Independent — no provider can pay for a rating
Find out what your card processor is really charging you.
Forward one statement to report@inbound.checkparity.com and get your free rate report back in minutes. No account, no forms, no sales calls.
Free forever. No card required. Your processor never knows you checked — and checking changes nothing on your account.
Your rate report
Sample- Interchange — Visa / MC$1,204.18
- Card brand assessments$98.40
- Non-qualified surchargeHidden fee$312.40
- Monthly account feeHidden fee$45.00
- PCI non-compliance feeHidden fee$29.95
- Your effective rate
- 2.91%
- Merchants like you pay
- 2.42%
- Estimated annual savings
- $4,890
Every fee line named, benchmarked, and explained.
- Helcim
- Square
- Aura Paiements
- Shopify
- eMerchant
- Trustly
- SMG Global
- Fortumo
- First Data
- Precoro
- PayU
- Valued Merchant Services
- Paysafe
- Reap
- Leaders Merchant Services
- Modisoft
- PaySimple
- Signature Payments
- AvidXchange
- Valmar Merchant Services
- Culqi
- QuickBooks Money
- Credova
- Praxis
- Lemon Squeezy
- Sezzle
- ProPay
- Zoho Invoice
- LawPay
- QuadraPay
- PaySpace
- Brex
- PaymentIQ
- Chargent
- ECS Payments
- Total Processing
- Ikajo International
- PayKings
- Dharma Merchant Services
- Stripe
- Credit Card Processing Specialists
- Xero
- Thryv
- Paycron
- EU Paymentz
- Axcess Merchant Services
- Paddle
- Przelewy24
- PayCompass
- Tranzila
- Toast
- Tradogram
- Elavon
- Sage Intacct
- CardX
- Payment Nerds
- PaySpace Processing
- Genius
- Aevi
- ChargePay
- CDGcommerce
- Fintech
- Lightspeed
- Crescent Processing
- Sekure Payment Experts
- Payment for Gaming
- Tipalti
- Merchant One
- BankCard USA
- Instabill
- AllayPay
- eCheckplan
- Payoneer
- Infrasys
- PayProp
- National Processing
- Soar Payments
- Moneris
- Chase Payment Solutions
- TD Merchant Solutions
- Splitit
- Payrix
- PaymentCloud
- Paysight
- Catalis
- TrueLayer
- Mondu
- Primer
- Payline Data
- Recurly
- Nationwide Payment Systems
- Host Merchant Services
- UniPAY
- Trust Payments
- RiskPay
- Fluid Pay
- secupay
- eMerchantBroker
- Zen Payments
- PayPal
- Ivno
- ChargebackStop
- KORT Payments
- PayKun
- Clover
- Gravity Payments
- Worldpay
- Razorpay
- Payworld
- ccNetPay
- PayDiverse
- PopID
- TailoredPay
- DIMOCO
- RevSpring
- Corepay
- Oracle MICROS
- Paytek
- Zuora
- Omnea
- Mollie
- RewardPay
- ProcureDesk
- Payhawk
- Zip
- MuchBetter
- Checkmaxx
- Ramp
- Cardflo
- Finical
- Neolink
- Procurify
- SabPaisa
- Cybersource
- Klarna
- Payline Data
- Boku
- GSPay
- Hero
- High Risk Pay
- Stampli
- The Card Association
- PayPal Virtual Terminal
- Coupa
- SecureGlobalPay
- Mondo Payments
- Qippay
- Durango Merchant Services
- JAGGAER
- CardPointe
- Cheddar Up
- Paystack
- High Risk Solutions
- Curbstone
- FinteqHub
- MagicCube
- SAP Ariba
- Chargeback
- Trolley
- Merchant Industry
- SeamlessChex
- SecurionPay
- Basware
- BillDesk
- CCAvenue
- Fiserv
- Lithic
- ProMerchant
- AllPays
Why merchants trust us
Top 5 reasons merchants use Parity
Parity is an independent review site that ranks payment processors by the Parity Score and verifies advertised rates against real merchant statements.
Free, forever
The rate report and every review are free. No card, no trial, no sales calls.
Checking changes nothing
Reading your statement has no effect on your account or your relationship with your processor.
Statement-verified rates
We rank providers by what merchants actually pay on real statements — not by advertised headlines.
Personalized savings
Your report benchmarks every fee line against merchants your size and shows where the money goes.
Plain-English fees
Interchange, assessments, markups, surcharges — every line item named and explained.
The best payment processors, ranked
The Parity Score weights pricing 35%, features 25%, ease of use 20%, support 10%, and user reviews 10%.
- 185HelcimTransparent interchange-plus with volume discountsfrom 2.15% + $0.15
- 281SquareFlat-rate simplicity with free POS softwarefrom 2.6% + $0.15
- 380Aura PaiementsPayment processing under reviewfrom 2.83% + $0.10
- 479ShopifyThe ecommerce platform with payments built infrom 2.9% + $0.30
- 579eMerchantPayment processing under reviewfrom 2.63% + $0.10
- 678TrustlyPayment processing under reviewfrom 2.71% + $0.10
Rankings are averages. Your statement is the truth.
The cheapest processor for the average merchant is not always the cheapest for you. Your free report does the math on your actual volume and card mix.
Get my free rate reportHow much are you overpaying?
A well-negotiated small-business account lands around 2.4% blended. Most statements we analyze show 2.8-3.3% once hidden line items are counted. Two numbers gets you an instant estimate — one statement gets you the exact figure.
Versus the 2.4% benchmark merchants like you negotiate, you may be overpaying about
Estimates only. Your statement gives the real figure, fee by fee.
How Parity works
- 1
Forward or upload one statement
Forward the email from your processor to report@inbound.checkparity.com, or drop in a PDF. That's the whole signup — no account needed first.
- 2
We benchmark every fee line
Your effective rate, every fee named, checked against real rates from merchants like you — not the rates processors advertise.
- 3
Click the email — you're in
Your rate report arrives in minutes. The button signs you in directly — no password, ever — and shows what switching or renegotiating would save.
Statements are encrypted, never shared with providers, and you can delete your data anytime.
Merchants on their rate reports
“I was skeptical it was actually free, but I forwarded one statement and got the full breakdown back the same day. Turns out I was paying 3.1% blended when I thought I had 2.65%. Switched and I'm saving about $260 a month.”
Dana R.
Café owner, Halifax
“The report names every fee on your statement in plain English. I finally understood what the 'non-qualified surcharge' line actually was — and that merchants my size don't pay it. Used the numbers to renegotiate without switching.”
Marcus T.
Auto parts retailer, Rochester, NY
“Honest experience: the report told me my rate was already fair and switching wasn't worth it. No sales call, no pressure. That's exactly why I trust the rankings.”
Priya S.
Online boutique, Vancouver
Is all this really free?
Yes. Parity makes money when a merchant switches providers through one of our recommendations — the new provider pays us a referral fee. That fee never affects rankings: the Parity Score is computed from statement data and published pricing either way, and no provider can pay for a rating. Not interested in switching? We're still happy to check your rates.
Advertised vs. actual: how we fact-check
Every review checks the provider's claims against evidence from real merchant statements. Here is the live fact check from our Square review.
Headline processing rate
Checks outWhat they advertise
2.9% + $0.30 online · 2.6% + $0.15 in person
What the evidence shows
2.79% blended, across 2 merchant statements and rate reports
The blended rate merchants actually pay sits within normal card-mix range of the provider's published card rates.
Monthly cost
Checks outWhat they advertise
No monthly fee
What the evidence shows
Statements show no recurring account fees
Optional paid tiers exist, but the entry plan is genuinely free of recurring fees.
Built for the AI era
Bring your agent. Our data is already AI-readable.
Every review, comparison, and Parity Score ships as clean markdown with a public index at /llms.txt. Point ChatGPT, Claude, or any MCP-capable agent at Parity and ask which processor fits your business — our answers are the same ones we publish here.
{
"mcpServers": {
"parity": {
"url": "https://mcp.checkparity.com"
}
}
}Live rates, fees, and reviews over MCP (preview).
Frequently asked questions
Is the free rate report really free?
Yes — really. We make money when a merchant switches providers through one of our recommendations; the new provider pays us a referral fee. The report, the reviews, and the rankings are free either way, and no provider can pay for a rating.
What is the Parity Score?
The Parity Score is a 0-100 rating that combines five weighted categories: pricing (35%), features (25%), ease of use (20%), support (10%), and user reviews (10%). Pricing is scored against real merchant statements, not advertised rates.
What is a good credit card processing rate?
For a typical small business with mixed in-person card volume, a well-negotiated blended rate lands around 2.4%. Merchant statements we analyze regularly show effective rates of 2.8-3.3% once hidden line items are counted — that gap is what the free rate report finds.
Is my statement safe?
Statements are encrypted in transit and at rest, used only to build your report and our anonymized benchmarks, and never sold or shared with providers. You can delete your data at any time from your account settings.
Do I have to switch providers?
No. Many merchants use their report to renegotiate with their current processor — the benchmark numbers are the leverage. If your rate is already fair, the report says so.
Start with your free rate report
One statement. Every fee named. Your rate benchmarked against merchants like you — and what switching or renegotiating would save. Forward it to report@inbound.checkparity.com to get started.
Get my free rate report