Payment Gateway Fee Calculator: Compare What Every Processor Actually Charges
| Provider | Coverage | Settlement | Chargebacks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Covers your full payment mix | ||||||
PayRamCheapest Cards + crypto | $500 | 0.50% | $0.37 | Full | Instant — lands directly in your wallet | None |
Dodo Payments Cards + crypto (Merchant of Record) | $5,667 | 5.67% | $4.25 | Full | Fiat to bank · T+7 | $25.00 |
| Partial coverage — would need a second gateway | ||||||
NowPayments Crypto only | $200 | 1.00% | $0.75 | Covers 20%needs another gateway for the rest | Crypto or fiat · T+1 | None |
Stripe Cards — Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover | $2,640 | 3.30% | $2.47 | Covers 80%needs another gateway for the rest | Fiat to bank · T+2 | $15.00 |
Square Cards + in-person POS | $2,640 | 3.30% | $2.47 | Covers 80%needs another gateway for the rest | Fiat to bank · T+1 | None |
PayPal Cards + PayPal balance | $3,315 | 4.14% | $3.11 | Covers 80%needs another gateway for the rest | Fiat to PayPal/bank · T+1 | $20.00 |
| Feature | Stripe | PayPal | Square | NowPayments | Dodo Payments | PayRam |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High-risk friendly | — | — | — | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Accepts cards | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Accepts crypto | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Same-day payouts | — | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | ✓ |
| No chargeback fees | — | — | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| Global tax & compliance handled | — | — | — | — | ✓ | — |
| No monthly minimum | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Estimates based on published list rates. Get an exact quote →
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Talk to a specialist →Frequently asked questions about payment gateway fees
The most common questions merchants ask before picking a processor.
How are payment gateway fees calculated?
Each provider's fee is its published list rate applied to the volume you enter. For cards we use percent + fixed-fee math (e.g., Stripe is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). For crypto rails we use the provider's percentage on transaction volume, plus any auto-conversion markup. Monthly minimums, if any, top up the total when the variable portion falls short. The breakdown is shown beneath each provider card so you can audit the math.
Why do Stripe, PayPal and Square reject high-risk merchant categories?
Mainstream card processors operate under acquiring bank agreements that exclude entire MCC (Merchant Category) codes — iGaming, adult content, forex/CFD trading, crypto exchanges and CBD are the common ones. The reasons are regulatory exposure, fraud rates, and chargeback risk. These restrictions are policy, not pricing — even if your business is profitable and clean, Stripe won't onboard you if your category is on their prohibited list.
For those merchants, crypto-native gateways and high-risk-friendly processors are the standard path.
What does 'payment mix coverage' mean in a fee comparison?
If you set the payment mix slider to 80% cards / 20% crypto and pick a crypto-only processor like NowPayments, that provider can only serve the 20% crypto portion of your volume — it has no way to accept card payments. We surface the coverage gap so the lower headline fee isn't misleading. A 'cheapest' label only attaches to providers that cover 100% of your selected payment mix.
How much do crypto payment gateways charge?
Crypto charges are low compared to cards — typically 0.5–1% of transaction volume, with no per-transaction fixed fee. PayRam charges 0.5% on crypto, NowPayments 1%, and Dodo Payments bundles crypto into its 5% Merchant-of-Record rate. Crypto payments also can't be charged back, so you avoid the dispute fees that come with cards.
Why are Merchant of Record (MoR) payment fees higher than standard gateways?
Dodo Payments operates as a Merchant of Record (MoR), meaning it handles global sales-tax registration, VAT/GST collection, fraud screening, customer-facing receipts, refund infrastructure and compliance. You're paying for an outsourced finance back-office bundled into the transaction fee. For some businesses that's worth 5% — for many, it's not.
Can merchants negotiate payment processing fees below list rates?
Yes — at scale. Stripe, Adyen and similar processors will move to interchange-plus pricing for merchants doing roughly $1M+/month. Negotiated rates typically run 0.5-1.5% lower than list. Crypto-native providers have less room to negotiate because their margins are already thin. The calculator uses list rates so you have a defensible starting point; if you'd like a tailored quote, use the 'Get an exact quote' link.
Do same-day payouts (T+0) reduce costs for small merchants?
If you process $100k/month and your standard payouts arrive at T+2, you're financing $6,667 of in-transit money continuously. At a 12% cost of capital that's about $800/year. At $500k/month it's $4,000/year. Same-day payout is real money — it's just hidden in the working-capital line, not the fee line. Our Payout Timing tool quantifies this separately.