum monthly invoice, two months' notice to leave, terminal prices on request and an F at the BBB. Stripe has no minimum, no notice period, published hardware prices and an A+.
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Paddle vs FastSpring
BB+
Both are merchants of record for software and digital products: they become the legal seller, collect and remit sales tax and VAT worldwide, run subscriptions and handle fraud, and pay you the net. The differences are commercial. Paddle publishes its price, 5% + $0.50 per checkout transaction, and runs on 30 days' notice; FastSpring publishes no rate, quotes a volume-based revenue share and signs you to a one-year auto-renewing term. FastSpring pays out twice a month against Paddle's once, converts currency at 2.5% against Paddle's up to 1.5%, and holds an A- at the BBB against Paddle's F and a 2025 FTC settlement.
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Helcim vs Square
A-A
Helcim on price, Square on everything you can touch. Helcim charges interchange plus 0.40% + 8¢ in person and interchange plus 0.50% + 25¢ online, with automatic volume discounts and no monthly fee; for most card mixes that comes in under Square's 2.6% + 15¢ in person and 3.3% + 30¢ online on the free plan. Square answers with a $59 reader, a $299 terminal, an $899 register, free POS software with an online store built in, and no chargeback fee. Past roughly $10,000 a month Helcim's savings outrun Square's convenience; below it, Square's hardware and ecosystem usually win.
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Square vs Clover
AB
For most small businesses, Square is the safer choice — a published 2.6% + $0.15 in person, no monthly fee, month-to-month terms and free POS software, all of which you can verify before signing anything. Clover has the better hardware range and a deeper app marketplace, but its rate, chargeback fee and contract are set by whichever reseller signs you, so two identical shops can end up on wildly different deals. Choose Clover only if you need specific hardware or apps, and only after getting every figure in writing.
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Toast vs Square for restaurants
BA
For most independent restaurants, Square is the better choice — 2.6% + $0.15 in person, no monthly fee, and month-to-month terms you can leave at any time. Toast has genuinely deeper restaurant software and a slightly cheaper card rate at 2.49% + $0.15, but it costs $69 a month, locks you into two years, and charges $150 for every remaining month if you leave early — roughly $2,700 to exit an 18-month remainder. Choose Toast only if you will actually use the kitchen display, coursing and payroll.
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Stripe vs PayPal
AA-
Use Stripe as your processor and PayPal as a checkout button. On headline rate they are effectively identical — 2.9% + $0.30 against 2.89% + $0.29 — but Stripe charges $15 per chargeback to PayPal’s $20, has a far more predictable dispute process, and costs less internationally. PayPal’s value is buyer trust: a meaningful share of shoppers will complete a purchase with PayPal who would abandon a card form. Most successful online stores run both.
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Stripe vs Square
AA
Stripe and Square are leading payment processors that cater to different types of businesses. Stripe was built for online businesses and developers, offering extensive customization, global payment support, and powerful APIs that can handle everything from subscriptions to marketplace payments. However, businesses often need technical expertise to unlock its full potential, and customer support can be challenging to navigate. Square, on the other hand, focuses on simplicity and in-person commerce, providing user-friendly hardware, point-of-sale software, and integrated business tools such as inventory management, payroll, scheduling, and online ordering. While both charge similar rates for online transactions, Stripe may offer lower negotiated pricing for high-volume merchants, whereas Square's pricing is easier to understand, but can become costly as transaction volume grows. Neither platform is a good fit for high-risk businesses, as both operate as payment facilitators and may restrict or terminate accounts in industries with elevated risk profiles.
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PayKings vs Square
AA
PayKings and Square serve very different segments of the payment processing market. PayKings is a merchant services provider that focuses on helping high-risk businesses get approved for payment processing. It offers customized merchant accounts, payment gateways, and risk management tools for industries that are often declined by traditional processors. Approval typically involves underwriting, and pricing is tailored based on the business model, risk profile, and processing history. Square, by contrast, is a widely used all-in-one payment platform designed for low-risk businesses. It is known for its easy setup, flat-rate pricing, and integrated point-of-sale, online payments, and business management tools. Both payment service providers strive for a short approval processes.
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Corepay vs PayKings
BA
Corepay.net and PayKings.com are both payment processors. PayKings focuses on helping high-risk payment processors whereas Corepay focuses on both low and high-risk merchants. Both companies provide merchant accounts, gateways, and support for online payments, but their approaches, pricing transparency, and reputation vary.
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