The Best Merchant Account Services Providers For Small Business 2023

With its easy online signup process, month-to-month contracts, lack of monthly fees (for basic services), and expansive feature bundle, Square helped modernize the payments industry.

Square offers outstanding value and convenience to newer businesses and those processing under $10K/month — categories that encompass a wide swath of the total small business landscape. It also has a wide range of POS hardware, eCommerce tools, reporting capabilities, and software integrations.

Just know that Square is a third-party payment service provider (or PSP), which means that instead of getting your own unique merchant account, your account is bundled with every other Square account into a single umbrella merchant account. With PSPs, the signup process is much quicker and easier than it is with traditional merchant account providers. The flip side of this is that your individual transactions are scrutinized for compliance more heavily, increasing the chances that you might encounter a funding hold or account termination over a rule infraction (real or perceived).

Our guide to avoiding account holds and terminations from your payment processor contains valuable information as to how you can minimize the chances of this happening to you.

All told, Square provides exceptional convenience and value to a wide variety of merchants. And though Square doesn’t support most high-risk business activity, it does support CBD sellers with its specialized Square CBD merchant program. However, while Square’s flat payment processing rates are competitive for low- to mid-volume businesses, those processing over $10,000/month will likely save money (and find greater account stability) by choosing a full merchant account provider that offers interchange-plus pricing.

Square’s payments ecosystem has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. These are just some of the major features you’ll have access to:

• Credit and debit card processing
• Free mobile card reader (magstripe-only)
• EMV and NFC-capable card readers available
• Square Register POS system available
• ACH processing included with every account
• Square Online eCommerce store builder included for free
• Basic Square Invoices feature included for free
• Analytics and reporting available through Square Dashboard

Our guide to Square pricing contains an even deeper dive into the various rates and charges you might encounter with Square.

Helcim has long been one of our favorite merchant services providers. Helcim offers full merchant accounts without charging a monthly fee, which is a rarity in this industry and something you’ll normally find only with PSPs.

Beyond that, Helcim offers a full suite of hardware, features, and services to support countless types of merchants, whether online, in-person, or both.

Offering month-to-month contracts with no early termination fees, fully-disclosed interchange-plus pricing, and excellent customer service, Helcim embodies the kind of honest practices we love to see in this often-opaque industry. What’s more, despite Helcim’s pricing system providing the lowest rates to the highest-volume businesses, Helcim has a lot to offer small businesses as well, particularly the Helcim Card Reader and Helcim Smart Terminal (slated to become available Summer 2023); both can be used on-the-go or, when used in conjunction with other hardware, as full affordable in-store POS systems.

With no monthly fees, no long-term contracts, and a wide array of included services, Helcim has something for everybody — except high-risk businesses.

Helcim’s payment processing features include the following:

• Full-service merchant account
• Proprietary Helcim Card Reader for in-person payments
• Proprietary Helcim Smart Terminal, a new all-in-one touchscreen device with a built-in receipt printer
• Helcim Payments app for mobile processing
• Virtual terminal included with each account
• Helcim POS software (requires a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer unless you use the standalone Smart Terminal)
• Access to Helcim API for customized credit card payments
• Full support for international payments

Host Merchant Services was an obvious choice for our list of top merchant services providers. With transparent interchange-plus pricing, month-to-month contracts, and a full range of ancillary payment services, both proprietary and third-party, HMS is one of the top names in the merchant account business. eCommerce businesses will even get free web hosting upon signing up — an uncommon perk.

HMS’s transaction rates are some of the lowest you’ll find in a payment processor. In an industry where many providers are still cagey about costs, HMS goes so far as to publish how much you would actually pay with the company’s payment processing in a variety of different transaction situations.

With this level of value and transparency, we’re happy to cite Host Merchant Services as an example of how interchange-plus pricing should be offered and presented.

Here’s some of what you’ll get with Host Merchant Services:

• Full merchant accounts
• Accepts many high-risk industries (high-risk businesses will likely pay more than low-risk businesses, as with any provider)
• Full line of countertop and mobile credit card terminals
• Free terminal available to merchants processing over $20,000/month
• Vital and SwipeSimple mobile processing solutions
• Proprietary Bonsai POS system available
• Clover and Vital POS systems are available
• Authorize.Net payment gateway
• Proprietary HMSExpress payment gateway
• Virtual terminal included
• Free web hosting included
• Cash discounting program available

Host Merchant Services’s card-present rates are even lower for restaurants than for retail businesses, as the food industry is generally lower-risk/higher volume than most industries, plus HMS is trying to attract restaurant owners to its custom POS system.

National Processing is another merchant services provider that deserves our recommendation and a spot on this list. Offering full merchant accounts and payment processing for credit/debit cards, eChecks, and ACH, National Processing offers month-to-month contracts with no early termination fees to merchants so long as they purchase any POS equipment they need.

If you sign up for a package that includes a “free” terminal, you’ll have to sign a three-year contract with an early termination fee, though you can get this fee waived under several common circumstances.

National Processing sells merchant accounts to both low-risk and high-risk businesses, though its published rates only apply to low-risk merchants. Along with the standard features like payment processing, a payment gateway, and a virtual terminal, National Processing offers two different pricing models: interchange-plus, and, for high-volume merchants, membership pricing.

With membership pricing, although you’ll be paying a significant monthly fee, you’ll be paying very little on a per-transaction basis as the per-transaction percentage markup found in interchange-plus pricing is eliminated. National Processing’s membership pricing is particularly advantageous for very high-volume businesses, though the company’s interchange-plus rates are exceptionally low as well.

Though National Processing doesn’t offer as many feature add-ons as many of the other providers on this list, its exceptionally low rates and sterling public reputation made it a natural fit for this list.

Here’s what National Processing offers:

• Offers ACH and eCheck processing as an add-on
• Offers mobile processing with a free SwipeSimple card reader
• Offers a choice between either interchange-plus or membership pricing plans
• No long-term contract if processing hardware is purchased outright
• “Free” credit card terminal available if you sign a three-year contract
• Free reprogramming of your existing POS equipment (if technically feasible)

Dharma Merchant Services is a merchant services provider with a unique value proposition: it specializes in serving nonprofit organizations. Not only does the company offer significant discounts to nonprofit organizations — it also provides a number of nonprofit-specific features, such as donation buttons and hosted donation pages.

Combine that with the fact that Dharma donates a significant percentage of its profits to charity, and you have a merchant account provider with a lot of appeal to the nonprofit world.

Of course, Dharma serves regular businesses as well. The company offers a full range of business products for taking payments, though it’s important to note that Dharma itself states that its pricing isn’t a good fit for businesses processing less than $10K/month. Additionally, Dharma doesn’t accept high-risk businesses — it refers high-risk merchants to another company on our list, PaymentCloud.

Here’s what you’ll get through Dharma Merchant Services:

• Full-service merchant accounts through Fiserv or TSYS
• MX Merchant integrated payment platform
• Choice of Authorize.Net or MX Merchant payment gateways
• QuickPay virtual terminal
• Full line of credit card terminals, including Verifone Engage V200c, Fiserv FD-150, Ingenico Desk/5000, Dejavoo Z11, and other models
• MX B2B app for B2B processing
• Full line of Clover POS systems
• Credit card surcharging (no-fee, zero-cost credit card processing) program available

While a few other merchant services companies on this list accept high-risk businesses, PaymentCloud specializes in high-risk processing. The company partners with several acquiring banks and back-end processors to maximize the odds that one of them will accept your business and meet its processing needs. This means that as a high-risk merchant, you’ll have a better chance of getting accepted by PaymentCloud than you will with other merchant services providers, even those that nominally accept high-risk businesses.

High-risk payment processing is a field rife with shady operators and business-unfriendly practices, but PaymentCloud stands out in its willingness and ability to give high-risk merchants a fair deal. What’s more, the company provides both high- and low-risk merchants with hands-on advocacy and guidance during and after the onboarding process. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a provider with such an attentive attitude toward clients and applicants.

Here’s what PaymentCloud offers both high-risk and low-risk businesses:

• Mobile processing solution available
• Virtual terminal included
• Authorize.Net, NMI, or USAePay payment gateways are available
• ACH and eCheck processing
• Paysley QR-code payment service available

Banking giant Chase offers a merchant services package that far exceeds that of many other big national banks, whose merchant services are often overpriced and come with onerous contracts. Offering both a flat-rate pricing model that fits the needs of lower-volume businesses and an interchange-plus pricing scheme that suits larger businesses, Chase Payment Solutions offers something for everybody, which is why we’re including the company on this list of top merchant services providers.

Note that, like some other providers, Chase Payment Solutions offers service packages with a “free” POS terminal included, whereas accepting the “free” terminal requires you to sign a three-year contract with an early termination fee. We recommend buying your equipment outright so you don’t have to agree to a long-term commitment.

• Full merchant account
• Month-to-month billing with no long-term contracts
• Choice of proprietary Orbital payment gateway or Authorize.Net
• Virtual terminal
• Chase Mobile app and QuickAccept card reader for mobile payments
• Next-day funding for Chase business bank account holders
• Choice of processing hardware, including Chase Smart Terminal, Ingenico, or Verifone models
• Level II/Level III credit card processing for B2B payments
• Support for international payments

Note that the rates listed above are for businesses that choose flat-rate pricing. With Chase, all interchange-plus rates must be negotiated.