8 Best Virtual Terminals for Small Businesses in 2022

The downside to Square’s extensive feature set, especially for those businesses that do high-volume sales, is the transaction fee, which is the highest on our list. If you have consistent sales of over $5,000 per month, do a price comparison against Payline Data, Payment Depot, or Helcim, which offer interchange-plus pricing. (Payline Data has a monthly calculator on its website so you can quickly compare pricing.)

As you consider costs, however, keep in mind all the tools Square provides that you may otherwise have to pay for. As your business grows and you’re processing over $250,000 annually, you can apply for lower, custom rates through Square. Here are the standard fees:

• Keyed-in (virtual terminal) transaction fees: 3.5% + 15 cents
• In-person (swipe, dip, tap) transaction fees: 2.6% + 10 cents
• Invoice transaction fees: 2.9% + 30 cents
• Ecommerce transaction fees: 2.9% + 10 cents
• ACH/bank transfer fees: 1% with $1 minimum

The virtual terminal includes inventory, recurring payments, and receipts. (Source: Square)

Square comes with free POS software for handling inventory and managing customers. It integrates with the virtual terminal, so you can itemize sales, calculate taxes, input discounts, and save customer information. Most of the other virtual terminals on our list are more basic, requiring you to manually input the items and prices unless you tie it to a POS system. Chase, in particular, says it will integrate inventory, but does not provide a POS system.

Like most Square products, the virtual terminal is free, easy to set up, and user-friendly. Plus, it’s fully integrated into Square, so inventory gets updated, and changes in your online store are also reflected in the virtual terminal. If you integrate with QuickBooks or other accounting software, the information from the virtual terminal is tied in as well.

The free mobile app comes with a card reader, so you can take advantage of the lower in-person transaction rate.

In addition to features, Square stands out in chargeback protection by waiving chargeback fees of up to $250 each month. Square itself does not charge fees, but other payment processors, such as PayPal or the financial institution in question, may. Payline Data and Payment Depot have comparable chargeback programs.

If you do high-volume sales, Square may be cost-prohibitive, even when considering POS software and membership fees charged by some payroll providers. We suggest checking out Payline Data, Payment Depot, and Helcim. In addition to virtual terminals, some offer free POS software with specific plans.

Square does not deal with high-risk businesses. We recommend PaymentCloud if you have a high-risk business. For other options, check out our recommendations on high-risk merchant account providers.

Finally, if you already have a merchant account or payment gateway, they won’t integrate with Square. Clover would be your best bet in this case.

Helcim’s free monthly plan and automated volume discounts set it apart from the rest of the payment processors on our list. Card-not-present transaction rates, including virtual terminals, range from Interchange plus 0.2% + 10 cents per transaction (if your sales average more than $5,000,000 a month) to 0.5% + 25 cents (for average sales of $2,500 and below a month).

This is considerably cheaper than Payline Data’s 0.75% + 20 cents, but more expensive than Payment Depot’s interchange + 15 cents (although note that you have to pay at least $59 in monthly fees).

Helcim lets you key in a card payment or you can select the customer’s card stored in your Helcim card vault. (Source: Helcim)

Helcim offers a simple virtual terminal that lets you put in credit card information. You can also store it to look up later. All the services on our list share this feature, but many of those we evaluated did not. In addition to one-time sales, you can easily send invoices or set up recurring payments to automatically bill customers at a schedule of your choosing.

The virtual terminal also works on any device, making it a great tool for taking payments on the sales floor as well as at the register. You also get a mobile app and a free POS system that can work on your existing smartphone, iPad, or tablet. Finally, it accepts ACH payments, something you don’t find with some of the payment processors on our list, like PayPal.

Helcim tokenizes credit card information in the card vault so that sensitive card information does not touch your system, providing better security for your customers. The platform itself is PCI-compliant, which is necessary for businesses. In some cases, like with Payline’s Start Plan, you need to provide that compliance yourself. Helcim’s Fraud Defender analyzes each transaction before it happens to give you a score on perceived risk. You can even set it to automatically decline transactions below a certain score. It does not always charge for chargebacks, and when it does, the cost is comparable to that of PayPal.

Unlike Square, Helcim does not seem to tie inventory to its virtual terminal. It’s also not suited for high-risk businesses unlike PaymentCloud. You cannot use Helcim’s virtual terminal with a different merchant account—for that, look at Clover.

Like all interchange-plus merchant services (including Payment Depot), Helcim has an application and approval process. It’s designed for existing businesses that already have a steady processing volume. If you’re just starting out, you’ll likely want a service that’s designed for new businesses, like Square, which doesn’t have an approval process.

The best thing about Payment Depot’s price is that there is no percentage markup. You only pay a flat fee of 8 cents to 15 cents per transaction, plus the interchange price that every processor charges. No other virtual terminal on our list does this. (Some, like Square, Chase, and PayPal fold the interchange charge into their rates.) If you process high-dollar-value transactions, you could save thousands of dollars. It also offers a calculator to help you determine how much you’re paying.

Plans run from $59 to $99 per month, depending on your monthly processing, and the transaction fee goes down with higher plans. These are the highest monthly fees of any option on this list, but plans include a free virtual terminal and may include equipment as well.

Payment Depot offers several virtual terminals, depending on the plan you purchase. Shown here: Authorize.net. (Source: Authorize.net demo)

Unlike most of the products on this list, Payment Depot does not have its own virtual terminal, but gives you a choice of several, depending on your plan. Usually, you get Authorize.net or SwipeSimple. For higher plans or specific situations, you may do better with PayTrace or NMI. Your sales representative will help you find the best one, along with POS software and equipment.

Because of the choice of virtual terminals (something you also find with Payline and Chase), the specific features will vary. However, Payment Depot itself integrates with QuickBooks, POS systems, and other software. It reprograms your POS equipment for free.

We give Payment Depot kudos for customer support. I sent a question via the contact form and got a call minutes later. The support person was friendly, helpful, and did not try to hard-sell me anything. Other FSB reviewers have had similar experiences, and the user reviews also call out the great service.

While we prefer Chase Merchant Services for B2B sales, Payment Depot also offers credit card processing with Level 2 and 3 rates. It does this through PayTrace, which requires you to upgrade to a higher membership plan.

Unlike the virtual terminal providers on our list that have straight rates, Payment Depot’s charges vary by interchange rate, which is determined by the financial institution issuing the credit. Thus, you may see variations in your credit card fees. This is also true with Helcim, PaymentCloud, and Payline. While the interchange-plus pricing model is a more affordable option for high-volume businesses, it makes the fees a little more unpredictable.

Payment Depot itself does not have a virtual terminal, POS software, or inventory management. Rather, it integrates with third-party systems, some of which it may provide free with higher plans. Nonetheless, consider that you will need to pay for such software if you go with this provider. Naturally, for the best virtual terminal system with a POS, we suggest Square.

Chase provides payment processing for its business customers, so you have to start with a Chase Business Checking account. This comes with a $15/month fee unless you keep a daily balance of over $2,000, purchase over $2,000 on your Chase Ink business card, take in over $2,000 in deposits from Chase Merchant Service transactions, or link to a Chase Private Client checking account.

The transaction rates vary by platform, but for virtual terminals, they are 3.5% + 10 cents per keyed-in transaction, which is slightly less than Square’s keyed-in rate. Like PaymentCloud (and possibly Payline Data), there may be room to negotiate for better rates. Some influencing factors are volume of sales and whether or not you process B2B sales, which are more secure and usually have lower rates.

Chase’s Orbital Virtual Terminal lets you save customer data including card information to use again. (Source: Chase)

Chase lets you have a choice of payment gateways, which means you can also choose a different virtual terminal. However, Chase has its own—Orbital Virtual Terminal. It lets you process purchases and refunds. It also allows splitting of shipments, something we did not find in other virtual terminals, but which makes it well suited for sales that might need a deposit.

Unlike many of the virtual terminals on our list, Chase supports Level 2 and Level 3 card processing, which can get you better rates. You may also be able to process international currencies and electronic checks like PayPal. All you need to do is discuss this when setting up your account.

Another advantage Chase has over other merchant services is that, with a Chase bank account, you can get your funds the same or next day. Square charges extra for this, while PayPal will send money immediately but only to your PayPal account.

Like Clover and PaymentCloud, you may have to sign a long-term contract. This is not true for every case, but if you want quick month-to-month service, consider Square, which has similar rates.

Chase does not have a POS system like Square and Helcim do, but integrates with most POS software. It does have card readers and POS terminals, some of which can also be purchased on Amazon and elsewhere.

Payline has a monthly fee in return for which it offers low interchange-plus pricing. The fees run $20 for online transactions and $10 for in-person transactions. The virtual terminal has a one-time fee of $10, after which it costs nothing. Payline has a free one-month trial.

For online and virtual terminal sales, it charges interchange + 0.75% + 20 cents (a significant increase from 0.4% + 20 cents since our last update). Compare this to Payment Depot, which has only a 8 cents to 15 cents transaction fee but a higher monthly membership.

Payline stands out from the rest, however, in its special pricing for medical facilities, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions.

• Transaction fee for medical: Interchange + 0.2% + 10 cents
• Transaction fee for nonprofit, educational: Interchange + 0.1% + 10 cents

The Payline virtual terminal can be accessed on the web or mobile. Source: (Payline Data)

Payline’s focus on medical, nonprofits, and educational services goes beyond reduced rates. The virtual terminal is HIPAA-compliant to protect patient data, something we did not see in other virtual terminal software. It also has invoicing software.

Nonprofits and educational services can benefit from the ACH transfer capability, which was not found in most terminals. An additional benefit for nonprofits is they get a free hosted payments page.

Payline uses Verifi for chargeback protection. In addition to data to help you discover fraudulent transactions, it alerts you to chargebacks faster and gives you 72 hours to resolve the dispute before it becomes a chargeback.

The Payline Data website says it provides payment processing for high-risk businesses; however, according to a Payline rep, it actually refers high-risk merchants to PaymentCloud, which is on this list. It adds a 0.1% per transaction fee for high-risk charges.

Payline Data offers virtual terminals through CardPointe, NMI, Transax, and Authorize.net. All provide tokenization and PCI compliance. Some offer customer management and allow for subscriptions, recurring payments, and electronic invoicing.

Payline does not handle international sales. For this, consider PayPal or Chase. It also does not handle inventory, which you can find in Clover, Square, and PayPal.

Its customer support hours are limited: 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Central time, Monday–Friday. The online support consists of a brief FAQs page with no how-to guides. In general, we’ve been able to get in contact with Payline customer support and sales representatives easily.

PaymentCloud is the only virtual terminal on our list that does not have any publicly disclosed pricing. However, this does not come as a surprise—most high-risk merchant account providers do not disclose pricing because rates are customized to each business. A quick call with a PaymentCloud representative, however, gave us an overview of their rates:

• Monthly fee: $25–$30
• Medium-risk transaction fee: 2.69%–3.29%
• High-risk transaction fee: 2.95%–4.25%
• Payment gateway fee: $15 per month (average)
• Chargeback fee: $25
• Early termination fee: Waived

It negotiates with its partner banks to get you the best rates it can; plus, it does not charge application, setup, or annual fees.

PaymentCloud includes recurring billing and invoicing. (Source: PaymentCloud)

PaymentCloud is different from most others on our list because instead of having its own virtual terminal (like Helcim and Square), it actually connects to third-party solutions like Authorize.net. Just as PaymentCloud is supportive and hands-on through the merchant service application process, the company is also very hands-on with setting up virtual terminals and making sure the solution works with any existing software you may use.

PaymentCloud has relationships with over 10 banks that can handle high-risk customers. When you sign up, you go through a step-by-step application process to make sure you have all the documents needed to get approved by one of their partner banks. It can take longer than other virtual terminals, such as Square or PayPal, which are sign-up-and-go, but that’s because of the nature of being a high-risk business.

It provides PCI compliance, fraud protection, data encryption, and multiple security verifications such as Visa 3D Secure, Mastercard SecureCode, JCB International J/Secure, and American Express SafeKey.

Like PayPal and Chase, PaymentCloud accepts electronic check payments and credit and debit cards. Some of the virtual terminals on our list, like Square and Helcim, process ACH transfers instead.

Like most of the virtual terminal providers on our list, PaymentCloud does not have a POS system, although it will integrate with one. Its pricing is not transparent, so you need to call and undergo an application process.

Clover’s pricing is difficult to pin down because it has hundreds of resellers, many of whom offer discounted or even free Clover systems. The transaction rates similarly vary. When purchased directly through the Clover website, POS prices are from $0 to $44.95 per month, depending on your system, plus transaction fees of 3.5% + 15 cents for keyed-in transactions, which is on par with Square.

You can subscribe to Clover’s virtual terminal instead of signing up for a hardware plan. (Source: Clover)

Like the other virtual terminals on our list, you can access Clover from any device over the web and process payments or refunds on the spot. It only processes credit or debit, unlike Square and Helcim, which handle ACH payments, or PayPal and Chase, which can accept echecks. You can also request payments via email and receive payments online.

Clover is unique in that you can use its virtual terminal with hundreds of different payment providers. (Chase and Payment Depot, on the other hand, require you to use them as a merchant service and select a virtual terminal.) Like PaymentCloud and Chase, Clover can integrate with some CRM software, such as Zoho.

It provides needed security features like AVS and CVV recording, PCI compliance, and some fraud tools. You can store card information on your system for recurring transactions. Any other fraud protection is dependent on the merchant service. However, it does offer $100,000 in liability protection in case of a data breach, something we did not find with any other virtual terminal provider.

It’s important to note that most of the complaints about Clover are not about the terminal or the Clover systems so much as the payment processor. Clover does not monitor its resellers, so it’s vital that you do your homework. Many tempt you with free systems in return for long-term contracts that are expensive to break, for example. While this does not apply to a virtual terminal, per se, Clover systems are keyed to your merchant service, meaning if you change providers, you need to change hardware.

PayPal charges $30 per month for use of the virtual terminal, which fails in comparison to Square, which offers similar tools (POS, payment processing) for free. However, Square’s transaction rates are slightly higher with PayPal offering 3.09% + 49 cents per transaction for standard virtual terminal rates. It also offers a discounted transaction fee of 2.39% + 49 cents for nonprofits.

If your business regularly accepts large volumes of sales, you should consider providers with interchange plus pricing rates such as Payline Data, Payment Depot, or Helcim.

You can use the terminal to send invoices on desktop or mobile. (Source: PayPal)

Like with Square, when you sign up for PayPal, you have access to a lot of free tools, such as the free POS software, Zettle, and its mobile app. It’s also remarkably easy to add a PayPal button to online stores, social media, and more.

PayPal also comes with an application that lets your customers make installment payments rather than paying in full. Combine all these with international payment processing, you have a system that can take payments in any currency and through any venue.

It’s a simpler terminal than you can find with Square or some of those offered by the interchange-plus pricing services like Payment Depot, Payline, or Helcim. However, it does not integrate with PayPal’s POS solution, limiting its ability for inventory tracking or itemizing sales. That said, you still have access to these tools through PayPal and a multitude of other third-party apps.

Two of PayPal’s strengths, of course, are its international reach—200 currencies, with an international exchange—and how quickly you can access your funds. If you have a PayPal account or credit card, you will be able to use your profits in minutes. Transferring money to your bank takes four or more business days. Compare this to Chase, which also does international payment processing and can transfer funds into your Chase account the same day or next.

There have been complaints by users that PayPal is quick to hold funds that it deems suspect such as if you have a sudden increase in sales or go well beyond your average sales earnings. It’s also been known to freeze accounts without warning, a potentially disastrous thing for a business that depends solely on PayPal for processing.

PayPal charges nearly 50 cents per transaction in addition to the percentage. If your sales are generally small and frequent, you may find this more expensive than Square, and for high-volume sales, you’ll probably benefit from an interchange-plus payment processor like Helcim, Payment Depot, or Payline, who all charge a monthly fee as well but offer much lower rates.