How much does a payment gateway cost?
It depends on whether the gateway is sold on its own or comes with the processor. Stripe’s guide lists three common payment gateway charges: a fee on each transaction, a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee.
What four providers publish for online card payments in Canada:
| Provider (Canada) | Per online payment | Setup or monthly fee for the gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | 2.9% + CA$0.30 (domestic cards) | “No setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees” |
| Square | 2.8% + 30¢ | No separate gateway fee; $0 Free plan. Some Square Online features from $36 or $99 a month |
| Helcim | Interchange + 0.50% + 25¢ (Tier 1) | No separate gateway fee; “No account monthly fees” |
| TD Merchant Solutions | Not listed as a gateway fee | TD’s fee list has no line named for a gateway |
Integration costs. Stripe’s guide says a setup fee is “typically a one-time fee charged when a business first sets up an account”, and is meant to cover “the cost of configuring and integrating the payment gateway with the business’s system”. The sources on this page do not cover the cost of building or connecting a website, such as a developer’s time.
US prices are further down.
What a gateway does
A payment gateway carries an online card payment from a website or app to the payment processor, and brings back the approval or decline. Stripe’s guide says: “A payment gateway is a tool that lets businesses safely accept payments online.”
Stripe’s guide describes the steps: the gateway “encrypts transaction data, forwards it to the business’s acquiring bank or payment processor, receives the transaction approval or decline response, and communicates the transaction status to the business’s website or app.” The acquiring bank is the bank that handles card sales for the business.
Stripe’s guide also separates the two roles: a gateway “securely transmits and facilitates the authorisation of online transactions”, while a payment processor handles “the authorisation and settlement of funds”. In person, a payment terminal “mostly does the same job as a payment gateway”.
Why it is sometimes a separate bill
Stripe’s guide lists “a few particularly common payment gateway fees”:
| Fee | How Stripe’s guide describes it |
|---|---|
| Transaction fees | “charged each time the payment gateway processes a credit card transaction”, as a percentage, a fixed amount, or both |
| Setup fees | “typically a one-time fee charged when a business first sets up an account” |
| Monthly fees | charged “regardless of how many transactions the business processes per month” |
Standalone gateway prices, from a gateway sold separately from the processor, were not found on the pages we could open.
Gateway fees versus processing fees
Some providers include the gateway in one published online rate. Published examples:
| Provider | Online rate | Separate gateway fee listed? | Monthly fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe (Canada) | 2.9% + CA$0.30 (domestic cards) | No | “No setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees” |
| Square (Canada) | 2.8% + 30¢ | No | $0 Free plan; some Square Online features start at $36 or $99 a month |
| Helcim (Canada) | Interchange + 0.50% + 25¢ (Tier 1) | No | “No account monthly fees”; no software fees |
| Stripe (US) | 2.9% + 30¢ (domestic cards) | No | No setup or monthly fees |
| Square (US, Free plan) | 3.3% + 30¢ | No | $0 Free plan |
Square’s online payments page says it connects to store platforms such as WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Magento. Square’s retail pricing page lists some Square Online features starting at $36 a month (Online Plus) and $99 a month (Online Premium).
TD’s fee list has no line named for a gateway. TD’s terms say that any point of sale device, gateway or value added reseller used with its Data Protection Service (Fiserv’s TransArmor encryption) “must be certified for use with the Data Protection Service.”
Card network fees on online sales
The card networks also charge fees that apply only to card-not-present sales, where the card is not at the counter. TD’s fee list shows:
| Fee | Amount | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Visa DCSF Domestic Fee | 0.017% | Domestic card-not-present sales |
| Visa DCSF Foreign Fee | 0.0396% | Cross-border card-not-present sales |
| Mastercard Digital Enablement Fee | 0.0226%, minimum $0.0280 | “all Canada Acquired approved and declined Card-Not-Present transactions” |
DCSF is Visa’s Digital Commerce Services Fee. On flat-rate plans these are inside the one rate. On interchange plus they appear as their own lines. See Assessment Fees Explained.
Paying for a gateway you do not use
A monthly gateway fee is charged whether or not any online sales happen, according to Stripe’s description of monthly fees. On a statement, it appears as a fixed monthly line. See Statement and Monthly Fees.
Security. The PCI Security Standards Council’s version 4.0 form “SAQ A” is written for sellers whose online payment page comes entirely from a PCI DSS compliant provider. See PCI Fees and Non-Compliance Fees.
Where to go from here
More on selling online: Card Processing for Online Stores and Per-Transaction Fees. The effective rate calculator puts every fee in one number.
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