Most processors charge a business a percentage of each ACH payment, and some cap it. On their own pricing pages in October 2026: Stripe charges 0.8% capped at $5, Braintree 0.75% capped at $5, QuickBooks Payments 1% with no published cap, Authorize.net 0.75% with no cap plus a $25 monthly gateway fee, and Square 1% with a $1 minimum on invoices. On a $14,800 plan paid in thirteen payments, that ranges from $65 to about $148.
Every rate below is from the processor's own US pricing page, opened on 28 October 2026. Negotiated pricing can differ, so check your own fee schedule too.
What does ACH cost a business?
An ACH payment moves money from your customer's bank account to yours through the bank network. The processor that pulls the payment charges you for each one. Here is what five processors publish for a standard US ACH debit:
| Processor | Standard ACH rate | Cap per payment | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | 0.8% | $5.00 | Stripe pricing |
| Braintree (PayPal) | 0.75% | $5.00 | PayPal Braintree fees |
| QuickBooks Payments | 1% | none published | QuickBooks payment rates |
| Authorize.net | 0.75%, plus a $25 monthly gateway fee | none listed | Authorize.net pricing |
| Square, on invoices | 1%, $1 minimum | $10 on some plans, none on others | Square fees |
A few details from the same pages:
- Square prices ACH taken through its API differently from invoices: 1% with a $1 minimum and a $5 cap.
- Authorize.net's eCheck plan has a $10 minimum monthly eCheck fee if your fees for the month come in under that.
- Intuit says its rates are accurate as of 18 September 2026. The QuickBooks Payments fees post covers its card rates and how its fees are recorded.
For contrast, Stripe's standard US card price is 2.9% + 30¢ per payment, with no cap.
Why does the cap matter so much?
A cap turns a percentage into a flat fee once the payment is big enough. Where the cap starts to apply:
- Stripe: 0.8% reaches $5 at $625. Any payment above that costs $5.
- Braintree: 0.75% reaches $5 at about $667.
- Square through its API: 1% reaches $5 at $500.
- Square invoices, on a capped plan: 1% reaches $10 at $1,000.
Without a cap, the fee keeps growing with the payment. 1% of a $1,108.33 payment is $11.08. 1% of a $7,500 payment is $75. That is why the processor you pick matters most for high-ticket items paid over time.
What do ACH fees add up to on a payment plan?
Take the sample plan used across this blog: a $14,800 program at the Denver location, paid as a $1,500 deposit, eleven monthly payments of $1,108.33 and a last payment of $1,108.37. Thirteen payments, each with its own fee.
| Processor | Deposit | Each later payment | All thirteen payments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe (0.8%, $5 cap) | $5.00 | $5.00 | $65.00 |
| Braintree (0.75%, $5 cap) | $5.00 | $5.00 | $65.00 |
| Square invoices, capped plan (1%, $10 cap) | $10.00 | $10.00 | $130.00 |
| Authorize.net (0.75%) | $11.25 | $8.31 | $110.97 |
| QuickBooks Payments (1%) | $15.00 | $11.08 | $147.96 |
| Square invoices, uncapped plan (1%) | $15.00 | $11.08 | $147.96 |
Each fee is rounded to the cent on its own. Authorize.net's $25 monthly gateway fee is per account, not per plan, so it isn't in the table.
The same plan by card at Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢ costs $433.08: $43.80 on the deposit and $32.44 on each of the twelve payments. What ACH saves on a $15,000 plan walks through that gap payment by payment.
What about bigger payments?
The spread widens as each payment grows. Take a $30,000 program paid in four quarterly payments of $7,500:
| Processor | Each payment | All four |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | $5.00 | $20.00 |
| Braintree | $5.00 | $20.00 |
| Square invoices, capped plan | $10.00 | $40.00 |
| Authorize.net | $56.25 | $225.00 |
| QuickBooks Payments | $75.00 | $300.00 |
By card at Stripe's standard rate, the same four payments cost $871.20.
Smaller, more frequent payments narrow the gap. On payments under $500, none of the caps above applies, and every processor charges its plain percentage. Weekly, biweekly or monthly covers how the schedule changes what a plan costs to collect.
What other ACH fees are there?
The per-payment rate isn't the only line on the statement. From the same pricing pages:
| Fee | Stripe | Braintree | Authorize.net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Failed or returned payment | $4.00 | $5.00 | $3.00 |
| Disputed payment | $15.00 | $5.00 (disputed as unauthorized) | $25.00 (chargeback) |
| Faster settlement | 1.2% for two-day settlement | 1.5% + $0.10 for same-day ACH | not listed |
| Instant bank account check | $1.50 | not listed | not listed |
Stripe's ACH Direct Debit docs give insufficient funds, an invalid account number and a customer turning off debits on their account as reasons a payment fails. The bank sends back a return code saying which; ACH return codes lists the common ones. A failure also arrives late: Stripe says an ACH Direct Debit can take up to 4 business days to confirm success or failure.
How do you keep ACH fees down on payment plans?
- Know whether your rate is capped. On high-ticket plans, a cap is worth more than a lower percentage.
- Offer ACH beside card. Every payment a customer makes by bank instead of card costs the ACH fee rather than the card fee.
- Collect the authorization once. An ACH debit needs the customer's authorization before you take it, and a recurring authorization covers the later payments of a plan. ACH authorization covers what it should say.
- Watch failed payments. A return costs a fee and leaves the balance open. Follow up quickly, and let the customer pay that payment another way.
- Check fees by location. If each location has its own processor account and books, each location's cost of collecting is visible on its own.
Changelog
- 28 October 2026: first published, with each processor's US pricing as listed on its own page that day.
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