Authorize.Net vs Stripe, PayPal and Square: Why Growing Businesses Switch

To take a card online you need two things: a gateway, which sends the payment from your checkout to the processor, and a merchant account, the account with an acquiring bank that approves your business and deposits the money.

Stripe, PayPal and Square bundle both. They're payment facilitators: each holds one large master merchant account and signs up small businesses under it. That's why you can take cards the same day. Nobody looks closely at your business first. The close look comes later, from automated risk reviews, and that's why these platforms can hold your funds or close your account after you've been selling for months. If that has already happened to you, read what to do when Stripe, Square or PayPal shuts you down.

With Authorize.Net, the merchant account is yours. The Authorize.Net payment gateway connects to a merchant account that an underwriter (the bank's reviewer) approves before your first sale. Authorize.Net refers merchants to START for this step. We find the acquiring bank that fits your business, underwrite the account and send the details back to Authorize.Net so your gateway is connected. Our guide to getting an Authorize.Net merchant account walks through the setup.

Here's what a merchant account with the Authorize.Net gateway could cost next to each app's published U.S. online card rate, at $5,000, $25,000 and $100,000 a month. We assumed a $50 average sale (100, 500 and 2,000 transactions), domestic cards and one gateway batch a day. Rates were checked on each company's own pricing page on September 27, 2026: Authorize.Net, Stripe, PayPal and Square.

Read the top row as an illustration, not a quote. It isn't START's price. The 2.2%–2.5% range is Authorize.Net's own wording: its pricing page says a merchant account on interchange-plus pricing lets you "often secure effective rates closer to 2.2% - 2.5%." Your real rate depends on your card mix, average sale and type of business. The gateway fees shown are Authorize.Net's direct prices; a provider sets its own, and a merchant account can have its own monthly fees. Ask for every fee in writing and compare by effective rate: total monthly fees divided by card sales.

Why the gap widens. A flat rate charges the same markup on every sale, however much you sell, so the app rows stay at the same percentage in every column. On a merchant account, your fixed fees are spread over more sales as you grow, so your effective rate falls.

What the flat rates leave out:

• Stripe adds 0.5% for manually entered cards and 1.5% for international cards, and charges $15 per dispute. It says it offers custom pricing for large volumes.
• PayPal lists 2.99% + 49¢ for its standard card payments and 3.39% + 49¢ for its Virtual Terminal (fees page last updated September 1, 2026).
• Square charges 3.5% + 15¢ for keyed-in cards and cards on file on its Free plan. Its Plus plan lowers online and invoice payments to 2.9% + 30¢ but costs $49 a month per location. Square says businesses processing over $250,000 a year can ask about custom pricing.
• Authorize.Net's All-in-One plan, sold direct, is also a flat rate: $25 a month plus 2.9% + 30¢, which works out to $200, $900 and $3,525 at these three volumes.

Authorize.Net's pricing page makes its own comparison with PayPal: if you're "processing more than 89 transactions monthly," or "roughly $2,500–$3,000 in sales per month," it says its lower rates outweigh the monthly fee. That's Authorize.Net's math, not ours. For every Authorize.Net fee, including the ones that don't show up here, see Authorize.Net pricing and fees.

• Fees: 2.9% + 30¢ for U.S. online cards, plus 0.5% for keyed-in cards and 1.5% for international cards. In our illustrative example, a merchant account on interchange-plus with the Authorize.Net gateway costs less than Stripe at all three volumes, and the gap widens as volume grows.
• Approval and reviews: Stripe signs you up almost at once and reviews your business later. Its prohibited and restricted businesses list was last updated September 22, 2026, and it can hold a reserve with no fixed hold period in its services agreement.
• Disputes: Stripe charges $15 per dispute. The Authorize.Net gateway charges $0 for a card chargeback; your merchant account has its own chargeback fee.
• Recurring billing: Stripe Billing costs 0.7% of billing volume on pay-as-you-go pricing. Authorize.Net's Automated Recurring Billing has a $0 monthly fee on its pricing page.

Why merchants move off Stripe: with Stripe, your business sits under Stripe's account and is reviewed after you start. With your own merchant account and the Authorize.Net gateway, the account is in your business's name, the bank approves what you sell before your first sale, and interchange-plus pricing brings your effective rate down as volume grows.

• Fees: PayPal's Checkout button is 3.49% + 49¢, the highest rate in the table. Its advanced card processing is 2.89% + 49¢. The 49¢ fixed fee weighs most on small sales: on a $20 sale, it alone adds almost 2.5%.
• Approval and held funds: PayPal signs you up quickly. Its Acceptable Use Policy lists goods it prohibits and categories that need its pre-approval, and its User Agreement (updated September 14, 2026) lets it hold funds for up to 180 days.
• Chargebacks: PayPal lists a $20 chargeback fee on card payments. The Authorize.Net gateway charges $0 for a card chargeback; your merchant account has its own chargeback fee.
• Saved cards: PayPal can save payment methods only with approval for its Expanded Checkout.

Can PayPal be your merchant account on Authorize.Net? No. Authorize.Net's pricing page says "PayPal is not a merchant account. It's a third-party processor." If your customers expect a PayPal button, Authorize.Net can show one at checkout alongside cards, though it notes this is "not supported by some resellers." Ask whether your account supports it before you plan on it.

Why merchants move off PayPal: the 49¢ fixed fee and the higher percentage cost more on every sale, and funds can be held for months after a review. Your own merchant account prices cards at interchange-plus and settles to your bank, with the review done before you start.

• Fees: Square Free is 2.6% + 15¢ in person, 3.3% + 30¢ online or by invoice, and 3.5% + 15¢ for keyed-in cards or cards on file. Online and phone businesses pay the two higher rates on most sales.
• Restrictions: Square's General Terms (updated September 14, 2026) restrict some sales, such as firearms, ammunition and weapons. In an August 7, 2026 notice, Square told sellers that CBD and hemp-derived products won't be permitted after October 15, 2026. See what Square's CBD exit means for sellers.
• Approval and held funds: fast sign-up with a later review. Square's Payment Terms (updated July 30, 2026) let it delay payouts or hold a reserve, with no fixed number of days.
• Selling in person on Authorize.Net: Authorize.Net has a mobile app and a Windows app. Chip card support depends on the processor behind your merchant account (Authorize.Net lists First Data Nashville and TSYS), so ask which card readers your account supports. See mobile payments with Authorize.Net.

Why merchants move off Square: for online and phone sales, Authorize.Net's pricing page lists recurring billing, saved customer profiles and its fraud filters at $0 a month, and a merchant account prices keyed-in and online cards at interchange-plus instead of a 3.3%–3.5% flat rate. And because the bank approves what you sell before you start, you won't lose processing later when a provider finds out what you sell.

NMI is a gateway like Authorize.Net, not a payment app, so this is a closer match. The main difference is how you buy it. NMI's website is aimed at partners: ISOs (the sales organizations that resell processing), software companies, banks and payment facilitators. We found no merchant pricing on NMI's site. You get NMI through a provider, and that provider sets the price. Authorize.Net publishes direct prices and also sells through reseller partners.

Both connect to many processors (NMI lists 150+ processor connections). The practical checks are the same for either: whether your cart or software supports it, recurring billing and saved cards, fraud tools, and the gateway fee you're quoted.

The same questions work for Braintree vs Authorize.Net: who holds the merchant account, how the price is set, and whether your saved cards can move if you leave. Whichever gateway you use, the merchant account behind it is what decides your approval, your rate and whether funds can be held.

What each company's own pages said on September 27, 2026. Authorize.Net figures are its direct prices; a provider may price the gateway differently.

Authorize.Net's Account Updater covers Visa and Mastercard only, and eCheck adds a $3 returned-item fee. Ask which wallet, chip and Tap to Pay features your processor supports. Our guides cover Authorize.Net recurring billing and saved cards, eCheck processing and the Authorize.Net Fraud Detection Suite.

On high-risk acceptance, each platform's list is its own, and the lists don't match. With a merchant account, the bank decides what it will approve before you start, so what you sell is on file from day one. If you sell something the platforms restrict, see how a high-risk payment gateway works. Sources: Stripe's restricted businesses list, PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy and Square's General Terms.

Switching is mostly paperwork on your side. START does the matching, the underwriting and the gateway connection. Here's how it goes:

1. Gather your documents. Three to six months of processing statements or payout reports from the app, your legal business name and tax ID (EIN), a government-issued ID for each owner, a voided check or bank letter for deposits, and a website with clear prices, a refund policy and contact details. If an app closed your account, include the closure notice. Our list of website requirements for accepting credit cards covers what reviewers look for.
2. We find the right bank and underwrite the account. START matches your business to an acquiring bank that approves what you sell, and underwrites the merchant account up front, with every product disclosed. With a complete application, most merchants are approved in 1–5 business days.
3. We connect the Authorize.Net gateway. We send your merchant account details to Authorize.Net, and the gateway is usually live within 24 business hours of approval. You then add your gateway credentials to your cart, or take payments in the virtual terminal.
4. Keep the old account open until the new one is live. Don't stop selling on the app while you wait. Test the new setup with a small live sale and a refund, and check the deposit reaches your bank before you move your checkout. Keep the old account long enough to refund past sales, answer disputes and download your reports.
5. Plan for saved cards and subscriptions. Stripe says it transfers card data only to a PCI DSS Level 1-compliant processor, and its export doesn't include payment history or subscriptions. Square and PayPal have their own policies, so ask them rather than assuming they match Stripe's. Before you request an export, ask us whether the cards can be imported into Authorize.Net customer profiles; see moving saved cards to Authorize.Net. Recreate each subscription with a start date after the last charge on the old platform, then cancel the old one so no one is billed twice. For cards that can't move, email those customers a secure link to re-enter their card before their next billing date.

Already on Authorize.Net and changing the merchant account behind it? See switching your Authorize.Net merchant account.