Under $20k/month: stay with Stripe. Past $20k/month: switch and save 0.4–0.9%.
Stripe's flat-rate simplicity has real value at small scale. The premium is roughly 0.4% on credit cards and 1.5–2% on debit cards — invisible at $5k/month, very visible at $50k/month. The break-even depends on your card mix; the audit calculates yours exactly.
What Stripe charges you, broken down
Stripe's headline rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction for online cards. Underneath that, the actual costs are:
- Interchange (paid to the card networks): 0.05% + 22¢ for regulated debit, 1.51% + 10¢ for rewards credit, 2.10% + 10¢ for premium credit
- Assessments (paid to Visa/Mastercard): 0.13–0.14%
- Stripe's margin: whatever's left between 2.9% + 30¢ and the above
On a $100 sale paid with a regulated debit card, you pay Stripe $3.20 ($2.90 + $0.30). The actual interchange cost is $0.27. Stripe's spread on that transaction is $2.63. On a $100 sale with a rewards credit card, interchange is $1.61 — Stripe's spread is $1.29. Stripe earns more on debit transactions than on credit, which is the opposite of what most merchants assume.
The exact pricing math, by volume
| Monthly card volume | Stripe annual cost | NMS Interchange Plus annual cost | Annual difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10,000 | $3,720 | $3,330 | ~$390 (small win — usually not worth switching) |
| $20,000 | $7,440 | $6,000 | ~$1,440 |
| $35,000 | $13,020 | $10,200 | ~$2,820 |
| $60,000 | $22,320 | $16,800 | ~$5,520 |
| $120,000 | $44,640 | $31,200 | ~$13,440 |
Assumes 70% credit / 30% debit, average ticket $80, U.S. domestic cards, no Stripe Tax. Cross-border transactions, recurring billing categories, and international cards shift the math.
Side by side
Stripe
- Flat 2.9% + 30¢ — predictable, simple
- Best-in-class developer API and dashboard
- Stripe Atlas, Tax, Radar, Issuing — full platform
- Truly instant onboarding
- Premium pricing at scale ($1,500+/yr at $20k/mo, much more above)
- No negotiation — what you see is what you pay
- Customer service is email-only (no human phone support on standard plans)
National Merchant Solutions
- Interchange Plus pricing — pay actual cost + small fixed markup
- Same gateway integrations (Authorize.Net, NMI) — checkout looks identical to customers
- Direct phone support from David or Ohad, not a ticket queue
- Month-to-month, no contracts, next-day funding
- $500 best-rate guarantee — if a written quote beats us, the gift card is yours
- No native Stripe-style developer ecosystem
- Setup takes 24–48 hours, not 10 minutes
When you should stay with Stripe (and we'll tell you so)
- You're under $20k/month in card volume. The simplicity premium is worth it for now.
- You're a developer-led SaaS using Stripe's full platform (Subscriptions, Connect, Tax, Issuing) — the integration cost of leaving is real.
- You're early stage and your processing cost isn't your biggest problem to solve this quarter.
- You have international/cross-border volume that Stripe handles particularly well for your specific case.
When you should switch (and what we change)
- You're past $20k/month and your effective rate is 2.7%+ — you're paying for simplicity you've outgrown.
- You sell physical goods or services with U.S. customers — Stripe's premium hits hardest here.
- You're tired of email-only support and want a phone number that goes to a real person.
- You're subscription-heavy and qualify for recurring interchange categories Stripe doesn't surface.
Migrating from Stripe takes 5–10 business days. We export your saved card vault, configure the new gateway with the same checkout look-and-feel, run both in parallel for 30 days to make sure nothing breaks, then cut over.
FAQ — NMS vs Stripe
Will my customers notice anything?
No. The checkout looks identical because the front-end UI (Stripe Elements, custom checkout, etc.) stays as you've built it. Only the processing rails underneath change.
What about Stripe Tax, Radar, Connect, etc.?
If you're using those products heavily, the cost of leaving is real. We're honest about that. If you only use Stripe for plain payments, none of it applies.
Can I keep Stripe for some things and use NMS for others?
Yes. Some merchants run Stripe for subscriptions where they need the platform features and use NMS for one-time purchases where rate matters most. We'll help you set up routing.
What if I want to go back to Stripe?
You can. We're month-to-month. We don't lock you in because we don't have to.