A free tool that tells small business owners what card processing actually costs them — built by someone who doesn’t sell card processing.
Almost every small business owner can tell you the rate they were quoted. Very few can tell you the rate they actually pay.
Those are different numbers, and the gap between them is where the money goes. Quoted rates describe one kind of transaction under ideal conditions. What you actually pay includes downgrades, per-item charges, monthly fees, gateway fees, PCI fees, and line items with names nobody explains. Divide total fees by total volume and the result is frequently a full percentage point above the number you agreed to — sometimes several.
The reason this stays hidden is not complexity. It is that almost every resource explaining card processing is paid by someone selling card processing. Comparison sites earn referral commissions. Calculators are lead-capture forms. Statement analysis software is sold to sales agents so they can pitch you faster. The information exists; it is just never free of the interest of whoever is handing it to you.
Know The Rate is an attempt at the other thing: work out the number, show the arithmetic, name the assumptions, and sell nothing.
It doesn’t. Not yet, and not in any of the usual ways for this category.
Square and Stripe are named on the calculator because their pricing is public and checkable, which makes the comparison verifiable. There is no relationship with either company, no commission if you sign up with them, and naming them is not a recommendation.
This site recommends no processor, ranks no provider, and takes no money from any payments company. That rule exists because the person behind it works in software sales for a company whose products touch payments — so you never have to wonder whether a recommendation here was paid for. There aren’t any.
In practice that means no “best processor” list, no rankings, no referral links, and no provider put forward as a suggestion. Where a named company does appear — Square and Stripe on the calculator — it is as a published price to measure against, because their pricing is public and anyone can check it. Naming them is not endorsing them.
The work here is translation, not brokerage. Nothing on this site can be bought, and nobody here gets paid when you sign something.
The calculator shows three figures on one scale.
Your total fees divided by your card volume for the same month. This is your effective rate, and it is your own arithmetic — no assumptions involved.
Interchange, which goes to the bank that issued your customer’s card, plus network assessment fees. This is what the transaction costs before any processor markup. It is modelled from published Visa and Mastercard schedules, blended 60/40 by volume, using an assumed mix of debit, standard credit and rewards cards based on your business type. This bar is an estimate, and the card mix is the largest source of error in it. American Express is excluded, because its pricing is not reliably published.
Being above wholesale is normal and necessary — no processor works for free. A markup of roughly 20 to 50 basis points is a competitive deal. The wholesale figure is a floor, not a target.
What your volume would cost on public, no-negotiation pricing from a named provider. Taken directly from their published pricing pages and applied to your numbers.
Interchange changes roughly every April and October, and flat-rate pricing drifts without announcement. Everything here is re-checked on that cadence and the review date above is updated when it happens. If that date is more than six months old, treat the wholesale figure with suspicion.
If a number here is wrong, it should be fixed rather than defended. Rates change, sources conflict, and assumptions age. Corrections are welcome and will be made with the date noted.
Replace before launch
Contact. Add a real email address you will actually read. A contact route matters more on this site than most, because the whole proposition is that a person stands behind the numbers — and because the strongest thing anyone can send you is their own statement.