Independent · sourced · Updated June 2026
Best Payment Processors (2026)
The cheapest payment processors is Authorize.net at $25/mo. 1 offer a free tier (Square). This page compares 8 options on entry price, free tier, HIPAA/SOC 2 and best-for — every figure linked to its source, updated June 2026.
8 options compared on price, free tier, compliance and fit — ranked cheapest-first. Every figure links to the vendor's own page and the date we captured it; quote-only tiers show “—”, never a guess.
Key takeaways
- Cheapest: Authorize.net at $25/mo (All-in-One).
- Free tier: Square.
- HIPAA-ready: Square.
- Tracked: 8 vendors, data current through 2026-06-15.
Comparison
| # | Payment Processor | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | SOC 2 | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Authorize.net | $25/mo All-in-One | No | No | — | Established SMBs wanting a gateway-only solution with their own merchant account | authorize.net |
| 2 | Stax (by Fattmerchant) | $99/mo Subscription (up to $150K/yr) | No | No | — | Established SMBs processing $120K+/year wanting to eliminate percentage markups | staxpayments.com |
| 3 | Adyen | — | No | No | Yes | Large enterprise and global retailers needing unified commerce | quote-only |
| 4 | Braintree (a PayPal service) | — | No | No | — | Enterprise merchants wanting PayPal/Venmo alongside cards in one integration | quote-only |
| 5 | Helcim | — | No | No | — | Small and mid-size businesses wanting transparent interchange-plus pricing | quote-only |
| 6 | PayPal | — | No | No | — | Consumer-facing e-commerce leveraging PayPal buyer trust | quote-only |
| 7 | Square | — | Yes | Yes | — | Small and mid-size retail, food & beverage, and service businesses | quote-only |
| 8 | Stripe | — | No | No | Yes | SaaS and subscription businesses | quote-only |
Prices are the lowest published self-serve monthly rate as captured on the linked source. Annual-billing and usage details are on each vendor's record in our open dataset.
Alternatives
Popular comparisons
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest payment processors?
Authorize.net has the lowest published entry price at $25/mo (All-in-One), as of 2026-06-15.
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.
More software comparisons
How we compiled this
Published self-serve payment-processing pricing was collected from each provider's own pricing page on the accessed date; because this vertical prices per transaction (percentage + fixed fee) rather than per seat, the per-transaction rate is recorded in each plan's notes and monthlyUsd holds only a genuine published recurring fee (Authorize.net gateway $25/mo, Square Plus/Premium, Stax subscription) or null when the plan is pure pay-as-you-go with no monthly fee. Quote-only / custom-negotiated tiers and any rate not printed on the fetched page are recorded with monthlyUsd null, and the minutes/calls/overage fields are null throughout since they do not apply to this vertical.
Last verified 2026-06-15. We re-check published prices and compliance on a recurring cadence and update this page when they change.
Embed this comparison — free
Add the live cheapest-payment processors list to your site. It reflects our latest data, and an attribution link is built in.