Independent · sourced · Updated November 2026
Best Payment Processors (2026)
8 payment processors options compared on price, free tier, compliance and fit — ranked by entry price. Every figure links to the public page it was captured from — the vendor's own wherever the vendor publishes the number, otherwise the named public source — with the date we captured it; where a vendor publishes no monthly price we name the kind of pricing it uses, never a guess.
The cheapest payment processors is Authorize.net at $25/mo. 1 offer a free tier. All 8 compared below on price, free tier and compliance — every figure sourced and dated, updated November 2026.
As of Nov 1, 2026 · figures linked to their source in the table below
Key takeaways
- Free tier: Square.
- States HIPAA support: Square.
- Tracked: 8 vendors, data current through 2026-11-01. STALE · 2026-09-03
Comparison
| # | Payment Processor | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | SOC 2 | Best for | Source | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Authorize.net | $25/mo All-in-One | No | No | — | Established SMBs wanting a gateway-only solution with their own merchant account | authorize.net | Visit → |
| 2 | Stax (by Fattmerchant) STALE · 2026-09-03 | $99/mo Subscription (up to $150K/yr) | No | No | — | Established SMBs processing $120K+/year wanting to eliminate percentage markups | staxpayments.com | Visit → |
| 3 | Adyen STALE · 2026-09-03 | not priced monthly | No | No | Yes | Large enterprise and global retailers needing unified commerce | adyen.com | Visit → |
| 4 | Braintree (a PayPal service) STALE · 2026-09-05 | usage-priced | No | No | — | Enterprise merchants wanting PayPal/Venmo alongside cards in one integration | paypal.com | Visit → |
| 5 | Helcim STALE · 2026-09-03 | not priced monthly | No | No | — | Small and mid-size businesses wanting transparent interchange-plus pricing | helcim.com | Visit → |
| 6 | PayPal STALE · 2026-09-03 | usage-priced | No | No | — | Consumer-facing e-commerce leveraging PayPal buyer trust | paypal.com | Visit → |
| 7 | Square STALE · 2026-09-03 | not priced monthly | Yes | Yes | — | Small and mid-size retail, food & beverage, and service businesses | squareup.com | Visit → |
| 8 | Stripe STALE · 2026-09-03 | usage-priced | No | No | Yes | SaaS and subscription businesses | stripe.com | Visit → |
Prices are the lowest published self-serve rate, with the period it is charged on, as captured on the linked source. Annual-billing and usage details are on each vendor's record in our open dataset.
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What is the cheapest payment processors?
Authorize.net has the lowest published entry price at $25/mo (All-in-One), as of 2026-11-01.
Which payment processors have a free plan?
Square offer a free tier.
Which payment processors support HIPAA?
Square state HIPAA support (a BAA). Always confirm current scope with the vendor.
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