The Front Desk Review

Best Payment Processors · head-to-head

Authorize.net vs Stax (by Fattmerchant)

A sourced, side-by-side comparison for payment processors. Authorize.net has the lower entry price. Every figure links to the vendor's own page and the date we captured it.

Authorize.net has the lower entry price — Authorize.net starts at $25/mo, Stax (by Fattmerchant) at $99/mo. Free tier: Authorize.net No, Stax (by Fattmerchant) No. HIPAA: Authorize.net No, Stax (by Fattmerchant) No.

As of 2026-06-13 · figures link to their source below

Side by side

Authorize.net

$25/mo entry
Entry price$25/mo (All-in-One)
Free tierNo
HIPAA (BAA)No
SOC 2—
GDPR—
Best forEstablished SMBs wanting a gateway-only solution with their own merchant account

Stax (by Fattmerchant)

$99/mo entry
Entry price$99/mo (Subscription (up to $150K/yr))
Free tierNo
HIPAA (BAA)No
SOC 2—
GDPR—
Best forEstablished SMBs processing $120K+/year wanting to eliminate percentage markups

Sources — Authorize.net: authorize.net (verified 2026-06-13) · Stax (by Fattmerchant): staxpayments.com (verified 2026-06-13)

Key features

Authorize.net: Established payment gateway with 25+ years in market (Visa subsidiary); Advanced Fraud Detection Suite (AFDS) with customizable rules; Account Updater to automatically refresh stored card data; Recurring billing and subscription payment management; Supports Tap to Pay on mobile and eCheck/ACH payments

Stax (by Fattmerchant): 0% interchange markup — flat per-transaction cents only above direct interchange cost; Subscription model saves high-volume merchants vs. percentage-based processors; All-in-one: invoicing, recurring billing, virtual terminal, and reporting included; PCI DSS compliant platform; Dedicated account manager on higher tiers

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