Payment Gateways, Explained and Compared, for Businesses That Already Have Software
You built your store, your billing or your practice software around a gateway years ago. You should not have to rebuild it to stop overpaying. Below: how gateways and processors fit together, what each gateway charges, which ones are being retired, and how to move without losing stored cards or orders.
A gateway captures the card; a processor moves the money. On standalone gateways (Authorize.net, NMI, accept.blue, Fluidpay, PayTrace) you pay both, often to two companies. On bundled providers (Stripe, Braintree, WooPayments, Shopify Payments) one flat rate covers both.
The gateway fee is $0 to $30 a month and almost never decides the bill. The processing model does: flat 2.9% + 30¢ versus interchange plus a stated markup. Above roughly $10,000 to $15,000 a month card-not-present, standalone plus interchange-plus wins by 0.4% to 0.8% of volume.
Every gateway below can export stored cards to another PCI-compliant gateway. Migrations take one to five weeks. We supply gateway and processing on one month-to-month bill, or re-price the processing behind the gateway you keep.
How Gateways Work and What They Cost
What a Payment Gateway Is, What It Is Not, and Whether You Need One
A gateway captures the card at checkout and sends it for authorization. The processor and merchant account move the money. How the three fit and what each costs.
Payment Gateway Pricing in 2026: What Each Gateway Charges and What It Adds Up To
Monthly, per-item and processing fees for Authorize.net, NMI, accept.blue, Fluidpay, Stripe, Braintree, Helcim and Shopify, with all-in cost at three volumes.
Hosted Payment Pages, Tokenization and PCI: How to Take Cards Online With the Smallest Compliance Burden
Hosted pages, hosted fields, tokenization and vaults explained, and how each integration choice sets your PCI questionnaire (SAQ A, A-EP, C-VT or D) and liability.
Virtual Terminals: Taking Card Payments by Phone, Mail and Email Without a Machine
How a virtual terminal works, what keyed phone and mail orders cost, why keyed rates run higher, stored-card and PCI rules for staff, and which gateways include one.
Level 3, Recurring, ACH, 3D Secure and High Risk
What each feature does, what it saves or prevents, and which gateways have it.
Level 2 and Level 3 Processing: Lower Interchange on Commercial Cards for B2B Sellers
What Level 2 and 3 data are, which transactions qualify, how much interchange drops on commercial cards, and the gateway and pricing model that make the saving reach you.
Recurring Billing for Small Businesses: How Gateway Subscriptions, Vaults and Account Updater Work
How recurring billing runs inside a gateway, what a vault and Account Updater do, why cards fail and how retries recover them, and gateway tools vs subscription software.
ACH and eCheck Processing for Small Businesses: Costs, Timing and Setup Through Your Gateway
How ACH and eCheck payments run through a gateway, what they cost against cards, settlement timing, return codes and risk, and which businesses should push bank payments.
3D Secure and Chargebacks: How Online Merchants Shift Fraud Liability and Cut Disputes
How 3D Secure 2 works, when it shifts chargeback liability to the issuer, its effect on conversion, what chargebacks really cost, and the settings that prevent them.
High-Risk Payment Processing: Which Businesses Are Classified High Risk, What They Pay, and How to Get Approved
Which industries processors call high risk, why Stripe and Square close those accounts, what high-risk merchant accounts cost, reserves, and how to get approved.
One Page Per Gateway: Fees, Features, Who Sells It, Who It Fits
Written for the merchant who already has the account and wants to know what it should cost. Prices are dated on each page.
Authorize.net Fees in 2026: What You Pay, What Is Missing From the Price Page, and What It Adds Up To
Authorize.net's $25 monthly fee, 10¢ per transaction, 10¢ daily batch, 2.9% + 30¢ all-in-one and eCheck pricing, plus the processor fees the gateway-only plan leaves out.
Authorize.net Alternatives in 2026: Which Gateways Keep Your Integrations and Cut the Bill
accept.blue, NMI, Stripe, Square, Helcim and PayPal against Authorize.net on fees, integrations, stored-card migration, Level 3 data, and who each one fits.
accept.blue Gateway: What It Does, How It Is Sold, and When We Recommend It
What the accept.blue gateway does: tokenized vault, recurring billing, Level 2 and 3 data, 3D Secure, ACH, invoicing, hosted pages, its ISO-only sales model and pricing.
NMI Gateway: What It Does, How It Is Priced, and When to Choose It Over Authorize.net
NMI is a partner-sold gateway with a Customer Vault, recurring billing and 150+ processor connections. Reseller pricing, NMI vs Authorize.net, and how to migrate.
USAePay: Features, Pricing Through Resellers, the NMI Acquisition, and Your Options
USAePay was bought by NMI in 2021 and still runs as its own brand. What it offers, reseller pricing, what changed, and whether to stay or move to NMI or accept.blue.
Fluidpay: A Partner-Only Gateway With a Vault, Cash Discount Program and Authorize.net Emulation
What Fluidpay does, its partner-only sales model, the Authorize.net AIM emulator for legacy carts, Level 3, ACH, recurring and fraud tools, and how it compares to NMI.
PayTrace: What the B2B Gateway Does, What Merchants Typically Pay, and When to Compare
PayTrace is a North-owned B2B gateway: Level 2 and 3 optimization, virtual terminal, AR automation, ACH and surcharging. Typical pricing and how to compare.
EBizCharge: Payments Embedded in QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage and Dynamics, and What It Costs to Get Them
EBizCharge embeds card and ACH payments in QuickBooks, NetSuite, Sage, Dynamics and 100+ systems with email pay and a customer portal. Pricing model and alternatives.
linked2pay: The White-Label Gateway Behind Many Processor Brands, and How to Evaluate an Account on It
linked2pay is a white-label gateway and CRM sold to ISOs: cards, ACH, remote deposit capture, virtual terminal and invoicing. What that means for merchants.
Dejavoo's iPOSpays Gateway: One Platform for the Terminal on the Counter and the Payments Online
iPOSpays is Dejavoo's gateway: hosted checkout, cloud virtual terminal, recurring, payment links and Level 2 and 3 auto-fill on the same account as your terminal.
Stripe Fees in 2026: What You Pay, What the Rate Sheet Leaves Out, and the Volume Where It Stops Making Sense
Stripe's US fees for online, in-person, ACH, international cards, disputes and instant payouts, the costs that surprise growing stores, and where a merchant account wins.
Braintree in 2026: Fees, Where It Beats Stripe, and Where a Merchant Account Beats Both
PayPal Braintree's pricing (2.59% + 49¢ cards, 3.49% + 49¢ PayPal, ACH 0.75% capped), its interchange-plus tier, Braintree vs Stripe by ticket size, and who it fits.
Helcim Reviewed by a Competitor: Where Its Interchange-Plus Pricing Wins and Where a Local Provider Does
Helcim's 2026 interchange-plus pricing, volume tiers, no monthly fee and hardware costs, compared honestly against a negotiated merchant account and dual pricing.
Elavon Converge (VirtualMerchant): What the U.S. Bank Gateway Does, What It Costs, and Your Options
Converge is Elavon's gateway (ConvergePay, VirtualMerchant): virtual terminal, card on file, recurring, hosted payments. Quote-based pricing and how to compare.
Global Payments Integrated, Formerly OpenEdge: What You Are Paying Through Your Software's Built-In Processing
Global Payments Integrated (OpenEdge) is the processor built into many practice and vertical software products. Why the bill grows and how to change processing.
Pineapple Payments Is Now Fiserv: Where Transax and CardPointe Merchants Stand
Fiserv acquired Pineapple Payments and its Transax gateway in 2021; the site now redirects to CardConnect. What CardPointe merchants are on and their options.
AnywhereCommerce: Mobile POS Hardware and the AnyPay App, and How the Processing Behind It Gets Priced
AnywhereCommerce makes the AC Glass terminals, Walker and Nomad readers and the AnyPay app. What the hardware does, what it is not, and how to check the account.
Being Moved Off a Gateway? Dates, Exports and Where to Go
PayPal Payflow Is Being Retired: What Payflow Pro and Payflow Link Merchants Should Do Now
PayPal is retiring Payflow and platforms are dropping it in 2026. What Payflow Pro and Link cost, and how to move without losing your cart or recurring billing.
Transaction Express Is Being Retired: What TransIT Merchants Should Do Before October 1, 2026
Global Payments retired the TXP gateway in 2023 and retires the Transaction Express virtual terminal on October 1, 2026. What to export and where to move.
Switching From Authorize.net: Keep Your Software, Move Your Stored Cards, Cut the Bill
What changes and what does not, how Authorize.net exports stored customer profiles to a new PCI-compliant gateway, cart plugin swaps, recurring billing, and a timeline.
WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, QuickBooks and Others
WooCommerce Payment Gateways: WooPayments, Stripe, and When a Merchant Account Gateway Costs Less
WooPayments' 2.9% + 30¢ against Stripe, Authorize.net, NMI, accept.blue and Fluidpay on WooCommerce: fees at three volumes, subscriptions, PCI scope, and how to switch.
Shopify Payment Gateways: What Shopify Charges to Use One That Is Not Shopify Payments, and When It Is Still Worth It
Shopify adds 2%, 1%, 0.6% or 0.2% by plan on orders through a third-party gateway. How that compares to Shopify Payments and when an external gateway still wins.
Payment Gateway Options by Ecommerce Platform: Magento, BigCommerce, Ecwid, OpenCart, Volusion and WordPress
Which gateways connect to Magento, BigCommerce, Ecwid, OpenCart, Volusion and WordPress, whether the platform adds a fee, and bundled vs merchant account pricing.
QuickBooks Payments Fees in 2026, and How to Cut Them Without Leaving QuickBooks
QuickBooks Payments charges 2.99% invoiced, 2.5% in person, 3.5% keyed, 1% ACH, 1.75% instant deposit. What it costs on real volume and the cheaper options that sync.
Quick reference: published gateway pricing, September 2026
| Gateway | Monthly | Per transaction | Processing | Sold by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Authorize.net gateway only | $25 | 10¢ + 10¢ daily batch | Separate | Direct, resellers |
| Authorize.net all-in-one | $25 | 2.9% + 30¢ | Included | Direct |
| NMI, USAePay, accept.blue, Fluidpay, linked2pay, iPOSpays | Reseller-set, commonly $10 to $25 | Reseller-set, commonly 5¢ to 15¢ | Separate | Partners only |
| PayTrace | Indicative $15 to $35 | 10¢ to 30¢ + 0.20% to 0.40% margin | Interchange-plus typical | Direct, partners |
| Stripe | $0 | 2.9% + 30¢ online, 2.7% + 5¢ in person | Included | Direct |
| Braintree | $0 | 2.59% + 49¢; PayPal 3.49% + 49¢ | Included | Direct |
| Helcim | $0 | Interchange + 0.50% + 25¢ online, + 0.40% + 8¢ in person | Included | Direct |
| Shopify third-party gateway | Plan fee | Gateway rate + 2%, 1%, 0.6% or 0.2% by plan | Gateway's | Via Shopify |
| Elavon Converge, CardPointe, Global Payments Integrated | Quote-based | Quote-based | Tied to that acquirer | Bank, direct, resellers |
Sources are each provider's pricing page or documentation as of the dates on the individual pages. Reseller-priced gateways vary by who sold them; compare the all-in effective rate, not the gateway line.
Send your gateway and processing statements together
Gateway fees hide on a separate invoice from processing fees. Send both. We total them, show your true all-in cost per transaction, and quote one number to beat, with migration steps if the gateway should change.