Helcim vs Lightspeed
Helcim scores higher overall (85 vs 71), but the right choice depends on your size and card mix. The transparency benchmark — published interchange-plus that gets cheaper as you grow, from a company that answers its phone.
Updated 2026-08-06Helcim
Transparent interchange-plus with volume discounts
85/ 100
4.6Merchant Score
- Pricing
- 4.7
- Features
- 3.8
- Ease of use
- 4.0
- Customer support
- 4.0
- User reviews
- 4.3
- Pricing model
- Interchange-plus (published)
- Headline rate
- 2.15% + $0.15
- Monthly fee
- None
- Contract
- None — month to month
- Payouts
- 1-2 business days
- Hardware
- Smart terminal $329
Strong fit for
- Merchants above ~$10k/month who want interchange-plus without negotiating
- Businesses burned by opaque processors
- US and Canadian omnichannel sellers
Lightspeed
Deep retail and hospitality POS with bundled payments
71/ 100
3.7Merchant Score
- Pricing
- 3.0
- Features
- 4.4
- Ease of use
- 3.6
- Customer support
- 3.7
- User reviews
- 3.3
- Pricing model
- Flat rate, POS-bundled
- Headline rate
- 2.9% + $0.30 online · 2.6% + $0.10 in person
- Monthly fee
- $89/mo
- Contract
- Annual software agreements common
- Payouts
- 1-2 business days
- Hardware
- Purchased or leased, varies
Strong fit for
- Retailers with complex or multi-location inventory
- Restaurants needing floor and menu management
- Businesses that outgrew simple POS
Which one is cheaper for your business?
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