ACH vs credit card fee calculator
On a $50 sale the difference between ACH and a card is small change. On a $10,000 invoice it is not close: the card takes roughly $290 and ACH takes $5.00, because almost every US ACH product caps its fee. This calculator prices both on your real invoice size, models the cap and the minimum properly, and finds the payment size where ACH starts winning.
The payment
Used for the monthly and annual figures.
Card pricing
ACH pricing
Square charges $1. Stripe and PayPal charge none.
The number that decides everything. Zero means uncapped.
ACH saves you
$285.30
$3,423.60 a month, $41,083 a year across 12 payments.
Crossover
At this size the gap is large enough to be worth the friction. Offer ACH as the default on invoices and keep the card as the alternative.
Fees only. ACH settles in one to three business days rather than same day, and returned payments carry their own fee, so factor both in before switching a whole channel.
Worked example
A $10,000 invoice, card at 2.9% plus 30 cents against ACH at 0.8% capped at $5.00
The card costs $290.30. ACH would be $80.00 uncapped, but the $5.00 cap applies, so it costs $5.00. You keep $285.30 more on this single invoice.
The cap is the entire story
A card fee is a percentage with no ceiling, so it grows without limit as the invoice grows. Almost every US ACH product is a percentage with a cap: Stripe is 0.8% capped at $5.00, PayPal is 0.80% capped at $5.00, Square is 1% with a $1 minimum and a $10 cap on paid plans, and Helcim is 0.5% plus 25 cents capped at $6.00.
That cap means ACH cost stops rising at a fixed point while card cost keeps climbing. Against a 2.9% plus 30 cent card rate, an ACH product at 0.8% with no fixed fee is cheaper on every payment, from the first dollar, and the gap widens without limit: about $24 saved on a $1,000 invoice, about $285 on a $10,000 one. A crossover only exists when the ACH product has a minimum fee, as Square's $1 minimum does, and then it sits somewhere around $20 to $30.
Modelling ACH as a single flat percentage, which most comparisons do, gets the answer badly wrong on exactly the invoices where the decision matters. This calculator applies percentage, fixed fee, minimum and cap in the right order.
What ACH costs you that money does not measure
Speed. ACH settles in one to three business days rather than same day, and some providers hold new merchants longer. If your cash flow is tight, that delay has a real price.
Failure handling. ACH payments can be returned for insufficient funds or a closed account, typically days later, and providers charge a return fee. Cards fail at authorisation, which is immediate and cheaper to handle.
Customer friction. A card takes a number your customer already has memorised. ACH takes a bank account and routing number, or a bank login through an aggregator. For a consumer checkout that friction usually costs more in conversion than the fee saves. For a B2B invoice, where the customer is a finance team paying on terms, it costs almost nothing.
Who should switch, and how
The clear case is B2B invoicing with an average invoice over about $500. Offering ACH as the default and cards as the alternative, rather than the other way round, moves most of that volume without any hard requirement.
The other strong case is recurring billing at a meaningful monthly value. Subscription businesses lose money twice on cards, once on the fee and once on involuntary churn when cards expire or get declined. Bank details change far less often than card details.
The case against is consumer checkout, small tickets and anything impulse-driven. Below about $30 the saving is pennies and the friction is real.
Assumptions and limits
- Default ACH pricing is 0.8% capped at $5.00, which matches Stripe and PayPal's published US rates. Change it to your provider's structure.
- Return fees, which apply when an ACH payment bounces, are not included in the per-transaction comparison. Budget for them separately if your return rate is above about 0.5%.
- Settlement timing is not priced. ACH is slower, and for some businesses that is worth more than the fee saving.
- This is an estimate from the figures you entered, not a quote. Your processor statement is the authority on what you actually pay.
Frequently asked questions
- Is ACH cheaper than a credit card?
- Almost always, and dramatically so on large invoices. A $10,000 payment costs about $290 on a card at 2.9% plus 30 cents, and $5.00 by ACH at 0.8% with a $5.00 cap. On small tickets the saving is pennies, so convenience should decide, and if your ACH provider charges a minimum fee the card can genuinely be cheaper below about $20.
- How much are ACH fees?
- Typically 0.5% to 1% of the payment with a cap between $5.00 and $10.00. Stripe and PayPal both publish 0.8% capped at $5.00. Square charges 1% with a $1 minimum and a $10 cap on paid plans.
- Who pays the ACH fee?
- The business receiving the payment, in the same way it pays card processing fees. Passing an ACH fee on to a customer is generally permitted, unlike credit card surcharging, but check your provider's terms and your state's rules first.
- Is there a fee for ACH payments?
- For a business accepting them, yes, though it is much smaller than card processing. For a consumer sending one from a personal bank account, usually not. The cost sits with the merchant either way.
- Should I accept ACH payments?
- If you invoice B2B customers or bill recurring amounts above about $200, almost certainly. If you run a consumer checkout with small tickets, the added friction usually outweighs the saving.
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