Helcim vs Stax
Last updated: September 2, 2026
Helcim
A-
Helcim is a Calgary-based payment processing company that offers genuinely transparent interchange-plus pricing with no monthly fees, no hidden charges, and a comprehensive suite of free payment tools.
Stax
B
Stax is a payments technology company founded in 2014 that partners with SaaS companies, ISOs, and SMBs to enable flexible, multi-channel payment processing and invoicing solutions, claiming a distinctive subscription-based pricing model with 0% interchange markup.
VS
Overview
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.
Key Takeaways
- ✓Helcim charges $0 a month; Stax charges $99 up to $150K a year, $139 to $250K, and $199 or more above that.
- ✓Stax takes 0% markup on interchange — Helcim's base margin is 0.40% in person and 0.50% keyed, falling automatically with volume.
- ✓The per-transaction cents are identical on card-present sales at Helcim's entry tier: both charge 8c.
- ✓Helcim is the cheaper of the two until around $50,000 a month in card-present volume, on the two published rate cards.
- ✓Helcim publishes its hardware, ACH, chargeback and support terms in full; Stax's rate card is thinner and its support hours are not published.
Helcim
Helcim is for small and mid-sized merchants who do not want a monthly bill, want every fee written down before they sign, and process below roughly $50,000 a month — which is most independent retailers, restaurants and service businesses.
Stax
Stax is for higher-volume merchants, especially card-present ones above roughly $50,000 a month, who would rather pay a fixed subscription and hand nothing to the processor as a percentage — and for merchants in the states where Helcim's surcharging programme is not offered.
The Verdict
It Depends on Your Needs
Why?
This is one of the few comparisons where the answer really is a number rather than a judgement, and the number is roughly $50,000 a month in card-present volume. Below it, Helcim wins and wins clearly: no monthly fee, no PCI fee, no cancellation fee, a chargeback that costs nothing if you win it, cheaper ACH, published hardware prices, published support hours, and a margin that shrinks automatically as you grow without a phone call. Above it, Stax's arithmetic takes over — a fixed $199 or so a month against a percentage that keeps climbing with your volume — and the gap widens the more you process. Online-heavy merchants reach that crossing sooner, around $30,000 a month, because Stax is also 10c cheaper per keyed transaction. Two things push the decision beyond the maths: a seasonal business pays Stax's subscription through months it earns nothing, and Helcim is the more transparent of the two on the fees neither headline rate covers, which is why it carries the higher grade on this site.
Feature by feature
Detailed Comparison
Filter Options
Pricing model
| Feature | Helcim | Stax |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 Winner | $99/mo up to $150K a year; $139 to $250K; $199+ above |
| Stax's tiers are set by annual processing volume, and above $250,000 a year the published price is '$199+' with custom quotes, so the top tier is not a fixed number. | ||
| Card-present markup | Interchange + 0.40% + 8c (under $50K/month) | Interchange + 0% + $0.08 Winner |
| The cents are identical; the whole difference on a card-present sale is Helcim's 0.40% against Stax's monthly subscription. | ||
| Keyed and online markup | Interchange + 0.50% + 25c (under $50K/month) | Interchange + 0% + $0.15 Winner |
| Here Stax wins on the cents as well as the percentage — 15c against 25c — so its subscription pays for itself at a lower volume online than in person. | ||
| Volume discounts | Automatic, on a 3-month rolling average, down to interchange + 0.15% + 6c at $1M-$5M a month Winner | Subscription rises with annual volume; custom quote above $250K a year |
| Helcim publishes the whole ladder: 0.35% + 7c above $50K a month, 0.25% + 7c above $100K, 0.20% + 6c above $500K, 0.15% + 6c above $1M. Stax's direction of travel is the opposite — more volume means a larger subscription. | ||
| Recurring and card-on-file | +0.4% per transaction on top of the standard rate | Recurring billing included in the subscription at no extra charge Winner |
| ACH / bank transfers | 0.5% + 25c, capped at $6 Winner | 1%, capped at $10 |
Monthly fee
Helcim
$0
Winner
Stax
$99/mo up to $150K a year; $139 to $250K; $199+ above
Stax's tiers are set by annual processing volume, and above $250,000 a year the published price is '$199+' with custom quotes, so the top tier is not a fixed number.
Card-present markup
Helcim
Interchange + 0.40% + 8c (under $50K/month)
Stax
Interchange + 0% + $0.08
Winner
The cents are identical; the whole difference on a card-present sale is Helcim's 0.40% against Stax's monthly subscription.
Keyed and online markup
Helcim
Interchange + 0.50% + 25c (under $50K/month)
Stax
Interchange + 0% + $0.15
Winner
Here Stax wins on the cents as well as the percentage — 15c against 25c — so its subscription pays for itself at a lower volume online than in person.
Volume discounts
Helcim
Automatic, on a 3-month rolling average, down to interchange + 0.15% + 6c at $1M-$5M a month
Winner
Stax
Subscription rises with annual volume; custom quote above $250K a year
Helcim publishes the whole ladder: 0.35% + 7c above $50K a month, 0.25% + 7c above $100K, 0.20% + 6c above $500K, 0.15% + 6c above $1M. Stax's direction of travel is the opposite — more volume means a larger subscription.
Recurring and card-on-file
Helcim
+0.4% per transaction on top of the standard rate
Stax
Recurring billing included in the subscription at no extra charge
Winner
ACH / bank transfers
Helcim
0.5% + 25c, capped at $6
Winner
Stax
1%, capped at $10
Best For Your Business
Recommendations based on your business type
Independent retailer or cafe under $25,000 a month
Recommended
Helcim
At this volume Helcim's 0.40% markup costs about $100 a month against Stax's $99 to $199 subscription, and Helcim adds no PCI fee, no statement fee and no minimum. The subscription model has nothing to recover yet.
Established card-present business above $50,000 a month
Recommended
Stax
This is where Stax's model starts paying. Helcim's percentage on that volume approaches and then exceeds the subscription, and Stax's cost stops rising with your sales while Helcim's keeps climbing until the next volume tier.
Seasonal business — a market stall, a summer operation, a holiday retailer
Recommended
Helcim
Helcim charges nothing in a month you do not process. Stax's subscription is due whether the doors are open or not, so a business trading six months a year pays roughly twice the effective subscription on the volume it actually runs.
Online or invoice-led business with a low average ticket
Recommended
Stax
Stax charges 15c a keyed transaction against Helcim's 25c and takes no percentage, so a business running many small card-not-present payments reaches the crossover well below the card-present figure — around $30,000 a month at a $75 ticket, and lower on smaller tickets.
Business that wants to pass card costs to customers through surcharging
Recommended
Helcim
Both zero out the merchant's credit card cost by passing 3% to the cardholder, so the decision turns on debit, which cannot legally be surcharged. Helcim's Fee Saver charges the merchant 1.0% + 8c on PIN debit against Stax's 1.25% + 25c. Check the exclusions first — Fee Saver is not offered in Connecticut, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma or Quebec, and a merchant in one of those states should look at Stax instead.
Merchant switching away from a processor that hid its fees
Recommended
Helcim
Helcim states every account fee as $0 in writing — setup, PCI, statement, monthly minimum, cancellation — publishes its full volume-discount ladder, its hardware prices and its support hours. Stax's published card is thinner, and the fees it does not mention are the ones you were trying to escape.
Helcim: Best for 4 use cases
Stax: Best for 2 use cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this comparison
Helcim, until you are processing roughly $50,000 a month in card-present sales. Both charge 8c on a card-present transaction at these tiers, so the whole comparison is Helcim's 0.40% markup against Stax's subscription — and 0.40% of $49,750 is about $199, Stax's price above $250,000 a year. Below that, Helcim costs less; above it, Stax does. Online the crossover is lower, near $30,000 a month, because Stax charges 15c a keyed transaction where Helcim charges 25c.
It means Stax adds no percentage of its own to interchange. You pay the wholesale interchange cost, a flat 8c on a card-present sale or 15c on a keyed one, and a monthly subscription — $99 up to $150,000 a year of processing, $139 up to $250,000, and $199 or more above. The subscription is how Stax gets paid, so the more you process, the less it costs you as a share of sales.
No. Helcim states it has no contracts, no leases and no termination or cancellation fees at all. Stax is a month-to-month subscription and lists 'no cancellation fees' among the features included with it. Between two providers that both sell transparency, this is one of the few rows where they genuinely agree.
Helcim publishes its prices: $349 for the Smart Terminal outright or $32 a month on a one-year term, $199 for the card reader, an extra 10c a transaction to use Tap to Pay on iPhone with no hardware, and $7 a month for optional 4G. Stax sells compatible terminals but quotes device pricing on request rather than publishing it, and offers a $19-a-month protection plan with unlimited swaps.
They are close. Stax funds next business day as standard. Helcim advertises next business morning, but with conditions attached — the batch has to close by 7:00pm Mountain Time, the amount has to be under $25,000, and your bank has to be on RTP or FedNow. Miss any of those and it is one to two business days.
Yes, and it is the clearest structural difference between the two. Helcim averages your card volume over the most recent three months and moves you to the matching tier at the start of each month, with no call and no renegotiation: 0.40% + 8c in person under $50,000 a month, then 0.35% + 7c, 0.25% + 7c, 0.20% + 6c, and 0.15% + 6c between $1M and $5M. Stax moves the other way — more annual volume puts you in a higher subscription tier.
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