5 Best Online Payment & Credit Card Processors for 2023

Stripe is a highly popular credit card processor that often makes our lists of the best merchant services and payment gateways, specifically for its online payment processing tools. Its invoicing and inexpensive ACH transaction fees also make it a good choice for B2B payment processing. Stripe has the most integrations of any software on our list, and its detailed help sections make it a favorite for websites and other software developers.

With Stripe’s free account, online merchants get access to all of its payment processing tools including advanced payment gateway and fraud management, a virtual terminal, an account updater, and 25 invoices per month. However, it charges extra for some services and lacks ready-to-use mobile payment apps. If you like Stripe for its developer-friendly customization features but prefer a dedicated merchant account, consider Braintree.

• Monthly fee: $0
• Transaction processing fees:
  • Ecommerce: 2.9% + 30 cents
  • Card-present: 2.7% + 5 cents
  • Keyed-in: 3.4% + 30 cents
  • Touchless: 2.9% + 30 cents
  • Tap-to-pay on mobile: +10 cents per authorization
  • Virtual terminal: 2.9% + 30 cents
  • ACH: 0.8%, $5 cap
  • Invoicing: + 0.4%–0.5%
  • Recurring Billing: + 0.5%–0.8%
  • International payments: + 1.5% fee, 1% spread for currency conversion
• Stripe Checkout: $10 per month if using custom domain
• Chargeback fee: $15
• Deposit speed: 2 business days, or 1%, minimum 50 cents for instant payout

If you don’t need all the versatility and integrations Stripe can provide, Helcim is a cheaper alternative that offers high-quality credit card processing service. Helcim provides the best value for high-volume businesses, with interchange-plus pricing, automated volume discounts, and smart zero-cost processing. In addition, it offers free tools for invoicing, recurring payments, ecommerce, and a virtual terminal.

Other than the reasonable rates, Helcim has few additional charges. Even the chargeback fees are refunded to you if you win the dispute. It also works for international credit card processing and has Level 2 or Level 3 processing capability for B2B sales.

Since our last update, Helcim has updated its pricing with processing fees that now range from interchange plus 0.15% + 6 cents to 0.4% + 8 cents for card-present transactions, and interchange plus 0.15% + 15 cents to 0.50% + 25 cents for card-not-present transactions. Automatic discount now begins at $50,001 in monthly sales volume so merchants that process smaller volumes per month should consider better alternatives.

Other transaction fees:

• American Express transactions: 0.10% + 10 cents
• Domestic ACH Transfers: 0.5% + 25 cents per transaction
• Chargeback fees: $15 (refundable)

Square often tops our lists for credit card processors for retail, mobile, and more. Here, we find it the best for retailers that may have a physical store but are expanding online, or those looking to start an online store with the option of selling at physical locations as well. Its online and physical systems sync, making bookkeeping a breeze, and it offers excellent tools that can grow with your business.

With free POS software, payment processing, website builders, invoicing, virtual terminal, and team management, merchants can set up a business with practically zero upfront or monthly software costs. However, Square Payments is locked into Square’s ecosystem, where scalability is limited for larger volume merchants that need to manage complex inventory. For example, merchants dealing primarily with cross-border sales should look at other options like Stripe, while those who need B2B payment processing should consider Helcim instead.

• Card-present transaction fee: 2.6% + 10 cents per transaction
• Online transaction fee: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction
• Keyed-in payments and card-not-present: 3.5% + 15 cents per transaction
• Invoice payments: 3.3% + 30 cents per transaction
• Recurring billing and card-on-file transactions: 3.5% + 15 cents per transaction
• Volume discounts: Square will create custom pricing packages for any business processing over $250,000 in credit card sales.

Authorize.net is an extremely popular online payment processing system. You can use it as a full payment processor or find a different merchant account with better rates and use Authorize.net as the payment gateway to take advantage of its integrations and tools. Regardless, you do pay a $25 fee and have access to its free invoicing, POS, checkout tools, and customer information management system. Authorize.net protects your online transactions with Level 1 PCI-compliant features and advanced fraud protection tools.

With an Authorize.net payment gateway, merchants can accept all remote transaction methods including B2B, cross-border, invoicing, and recurring transactions. And while it does not have its own website builder, Authorize.net is a popular integration for leading ecommerce platforms. Authorize.net can also accept all payment types including PayPal.

The All-in-One solution offers a merchant account and payment gateway. It charges 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction, which is average, and 0.75% for ACH transactions, which is cheaper than Square.

If you choose the Payment Gateway only, you will need to get a separate merchant account and pay those processing fees. You then pay an additional 10 cents per transaction and a daily batch fee of 10 cents.

PayPal is one of the most popular payment methods today, often used in conjunction with other payment types. In fact, studies have shown that offering PayPal as an option can increase the number of completed sales online by an average of 28%. PayPal also offers easy-to-use “buy now” buttons for social media and hosting for product information, so you can sell on social media without an ecommerce platform.

As a payment processor itself, it offers excellent online rates and its own BNPL tool. It can also accept cryptocurrency, something we did not find in Helcim or Authorize.net. We don’t recommend it for virtual terminals or invoicing, however, because of the extra fees attached and the high cap on echeck processing.

PayPal’s transaction fees are a little complicated essentially because it charges different transaction rates for credit card payments depending on which PayPal method is being used. This is unlike most merchant processors that simply vary based on card-present or card-not-present method.

• Via PayPal Checkout methods: 3.49% + 49 cents per transaction
• Via QR code: 1.9% + 10 cents per transactions above $10
• Via credit card: 2.59% + 49 cents per transaction
• Chargeback protection: + 0.4% per credit card transaction
• Card-present including Apple Pay and Google Pay: 2.29% + 49 cents per transaction
• E-check fees: 3.49% capped at $300
• Chargeback fees: $20 for transactions not processed through a buyer’s PayPal account or through guest checkout.
• Same-day funding: 1.50% of the amount transferred
• Recurring billing service: $10/month optional service available for PayPal Online Card Payment Service and Payment Gateway users
• Recurring payment tool: $30/month optional service available for PayPal Online Card Payment Service users

Online credit card processing is simply the ability to accept credit card payments online—on your website, through an invoice sent by email, or even via social media sites like Instagram. Most merchant services can process credit cards online as well as in person.

In general, the steps are the same—submission, authorization, and funding. However, the main difference is that you never see the actual credit card. Also, there is a higher risk of credit card fraud (because you are not able to verify the user in person) and of friendly fraud, where someone may forget an online purchase or not recognize your business name on their bill. Thus, it’s important to look for strong fraud prevention tools and low chargeback rates.

Rates for in-person payment transactions are usually cheaper than online or keyed-in rates, as well.

You need a credit card processor that handles online payments. Then you need the tools for accepting payments online, such as an ecommerce site or digital invoicing. Most online payment processors offer such tools, but their exact offerings vary widely.

Most provide the basics: a payment button you can code onto your website or ecommerce platform or an actual checkout page. Nearly all have invoice software that lets you send an invoice with a link or button to pay online; a few charge for this, however. The best also have tools for recurring billing, website or web page creation, and of course, integrating into other software that take payments online.

The price varies by processor, but in our research, we’ve seen prices from around 2.4% + 8 cents to 3.49% + 49 cents. Some payment processors charge monthly fees in return for lower rates, while others have fees for specific services like invoicing or virtual terminals.

When considering price, do your research. Those that charge fees, like Stax (not on our list), offer lower rates that save you more than the fee. Others, like Square, offer an excellent range of free tools that can make the slightly higher rate worthwhile. Regardless, always check the fine print for contract obligations and “hidden fees” like cancellation fees, batch processing, and the like. The services on our list do not have these.

Learn more about credit card processing fees.