Cybersource Pricing and Fees: How Enterprise Gateway Pricing Works

The Cybersource payment gateway sends each payment from your checkout to a processor and returns the answer. It doesn't approve you for card processing or deposit your money. That's the job of the merchant account: an account with an acquiring bank that accepts card payments for you, pays you and handles chargebacks.

So a Cybersource setup usually has two price lists, set by two different companies:

The exception is a bundled contract, where one company quotes a single rate that covers both. That's simpler to read, but it hides what each part costs. More on that below.

Since there's no public price list, the list below isn't Cybersource's pricing. These are the contract items enterprise gateways typically charge for, so you know what to ask about and what to look for on the quote.

• Per-transaction gateway fee. The Cybersource transaction fee on each request. Ask which requests count: authorizations only, or also captures, refunds, voids and declines.
• Per-service fees. Each add-on can carry its own charge. Common ones are Decision Manager (Cybersource's enterprise fraud screening), Payer Authentication (3-D Secure), Token Management Service and network tokens, Account Updater (keeps stored cards current) and tax calculation. Cybersource doesn't publish Decision Manager pricing or pricing for any of these, so ask for each one by name.
• Monthly minimum or platform fee. A floor you pay even in a slow month.
• Setup or onboarding fee. Ask whether integration help or a dedicated contact is included.
• Contract term. How long it runs, whether it renews on its own, and what it costs to leave early.

What's free: Cybersource's Virtual Terminal page says it's "free with your Cybersource account" (checked September 27, 2026). That's the only price Cybersource states.

Cybersource doesn't publish which pricing models it offers, so the honest answer is: ask for an itemized quote and see. It helps to know what each model means first.

• Bundled (blended) rate: one percentage plus a fixed fee per transaction covers processing, and sometimes the gateway too. Easy to read, but you can't see the provider's margin.
• Interchange-plus: you pay interchange (the fee set by Visa, Mastercard and other networks and paid to the card-issuing bank) at cost, plus a fixed markup from your provider. Card network fees are usually passed through too. Our guide to interchange-plus pricing explains how it works.
• Interchange plus plus (IC++): the same idea, with three parts shown separately: interchange, card network fees (often called assessments in the U.S. or scheme fees in Europe), and the provider's markup. The term is more common in Europe. In the U.S., "interchange-plus" often already itemizes network fees.

What decides which one you get? Not the gateway. The pricing model belongs to whoever processes your card payments. If Cybersource or a partner bundles processing into your contract, they set the model. If your merchant account comes from a separate acquirer, that acquirer's contract decides it, and the Cybersource gateway is billed on its own.

Either way, the test is the same. Ask for a quote that shows interchange, network fees and markup on separate lines. If a provider can only give you one blended number, you're not getting IC++.

Reconciling means checking that what you sold, what was settled, what you were deposited and what you were charged all agree. You'll work from two sources:

• Your acquirer's statement: interchange, network fees and markup, usually grouped by card type.
• Business Center reports: Cybersource's record of what you sent for settlement, and of the gateway services you used.

These Business Center reports are the ones to know, as Cybersource's Reporting User Guide describes them (checked September 27, 2026):

Not every account gets every report. Cybersource says that based on the acquirer and processor you use, one or more of its financial reports "might be available." The Fee Details report needs a processor that shares data with Business Center. If yours doesn't, your acquirer's statement is your fee record.

A monthly routine that works:

1. Match batches by date. Pull Payment Batch Detail for the month. Each day's batch should match a settlement day on your acquirer's statement. Use Processor Settlement Details to find any transaction the acquirer rejected.
2. Match totals to deposits. Each day's net batch (sales minus refunds), less any fees your acquirer takes out daily, should match a deposit in your bank account. If your fees are billed once a month instead, the deposit should match the net batch. Funding or deposit reports help if your account has them.
3. Check interchange by card type. On the acquirer statement, compare the interchange lines for each card type with your sales mix. If you have Fee Details, spot-check a few transactions. Then work out your markup: total processing fees minus interchange and network fees, divided by your sales volume.
4. Check gateway billable counts. Compare Billable Transactions Detail with the Cybersource invoice. The number of billed requests and services should match what you actually used.

If the markup you calculate doesn't match your contract, or fees appear that you never agreed to, raise it with whoever billed it: the acquirer for processing, Cybersource for the gateway.

1. Is there a monthly minimum? How much, and does it apply from month one?
2. What does each service cost? Get a line for every service you'll use: fraud screening, 3-D Secure, tokens, Account Updater, tax.
3. Which requests are billed? Sales only, or refunds, voids and declines too?
4. How long is the term, and does it auto-renew? What does leaving early cost?
5. Is processing bundled? If so, who is the acquirer, and can you see interchange, network fees and markup separately?
6. Who funds you and who handles chargebacks? Know which company holds your money and who you call about a dispute.
7. Can you take your stored cards with you? Ask how you'd move customer tokens to another provider if you leave, and what that costs.
8. Will statements be itemized? You can only reconcile what you can see.

Authorize.Net, Cybersource's sister company (both are owned by Visa), is the opposite case: it publishes its prices. Cybersource's own small-business page points smaller businesses to it. Here's the contrast, using Authorize.Net's direct prices as of September 27, 2026:

Every Authorize.Net fee, and when a flat rate costs more than interchange-plus, is in our guide to Authorize.Net pricing and fees. For fraud tools, reach and who each gateway fits, see Cybersource vs Authorize.Net.

For most businesses, card processing costs far more than the gateway. That's where a second look pays off.

START provides merchant accounts through Elavon (START is a registered MSP/ISO of Elavon, Inc.), priced on interchange-plus, and has more than 20 years in payments. Businesses that use Cybersource as their gateway can have a START merchant account behind it. The Cybersource gateway itself stays under your contract with Cybersource, which prices and bills it. START doesn't sell or price the gateway.

Send us your latest processing statement for a free rate review. We'll show you your effective rate, what you're paying in markup, and what the same volume would cost on interchange-plus.