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How To Accept Credit Card Payments Online: Processing, eCommerce Websites, & Top Providers

When researching how to accept credit cards online, the best companies will have the right combination of excellent products, fair pricing, and top-notch customer support.

    Jason Vissers
  • Last updated onUpdated

  • Frank Kehl
  • REVIEWED BY

    Frank Kehl

    Senior Staff Writer

Advertiser Disclosure: Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity.

eCommerce has been overtaking traditional retail sales for two decades now. With annual US eCommerce revenue projected to top $1 trillion for the first time in 2024, being able to accept credit cards online has never been more important.

In this guide, we’ll explain how to accept credit card payments online and the various payment methods you can offer your customers, including options that don’t require you to have a business website.

We’ll also highlight our preferred merchant services providers to set you up to accept credit cards online quickly, easily, and at a fair price. Finally, we’ll list several major considerations you should consider before choosing the best payment processing for your small business.

Learn More About Our Top Picks

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  • Best for businesses needing a custom payments solution
  • No monthly fee
  • 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction
  • Best for businesses needing a custom payments solution
  • No monthly fee
  • 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction

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  • Best for small or seasonal businesses
  • Starts at $0/month
  • 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction
  • Best for small or seasonal businesses
  • Starts at $0/month
  • 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction

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  • Best for high-risk industries
  • Monthly fee not disclosed
  • Processing rates not disclosed
  • Best for high-risk industries
  • Monthly fee not disclosed
  • Processing rates not disclosed

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  • Best for personalized eCommerce guidance
  • Various monthly & annual fees apply
  • Interchange + 0.35% + $0.10 per online transaction
  • Best for personalized eCommerce guidance
  • Various monthly & annual fees apply
  • Interchange + 0.35% + $0.10 per online transaction

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  • Best for businesses seeking a simple, all-in-one solution
  • $5-$299/month
  • 2.4% + $0.30 to 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction
  • Best for businesses seeking a simple, all-in-one solution
  • $5-$299/month
  • 2.4% + $0.30 to 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction

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  • Best for registered nonprofit organizations
  • $25/month ($20 for nonprofits)
  • Interchange + 0.20% + $0.11 per online transaction (Int + 0.10% + $0.11 for nonprofits & the highest-volume businesses)
  • Best for registered nonprofit organizations
  • $25/month ($20 for nonprofits)
  • Interchange + 0.20% + $0.11 per online transaction (Int + 0.10% + $0.11 for nonprofits & the highest-volume businesses)

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  • Best for service businesses
  • $79.95/month
  • Online transactions start at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, but your rates may vary
  • Best for service businesses
  • $79.95/month
  • Online transactions start at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, but your rates may vary

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  • Best for QuickBooks accounting users
  • $0-90 monthly fee
  • 2.99% per online transaction
  • Best for QuickBooks accounting users
  • $0-90 monthly fee
  • 2.99% per online transaction

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Read more below to learn why we chose these options.

Table of Contents

How To Accept Credit Cards Online: 6 Options For Small Businesses

If you want to start accepting credit card payments online, you need to set up at least one online payment channel. Six common ways for accepting credit cards online include:

  • Third-Party Apps & Extensions
  • Payments Buttons
  • Online Store Software
  • Hosted Payment Pages
  • Online Invoicing Software
  • Social Media Platforms

How To Accept Credit Cards Online Via A Website

A website is a pretty integral part of selling online for most businesses. However, it’s not 100% necessary – we’ll look at some alternatives in the next section. The first question to consider is: Do I already have a website? Then ask yourself: Do I like that website, or would I rather start over completely?

Fortunately, there are solutions for both scenarios. You can implement payment buttons for existing sites or use a plugin or extension that supports eCommerce payments. You can also integrate a hosted payment page, which will transfer your customers to a checkout page hosted by your processor when it’s time to finalize a purchase.

If you want to start from scratch, there are plenty of DIY website builders available to help you get set up, and they’ll usually support all of the payment options described below.

Using Third-Party Apps On Your Existing Or New Site

If you’ve used a website builder, such as WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix, it’s relatively simple to implement online payments. Simply check out the site builder’s available third-party apps, extensions, and plugins. You won’t need technical expertise to get these apps working for you, so it’s one of the easiest solutions if you already have a website.

Using Payment Buttons To Sell Online

Another way to add payments to an existing site is to look for a payment processor that supports payment buttons. Shopify offers a range of packages, but if you are just in the market for a payment button, you can get by with the cheapest plan, Shopify Starter.

PayPal is another provider of easily-implemented payment buttons, though its payment processing fees are relatively high. Unlike with Shopify, you can use PayPal buy buttons for free (aside from the processing fees). You can even offer PayPal payment buttons to your customers as a secondary payment method, supplementing your primary payment method. After all, hundreds of millions of people have PayPal accounts, and many of them prefer to make online purchases with their PayPal balance.

While adding payments to an existing site is incredibly convenient and often requires little work, you won’t get quite as many tools as you would with a hosted eCommerce software solution. That brings us to the best option if you want to build a new site or have no website to start with: eCommerce software.

Building A New Site With eCommerce Software

eCommerce software apps, sometimes called shopping carts or online store builders, are hosted, all-in-one solutions for online sales. Adding an eCommerce feature to an existing website requires you to choose a platform, buy the domain, and pay for hosting. With eCommerce apps like Shopify, you’ll get everything in a single package: online sales and product management, hosting, and sometimes even the ability to buy a domain name directly.

Typically, eCommerce apps will also help you centralize control of sales across multiple channels so that if you sell on social media, on eBay, or through another channel, you can handle order fulfillment through a single platform. That even includes buying postage (at a discounted rate) and printing the shipping labels. Some online store builders will offer marketing tools or integrations with marketing platforms and integrations with the best point of sale (POS) systems.

Generally speaking, even if an eCommerce app doesn’t offer all of the features you want, you can search the app market for available extensions and integrations to get what you need. It’s worth researching the available add-ons as well as the native software features.

Using A Hosted Payment Page

One of the easiest ways to accept credit cards on a website is by using a hosted payment page. This feature redirects customers to a secure checkout page hosted by your processor when they need to enter their payment information. If you’ve ever used PayPal to make an online payment and had to hop over to PayPal’s website to check out, you’ve used a hosted payment page.

Hosted payment pages are very easy to integrate into your website, usually only requiring a few lines of preformatted code that you can cut and paste into your site. By momentarily directing customers off your site to check out, you’ll eliminate the hassle of having to secure and encrypt your server to meet PCI compliance requirements. Sensitive credit card data will never be stored on your server, dramatically reducing the chance of a data breach.

How To Accept Credit Cards Online Without A Website

Most people equate accepting credit card payments online with having an eCommerce website. That is the most common option, but you don’t actually need your own online store to conduct eCommerce. Let’s talk about a couple of alternatives for how to accept credit cards online.

Creating Online Invoices

Generally speaking, invoicing software is cloud-based, so you can access it anywhere. You can customize invoices and send them via email or generate a shareable link to the invoice. But unlike old-fashioned invoicing, this method includes a link to pay directly in the invoice. Your customers follow the link, enter their payment details, and bam! With the best invoicing software, you get paid much more quickly.

Selling On Social Media

It wasn’t all that long ago that the idea of being able to buy products directly through social media channels was novel and experimental. Nowadays, you can create your online shop through Facebook, Instagram, and buyable pins on Pinterest!

Shopify stands out as a very good solution for selling through social media. While its core offering is an online shopping cart, Shopify’s Starter plan includes access to buy buttons and the ability to share and sell products via Instagram, WhatsApp, and many other social media channels.

Accept Credit Cards Online With These 8 Top Payment Processors

Hundreds of providers can get you set up to accept credit cards online. However, only a few of them offer the ideal combination of excellent products, fair pricing, and top-notch customer support for a wide range of small businesses.

Below, we’ve highlighted what we’ve found to be the best ways to accept credit cards online. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so check out our full reviews to get a complete picture of each company.

1. Stripe Payments: Best Online Processor For Advanced Customization

Stripe Payments


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Pros

  • Transparent flat-rate pricing
  • No monthly fee for basic accounts
  • Extensive customization options
  • 24/7 live chat and telephone support

Cons

  • Account stability issues
  • Not suitable for high-risk industries
  • Needs technical skills to implement

Why We Chose Stripe For Accepting Credit Card Payments Online

Stripe Payments was an obvious choice for this article as the company is laser-focused on eCommerce, offering many services and options that most traditional merchant account providers can’t match.

What truly sets Stripe apart from its competitors is its robust support for developer-friendly solutions that allow you to create the payment flow you want with your branding front and center. Stripe offers customization with extensive code libraries and tools you won’t find anywhere else. However, you’ll either have to hire a developer or do the coding yourself to take full advantage of these features. If you need a simple, out-of-the-box solution for your business, you’ll be better off with Shopify, which uses Stripe as its back-end processor.

Stripe, like Square and Shopify Payments, is a third-party processor, so the caveats about having to guard against potential funding holds and account terminations apply here.

Stripe Features

From its inception, Stripe has been synonymous with eCommerce, offering outstanding international acceptance (135 currencies and numerous global payment methods are supported), exceptional developer tools, and a vast selection of integrations.

Unlike Shopify and Square, Stripe doesn’t offer an in-house DIY eCommerce site builder, but if you’re prepared to use a web developer to design a custom online store for your business (or if you already have an online store and want to switch merchant service providers), Stripe gives you a broad array of custom tools to integrate into your eCommerce site.

Let’s go through some of Stripe’s feature set:

  • Payment links that you can send via text, email, or social media DM
  • Industry-leading developer tools
  • 135+ currencies supported
  • Dynamic currency conversion
  • Recurring billing and subscriptions
  • Invoicing
  • Custom and pre-made online checkout forms
  • ACH processing

For offline sales, the company offers Stripe Terminal, though this solution falls short of being a true ready-made POS.

Stripe Pricing

Like Square and Shopify, Stripe offers simple, easily-understood flat-rate pricing. It’s the same rate you’ll pay with Square and Shopify under their basic plans. However, higher-volume merchants may be eligible for custom interchange-plus pricing, though Stripe doesn’t spell out the eligibility requirements you’ll have to meet for this.

  • Online Transactions: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
  • International Transactions: +1%/transaction
  • No Monthly Fees
  • Chargeback Fee: $15

For more information about Stripe’s costs and features, check out our full Stripe Payments review and our guide to Stripe pricing.

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2. Square: Best Online Processor For Small Or Seasonal Businesses

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Pros

  • No monthly fees (with the free plan)
  • No long-term contracts
  • Predictable flat-rate pricing
  • Extensive feature set

Cons

  • Account stability issues
  • Expensive for high-volume businesses
  • Limited customer support options

Why We Chose Square For Accepting Credit Card Payments Online

Any list of recommendations for online credit card processing would be incomplete without Square.

Square offers accessible payment processing for small businesses, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. From an online store builder (Square Online) to a virtual terminal to an inventory tool to invoicing to recurring billing, Square’s lineup of merchant services is truly remarkable — there are very few equivalents in the online credit card processing space.

Even amongst the select few providers offering all-in-one online payment processing/an online store app/POS/etc., Square stands out regarding the number of features it offers for no monthly fee. Square offers unequaled value in terms of its free business services, and as your small business grows, many free Square tools, such as Square Online, can be upgraded to paid versions to give you stronger functionality. Either way, there are no long-term contracts to sign.

Square isn’t the best online payment processor for every business type and size — large, high-volume businesses may find a full merchant account provider to be a better financial fit, while businesses in many high-risk categories will have to find a specialized high-risk processor. However, for a vast array of business types, particularly small and/or seasonal businesses, Square’s value as a means of accepting credit card payments online is unmatched.

Our one caveat to using Square is that, since you don’t have a true merchant account, underwriting guidelines are stricter, and there’s an increased chance of an account hold, freeze, or even termination. Customer service options are also limited, although the company has improved in this area in recent years.

Square Features

Square’s support for online selling is strong and constantly getting stronger. Even if you don’t have a website, you can send a payment link and take credit card payments online using Square Online Checkout. With this feature, you can also create shoppable Instagram or Facebook posts, turning your existing social media accounts into sales channels. You can also set up recurring billing through Square’s invoicing feature.

Square Online allows you to build your online store, manage inventory, and accept payments online. Best of all, there’s a free Square Online plan that comes with no monthly fees and offers everything you’ll need to get started. As your business grows, you can upgrade to one of three paid online store plans.

Here’s some of what else Square offers online merchants:

  • Recurring billing and subscriptions
  • Invoicing
  • ACH payment processing
  • Real-time reporting
  • PCI compliance
  • eCommerce integrations
  • Pre-made and custom online checkout forms

Note that Square also offers several Square POS systems — one general-purpose POS and specialized POS systems for retail, restaurants, and appointment management. It is easily one of the best free POS systems available for small businesses. Card readers, stands, and terminals are all available as well. However, in this article, we’re focusing on the online side of things.

Square Pricing

Square pricing is simple, flat-rate, and easy to understand. You’ll get a remarkable amount of features for no monthly fee (and even more features if you do pay a monthly fee). It’s a pricing scheme that best fits lower-volume merchants and seasonal businesses, as large businesses with higher processing volumes can typically save money on processing costs by going with a merchant account provider with interchange-plus or membership pricing.

  • Online Transactions: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (2.6% + $0.30 with a Premium Square Online subscription)
  • Online Rate For CBD Merchants: 3.8% + $0.30 per transaction
  • Monthly Fee (Square Online): $0 for the Free plan, $29/month for Plus, and $79/month for Premium
  • Chargeback Fee: $0 (we love this!)

For more details on why we think Square is a great option for many businesses to start taking payments online, check out our Square Payments review and our Square Online review.

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3. PaymentCloud: Best Online Processor For High-Risk Businesses

PaymentCloud


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Pros

  • High-risk specialist
  • Fair pricing for low and high-risk merchants
  • Excellent customer support
  • Few public complaints

Cons

  • No publicly disclosed pricing
  • May require a long-term contract
  • May require an early termination fee

Why We Chose PaymentCloud For Accepting Credit Card Payments Online

PaymentCloud is a great credit card processing choice for eCommerce businesses. With no monthly minimum for low-risk businesses, a dedicated account manager for customer support, and very few public complaints, it’s a vetted option we can get behind.

However, what makes PaymentCloud truly stand out — and what prompted us to include the company on this list of top online credit card processors — is the quality of service the company provides high-risk businesses. The high-risk processing industry is fraught with shady operators, so the fact that high-risk businesses have a processing choice as honest and reputable as PaymentCloud is quite noteworthy indeed. In fact, some competitors will refer high-risk applicants to PaymentCloud, which speaks volumes about the company’s business practices.

PaymentCloud isn’t solely a high-risk merchant account provider — the company services low-risk businesses as well.

PaymentCloud Features

PaymentCloud primarily uses the popular Authorize.Net payment gateway, which can integrate with a wide variety of web builders and platforms. Authorize.Net has a healthy developer toolbox and an open API in the event you opt to customize. Additionally, PaymentCloud integrates with a large number of shopping carts, including Shopify, BigCommerce, and 3D Cart. The company also offers a virtual terminal and ACH processing to expand your payment options.

PaymentCloud Pricing

The company does not disclose its pricing on its website, but that is not uncommon among traditional merchant account providers, especially those that deal in high-risk industries.

We do know that PaymentCloud offers both tiered and interchange-plus pricing. Tiered pricing can get pretty hazy and hard to predict, so we recommend pressing for an interchange-plus quote if you do give the company a call. However, higher-risk businesses will likely have to accept tiered pricing. Multi-year contracts with an early termination fee may be required as well. This is typical for high-risk businesses regardless of the processor, however.

More information about PaymentCloud, including more details about pricing, features, customer service, and more, is in our full PaymentCloud review.

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4. Host Merchant Services: Best Online Processor For Personalized Guidance

Host Merchant Services


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Pros

  • Transparent interchange-plus pricing
  • Exceptional customer service
  • HMS will help match you to an eCommerce shopping cart
  • No long-term contracts or early termination fees

Cons

  • Expensive for lower-volume merchants
  • Monthly and annual fees are charged

Why We Chose Host Merchant Services For Accepting Credit Card Payments Online

Host Merchant Services is a reputable provider of full merchant accounts and will work with your business to match you with an online store builder that fits your eCommerce goals. We selected HMS for this list of top processors for these reasons and for the fact that the company’s credit card processing services are particularly well-suited to web hosting, cloud service, and other SaaS platform providers.

With an HMS full merchant account, your business will enjoy a greater level of account stability than a third-party processor can offer. HMS will work with some high-risk business types as well, offering high-risk services through its partner, Electronic Merchant Systems.

Host Merchant Services Features

We love that Host Merchant Services offers full merchant accounts with no long-term contracts and no early termination fees. The company offers a full set of features for online businesses, and its reputation for customer service is much stronger than that of your average merchant services provider.

Let’s go through some of what HMS has to offer internet-based businesses:

  • Web hosting
  • A virtual terminal
  • Your choice of the in-house payment gateway and Authorize.Net’s gateway
  • Recurring billing
  • Check imaging
  • Free basic website with hosting
  • Numerous online store integrations (HMS will help you select the right one for your business)
  • Gift cards and loyalty cards
  • Business financing
  • Mobile processing, credit card terminals, and POS systems for in-person sales

Host Merchant Services Pricing

HMS offers competitive interchange-plus pricing. Read our piece on interchange-plus pricing to see why it is our preferred pricing model for payment processing. It’s a model that particularly suits businesses with a relatively high credit/debit card sales volume.

  • Online Transactions: Interchange + 0.35% + $0.10
  • Monthly Fee: $14.99
  • 1099 Reporting Fee: $24/year
  • Gateway Fee: $5-$10/month
  • Chargeback Fee: $15

This pricing scheme works best for businesses processing over $10K/month — thankfully, if you process under $10K/month, HMS may offer you a custom rate package that better fits your business.

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5. Shopify: Best Simple, All-In-One Credit Card Payments Solution

Shopify Payments


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Pros

  • Excellent all-in-one eCommerce solution
  • Transparent flat-rate pricing
  • No long-term contracts or early termination fees
  • Extensive add-on options

Cons

  • Limited functionality unless you get pricey add-ons
  • Frequent complaints of poor customer service
  • Flat-rate pricing may be expensive for high-volume businesses

Why We Chose Shopify For Accepting Credit Card Payments Online

Shopify earns a spot on our list because the entire platform is designed for the online seller, and it does an excellent job. Combining payment processing with an easy online store builder (though you can use a different processor if you pay extra), Shopify is an easy-to-use option with numerous integrations, attractive templates, and advanced design tools that make it a very good value for the price.

eCommerce has always been Shopify’s bread and butter, so if you’re looking for a tool to power your online store with easy functionality, simple flat-rate pricing (always better for lower-volume merchants than higher-volume ones), and over 2,000 eCommerce integrations, Shopify is a no-brainer.

The only player in the same league here is Square, though Shopify offers better international eCommerce support, more advanced eCommerce features generally, more integrations, more shipping tools, and 24/7 phone support. Then again, you can sell with Square without paying a monthly fee (not possible with Shopify), and Square offers stronger support for CBD merchants. Square also offers superior POS support, though that’s outside the scope of this article.

Check out our Square vs Shopify comparison piece for more.

Shopify Features

Shopify offers several types of payment buttons, including Shop Pay, Shopify’s accelerated checkout flow. It even supports PayPal buy buttons. If you never want to have a site at all, you can sync your Shopify inventory with numerous platforms, including Facebook Stores, Instagram Shoppable Posts, Amazon, eBay, and many others.

As far as creating your online store, you’ll find everything on your dashboard. From setting up and syncing inventory to creating your site to a massive library of integrations, you’ll likely find all you need.

Here’s some of what you’ll get:

  • Currency conversion
  • Shoppable social media posts
  • Gift cards
  • Marketing tools
  • Hosted online store (but not with Shopify Starter)
  • Reports
  • Staff accounts
  • Buy buttons
  • Multi-platform integrations
  • Shipping tools and discounts
  • Free store templates
  • Unlimited products

Shopify Pricing

Shopify’s processing fees depend on your subscription level — basically, if you want lower processing fees (and other benefits), you’ll have to pay a higher monthly fee.

  • Online Transactions: 2.9% + $0.30 with Shopify Basic and Starter, 2.6% + $0.30 with Shopify (standard), and 2.4% + $0.30 with Shopify Advanced
  • Monthly Fee: $5/month with Shopify Starter, $29/month with Shopify Basic, $79/month with Shopify, and $299/month with Shopify Advanced (these fees are for annual subscriptions; month-by-month subscriptions cost a bit more)
  • Chargeback Fee: $15
  • Additional Cost Per Transaction When You Use A Non-Shopify Processor: 0.5-2%

Keep in mind that the $5/month Shopify Starter plan (currently $1 for the first three months) does not give you an online store or many other features — instead, it lets you sell items via a Linkpop page you can put in your social media bio and via payment links you can send via text, email, or DM. If you want a full eCommerce website (and/or access to Shopify’s POS), you’ll need to pay at least $29/month for the Shopify Basic plan.

Shopify’s pricing isn’t a great fit for large businesses, but the highest-volume sellers may want to check out Shopify Plus, a solution for large/enterprise businesses. You’ll get extra features and lower processing rates, though pricing starts at $2,000/month.

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6. Dharma Merchant Services: Best Online Processor For Nonprofits

Dharma Merchant Services


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Pros

  • Competitive interchange-plus pricing
  • Month-to-month billing with no early termination fees
  • Excellent sales transparency & business practices
  • Discounted pricing for nonprofit organizations

Cons

  • Not recommended for businesses processing under $10K/month
  • No support for high-risk or international merchants

Why We Chose Dharma Merchant Services For Accepting Credit Card Payments Online

Dharma Merchant Services is an exemplary merchant account provider, offering quality services, fair pricing, and personalized customer support to its overwhelmingly satisfied customers (as attested to on online review sites). Dharma is a particularly strong credit card processing choice for nonprofit organizations — not only does the company offer discounted transaction fees for registered nonprofits, but it also partners with 4aGoodCause to provide nonprofits with donation pages and event registration services.

For these reasons, we feel that Dharma Merchant Services stands out from the pack and thus merits inclusion in our list of the best ways to accept credit cards online.

Dharma Merchant Services Features

When you sign up with Dharma, you’ll be using MX Merchant as your integrated payments platform. This service offers everything you’ll need to process payments online, including:

  • A virtual terminal
  • Online reporting
  • A customer information database
  • Recurring billing
  • ACH/eCheck processing
  • B2B processing
  • Invoicing
  • A mobile processing app
  • Donation pages and event registration for nonprofits

Note that Dharma does not accept high-risk or international merchants, instead referring these applicants to PaymentCloud, another one of our preferred online credit card processors.

Dharma Merchant Services Pricing

We’re big fans of the fact that Dharma offers interchange-plus pricing exclusively. We also love the fact that Dharma allows qualified nonprofits to process payments at a discounted rate.

  • Online Transactions: Interchange + 0.20% + $0.11
  • Online Transactions For Businesses Processing $100K+/Month: Interchange + 0.10% + $0.11
  • Online Transactions For Nonprofits: Interchange + 0.10% + $0.11
  • Monthly Fee: $25 ($20 for nonprofits)
  • Chargeback Fee: $25

Like many full merchant account providers, Dharma’s pricing makes it a good fit for businesses and organizations processing at least $10K/month.

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7. PaySimple: Best Online Processor For Service Businesses

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Pros

  • No long-term contracts
  • No early termination fee
  • Good customer support
  • Excellent for service businesses

Cons

  • Expensive tiered pricing
  • Not cost-effective for high-volume businesses unless you can get interchange-plus pricing
  • Little support for international merchants

Why We Chose PaySimple For Accepting Credit Card Payments Online

PaySimple bridges the gap between payment service providers like Square and PayPal, which cater to very small businesses and traditional full-service merchant account providers. If you sign up with PaySimple, you’ll receive a true merchant account, which should help to prevent account holds or terminations.

We chose PaySimple for this list because it is a great choice for service industries, which typically don’t require features such as inventory management or point of sale (POS) systems.

PaySimple Features

If you want to send invoices to your customers and give them the option to pay you online, PaySimple has all the features you’ll need. The PaySimple online store builder can easily add invoicing and payment features to your website – without needing a developer to make it happen. At the same time, there are plenty of APIs available if you’d like to customize your site.

Here’s some of what else PaySimple offers:

  • A virtual terminal
  • Recurring billing
  • ACH/eCheck payments
  • Reporting
  • Appointment booking and scheduling
  • Email marketing integrations

PaySimple Pricing

  • Online Transactions: Starts at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
  • Monthly Fee: $79.95/month
  • Chargeback Fee: $25-30

Unfortunately, PaySimple uses a tiered pricing model, which we don’t like due to its lack of transparency and higher average costs. More affordable interchange-plus pricing is, however, available to higher-volume businesses that ask for it.

Our full review of PaySimple has more details.

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8. QuickBooks Payments: Best Online Processor For Businesses That Use QuickBooks For Accounting

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Pros

  • Predictable flat-rate pricing with no fixed fee
  • Seamless QuickBooks integration
  • No monthly minimums
  • Good for professional services

Cons

  • Limited invoice customization
  • High per-transaction rate
  • Inconsistent customer support

Why We Chose QuickBooks Payments For Accepting Credit Card Payments Online

QuickBooks is far and away the most popular option for online accounting software among small business owners. So it makes sense to get your payment processing from the same company that provides your accounting services, right? Well, maybe. For a small professional services business that doesn’t need a lot of the bells and whistles that a traditional brick-and-mortar retail business requires, QuickBooks Payments can be a great choice, which is why we included QuickBooks Payments in this list.

One misperception we’d like to clear up right away is that you don’t need to sign up for QuickBooks Payments just to get a payment service that integrates with QuickBooks’s accounting products. Nearly every processor on the market offers QuickBooks integration at this point, although some do a better job on the technical details than others. However, if the company’s simplified pricing structure and product lineup meet your needs, it’s certainly a good choice.

QuickBooks Payments Features

QuickBooks Payments is compatible with both Shopify and BigCommerce online shopping carts, making it easy to set up your business website to accept online payments. You’ll also get the following:

  • ACH processing
  • Currency conversion
  • PCI compliance
  • Recurring billing and subscriptions
  • Invoicing
  • Native POS integrations

QuickBooks Payments Pricing

QuickBooks now offers payment processing on a standalone basis without accounting features, along with three subscription packages that include accounting. If you don’t already use QuickBooks for accounting, these are the packages you’ll choose from.

If you already use QuickBooks for accounting, however, your pricing may be different. QuickBooks no longer discloses much information regarding the cost of payment processing for existing QuickBooks Online/Desktop users, unfortunately.

  • Online Transactions: 2.99%
  • Monthly Fee: $0-$90, depending on your subscription type
  • Chargeback Fee: $25

For more details on the company’s monthly payment plans and fees, read our full QuickBooks Payments review.

Get Started With QuickBooks Payments

Read our in-depth review

Jump back to comparison chart

Our Methodology For Choosing The Best Online Payment Processing Providers

When highlighting the best online payment processors, we looked at reputable providers that provide particular value for certain online business types and circumstances. Certain features, like a virtual terminal and payment gateway, were of primary importance. Merchant feedback, as determined by comments left on popular review sites, was also taken into consideration.

In terms of pricing, our preference is to highlight providers who offer competitive, transparent interchange-plus or flat-rate pricing. However, in certain circumstances (processing for high-risk businesses in particular), we had to choose providers who do not offer this kind of pricing transparency due to the fact that the best pricing schemes simply aren’t available to all business types.

7 Considerations To Remember When You Accept Credit Cards Online

With so many providers and features to choose from, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. As we’ve noted above, some providers are better suited to different types of businesses than others. In narrowing down your options for a merchant services provider that can help you accept online payments, you’ll want to clearly identify your business’s specific needs to eliminate choices that aren’t suitable.

Before you attempt to come up with a “shortlist” of potential candidates, ask yourself the following questions to identify your needs and determine which providers are most likely to meet them:

Do You Already Have A Website?

If yes, do you like your website? Would you rather abandon it for a better site with more features? If you already have a site and don’t want to go through the effort of creating a new one to sell a handful of products, adding payment buttons or using one of the many available plugins might be the easiest option.

Of course, you don’t need a website to accept payments online. Very small and part-time businesses can get away with using online invoicing software or social media to make their sales. However, for any full-time operation, we strongly recommend that you have a website to promote your business and process credit card payments online. The COVID-19 pandemic only served to emphasize just how important it is for businesses to stake out their corner of cyberspace in the 21st century.

What’s Your Budget?

When it comes to numbers, you need to look at both upfront costs and monthly (or yearly) costs. How much can you spend at the outset, and how much do you expect to be able to afford on a monthly or annual basis?

Keep in mind that the more technically advanced your website is, the more you can expect to pay to build and maintain it. Likewise, the more inventory you have, the more you can expect to pay. If you decide to go the custom route or hire a developer, don’t forget to add these to payment processing costs.

Which Payment Methods Should You Offer?

While credit and debit cards are the go-tos for accepting payments online, they aren’t the only options. For starters, there are ACH bank transfers, which are less expensive to process and allow customers who don’t own a credit card to buy from you. ACH payments are often preferred in B2B environments, but some consumers favor them, too.

While almost all providers offer an eCheck/ACH payment service, PaymentCloud and Stripe place more emphasis on this feature. You should also consider alternative payment methods, such as Apple Pay, which can be much less expensive to process than other card-not-present options.

Do You Need A Full-Service Merchant Account?

Although you will definitely need a payment processor to accept credit cards, you won’t necessarily need a true, fully-featured merchant account. Payment service providers (e.g., Square, PayPal, and others) can process your transactions but do not provide individual merchant accounts. Instead, they aggregate all of their users into a single shared merchant account. This practice simplifies the account setup process by eliminating the need for credit checks for low-risk businesses. Unlike actual merchant accounts, you won’t be issued a unique merchant ID number that identifies your business to the credit card processing networks.

Additionally, traditional merchant accounts are often only available to businesses that process higher volumes, which can cause a huge stumbling block for a smaller business that is just launching or an owner without established credit. The main drawback that we’ve seen with using a payment service provider is that account holds, freezes, and terminations are more frequent due to stricter underwriting guidelines. As a general rule, payment service providers work best for small, low-volume, and seasonal businesses. Established businesses with a higher processing volume should typically invest in a full-service merchant account.

Do You Need A Lot Of Site Customization?

The more customization you need (both in your site and in the payment flow), the more you’ll need to either outsource a developer and web design team or take the time to do it yourself. With many of the providers we’ve profiled above, however, you can probably get by without having to touch code at all if you don’t want to.

How Comfortable Are You With Handling Security Features?

If you want to sell online, security is critical. That means ensuring your site is PCI compliant. The more involved you are in the payment process and the more sensitive information your website handles, the more burden you are taking upon yourself.

Fortunately, many payment processors and other software providers offer solutions to keep your customer’s information secure and reduce your PCI burden. In many cases, you may not need to do anything because the sensitive data is all tokenized or hosted elsewhere!

Do You Need To Integrate Accounting & Payment Processing?

You’re going to need to keep track of all those online credit card transactions, and you’ll need accounting software to do so. Integrating your accounting software with your payment processing service sounds like it would be a good idea, but that’s not always the case.

QuickBooks, for example, is the industry leader in small business accounting and a great product. However, the optional QuickBooks Payments processing service won’t be a fit for all businesses using QB for accounting. In any event, most merchant service providers on the market today integrate with QuickBooks, so don’t feel locked into a single provider just because you use it.

Are You Ready To Accept Credit Card Payments Online?

Whether you are a fledgling business owner with a fresh idea or you’ve been selling for years at a cash-only storefront, you have numerous options in how you accept credit cards online. If there is any takeaway that you bring with you, it’s that there are opportunities for all skill levels, budgets, and visions.

At this point, you certainly do not have to have a website to take payments online. However, at the same time, creating an eCommerce website has also never been easier.

For a look at how to accept credit card payments more generally (including in-person), our small business guide to setting up credit card payments is a great resource.

FAQs: How To Accept Credit Card Payments Online

What is the easiest way to accept credit card payments online?

The easiest way to start accepting online payments is to sign up with a third-party processor like Square, Stripe, or PayPal. Also known as payment service providers, these services are easier to sign up for than full merchant account providers and will enable you to start selling online almost immediately.

The drawback of third-party processors like these is that you’ll face an increased risk of having your funds held or your account terminated over real or perceived account irregularities. Read our guide to preventing funding holds and account terminations for tips on how to keep this from happening.

What is the cheapest way to take credit card payments online?

The cheapest way to accept payments depends on your business type, processing volume, and numerous other factors. Going with a third-party processor like Square or Stripe may be the most cost-effective way for new businesses to start selling quickly, but as your processing volume increases and your feature needs grow, switching to a full merchant account may save you money on processing costs and enable your business to grow and expand further.

Can I accept credit card payments online for free?

No. All credit card payment processors charge transaction fees for taking payments, but there are several payment platforms you can use that don’t charge monthly or annual fees, like Stripe, Square, and PayPal.

In Summary: Accept Credit Cards Online With These 8 Top Payment Processors

  1. Stripe Payments:
    • Best for businesses needing a custom payments solution
    • No monthly fee
    • 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction
  2. Square:
    • Best for small or seasonal businesses
    • Starts at $0/month
    • 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction
  3. PaymentCloud:
    • Best for high-risk industries
    • Monthly fee not disclosed
    • Processing rates not disclosed
  4. Host Merchant Services:
    • Best for personalized eCommerce guidance
    • Various monthly & annual fees apply
    • Interchange + 0.35% + $0.10 per online transaction
  5. Shopify Payments:
    • Best for businesses seeking a simple, all-in-one solution
    • $5-$299/month
    • 2.4% + $0.30 to 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction
  6. Dharma Merchant Services:
    • Best for registered nonprofit organizations
    • $25/month ($20 for nonprofits)
    • Interchange + 0.20% + $0.11 per online transaction (Int + 0.10% + $0.11 for nonprofits & the highest-volume businesses)
  7. PaySimple:
    • Best for service businesses
    • $79.95/month
    • Online transactions start at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, but your rates may vary
  8. QuickBooks Payments:
    • Best for QuickBooks accounting users
    • $0-90 monthly fee
    • 2.99% per online transaction
Jason Vissers

Jason Vissers

Senior Staff Writer at Merchant Maverick
Jason has been writing about small business software platforms, services, and financing since 2015. Jason’s expertise has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Time/NextAdvisor, Home Business Magazine, CreditCards.com, GoBankingRates, TheLadders.com, and other publications. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from San Diego State University and currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Jason Vissers
View Jason Vissers's professional experience on LinkedIn.

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