Stripe vs PayPal vs Square fees on a freelance invoice

Card fees are the one cost of getting paid that grows with your income. At 3% they look small, but on $60,000 of invoices a year they come to about $1,800, more than most freelancers spend on all their software. The pay-on-time guide covers how to make paying easy; this post puts numbers on each way a client can pay you, so you can decide which ones to offer and when.

The fee table (US, checked October 18, 2026)

Two things the table can't show. ACH and bank transfers take days to clear, and a bank debit can still fail after it looks paid. Card payments arrive faster but can be disputed by the client for months. Each provider also charges for disputes, refunds and instant payouts; read their pages for those before you choose.

What you actually net on $500, $2,000 and $10,000

For any other amount, the payment fee calculator runs the same comparison and tells you what to charge to receive the amount you want.

Where ACH beats a card

On Stripe, ACH Direct Debit costs 0.8% until the fee reaches $5, which happens at $625. Below that, ACH still costs less than a card (a $300 invoice costs $2.40 by ACH and $9.00 by card), but the dollar gap is small and the client is more likely to pay right away by card. From $625 up the ACH fee stops growing while the card fee keeps climbing: 2.9% of each extra dollar. A practical rule: offer cards on everything, and ask clients to pay by bank transfer or ACH on invoices above about $1,000, where the card fee passes $29.

If you'd rather absorb card fees than argue about them, price them in. To net exactly $2,000 after Stripe's card fee, the invoice needs to be ($2,000 + $0.30) ÷ (1 − 0.029) = $2,060.04. Building that 3% into your rate is simpler and legal everywhere; adding a separate surcharge line is restricted in several states (see credit card surcharge rules). The profit margin calculator shows what fees do to your margin on a project.

Clients abroad pay more to reach you

A client in Europe paying a USD invoice by card through Stripe costs you 2.9% + 1.5% = 4.4% plus 30¢. If you charge in euros and get paid out in dollars, Stripe adds 1% for the conversion: 5.4% plus 30¢. On PayPal, a card payment from abroad is 2.99% + 1.5% = 4.49% plus the fixed fee, before any currency conversion. For a regular foreign client, local account details in their currency (Wise and similar accounts offer them) usually cost far less. The international invoicing guide works through a €3,000 invoice.

Which methods to offer, by invoice size

How we got these numbers

We read each provider's published US rates on October 18, 2026 (Stripe pricing and local payment methods pages, PayPal's US merchant fees page, Square's fees and ACH pages, Wise Business receiving fees). Fees are the standard rates for a new US account with no volume discount, applied to a single payment in USD, rounded to the cent. They exclude dispute, refund, chargeback, instant payout and monthly plan fees. Providers change prices; we re-check this page every 90 days.

In SoloWOS

SoloWOS Invoicing lets you send invoices clients pay by card through your own Stripe account, connected from Settings > Client payments. The payment lands in your Stripe balance and the invoice switches to Paid on its own. SoloWOS adds no fee on top: you pay only Stripe's rate. For bank transfers, add your account details under Payment instructions and they appear on every invoice and invoice email; you can also add a PayPal or Wise payment link, which shows as a pay button. Solo includes 50 invoices a month.