Tools · calculator

Credit card fee calculator.

Put in a month of card sales and where your cards come from. It prices the month on every processor your store can use in your country, cheapest first, and works out a surcharge where the card networks allow one.

The online rate for a domestic card, country by country

What each processor prints for a standard card issued in the store’s own country, paid online. A card from abroad costs more everywhere, and in the UK and Ireland the gap is widest: Stripe charges 3.15% for a card from outside Europe against 1.5% for a local one.

Read 15 and 16 September 2026
Processor	United States	Canada	United Kingdom	Ireland	Australia
Shopify Payments, Basica Shopify store	2.9% + $0.30	2.8% + CA$0.30	2% + £0.25	2% + €0.25	1.7% + A$0.30
Shopify Payments, Advanceda Shopify store	2.5% + $0.30	2.4% + CA$0.30	1.5% + £0.25	1.5% + €0.25	1.35% + A$0.30
Stripeany store	2.9% + $0.30	2.9% + CA$0.30	1.5% + £0.20	1.5% + €0.25	1.65% + A$0.30
WooPaymentsa WooCommerce store	2.9% + $0.30	2.9% + CA$0.30	1.5% + £0.25	1.5% + €0.25	1.75% + A$0.30
Squarethe API in the US, online elsewhere	2.9% + $0.30	2.8% + CA$0.30	1.4% + £0.25	1.4% + €0.25	2.2%
PayPal Checkoutthe PayPal button	3.49% + $0.49	2.9% + CA$0.30	2.9% + £0.30	3.4% + €0.35	2.9% + A$0.30

Irish Shopify and Square fees are quoted before VAT. Australia’s Stripe rates include GST, and its rate for an Australian card falls to 1.65% on 1 October 2026. WooPayments’ euro rates are its table for Germany.

Surcharges, country by country

A surcharge passes the card fee to the customer. Where it is allowed it comes with conditions. The UK and Ireland do not allow one on consumer cards, and Australia removes them on 1 October 2026.

United States

Credit cards only. Debit and prepaid cards cannot carry one, even when the customer picks credit.
No more than your cost of taking that card, and never more than 3%.
Tell your processor at least 30 days before you start.
Show it at the entrance, at the point of sale and on every receipt, online as well as in a shop.
State law comes first. Visa’s list of 15 February 2024 names Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Puerto Rico as prohibiting it, and Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York as adding requirements; laws have changed since. Check with your processor and a lawyer in your state.

Canada

Credit cards only, consumer and corporate. Debit and prepaid cards cannot carry one.
No more than your average cost of taking Visa credit cards, and never more than 2.4%.
Give your processor at least 30 days’ written notice.
Show the amount at the entrance and at the point of sale, print it on the receipt, and refund it with the sale.
Provincial and federal law comes first: Quebec’s consumer protection law bars surcharges. Check with your processor before you start.

United Kingdom

Since 13 January 2018 a business cannot charge a fee for payment by a consumer debit or credit card (the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012, regulation 6A).
Business and corporate cards fall outside the ban; a fee on them may not exceed what the payment costs you.

Ireland

EU rules stop a trader charging extra for a consumer debit or credit card.
Cards from three-party schemes, such as American Express, and business cards billed to an employer are outside those rules.

Australia

Since 1 October 2026 the Reserve Bank’s rules remove surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa cards, debit, prepaid and credit.
American Express, PayPal and UnionPay stop surcharges from the same day under their own rules.
The fee goes into the price instead, and the Reserve Bank lowers the interchange caps on domestic cards the same day.

What a published rate leaves out

Premium cards cost moreThe rates here are for standard cards. On Shopify Payments American Express online costs 3.1% on Basic in the UK and Ireland, against 2% for a standard card, and US business cards and domestic American Express cards are priced only inside a store’s admin.

Debit pays the credit priceVisa’s April 2026 schedule puts $1.52 of interchange on a $75 online sale with an ordinary credit card and 25.75¢ on a regulated debit card. A flat-rate processor charges the store the same for both.

A refund keeps the feeStripe, PayPal and Square keep the fee on a sale you refund, so a returned order costs the fee as well as the goods.

Disputes have a priceIn the US a dispute costs $15 on Stripe and a card chargeback $20 on PayPal. Square charges nothing for either.

Questions people ask

What is a good credit card processing rate?

Shopify’s January 2026 guide puts most businesses’ effective rate between 1.6% and 3.1%, most often 2% to 2.5%. On a flat rate the fixed fee moves it: at 2.9% + 30¢ a $75 order comes to 3.30% and a $15 order to 4.90%. In the UK and Ireland the published online rates start lower, 1.5% + 20p on Stripe in the UK and 1.5% + €0.25 in the euro area.

How do I work out my effective rate?

Add every fee on the statement, the monthly, PCI and gateway fees included, and divide by the card sales on the same statement. The US Chamber of Commerce’s example is $234.71 of fees on $7,521.22 of sales, 3.12%. Put both figures in the statement check above and the calculator sets your rate beside the cheapest published one for the same month.

Which card processor is cheapest?

It turns on the country, the order size and where the cards come from. On a US month of $20,000 in $75 orders with 5% from abroad, Stripe, WooPayments and Square through its API each come to $675.00 and PayPal Checkout to $843.67; on Shopify with Shopify Payments the same month is $670.00 on Basic before the $25 plan. A UK store pays 1.5% + 20p on Stripe and 2.9% + 30p on PayPal Checkout for a domestic card.

Can I add a surcharge for card payments?

It depends on the country, and this page gives the rules, not legal advice. In the US Visa allows one on credit cards only, up to your cost or 3%, with 30 days’ notice to your processor, and some states ban or limit it. In Canada Visa allows one on credit cards up to 2.4%, except where provincial law bars it, as in Quebec. The UK and the EU bar surcharges on consumer cards. Australia removes them on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa cards from 1 October 2026.

Can I surcharge debit cards?

Not under Visa’s rules in the US or Canada. Debit and prepaid cards cannot carry a surcharge, and Visa’s US guide adds that this holds even when the customer chooses credit on the terminal. Louisiana also bans surcharges on debit cards by law from 1 August 2026.

Why does my statement not match a calculator?

Published rates are for standard cards. American Express and business cards cost more (on Shopify Payments in the UK, 3.1% on Basic against 2% for a standard card), a refund leaves the fee with the processor, and disputes cost $15 on Stripe and $20 per chargeback on PayPal in the US. A statement also carries monthly, PCI and gateway fees a published rate leaves out.

Does a debit card cost a store less than a credit card?

Not on a flat rate: Stripe, Square, PayPal and Shopify Payments charge the same for both. Underneath, the gap is large. On Visa’s April 2026 schedule a $75 online sale on an ordinary Visa credit card carries $1.52 of interchange, and on a regulated debit card 25.75¢. Only a store on interchange-plus pricing sees that difference.