What's the best way for a small business to get paid online in 2026, with or without a website?

Stripe charges nothing until you sell. A domestic card costs 2.9% + 30¢, so $1.75 on a $50 order. Manually keyed cards add 0.5%, international cards add 1.5%, and currency conversion adds another 1%. For larger invoices, ACH bank debit costs 0.8%, capped at $5: a $500 invoice costs $4 instead of $14.80 by card.

What puts Stripe on top for a small business is Payment Links. You create a link in the dashboard, send it by email, text or DM, and your customer pays on a page Stripe hosts. No website needed. Links are included in the standard fees; only running them on your own domain costs $10 a month. When you later open a store or start billing a subscription, you stay on the same account. To push each payment into your CRM or accounting, our Stripe and n8n guide shows the useful automations.

The limit is freeze risk. Merchant reviews describe accounts closed right after the first sales, payouts on hold and canned replies. Disputes also cost you: $15 when a customer files one, and another $15 if you contest it.

Square's free plan has no monthly fee. Online payments taken through its checkout, payment links and invoices cost 3.3% + 30¢, so $1.95 on a $50 order. Its paid Plus and Premium plans bring that rate down to 2.9% + 30¢, the same as payments made through Square's API on any plan.

For invoices, Square takes ACH bank transfers at 1%, with a $1 minimum; Plus and Premium cap that fee at $10. Where Square earns its place is the link between counter and web: the same account sends invoices, takes links and runs your card reader. Square keeps here the overall score from our card reader ranking for the self-employed.

The limit: on the free plan, 3.3% + 30¢ is more than Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ on every online order, and an ACH invoice of $500 costs $5 against $4 at Stripe. If you only sell online, Stripe is cheaper.

Mollie is a Dutch payment provider with no monthly fee and no contract on its base plan. It only makes sense if you sell in Europe, and especially in France: a consumer card routed through the French Cartes Bancaires network costs 1.20% + €0.25, or €0.85 on a €50 order. An EEA consumer Visa or Mastercard costs 1.80% + €0.25, a business card 2.90% + €0.25 and a non-EEA card 3.25% + €0.25.

The small print matters at low volume. Under €500,000 a year, your first five payouts each month are free, then €0.25 each. SEPA direct debit costs €0.35. PayPal can run through Mollie at PayPal's fee plus €0.10, so both sit in one dashboard. A payment in a currency different from your balance costs 1%.

The limit is support. Merchants report accounts closed with the balance held until a review date six months later, replies that read as automated and no phone line. On the plus side, reviewers praise a quick Shopify setup and responsive named account managers once they get one.

Helcim doesn't charge a flat rate. It passes through the card network's own cost (interchange, the fee the customer's bank sets) and adds its margin: 0.50% + 25¢ per online payment up to $50,000 a month, dropping in steps to 0.15% + 15¢ at high volume. There's no monthly fee. On a $50 order, Helcim's own cut is 50¢; on a $500 order, $2.75. The interchange comes on top, and every processor pays it one way or another.

For invoices and retainers, Helcim's ACH bank payment costs 0.5% + 25¢, capped at $6. A flat-rate tool like Stripe or PayPal folds interchange into one number; Helcim shows it line by line, which usually pays off once your card volume is steady. Helcim keeps the same overall score here as in our card reader ranking for the self-employed.

The limit: your bill moves with the card mix. A premium rewards card costs more than a basic debit card, so you can't predict the exact fee on a given sale. And Helcim prices in US dollars for North American businesses; it is no use if you sell from Europe.

GoCardless doesn't process cards. It collects by bank payment: your customer authorizes it once, then you collect each month or each invoice without asking for a card again. On its US Standard plan, a payment costs 0.5% + 5¢, capped at $5, with no monthly fee. The cap is what matters on large amounts: a $500 invoice costs you $2.55, against $14.80 by card at Stripe.

A chargeback costs $5 beyond 15 a month. Showing your own brand on the customer's bank statement costs $25 a month. If you also bill customers in Europe, GoCardless has a separate euro rate card (1% + €0.20, capped at €2 on Standard).

The limit: GoCardless is built for payments that repeat or get invoiced. For a one-off sale to a stranger, the authorization adds a step that a card doesn't.

PayPal Checkout and Venmo cost 3.49% + 49¢ per transaction, so $2.24 on a $50 order. Standard card processing costs 2.99% + 49¢, and advanced card processing, where the buyer types a card on your own page, 2.89% + 29¢. The Virtual Terminal, for cards you key in over the phone, costs 3.39% + 29¢. Pay by Bank costs 1%, capped at $10. International payments add 1.50%.

Why keep it at that price? Some buyers would rather click a PayPal button than type a card, and a second active payment option saves your sales the day your main provider freezes your account. PayPal Checkout has no monthly fee, so it costs nothing until someone uses it. If you're thinking of dropping it, our PayPal alternatives guide walks through the options.

The limit: the 49¢ fixed fee crushes small orders (84¢ on a $10 sale), and new sellers face holds. Sellers describe around three weeks of held funds on their first sales. A chargeback costs $20 and a dispute $15 ($30 at high volume).