Independent · sourced · Updated June 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 vendor's own page and the date we captured it; quote-only tiers show a dash, 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 June 2026.
As of Jun 15, 2026 · figures linked to their source in the table below
Key takeaways
- 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 | 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) | $99/mo Subscription (up to $150K/yr) | No | No | — | Established SMBs processing $120K+/year wanting to eliminate percentage markups | staxpayments.com | Visit → |
| 3 | Adyen | — | No | No | Yes | Large enterprise and global retailers needing unified commerce | quote-only | Visit → |
| 4 | Braintree (a PayPal service) | — | No | No | — | Enterprise merchants wanting PayPal/Venmo alongside cards in one integration | quote-only | Visit → |
| 5 | Helcim | — | No | No | — | Small and mid-size businesses wanting transparent interchange-plus pricing | quote-only | Visit → |
| 6 | PayPal | — | No | No | — | Consumer-facing e-commerce leveraging PayPal buyer trust | quote-only | Visit → |
| 7 | Square | — | Yes | Yes | — | Small and mid-size retail, food & beverage, and service businesses | quote-only | Visit → |
| 8 | Stripe | — | No | No | Yes | SaaS and subscription businesses | quote-only | Visit → |
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.
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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 2026-06-15.
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.
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