Helcim vs Stax, percentage margin or subscription.
Helcim adds a percentage over interchange and charges nothing monthly. Stax charges $99 to $199 a month and adds only cents per transaction. Above a certain volume the subscription wins decisively; below it, it is dead weight.
What this page settles.
Three questions, in the order most people ask them.
The short answer
Same model underneath, two ways of charging for it, and the crossover is arithmetic you can do on a napkin.
Both pass interchange through at cost. Helcim then adds 0.40% + 8¢ in person (under $50,000 a month, falling in published tiers) and charges nothing monthly. Stax adds 8¢ card-present and no percentage at all, and charges a subscription: $99 a month up to $150,000 a year of processing, $139 from $150,000 to $250,000, and $199 or more above that.
So Stax is buying out the percentage. At $99 a month, that subscription equals Helcim’s 0.40% at $24,750 a month of card volume. Below that, Helcim is cheaper and Stax’s subscription is money you are paying for nothing. Above it, Stax pulls ahead, and the advantage grows with every extra dollar of volume.
Note the mismatch to watch: Stax’s subscription tiers are set on annual processing and Helcim’s margin tiers on a three-month average of monthly volume. Work in one unit before comparing.
Published pricing, side by side
| Helcim | Stax | |
|---|---|---|
| In person | interchange + 0.40% + 8¢ under $50K a month; the margin falls in five published volume tiers to interchange + 0.15% + 6¢ above $1M |
interchange at cost + 8¢ per transaction the page says 0% markup on direct-cost interchange; the subscription is the margin |
| Keyed | interchange + 0.50% + 25¢ under $50K a month, falling to interchange + 0.15% + 15¢ above $1M |
interchange at cost + 15¢ per transaction |
| Online | interchange + 0.50% + 25¢ same schedule as keyed |
interchange at cost + 15¢ per transaction |
| Pricing model | Interchange-plus | Subscription plus interchange |
| Monthly | $0. The page says no account monthly fees. | $99/mo up to $150,000 a year; $139/mo from $150,000 to $250,000; $199+/mo above $250,000 |
| Contract | None. No contract, no setup fee, no cancellation fee. | No term stated. The page lists “no cancellation fees (long term contracts)” as a feature. |
| Monthly minimum | None. No minimums, software fees or statement fees. | Not stated |
| Funding | Next business morning on credit and debit; gross or net deposits, your choice | Not stated on the pricing page |
| Chargeback fee | $0 if resolved in your favour, $15 if lost | Not published |
| Hardware | Sold outright | Priced separately; terminal protection plan $19/mo |
| Account type | Own merchant account, underwritten | Own merchant account, underwritten |
Helcim: www.helcim.com — read 2026-10-08. Stax: staxpayments.com — read 2026-10-08.
Published prices change. These were read on the dates above and are list prices for a business buying direct — a quote you are given may differ, and should be compared as a quote rather than against a price list.
Helcim, also published:
- Recurring payments add 0.4% per transaction
- ACH 0.5% + 25¢, capped at $6
- No PCI fee
- Volume tier is set on the average of the last three months
Stax, also published:
- ACH 1% per transaction, capped at $10
- Surcharging starts at $99/mo; debit surcharge 1.25% + $0.25
Where they actually differ
How the margin behaves as you grow. Helcim’s percentage falls in steps — 0.40%, 0.35%, 0.25%, 0.20%, 0.15% — so it keeps taking a share of your growth, just a shrinking one. Stax’s subscription is close to fixed, so its effective margin falls continuously as you grow. For a fast-growing business, that difference compounds in Stax’s favour.
Fee disclosure. Helcim publishes a long list of fees it does not charge: no monthly, no minimum, no setup, no cancellation, no PCI, and $0 on a chargeback you win ($15 if you lose). Stax publishes “no cancellation fees (long term contracts)” as a feature and does not publish a chargeback fee, a funding timetable or a monthly minimum. Helcim’s disclosure is materially better.
Funding. Helcim publishes next-business-morning deposits and offers gross or net funding — gross meaning deposits match sales and the fees come as a separate line, which is much easier to reconcile. Stax does not publish funding timing. Funding times and daily versus monthly discount.
Hardware. Both price hardware separately. Stax publishes a terminal protection plan at $19 a month with unlimited swaps for defects, accidents and wear — genuinely useful for a business with readers taking daily abuse, and a cost to count.
ACH. Helcim publishes 0.5% + 25¢ capped at $6. Stax publishes 1% capped at $10. Helcim’s is cheaper, and on large invoices the cap is what matters. B2B processing.
Surcharging. Stax publishes a surcharging program starting at $99 a month, with a debit surcharge of 1.25% + $0.25. If you intend to pass card costs to customers, read the rules carefully first, because the compliance requirements are specific and the penalties are real. Surcharging rules and what gets sold as zero-fee.
Recurring billing. Helcim adds 0.4% on recurring transactions. If recurring is most of your volume, that changes the crossover against you.
Who each one suits
Helcim suits a business under roughly $25,000 a month in card volume, a seasonal business whose volume swings (no subscription to pay in the quiet months), and anyone who wants the shortest possible list of fixed fees.
Stax suits an established business comfortably above the crossover, especially one growing quickly, where paying a fixed monthly amount instead of a percentage of everything is straightforwardly cheaper and gets cheaper.
For a seasonal business the subscription is a real risk. A business doing $60,000 a month in summer and $8,000 in winter pays Stax’s subscription in both. Work the comparison on your annual total split by month, not on your best month.
What the comparison does not show
Check which volume figure each tier uses. Stax’s subscription tiers are annual processing; Helcim’s margin tiers are a three-month average of monthly volume. Converting before comparing avoids landing in the wrong tier on paper.
Neither number is your cost. Both pass interchange through, and interchange is 70% to 80% of what you pay. The margin is the part you are comparing; the interchange is the part you can influence through how cards are read, how fast you settle, and whether commercial cards carry their data. Interchange optimisation and Level 2 data.
Stax does not publish a chargeback fee, a funding timetable or a monthly minimum. Three things to get in writing.
Above a few hundred thousand a month, negotiated interchange-plus through an ISO can beat both published schedules, and at that point the conversation is about interchange qualification rather than margin.
How to settle it with your own numbers
Both of these pass interchange through at cost, which means the interchange half of your bill is identical either way and the only thing being compared is the margin. That is unusual and it makes the arithmetic unusually clean.
Work out the margin each would charge at your own monthly volume and average ticket — Helcim’s and Stax’s are both published above — and ignore interchange entirely, because it does not differ. Then sanity-check the result against your current effective rate: total fees for a month divided by total card volume.
Flat rate against interchange-plus is the model comparison in general terms, and the calculator does the arithmetic on yours.
What we charge
Interchange + 0.50% + 10¢ in person, interchange + 0.75% + 25¢ keyed, with no contract, no monthly fee and no monthly minimum.
Send us one page of a statement and we will work out your effective rate on what you pay now, and what Helcim, Stax and we would each cost on the same volume and card mix. Three figures of the same kind. If one of the other two wins, that is what we will tell you.
While we are on the subject
Which is cheaper, Helcim or Stax?
Below roughly $25,000 a month in card volume, Helcim. Above it, Stax, and the advantage grows as you grow. Both pass interchange through at cost.
Is a subscription model a gimmick?
No — it is a legitimate way to charge for interchange-plus, and above the crossover it is genuinely cheaper. It is simply dead weight below the crossover.
What happens in a slow month on Stax?
You pay the subscription anyway. For a seasonal business that is the main argument against it.
Do both really pass interchange through at cost?
Both say so: Helcim describes an interchange-plus model, and Stax publishes 0% markup on direct-cost interchange. Verify it on your first statement by checking interchange is itemised.