Payment processors and merchant services in Canada, compared.

The short answer

• Under a few thousand dollars a month, or selling now and then: a flat-rate provider such as Square or Stripe is usually the simplest. You get one published rate, no monthly fee on the basic plans and no fixed term.
• Steady volume, mostly in person: interchange-plus pricing usually costs less than a flat rate. You pay the real card cost plus a fixed markup, instead of one blended percentage.
• Lots of Interac debit: look hard at the debit fee. At a $60 average sale, a few cents per sale and a percentage of every sale are very different things.
• A POS system, several devices or several locations: choose the system and the support first, then the rate. A cheap rate on the wrong system costs you more in lost time.
• Already signed with someone: before you compare anything, read your term, your renewal date and the cost to leave. Then put your last statement next to any new quote.

How we compared them

• Published facts only. Every rate, fee and term comes from the provider's own Canadian page or agreement, linked in the table. If a provider does not publish it, the table says "Quote".
• Checked on 1 October 2026. Rates change, promotions end and providers are bought and sold. Check the linked page before you sign.
• No paid placement. Nobody paid to be on this page. Providers are listed in alphabetical order, with CleverPays last.
• Standard rates. The table shows the standard published rate for a Canadian card taken in Canada. Volume pricing, promotions and your card mix change what you actually pay.

The comparison table

Standard published rates for Canadian credit cards and Interac debit, from each company's own Canadian page, checked 1 October 2026. "Quote" means the provider does not publish it.

International cards cost more with every provider: Square adds 1.5% in person, Stripe 0.8% online. Keyed-in payments cost more too: Square charges 3.3% + 15¢. Adyen publishes its fees in US dollars "or equivalent".

Which bank sends you where

Most Canadian banks do not process cards themselves. They refer business clients to a processor, and the agreement you sign is with that processor.

Bank offers often come with a rebate, and the rebate usually depends on staying. National Bank's $500 Clover rebate, for example, assumes the account stays active with Fiserv Canada for 36 months and is repayable pro rata if you leave sooner.

What changed in 2026

• Moneris is being sold. RBC and BMO agreed on 10 August 2026 to sell Moneris to Francisco Partners for about $2.0 billion, with closing expected by the end of the banks' first fiscal quarter of 2027. Both banks plan long-term referral arrangements with Moneris after closing. BMO announcement.
• Global Payments now owns Worldpay. The purchase closed on 12 January 2026. Global Payments.
• Bambora now belongs to Shift4. Shift4 completed its purchase of Worldline's North American business, including Bambora, on 2 March 2026. Shift4.
• TD moved to Fiserv technology. TD Merchant Solutions uses Fiserv technology, including Clover, and Fiserv agreed to take on about 3,400 TD merchant relationships covering 30,000 locations. Fiserv.
• Advertised rates must be honoured. The FCAC guideline on disclosure in sales took effect on 2 March 2026 and expects processors and their partners to honour advertised and promised rates and fees. FCAC guideline.
• Visa's small-business rate changes on 24 October 2026. The threshold rises to $750,000 in annual Visa sales and the small-merchant card-present rate falls from 0.77% to 0.70%. See the interchange rates guide.

Interac debit: the cost most comparisons skip

Debit is often half the sales at a Canadian counter, and providers price it in very different ways. Most charge a flat amount per sale. One charges a percentage.

On a $60 debit sale, a 12¢ fee is just 12¢. At 0.75% + 7¢, the same sale costs 52¢. Over 1,000 debit sales a month, that gap comes to about $400. If your customers pay by debit, get the debit fee in writing.

Flat rate or interchange-plus: a worked example

This is an example only, with round numbers, to show how the two models behave. It is not a quote.

A café takes $20,000 a month in Visa credit, all tapped in store: 500 sales at $40 each. To keep the math simple, say every card is a Visa Classic card and the café qualifies for Visa's small-merchant rate.

• Flat rate at 2.5%: $20,000 × 2.5% = $500 a month.
• Interchange-plus: Interchange is the base fee the card networks set for each sale. Visa's published small-merchant interchange for a Classic card tapped in store is 0.77%, or $154. Add a published markup such as Helcim's first tier, 0.40% + 8¢ a sale: $80 + $40 = $120. Total $274, plus network fees.

Real customers also carry premium and business cards, which have higher interchange, and that narrows the gap. The gap also shrinks, or flips, at very low volume, with lots of online sales, or with a high per-sale fee on small sales. From 24 October 2026, Visa's small-merchant rate drops to 0.70% for businesses up to $750,000 in Visa sales. That is why the honest answer is always "run it on your own statement."

Terminals: buy or rent

Some providers sell their terminals; others rent them by the month. Renting looks cheaper on day one and costs more over a few years.

A $34.95 monthly rental adds up to about $1,258 over three years. Before you rent, ask whether the rental is with your processor or a separate company, and whether it ends when your processing agreement does. Chase's terms, for example, charge the full replacement price for rented equipment that is not returned.

Contracts and cancelling: what the Code of Conduct gives you

The card networks operating in Canada have adopted the Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry, and processors and their partners are bound by it. Under the Code, as summarized by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada:

• You get 30 to 60 days' notice of a fee increase or a new fee.
• You can cancel without penalty within 70 days after a fee increase takes effect.
• To stop an automatic renewal, give notice at least 45 days before the renewal date.
• Your monthly statement must show your effective rate, and your agreement must open with a summary box of fees and terms.

The Code does not set the length of your contract. Published terms range widely:

Whoever you choose, get the term, the renewal date and the cost to leave in writing before you sign.

In Quebec

• No surcharging consumers. Quebec's consumer protection law does not allow charging a consumer more than the advertised price, so Quebec businesses cannot add a credit card surcharge for consumers. See the surcharging guide.
• Restaurants need a certified system. The processor does not make you compliant; your certified sales recording system (SRS) does. See the list of certified POS systems.
• French service. Moneris, Chase, Global Payments, Fiserv, Square, Stripe, Elavon, Nuvei and PayFacto all publish French versions of their sites. Ask for your agreement and your support in French if you need them.
• Quebec-based providers. Nuvei and PayFacto are headquartered in Montreal, and Desjardins refers its members to Global Payments.

Seven things to compare before you choose

1. Where customers pay. Counter, table, curbside, online, over the phone. Each adds a device or a gateway, and some cost more per sale.
2. Your volume and average sale. A per-sale fee barely matters on $80 sales and hurts on $4 coffees.
3. Your card mix. Premium, business and foreign cards cost more to accept everywhere. Debit is priced separately.
4. The pricing model. Flat rate, interchange-plus or tiered. Tiered pricing is the hardest to check: ask how each card is placed in a tier.
5. The contract and the equipment. Term, renewal, cost to leave, and whether the terminal is on a separate lease with a different company. A lease can outlast the processing agreement.
6. Who you call. A named person, a phone number, the hours, and who handles the device versus the account.
7. What it connects to. Your POS, accounting, online store and delivery apps. A cheap rate that breaks your bookkeeping is not cheap.

Red flags when you are quoted

• A rate with no mention of monthly, compliance or statement fees.
• "As low as" or "starting at" rates without saying which cards qualify.
• A terminal lease you cannot cancel, from a company other than your processor.
• Automatic renewal for another full term. Ask for the renewal length in writing: Moneris and Fiserv publish 6-month renewals. Know your rights.
• A rebate that must be paid back if you leave, without the amount in writing.
• Pressure to sign today.

Switching without a day of downtime

1. Find your current term, renewal date and cost to leave in your agreement or summary box.
2. Get the new account approved and the new terminals installed while the old ones still work.
3. Run live sales on the new system for a few days.
4. Give written notice to the old provider, return any rented equipment and keep the proof.
5. Check your first statement from the new provider against the quote.

Where CleverPays fits, and where it does not

We fit when you want a Clover POS or payment system chosen, set up and supported by people you can reach: restaurants, retail, multi-location businesses, Quebec businesses that need a certified setup, and anyone replacing a system that costs them time as well as money. We work through Fiserv Canada, and our terms run from no contract up to four years. We put yours in writing before you sign.

We are not the best fit if you sell a few hundred dollars a month, want to sign up online in five minutes and never need a person on the phone. A flat-rate provider will serve you well, and we will tell you so.

Common questions