Comparison · Updated September 10, 2026
Authorize.net vs NMI
Authorize.net
A-
Authorize.Net is a mature, Visa-owned payment gateway that offers robust, developer-friendly payment tools, strong fraud controls, and wide platform integrations. Pricing and merchant-account terms that vary depending on whether you use Authorize.Net’s all-in-one plan or attach your own processor.
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
B-
NMI (Network Merchants, Inc.) is a mature, ISO/ISV-focused embedded-payments gateway and enablement platform with broad developer tooling and enterprise integrations, but merchant experiences can vary depending on the partner/acquirer relationship.
VS
Overview
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-.
Key Takeaways
- ✓Authorize.net publishes its price and NMI does not: $25 a month flat against a figure set by whichever reseller sells you the gateway.
- ✓Authorize.net can be bought direct; NMI reaches merchants only through an ISO, software platform or bank, usually under that partner's brand.
- ✓Authorize.net states no contract and no early termination fee on the gateway; NMI's terms are whatever the reselling partner writes.
- ✓NMI is the bigger platform in-person - 235,000+ connected devices and 300+ EMV certifications against Authorize.net's card reader and mobile POS options.
- ✓Neither gateway holds your money: settlement is 1-2 business days on both because the acquirer, not the gateway, sets the schedule.
Authorize.net
Authorize.net suits a merchant who wants to buy a gateway themselves, see the price before signing, and keep the freedom to walk away - a small online store, a subscription business, an office taking phone orders.
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
NMI suits a software platform, ISO or bank that wants to embed payments under its own brand across many merchants and devices, rather than a single merchant shopping for a gateway.
Overall Winner
🏆 Winner
Authorize.net
A-expert grade
Runner-up
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
Why?
For a merchant - which is who this comparison is for - Authorize.net wins, and it wins on availability before it wins on anything else. You can read NMI's price only by asking a reseller for a quote, and you cannot buy it from NMI at all. Authorize.net publishes $25 a month, 10c a transaction on the gateway-only plan, 2.9% + 30c if you want the merchant account bundled, no contract and no early termination fee, and it answers its own phone 24x7. That is a purchase a business owner can evaluate and reverse. The verdict is narrower than it looks, though, because the two are not really selling to the same buyer. NMI is the larger and in several respects the better platform - 1.2 million merchants, 150+ processor connections, 235,000 connected devices and 300+ EMV certifications, plus bank and real-time rails since it bought Dwolla in May 2026 - and if you are a software company or ISO embedding payments under your own brand across many merchants, it is the stronger foundation and Authorize.net is not really a competitor for the job. The honest way to put it: buy Authorize.net, or buy something built on NMI. What you cannot do is buy NMI.
Feature by feature
Detailed Comparison
Filter Options
Price and how you buy it
| Feature | Authorize.net | NMI (Network Merchants Inc) |
|---|---|---|
| How a merchant buys it | Direct from Authorize.net, or through a reseller Winner | Through an ISO, software platform or bank only |
| NMI's own site describes its customers as ISOs, software and SaaS platforms, banks and payment facilitators, not merchants. The gateway is white-labelled, so the merchant usually sees the reseller's name on the login and the statement rather than NMI's. | ||
| Monthly gateway fee | $25 on every published plan | Not disclosed |
| Authorize.net charges the same $25 across its All-in-One, Gateway Only and Gateway + eCheck plans. NMI publishes no rate card at all; the monthly fee is whatever the reselling partner sets. No winner marked - a competitive ISO may well undercut $25, and there is no way to know from the outside. | ||
| Per-transaction gateway fee | 10c on the Gateway Only plan | Not disclosed |
| Same caveat as the monthly fee: knowable on one side, quoted on the other. | ||
| All-in-one rate with a merchant account | 2.9% + 30c | Not offered - the reseller supplies it |
| Authorize.net's All-in-One plan bundles a merchant account at 2.9% + 30c on top of the $25. NMI is a gateway only, so the merchant account and its rate always come from the partner. Not a like-for-like row - it is here because it is the plan most small merchants actually buy. | ||
| Daily batch fee | 10c on the Gateway Only and eCheck plans | Not disclosed |
| eCheck / ACH | 0.75% per transaction, $10 monthly minimum | Not disclosed |
| Authorize.net's eCheck option is US-only. NMI added bank and real-time rails by acquiring Dwolla in May 2026 but publishes no price for them, so this is a published figure against an unknown one rather than a cheaper one against a dearer one. | ||
| Setup fee | $0 | Not disclosed |
How a merchant buys it
Authorize.net
Direct from Authorize.net, or through a reseller
Winner
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
Through an ISO, software platform or bank only
NMI's own site describes its customers as ISOs, software and SaaS platforms, banks and payment facilitators, not merchants. The gateway is white-labelled, so the merchant usually sees the reseller's name on the login and the statement rather than NMI's.
Monthly gateway fee
Authorize.net
$25 on every published plan
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
Not disclosed
Authorize.net charges the same $25 across its All-in-One, Gateway Only and Gateway + eCheck plans. NMI publishes no rate card at all; the monthly fee is whatever the reselling partner sets. No winner marked - a competitive ISO may well undercut $25, and there is no way to know from the outside.
Per-transaction gateway fee
Authorize.net
10c on the Gateway Only plan
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
Not disclosed
Same caveat as the monthly fee: knowable on one side, quoted on the other.
All-in-one rate with a merchant account
Authorize.net
2.9% + 30c
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
Not offered - the reseller supplies it
Authorize.net's All-in-One plan bundles a merchant account at 2.9% + 30c on top of the $25. NMI is a gateway only, so the merchant account and its rate always come from the partner. Not a like-for-like row - it is here because it is the plan most small merchants actually buy.
Daily batch fee
Authorize.net
10c on the Gateway Only and eCheck plans
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
Not disclosed
eCheck / ACH
Authorize.net
0.75% per transaction, $10 monthly minimum
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
Not disclosed
Authorize.net's eCheck option is US-only. NMI added bank and real-time rails by acquiring Dwolla in May 2026 but publishes no price for them, so this is a published figure against an unknown one rather than a cheaper one against a dearer one.
Setup fee
Authorize.net
$0
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
Not disclosed
Best For Your Business
Recommendations based on your business type
Small online store buying a gateway itself
Recommended
Authorize.net
You can sign up directly, you know the price before you commit - $25 a month plus 10c a transaction on the gateway-only plan - and there is no contract to leave. NMI has no route to you that does not go through a reseller who sets your price.
Subscription or membership business
Recommended
Authorize.net
Automated Recurring Billing and the Customer Information Manager vault are included and documented, and the Advanced Fraud Detection Suite's 13 filters cost nothing extra. You can build against all of it without a sales conversation.
Software platform embedding payments for its own customers
Recommended
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
This is precisely what NMI is built and sold for. It white-labels under your brand, connects to 150+ processors so your customers keep their existing acquirer, and since the Dwolla acquisition adds bank and real-time rails alongside cards. Authorize.net is not designed to disappear behind someone else's product.
Retailer running terminals across several locations
Recommended
NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
NMI's 300+ EMV device certifications and 235,000 connected devices are the reason terminal-heavy businesses end up on it, usually via an ISO. Authorize.net's in-person offering - a reader on a computer, or mobile POS - is built for one counter, not an estate. Expect to buy it through a reseller and to negotiate that reseller's contract carefully.
Merchant who wants to compare gateway prices before signing anything
Recommended
Authorize.net
Only one of these two lets you do that. NMI's price does not exist until a partner quotes it, which makes a genuine comparison impossible until you are already deep in a sales process.
Authorize.net: Best for 3 use cases
NMI (Network Merchants Inc): Best for 2 use cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this comparison
No. NMI sells to ISOs, software platforms, banks and payment facilitators, who resell the gateway to merchants - usually white-labelled, so the name you see on the login screen and your statement is theirs rather than NMI's. If you are on NMI today, you bought it from somebody else, and that somebody sets your pricing, writes your contract and answers your support calls. Authorize.net can be bought either way: direct from Authorize.net, or through a reseller.
Unanswerable as a general question, and that is the point. Authorize.net publishes $25 a month on every plan, with 10c per transaction and a 10c daily batch fee on Gateway Only, 2.9% + 30c if you take the bundled merchant account, and 0.75% on eCheck with a $10 monthly minimum. NMI publishes nothing, so its cost depends entirely on which reseller sells it to you and what margin they add. A well-priced NMI deal from a competitive ISO can beat Authorize.net; a badly-priced one can cost several times as much, and you will not know which you have without comparing quotes.
Yes. Both are gateways, not acquirers - they authorise transactions and pass them to a processor, but neither holds or funds your money. Authorize.net's All-in-One plan bundles a merchant account with the gateway at 2.9% + 30c, which is the closest either comes to a single purchase. Everything else on both sides needs a separate merchant account, and that account's contract, rate and termination terms are negotiated with whoever provides it.
Yes, but modestly. It offers a virtual point of sale that takes payments through a compatible card reader connected to a computer, mobile point of sale for phones and tablets, and a virtual terminal for keyed and phone orders. That covers a single counter or a business that mostly sells online and occasionally in person. It is not comparable to NMI's card-present footprint - 235,000+ connected devices and 300+ EMV device certifications - which is why terminal-led businesses generally end up on an NMI-based gateway from an ISO.
Yes - it describes itself as a wholly owned subsidiary of Visa. It was founded in 1996 and reached Visa through the acquisition of CyberSource. In practice this shows up as stability and reach rather than as preferential card rates: your rate still comes from your merchant account provider, not from the gateway's ownership. NMI, founded in 2001 and based in Schaumburg, Illinois, is privately held and backed by the private equity firms Francisco Partners, Insight Partners and Great Hill Partners.
The same, and neither gateway decides it. Settlement is typically 1-2 business days on both because the funding schedule belongs to your acquirer - the merchant account behind the gateway - not to the gateway itself. Authorize.net advises allowing two to three days. If payout speed is what you are shopping for, the question to ask is about the merchant account, not about Authorize.net or NMI.
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