Payment Fee Calculator
Pick a processor and product — Stripe, PayPal, or Square; online, in person, keyed, or QR — and enter the amount. See the fee, the net after fees, what to charge to net a target amount, and how the same sale compares across all three processors. International-card toggle included; custom mode for negotiated rates. Rates as of June 2026.
Reverse — to pocket a target amount, charge:
Same sale across the big three
| Processor | Rate | Fee | You receive |
|---|
The fixed-fee trap on small transactions
A fee of "2.9% + $0.30" looks innocent until you charge $5. Then the fee is $0.45 — 9% of the transaction. The fixed part dominates on small amounts. If you're selling sub-$10 items, look hard at:
- Bundling — sell 5-packs instead of singles. Same effective price, half the fees.
- ACH for recurring — most processors charge a flat $0.80–$1.00 for ACH, no percentage. Worth it on transactions over ~$50.
- Customer credits — let users prepay (one $50 transaction, ten $5 spends) instead of N small charges.
Negotiated rates
The defaults are list price. At scale, both Stripe and PayPal negotiate. Stripe's "Interchange Plus" pricing for high-volume merchants is typically 1.4–2.2% all-in, depending on your card mix. Square has volume tiers above $250K/year. PayPal has fewer public discounts but their managed-services tier negotiates.
If your monthly card volume is over ~$100K, it's worth a conversation with each. The savings on a percentage point of fees can fund an additional engineer.
Related
FAQ
Are these the current fees?
The presets are each processor's standard published US rates, last verified June 2026 against the official pricing pages: Stripe online 2.9% + $0.30, in person 2.7% + $0.05, keyed-in 3.4% + $0.30; PayPal branded checkout 3.49% + $0.49, card processing 2.99% + $0.49, QR code 2.29% + $0.09; Square in person 2.6% + $0.15, online 3.3% + $0.30, keyed-in 3.5% + $0.15. Rates change — check stripe.com/pricing, paypal.com's business fees page, and squareup.com's fees page for anything load-bearing, and use 'Custom' for negotiated rates.
What do international cards cost?
Stripe and PayPal add a +1.5% surcharge for international cards — flip the international toggle and it's applied for you. Stripe charges a further +1% if currency conversion is needed (not included in the toggle). Square is the outlier: it charges the same rate for international cards, with no surcharge.
Why does the effective fee % change with amount?
Because of the fixed $0.30 (or equivalent). On a $5 transaction, $0.30 is 6% of the amount — the effective fee is 8.9%, not 2.9%. On a $500 transaction, the $0.30 is negligible. This is why subscription tools and high-volume small-ticket SaaS prefer ACH/bank transfers, which charge a flat $0.80 cap rather than a percentage.
What about disputes and refunds?
Most processors don't refund the percentage portion when you refund a transaction. Stripe used to keep both the percentage and the fixed; as of 2024 they refund the percentage on full refunds in most regions. PayPal still keeps the fixed fee on refunds. Always confirm with your processor's current policy.
What's the formula for the inverse?
To net N after a fee of p% + fixed: charge (N + fixed) ÷ (1 − p). This is the right formula even when fixed > 0 — most online calculators get the inverse wrong by ignoring the fixed component or by taking the fee twice.