Credit Card Processing Fees in Canada: What You Should Pay

Whether you use a payment app or a Canadian merchant account, every card sale carries three costs:

• Interchange. Paid to the bank that issued your customer's card. Visa and Mastercard publish the rates, which depend on the card type, how the sale happens (in store or online) and your size. Every processor pays the same interchange on the same sale.
• Network fees. Charged by Visa, Mastercard and the other card brands for using their networks. Smaller than interchange, and higher on cards issued outside Canada.
• Processor markup. What your processor and the acquirer (the bank that holds your merchant account and pays out your sales) charge for their service. This is the only part that differs between providers, and the only part you can negotiate.

How clearly your statement splits these out depends on your pricing model. That's why two quotes with the same headline rate can cost very different amounts.

Here are Visa Canada's standard rates for domestic consumer credit cards, from its published interchange schedule (dated September 3, 2026, checked September 27, 2026). These apply when you don't qualify for a lower program, such as the small merchant rates below.

Premium cards and online sales cost more. Some industries, such as grocery, gas and restaurants, get lower rates. Mastercard publishes its own Canadian schedule, which works the same way.

In Budget 2023, the federal government announced agreements with Visa and Mastercard to lower credit card interchange for small businesses. The lower rates took effect October 19, 2024. Finance Canada says eligible businesses pay up to 27% less, with in-store rates brought down to a 0.95% weighted average and online rates cut by 0.10 percentage points. American Express isn't part of the agreements.

Visa has since announced a bigger change. From October 24, 2026, it raises the size limit for its small merchant program from CAD 300,000 to CAD 750,000 a year and lowers the rates (Visa Canada notice, September 4, 2026). The current rates stay in effect until then.

"Tokenized" means the card is stored as a secure token, as with a saved card or a mobile wallet, instead of the card number. Sources: Visa's small merchant guide and the September 2026 notice, both checked September 27, 2026.

What you need to know about Visa's program:

• Only domestic consumer credit gets the lower rate. Business cards, debit, prepaid and cards issued outside Canada don't.
• The size test counts all your Visa sales, including debit, prepaid and foreign cards, not just the sales that get the rate.
• Enrolment is automatic. Visa and your acquirer identify eligible businesses. You don't apply.
• It's re-tested every year. You're in the program for 12 months starting each April and must meet the limit again for the next year.

Mastercard gives its small business rates to merchants with under CAD 175,000 a year in Mastercard credit sales. It hadn't announced a change to that limit as of September 27, 2026.

Under the limit but not seeing the lower rates? Visa says other rules can affect eligibility, and your acquirer can tell you your status.

Interac is Canada's debit network. It works in person by chip and PIN or tap, including tap on a phone, and online or in apps through Apple Pay and Google Pay. The debit card's bank sets the tap limit, often up to $250 according to Interac.

Interac is usually a flat fee per transaction, not a percentage, so it's much cheaper than credit on larger sales. Four providers' published prices (checked September 27, 2026):

• Helcim: 9¢ per transaction, 12¢ for tap
• Moneris: 12¢ per transaction
• Stripe: CA$0.15 per in-person transaction
• Square: 0.75% + 7¢, a percentage fee

On a $100 sale, that's 9¢ to 15¢ on the flat-fee plans and 82¢ on Square's. If many customers pay by debit, ask how Interac is priced. Interac lists Elavon among the acquirers that process Interac payments. Ask us whether Interac fits how you sell.

These are rates six providers publish on their own Canadian pricing pages, checked September 27, 2026. They're a benchmark to measure a quote against. They're not START's prices. Amounts are in CAD.

Helcim's rates are for its lowest-volume tier. Shopify also charges a separate fee, from 2% down to 0.2% by plan, if you use another payment gateway instead of Shopify Payments.

Put a flat 2.5% to 2.9% next to Visa's 0.70% to 1.30% small merchant interchange and you can see the markup. Compare by effective rate (total monthly fees divided by card sales) at your real volume, and do the math again as your sales grow.

• Flat rate: one percentage (plus cents) on every sale, whatever the card. Easy to predict. But the rate stays the same when interchange drops, unless the provider lowers it. So a lower small business rate from Visa may not reach you.
• Interchange-plus: you pay the actual interchange and network fees, plus a fixed markup you can see on every statement. When interchange falls, as it does for many small businesses on October 24, 2026, your cost falls with it. That's how the model works, not a promise any one provider makes.
• Tiered: sales are sorted into "qualified" and "non-qualified" buckets. The low headline rate often covers few of your sales.

For how interchange-plus is set up and what a fair markup looks like, see our guide to interchange-plus pricing. Whoever you're talking to, ask two questions: which model will you use for my account, and will the October 24 reductions show up on my statement?

The Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada helps here. Your processor must give you 30 to 60 days' notice of reductions in domestic card network fees (the Code's "core fees", which include interchange) that it doesn't pass on to you. You can then cancel your agreement without penalty within 70 days of the change (FCAC, merchant rights, modified October 20, 2025).

One number lets you compare any two offers, whatever the pricing model:

Total processing fees ÷ total card sales = effective rate

Say a shop takes CAD 20,000 in card sales in a month and pays CAD 520 in fees. Its effective rate is 2.6%. For a small shop selling mostly in person, that's a lot of markup.

You shouldn't have to work it out by hand. Under the Code of Conduct, your monthly statement must show your effective rate for each card type, plus the interchange and network fees you paid, all other charges, and the number and value of your sales by payment type. Your processing agreement must also start with a summary box that sets out your key terms and fees.

If the effective rate on your last three statements is creeping up while your sales mix hasn't changed, ask why.

These can cost more over a year than the rate. Get the answers in writing.

The Code limits some contract terms. A fixed-term agreement can't automatically renew for another full term; automatic extensions are limited to terms of six months or less. For your cancellation rights and how to change providers without a gap in processing, see switching payment processors in Canada.

Interchange follows the country that issued the card, not the currency you charge in. A U.S. card used on a Canadian merchant account is a cross-border sale, even if you charge in U.S. dollars. Visa Canada's international rates start at 1.10% in store and 1.60% online for a basic card and reach 2.00% on commercial cards, and the networks add cross-border fees on top. No small business discount applies. That's why most providers in the table above charge more for cards from outside Canada. If a real share of your customers are in the U.S., read U.S. and Canada cross-border payments: one account or two. It explains when a second, U.S. merchant account costs less.

Sometimes. Visa has allowed surcharges in Canada since October 6, 2022, on credit cards only, capped at 2.4% or your average cost of accepting Visa credit, whichever is lower, with 30 days' notice to your processor. Visa doesn't allow surcharges on debit or prepaid cards, and consumers in Quebec can't be surcharged. Before you add a fee, compare it with what a lower rate would save you. The full rules are in credit card surcharge rules in Canada.