TL;DR
Helcim is the pick for U.S. contractors and field service crews doing $25K to $500K monthly volume. Interchange-plus pricing with automatic volume discounts beats Square's flat 2.6 percent at any ticket above $300, with no contract and no PCI fee. Above $50K monthly on mostly in-person work, Stax's $99 subscription model saves a little more. Stripe wins only when most invoices are billed online with ACH. PayPal, Clover, and Square fit retail and food, not contractor workflows.
How we ranked
Contractors and field service crews bill differently from retail. The average ticket is higher (often $400 to $3,000), card mix skews toward Visa and Mastercard debit, and invoicing happens in trucks, on phones, or by emailed link. We weighted six criteria.
- Effective rate at $80K monthly volume on a $700 average ticket. Flat rates punish high tickets.
- Contract length and early termination fees. A 36-month deal with a $495 ETF locks in the worst pricing on the market.
- Mobile reader and tap-on-phone support. Field techs do not carry traditional POS gear.
- ACH and email-invoice support, including partial payments and tipping after the job.
- Settlement speed. Crews need money in the bank fast, especially before Friday payroll.
- Level 2 and 3 data on commercial cards. B2B contractors hit Visa interchange surcharges without it.
Three of the seven providers publish complete public pricing; the rest require a sales quote, which we flagged. Interchange benchmarks come from Visa Interchange Schedules, Mastercard Interchange Rates and Criteria, and Federal Reserve Payments Studies.
At a glance
| Provider | Headline pricing | Contract | Settlement | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helcim | IC + 0.40% + $0.08 in-person | None | 2 days | Crews $25K to $500K monthly | Sub-$10K may not see headline savings |
| Stax | $99/mo + IC + $0.08 in-person | None | 2 days | Established crews $50K+ monthly | $99 fee in slow months |
| Stripe | 2.9% + $0.30 online, 2.7% + $0.05 in-person | None | 2 days | Online B2B invoicing, ACH-heavy | Flat rate punishes high tickets |
| Square | 2.6% + $0.10 in-person, 2.9% + $0.30 online | None | 1 day | Sub-$25K, brand-new crews | Above $30K leaves money on table |
| Payment Depot | $79 to $199/mo + IC + $0.05 to $0.15 | None | 2 days | Mid-volume $40K to $250K | Membership fee under $25K monthly |
| Clover | Plans $14.95 to $54.95/mo + 2.3 to 2.6% + $0.10 | Varies | 1 day | Showroom plus field hybrid | POS hardware lock-in |
| PayPal | 2.29% + $0.09 in-person, 3.49% + $0.49 online | None | 1 day | Small online deposits | $0.49 fee hurts low-ticket invoices |
Helcim
Helcim runs an interchange-plus desk with published volume tiers. Online is interchange plus 0.50 percent plus $0.25; in-person is interchange plus 0.40 percent plus $0.08, per the public pricing page. The rate drops automatically as monthly volume rises. No negotiating call.
For a contractor at $80K monthly volume averaging $700 per ticket, in-person blended cost lands around 2.05 to 2.15 percent. The mobile app supports tap-on-phone on iOS and Android. The invoicing tool sends a payment link with optional ACH at $0.50 flat per transaction.
No contract. No early termination fee. No PCI fee. No monthly minimum.
Who it fits: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, landscaping, and home-services crews at $25K to $500K monthly volume that mix in-person reader payments with emailed invoices.
Who should skip it: very small operators under $10K monthly may not see the headline savings, and chargeback-heavy verticals will want a processor with a dedicated risk desk.
Stax
Stax charges $99 per month for accounts under $250K annual volume, then adds interchange plus $0.08 in person and $0.18 online with no percentage markup, per the public pricing page. The subscription model wins on volume: above $50K monthly, the saved markup clears the membership fee.
For a contractor running $120K monthly at $1,200 average ticket, the in-person effective rate sits near 1.75 to 1.85 percent including the subscription. Online invoicing runs a little higher because of the $0.18 transaction fee and card-not-present interchange.
Stax includes a virtual terminal, invoicing, ACH at 1 percent capped at $10, and recurring billing in the platform plan. Hardware is sold separately.
Who it fits: established crews above $50K monthly volume that bill steadily and want predictable pricing.
Who should skip it: seasonal or sub-$30K crews where the $99 fee is dead weight in slow months.
Stripe
Stripe charges 2.9 percent plus $0.30 online and 2.7 percent plus $0.05 in person, with no monthly fee, per the public pricing page. ACH on Stripe is 0.8 percent capped at $5 per transaction, the cheapest published ACH rate among general-purpose processors.
For a contractor running mostly online invoices with a $1,500 average ticket, online card pricing costs about $43.80 per transaction in fees while ACH costs $5. The math nudges every B2B invoice toward ACH.
Stripe's Terminal hardware ships fast and the API supports custom invoicing flows, but the flat-rate card pricing hits high-ticket credit card payments.
Who it fits: contractors that bill online by email, run software stacks built on Stripe (job-management apps, scheduling platforms), and route most B2B work to ACH.
Who should skip it: cash-on-completion crews. Above $40K monthly in-person card volume, flat-rate is 0.40 percent or more above what interchange-plus would cost.
Square
Square charges 2.6 percent plus $0.10 in person, 2.9 percent plus $0.30 online via invoice, and 3.5 percent plus $0.15 for keyed entries, per the public pricing page. The free Square Reader app supports tap-on-phone with no hardware purchase required.
For a contractor at $80K monthly volume on a $700 average ticket, in-person card cost is roughly 2.62 percent effective. The same $80K on a $200 average ticket (irrigation tune-ups, small electrical) lands closer to 2.74 percent because the $0.10 per-transaction fee weighs more.
No contract, no monthly fee on the basic plan, instant deposits available for a 1.75 percent surcharge.
Who it fits: brand-new crews, sub-$25K monthly volume operators, or low-ticket field work where speed of setup beats fee savings.
Who should skip it: contractors above $30K monthly where the flat 2.6 percent leaves $400 or more per month on the table compared with interchange-plus.
Payment Depot
Payment Depot runs a membership model with tiers from $79 to $199 per month plus interchange and a $0.05 to $0.15 transaction fee, depending on plan, per the public pricing page. The processor publishes its rate card, which is rare in the wholesale space.
For a contractor at $100K monthly volume, the $99 tier with a $0.10 transaction fee runs about 1.85 to 1.95 percent in-person effective. Setup runs 1 to 2 business days. Hardware is supported (Clover, Dejavoo, mobile readers) but not bundled into the base fee.
Who it fits: established crews between $40K and $250K monthly that prefer flat membership over per-transaction markup and that already own or want to choose hardware.
Who should skip it: very small operators (under $25K monthly) where the membership fee plus interchange exceeds a flat-rate provider, and pure-online sellers where Stax's online tier is competitive.
Clover
Clover bundles plan-based POS pricing with hardware. Plans run $14.95 to $54.95 per month, plus 2.3 to 2.6 percent + $0.10 in person and 3.5 percent + $0.10 for keyed entries, per the public POS page. Hardware sits between $49 for the Go reader and $1,799 for the Station Duo.
For most field service crews, the POS hardware is over-spec. The reader cost is competitive, but Clover is built for fixed-location retail and food: the field service feature set is shallow compared with Helcim or Stax.
Hardware is locked to the processor. Switching means buying new gear.
Who it fits: contractors that also run a fixed showroom or retail counter (paint, tile, flooring, kitchen) and want one stack across both channels.
Who should skip it: pure field service crews. The hardware lock-in and retail focus add cost without matching how the work runs.
PayPal
PayPal charges 3.49 percent plus $0.49 on standard online checkout, 2.59 percent plus $0.49 on its advanced card processing tier, and 2.29 percent plus $0.09 in person, per the public pricing page.
For B2B and contractor invoicing, the $0.49 per-transaction fee on online card is the highest among the providers in this list. On a $50 service-call deposit, the effective rate runs 4.47 percent. On a $5,000 invoice, the fee math improves to 2.60 percent.
PayPal's strength is consumer trust at checkout. For a roofing crew sending invoices via SMS or email, the PayPal-branded payment link gets paid faster than a no-name processor link.
Who it fits: small operators that take occasional online deposits and value brand recognition at checkout.
Who should skip it: anyone above $30K monthly invoice volume. The fee structure makes ACH-plus-Stripe a better long-run pick.
Verdict
For U.S. contractors and field service crews at $25K to $500K monthly volume, Helcim is the pick. Interchange-plus pricing with automatic volume discounts, no contract, no PCI fee, and mobile plus invoicing in one app fit how the work actually runs.
The runner-up depends on volume and channel. Above $50K monthly with mostly in-person card work, Stax's $99 subscription saves more once the markup is gone. Below $25K monthly or for crews that prioritize fast onboarding, Square's free reader and same-day setup are hard to beat. For online-heavy B2B billing where ACH is the answer, Stripe's 0.8 percent capped ACH is the cheapest published option.
The two to skip in this category: PayPal (the $0.49 per online transaction is the worst fit for service-call deposits) and Clover (POS hardware lock-in is wasted on field crews).
