Best credit card processing for small business: 7 picks

The best credit card processing for a small business that sells in person gives you a price you can check, a contract you can walk away from, a person who picks up when a terminal acts up, and hardware for chip, tap and phone payments wherever customers pay. Clearo Payments publishes this list, and we rank ourselves first for the criteria below. We haven't tested the other companies' services, so their entries stick to what their own websites say.

If most of your sales happen online, our list of the best payment processors covers more online options. For what we offer at the counter and on the road, see Clearo's merchant services.

How we chose the best credit card processing for small business

We scored each company on five criteria. The fifth is the one this search is about.

1. Pricing you can check: interchange-plus, so interchange and the processor's margin show up separately.
2. Terms you can leave: no long-term contract and no cancellation fee.
3. A named person to call: a dedicated rep for every client.
4. Proof before you switch: a free statement review that prices your last month on new terms.
5. In-person and mobile acceptance: chip, tap and swipe at the counter, a portable terminal, tap to pay on a phone, and an easy way to send the occasional invoice.

After us, companies are ordered by how many of these criteria their own pages describe. Helcim's describe interchange-plus pricing with no long-term contracts, Stax and Square describe some of the same terms, and Chase, SumUp and PayPal complete the list on in-person and mobile acceptance.

Not everyone should weigh things our way. If you want your card processor to supply POS software as well, look closely at Square, Chase and PayPal, which each offer POS software. And if you take only a few card payments a week, a plan with no monthly fee, such as SumUp's Standard plan or Square's free plan, may matter more to you than how the rate is built.

"Sells in" lists the countries each company's own pages confirm for what we cover here; some sell in more.

1. Clearo Payments

Why Clearo ranks first

Clearo Payments meets all five criteria for a business that takes most of its cards in person. You can check every line of the pricing, no long-term contract holds you in place, you have a dedicated rep who knows your account, you see the numbers before you switch, and one account covers the counter, the patio and the service call.

How the pricing works

We price on interchange-plus. Each card sale carries interchange, the rate the card networks set for that type of card, and we pass it through at cost. Our margin sits on its own line of your statement, apart from interchange. Visa publishes its US interchange schedule, so you can match the interchange lines to the published rates and see exactly what we add. That matters for in-person sales: a debit card tapped at your counter carries far less interchange than a rewards card keyed in online, and on interchange-plus you pay each card's own cost instead of one blended rate.

Based on its client records, Clearo says businesses moving from flat-rate pricing have saved 20 to 50% on processing costs. Your result depends on your card mix, average ticket and monthly volume.

What you get

• POS terminals in countertop, wireless and portable models that take chip, tap and swipe, accepting Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Interac.
• Mobile payments with tap to pay and mobile card readers, for markets and jobs on site.
• A virtual terminal for the sales that don't happen at the counter: phone and email payments, invoices, payment links and recurring billing.
• A credit card surcharging program covering compliance, disclosure and setup.
• PCI compliance support, chargeback management tools and same-day or next-day funding options, for businesses in the US and Canada.

Switching

Start with a free statement review: send a recent statement and we'll show your effective rate today next to what the same month would cost with us. There's no long-term contract and no cancellation fee, and every client has a dedicated rep. Clearo says setup takes under 48 hours.

If you want POS software from the company that processes your cards, Square or PayPal may suit you better, since we provide terminals and processing rather than POS software.

2. Helcim

Helcim is a payment processor for Canadian and US businesses that want interchange-plus pricing without a long-term contract. Its pricing page lists no long-term contracts, no cancellation fees and no setup fees. For the counter it sells a Smart Terminal, and it has announced Tap to Pay on iPhone for US merchants.

Best for: businesses that want interchange-plus pricing without a long-term contract, at the counter or on an iPhone.

3. Stax

Stax is a payment processor that charges a monthly membership instead of a percentage markup, which suits a business that can estimate its yearly card volume. Its pricing page says Stax adds no percentage markup on interchange and lists no cancellation fees tied to long-term contracts, plus compatible terminals for in-person payments. Its homepage says its support team is based in the US.

Best for: businesses that would rather pay a membership than a percentage markup.

4. Square

Square puts payments, POS software and hardware under one roof, a natural fit for a small business that wants to start on a free plan. Square says it offers free POS software with no monthly fees, sells Square Terminal for ringing up sales and printing receipts, and presents Tap to Pay on iPhone for selling anywhere in the United States, with no long-term contracts.

Best for: businesses that want free POS software, a terminal and Tap to Pay from one company.

5. Chase

Chase sells card acceptance to small businesses next to its business banking, so it's an obvious place to look if you already bank there. Its Tap to Pay page describes taking contactless cards and wallets on an iPhone or Android phone with no extra hardware, once a Chase Business Complete Banking account has QuickAccept turned on.

Best for: Chase Business Complete Banking customers who want a terminal, a POS app and Tap to Pay from their bank.

6. SumUp

SumUp sells card readers to small businesses in the US and suits sellers who'd rather not pay a monthly fee while they find their feet. Its card reader comparison page describes a Standard plan with no monthly fee and a paid POS Plus plan.

Best for: lower-volume sellers who want a card reader on a plan with no monthly fee.

7. PayPal

If your business already uses PayPal, PayPal Point of Sale, the new name for PayPal Zettle, is its system for selling in person. PayPal's US site offers card readers and terminals and Tap to Pay on iPhone through the Point of Sale app. For phone orders, its Virtual Terminal page lists a per-transaction fee and no monthly fee.

Best for: PayPal users who want to add in-person sales with a card reader or Tap to Pay.

What should an in-person card setup include?

At a minimum: chip, contactless and encryption.

Chip comes first because it's what makes a card hard to copy. EMVCo, the body that manages the standard, says chip technology generates a one-time security code for every transaction. Its contactless specification covers cards and NFC-enabled phones, so one tap-ready terminal handles plastic, phones and watches. Our explainer on what EMV is goes further.

Tap is close behind. Apple's developer site says over two thirds of US credit and debit cards are issued contactless-enabled, and it describes Tap to Pay on iPhone taking contactless cards and digital wallets with no extra hardware. That makes a phone a real tool for a food truck or a plumber, with a chip reader in the van for cards that can't tap. Our guide to Tap to Pay on iPhone covers the limits.

Third is encryption, which determines how much card data your business ever handles. The PCI Security Standards Council says merchants using a PCI-listed point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solution have fewer PCI DSS requirements to meet. Ask whether a terminal's encryption is a listed P2PE solution or the provider's own.

Then match the details to your business:

• A PIN pad, if many of your customers pay with debit.
• Tip prompts and pay-at-table, for restaurants, bars and salons.
• Who owns the terminal, and whether another processor can reprogram it if you leave.

Buy hardware outright if you can. The FTC has warned that some small businesses paid thousands to lease card equipment worth a few hundred dollars. Our guide to credit card machines for small business has a full buying checklist.

What does credit card processing cost a small business?

Every card sale carries three layers: interchange to the bank that issued the card, network fees to the card brand, and a markup to your processor. Visa says merchants don't pay interchange directly; they pay a "merchant discount" to their own financial institution (Visa). Mastercard, for its part, describes interchange as "one component of the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) established by acquirers" (Mastercard). Everything above that floor is the processor's pricing decision. Besides interchange-plus and flat rate, there's tiered pricing, which sorts sales into qualified, mid-qualified and non-qualified buckets.

Interchange-plus isn't only for big merchants anymore: the Washington State Attorney General's office notes that small and new businesses can now request interchange-plus pricing.

In-person sales cost less at the interchange level, which is good news for this kind of business. In Visa's US schedule effective April 18, 2026, a Traditional Rewards credit card carries 1.65% plus a fixed fee when it's dipped or tapped in person, and 2.04% plus the same fixed fee when it's used online (Visa).

Debit from big banks costs far less. The Federal Reserve's Regulation II caps it at 21 cents plus 0.05% of the sale, plus a 1 cent fraud-prevention adjustment, for issuers with $10 billion or more in assets (Federal Reserve). On a flat rate, those cheaper cards cost you the same as any other.

Here's a made-up example. A coffee counter in Denver runs $18,000 in card sales in a month, and its statement shows $520 in total fees. Its effective rate is $520 divided by $18,000, or 2.89%. That one number, total fees over total card sales, is how you compare any two quotes. Ask each provider to price that same month, and make sure every monthly, PCI and equipment fee is in the total.

Volume and ticket size change the answer too: in our comparison of interchange-plus vs flat rate, interchange-plus came out well ahead on $60 and $400 tickets and lost on $8 tickets. Our page on credit card processing fees explains each layer.

How to choose credit card processing for your small business

Start with last month's statement, then put the same questions to every provider, in writing:

1. What is my effective rate today, and what would the same month cost with you?
2. Which pricing model is this, what is the markup, and which monthly, annual and PCI fees apply?
3. How long is the contract, does it renew on its own, and what does it cost to leave?
4. Do I own the terminal, and can another processor use it?
5. When do deposits land, and will any of my money be held in reserve?
6. Who do I call when a terminal stops working, and will that person know my account?

In a 2022 case, the FTC alleged that one processor's salespeople told businesses they could cancel without a fee, while its standard agreement carried a three-year term and a $495 cancellation fee (FTC). Get the term, the auto-renewal clause and any exit fee in writing before you sign.

When the quotes are in, compare twelve months of total cost, equipment included, rather than headline rates. Our guide to reading a merchant statement shows where each fee lives.

Switching isn't always worth it. If you process a few thousand dollars a month and your current setup works, the savings on paper may not cover new hardware and an afternoon of retraining. Do the math first.

The next step

For a free statement review, all we need from you is a recent statement. We'll work out your effective rate, separate interchange from markup, and price the same month on interchange-plus. If another company on this list suits you better, the numbers will show that too. We work with businesses across the United States and Canada.