Payment gateway fees can be surprisingly difficult to compare.
One provider may quote a simple percentage per transaction.
Another may charge:
interchange + scheme fees + acquiring margin + gateway fee + authorisation fee.
A third may bundle gateway, processing, acquiring, fraud tools and other payment services into one commercial rate.
All three can describe themselves as offering payment processing.
That is why asking:
“How much does a payment gateway cost?”
does not have one reliable UK answer.
The better question is:
“What will our complete online payment stack cost for our actual transactions?”
Gateway pricing should be considered alongside functionality, integrations, acquiring costs and settlement rather than in isolation. Our Payment Gateways guide explains how the wider payment setup fits together and what businesses should compare when choosing a provider.
This guide explains the payment gateway fees UK businesses can encounter in 2026, how gateway charges differ from card-processing costs, and how established merchants can compare providers properly.
Key Takeaways
- There is no single average UK payment gateway fee that applies to every business.
- A payment gateway fee is not necessarily the same as the total cost of accepting an online card payment.
- Some PSPs bundle gateway and processing costs together, while other businesses use a separate gateway and acquirer.
- Online payment costs can include interchange, scheme fees, provider margin, gateway fees, authorisation charges, fraud tools, 3D Secure, tokenisation, cross-border charges and FX.
- The Bank of England reported in February 2026 that the average cost to UK merchants of accepting card payments is around 0.6% of transaction value.
- That 0.6% figure covers card acceptance more broadly and should not be interpreted as an average payment-gateway fee.
- The smallest merchants pay more than four times as much on average as very large merchants according to the same Bank of England analysis.
- For eligible UK domestic consumer cards, interchange is capped where the UK Interchange Fee Regulation applies.
- The headline caps are 0.20% for eligible consumer debit/prepaid cards and 0.30% for eligible consumer credit cards.
- Those interchange caps are not caps on the merchant's total payment-processing price.
- The Payment Systems Regulator has found that Mastercard and Visa increased core scheme and processing fees to acquirers by at least 25% since 2017, costing UK businesses at least £170 million extra per year.
- High-volume businesses should analyse fixed per-transaction fees as well as percentage rates.
- International cards, commercial cards and cross-border transactions can produce very different costs from UK domestic consumer cards.
- Recurring, marketplace, multi-acquirer and orchestration setups can introduce additional payment charges.
- A cheaper gateway is not necessarily commercially better if payment performance, integration, reporting or resilience deteriorates.
Find Your New Processor
How Much Does a Payment Gateway Cost in the UK?
There is no universal UK payment-gateway rate.
Pricing depends on factors including:
- payment provider;
- business sector;
- monthly and annual processing volume;
- transaction count;
- average transaction value;
- consumer versus commercial cards;
- UK versus international cards;
- currencies;
- payment methods;
- gateway architecture;
- fraud tools;
- tokenisation;
- recurring payments;
- acquiring model;
- number of providers or acquirers;
- marketplace functionality;
- technical integrations; and
- commercial negotiation.
This is why Merchant Advice Service does not publish an unsupported table claiming that every UK payment gateway should cost a particular percentage.
Instead, merchants should compare the cost of their actual transaction profile.
See our UK Merchant Fees Benchmark 2026 for the wider UK card-processing cost position.
Ecommerce businesses should compare gateway fees alongside acquiring, settlement, fraud tools, international-card costs, integration and provider fit. Our Ecommerce Payment Providers UK guide explains the wider provider-selection framework.
What Is the Average Cost of Accepting Card Payments in the UK?
The Bank of England provides one useful independent benchmark.
In February 2026, Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden stated that the average cost to UK merchants of accepting card payments is around 0.6% of transaction value.
The same analysis stated that the smallest merchants pay more than four times as much on average as very large merchants.
Read the Bank of England source.
Important: 0.6% Is Not an Average Gateway Fee
The Bank of England figure relates to the broader cost of accepting card payments.
It should not be interpreted as meaning:
“a payment gateway should cost 0.6%.”
A gateway may represent only one part of the merchant's overall payment stack.
MAS View
A gateway fee is a component of payment cost. It should not be confused with the cost of the payment itself.
Payment Gateway Fee vs Card-Processing Fee: What Is the Difference?
A payment gateway is the technology layer that helps transmit payment information between the merchant's checkout or software and the wider payment-processing infrastructure.
The wider transaction can also involve:
- the merchant;
- payment gateway;
- PSP or processor;
- acquirer;
- card scheme;
- customer's issuing bank;
- fraud and authentication tools; and
- other payment infrastructure.
Depending on the commercial model, these services might be provided by one company or several.
Bundled PSP Model
A PSP may provide:
gateway + processing + acquiring + fraud + reporting
within a broader platform.
The merchant may see a relatively simple transaction price.
Separate Gateway and Acquirer
Another business may use:
gateway → separate acquiring bank.
The gateway and acquiring charges may therefore appear separately.
Multi-Acquirer Model
A larger merchant may use:
gateway → Acquirer A + Acquirer B.
Read our Acquirer-Agnostic Payment Gateways guide.
Payment-Orchestration Model
A more complex business may use an orchestration layer across several PSPs, acquirers or payment methods.
Read our Payment Orchestration UK guide.
What Fees Can Be Included in an Online Card Payment?
| Cost | What It Broadly Relates To |
|---|
| Interchange |
Underlying fee associated with the customer's issuing bank |
| Scheme fees |
Charges connected with card-scheme/network participation and processing |
| Acquirer/processor margin |
Commercial margin charged by the provider handling merchant processing/acquiring |
| Gateway fee |
Charge for the gateway/payment-technology layer |
| Authorisation fee |
Fixed or other charge associated with payment-authorisation attempts |
| Monthly/platform fee |
Recurring cost for gateway or payment-platform access |
| 3D Secure/authentication |
Charges associated with payment authentication where separately priced |
| Fraud tools |
Risk screening, fraud scoring or other fraud-management services |
| Tokenisation |
Secure storage/token services where separately priced |
| Network-token services |
Network-level tokenisation or related optimisation services where applicable |
| Cross-border charges |
Additional costs associated with international payment flows |
| FX |
Currency conversion or settlement in another currency |
| Refund fees |
Charges associated with processing refunds where applicable |
| Chargeback fees |
Fees associated with disputes/chargebacks |
| Alternative payment methods |
Provider-specific pricing for wallets, bank payments or local methods |
| Orchestration/routing |
Fees for routing payments across several providers or acquirers |
| Marketplace fees |
Seller onboarding, split payments, payouts or platform functions |
| Integration/setup |
Implementation, development or initial technical costs |
| Minimum commitment |
Minimum monthly or annual commercial spend where applicable |
Not every merchant will pay every one of these fees.
Some will also be bundled together.
The point is that businesses should identify exactly what sits inside the proposed price.
What Is Interchange?
Interchange is one underlying component of card-processing cost.
For eligible UK domestic consumer-card transactions where the UK Interchange Fee Regulation applies, the current headline caps are:
| Card Type | Maximum Interchange Where Applicable |
|---|
| Consumer debit/prepaid |
0.20% |
| Consumer credit |
0.30% |
These percentages should not be confused with the merchant's final transaction price.
They also do not apply universally to every payment, including all commercial or international transactions.
Our Interchange Fees Explained: UK Rates, IC+ and IC++ Pricing guide covers this in detail.
What Are Scheme and Processing Fees?
Scheme fees are different from interchange.
The Payment Systems Regulator describes scheme fees as charges associated with participation in card schemes, while processing fees relate to functions such as authorisation, clearing and settlement.
The PSR's market review found that Mastercard and Visa increased their core scheme and processing fees to acquirers by at least 25% since 2017, costing UK businesses at least £170 million extra per year.
In July 2026, the PSR issued new measures covering:
- information and transparency around scheme and processing fees; and
- governance of pricing decisions.
Read the PSR's current scheme and processing fee work.
Why This Matters for Gateway Comparisons
If a merchant is quoted an IC++ or another pass-through pricing model, changes in underlying card-network costs may affect the final amount paid.
That is different from a simple fixed-rate arrangement where the provider absorbs the underlying cost structure into the price it quotes the merchant.
What Is a Gateway Transaction Fee?
A gateway provider may charge a fixed amount for each transaction routed through its platform.
This might be separate from the percentage-based acquiring or processing rate.
The commercial impact depends heavily on transaction count and average transaction value.
Illustrative MAS Calculation
Imagine a business processes:
40,000 transactions per month
and a gateway charge is:
5p per transaction.
The gateway transaction charge would be:
40,000 × £0.05 = £2,000 per month.
That is:
£24,000 per year.
If another technically suitable arrangement reduced that charge by 2p per transaction, the difference would be:
40,000 × £0.02 = £800 per month
or:
£9,600 per year.
These are illustrative calculations only and do not represent typical or expected gateway pricing.
MAS View
A few pence looks insignificant until you multiply it by every transaction the business processes.
Why Does Average Transaction Value Matter?
Fixed fees affect low-value transactions more heavily.
Consider a hypothetical fixed charge of:
10p.
On a £10 transaction, that represents:
1% of transaction value.
On a £100 transaction, it represents:
0.10%.
On a £500 transaction, it represents:
0.02%.
The same fixed charge therefore produces very different payment economics depending on average ticket size.
This is one reason two businesses processing the same annual turnover may pay materially different amounts.
Do Authorisation Fees Apply to Failed Payments?
This depends on the provider and commercial arrangement.
Businesses should establish whether a quoted authorisation charge applies to:
- successful transactions only;
- every authorisation attempt;
- retries;
- declines;
- account-verification requests; or
- other transaction types.
This becomes particularly important for businesses with:
- high transaction volumes;
- recurring billing;
- retry logic;
- higher decline rates; or
- multiple authorisation attempts.
Can a Low Gateway Rate Still Be Expensive?
Yes.
Imagine Provider A has a lower gateway charge but materially higher:
- cross-border fees;
- FX margins;
- fraud-tool charges;
- authorisation charges;
- monthly minimums; or
- provider markup.
Provider B may have a higher visible gateway fee but a lower total payment cost.
That is why a gateway should not be selected by one fee line.
Gateway Pricing vs Blended Pricing vs IC+ and IC++
The way payment costs appear depends on the pricing structure.
Blended Pricing
A provider combines underlying payment costs and margin into a simpler commercial rate.
This can make costs easier to understand but may provide less visibility into individual components.
IC+ Pricing
Interchange is passed through and provider margin is shown separately, although exact structures vary.
IC++ Pricing
Interchange and scheme-related costs are more explicitly separated from provider margin.
This can provide greater cost transparency.
It does not automatically mean that IC++ will be cheaper.
Read When High-Turnover Businesses Should Move from Blended Pricing to IC+ or IC++.
Should High-Volume Businesses Pay Less?
Potentially.
Higher processing volumes can make bespoke pricing or different commercial models available.
But scale alone does not determine cost.
A £50 million merchant with:
- large international-card exposure;
- complex fraud requirements;
- many currencies;
- multiple acquiring regions;
- recurring billing;
- marketplace payouts; and
- several PSP integrations
can have a much more complex cost structure than a £50 million domestic retailer.
For larger merchants, we would start with actual payment data.
See How High-Turnover Businesses Audit Payment Fees.
Do Commercial Cards Cost More?
They can.
Businesses should not assume that commercial, business or corporate cards carry the same underlying economics as qualifying UK consumer cards.
If a business serves large numbers of corporate customers, commercial-card mix should be identified separately during a payment-cost review.
This can be particularly relevant for:
- B2B ecommerce;
- business travel;
- hotels;
- software;
- professional services;
- trade suppliers; and
- other businesses serving corporate customers.
How Do International Cards Affect Gateway Costs?
International transactions can introduce additional costs beyond a standard UK domestic transaction.
These may include:
- different interchange;
- cross-border scheme charges;
- international-card pricing;
- currency conversion;
- FX margin;
- different acquiring arrangements; and
- regional provider pricing.
A business with significant European or international volume should therefore analyse costs by market rather than looking only at a group-wide average.
Read Expanding Into Europe: Local Acquiring or One Global PSP?.
How Does FX Affect the Real Cost of a Gateway?
Foreign-exchange cost can sometimes be more commercially significant than the visible gateway charge.
Review:
- presentment currency;
- settlement currency;
- conversion rate;
- FX markup;
- whether conversion is compulsory;
- whether multi-currency settlement is available; and
- which entity performs the conversion.
A merchant should not select an international PSP based only on its card-processing percentage while ignoring the currency flows around the transaction.
Do Fraud Tools Cost Extra?
Sometimes.
Providers can package fraud functionality in different ways.
Some functionality may form part of the core platform, while more advanced products may be separately priced.
When comparing providers, establish what the quoted fee includes.
Useful questions include:
- Are fraud rules included?
- Is machine-learning risk scoring included?
- Is 3D Secure separately charged?
- Are additional checks charged per transaction?
- Are fraud tools optional?
- Can rules be customised?
- How do fraud controls affect authorisation rates?
The Cheapest Fraud Setup Can Cost More in Lost Sales
Payment cost cannot be reviewed completely separately from payment performance.
A cheaper provider can become commercially weaker if legitimate transactions are declined more frequently.
For example, a high-volume merchant should review:
- authorisation rate;
- issuer declines;
- soft declines;
- 3D Secure outcomes;
- false declines;
- fraud losses;
- retry performance;
- network-token performance; and
- regional acquiring performance.
A payment-cost saving needs to be weighed against revenue conversion.
MAS View
A payment provider that costs slightly less but loses more legitimate transactions may not be cheaper at all.
What Do Tokenisation and Stored Cards Cost?
Tokenisation can be provided as part of a wider payment service or as a separately priced capability depending on the provider.
This is particularly relevant for businesses using:
- subscriptions;
- memberships;
- one-click checkout;
- card-on-file payments;
- merchant-initiated transactions; or
- customer accounts.
Businesses should understand:
- what type of token is being used;
- where credentials are stored;
- whether vault charges apply;
- whether network-token services are separately priced;
- whether account-updater functionality is included;
- whether stored credentials can be moved; and
- what happens if the provider changes.
Read our Network Tokenisation Explained guide.
Recurring Payment Costs Need to Be Reviewed Differently
Subscription businesses should look beyond the first transaction.
Costs can potentially arise from:
- initial payment;
- stored payment credentials;
- recurring authorisations;
- failed-payment retries;
- network tokenisation;
- account updating;
- dunning;
- billing software; and
- payment-provider charges.
Read our Subscription Payment Processing guide.
Do Payment Orchestration Platforms Cost More?
They add another layer to the payment architecture, so additional fees can apply.
But the relevant question is whether the additional layer creates enough value.
Potential benefits can include:
- routing flexibility;
- multiple PSPs;
- multiple acquirers;
- failover;
- regional optimisation;
- centralised payment logic;
- provider flexibility; and
- reduced dependency on one payment route.
The commercial case should compare:
cost of orchestration
with:
potential improvement in payment economics + performance + resilience + flexibility.
See our Payment Orchestration UK: Multi-Acquirer & Smart Routing Guide.
How Do Marketplace Gateway Fees Work?
Marketplaces and platforms may face additional payment-cost components that ordinary ecommerce merchants do not.
These can include:
- seller onboarding;
- verification;
- connected accounts;
- split-payment functionality;
- payouts;
- seller settlement;
- platform fees;
- international sellers;
- FX;
- refunds;
- chargebacks; and
- additional compliance functionality.
Read our Split Payment Gateways guide and Marketplace Payment Gateways guide.
What Is the Effective Gateway Cost?
A useful starting calculation is:
Total gateway-specific charges ÷ payment volume routed through the gateway × 100.
For example:
Monthly gateway-specific charges:
£4,000
Monthly volume:
£5,000,000
Gateway-layer effective cost:
0.08%.
However, this is only the gateway layer.
The merchant should also calculate:
Total Payment Effective Cost
Total relevant payment costs ÷ total payment volume × 100.
Relevant costs may include:
- gateway;
- interchange;
- scheme fees;
- provider margin;
- authorisations;
- fraud;
- tokenisation;
- cross-border;
- FX;
- monthly fees; and
- other recurring payment costs.
This gives a much more meaningful comparison.
Do Not Mix Gateway Cost With Migration Cost
There is another cost that becomes important when changing provider:
implementation.
A new provider may be cheaper annually but require:
- API development;
- checkout changes;
- token migration;
- subscription migration;
- fraud-rule configuration;
- 3D Secure changes;
- webhook changes;
- finance integration;
- testing;
- parallel running; and
- internal staff resource.
Those costs should be separated from the ongoing transaction economics.
Read Changing Payment Provider With a Custom API: An Enterprise PSP Migration Guide.
What Is the Payback Period for Changing Payment Gateway?
For larger merchants, a migration can be treated as an investment decision.
A simple calculation is:
one-off migration cost ÷ expected annual payment-cost improvement = indicative payback period.
For example:
If a migration costs:
£120,000
and is expected to reduce ongoing payment costs by:
£60,000 per year
the simple payback period is approximately:
two years.
This does not determine whether the migration should happen.
The business may also be changing provider for:
- payment performance;
- resilience;
- international expansion;
- functionality;
- reporting;
- provider concentration; or
- strategic reasons.
What Happens to Stored Cards When You Change Gateway?
Potential token or payment-data migration should be understood before the business commits to a switch.
Gateway or PSP tokens may be tied to the existing provider's vault.
The migration may therefore involve secure transfer of payment credentials and creation of new token references.
Network tokens, wallets and other payment methods can behave differently.
Read our Changing Payment Gateway: Stored Cards, Tokens & Recurring Payments guide.
Can You Reduce Cost Without Changing Gateway?
Potentially.
A payment review does not need to end with a provider migration.
Possible outcomes include:
- renegotiating existing pricing;
- moving from blended pricing to IC+ or IC++;
- changing acquiring route while retaining the gateway;
- optimising international acquiring;
- reviewing fraud configuration;
- changing transaction routing;
- removing unnecessary products;
- renegotiating minimum commitments;
- improving payment-method mix; or
- adding a second provider rather than replacing the first.
For an example of this type of strategic provider review, read Should You Switch from Adyen?.
Can You Change Acquirer and Keep the Gateway?
Sometimes.
An acquirer-agnostic gateway can allow a merchant to separate the gateway relationship from the underlying acquiring relationship.
This may allow the business to:
- change acquirer;
- add another acquirer;
- negotiate acquiring independently;
- reduce technical migration; or
- build greater payment resilience.
Whether it works depends on integration, tokens, gateway compatibility, MIDs and technical configuration.
Read our Acquirer-Agnostic Payment Gateways guide.
How Should Businesses Compare Payment Gateway Quotes?
Ask every provider to quote against the same transaction profile.
Provide:
- annual payment volume;
- monthly payment volume;
- transaction count;
- average transaction value;
- debit/credit split;
- consumer/commercial split;
- UK/international card mix;
- customer markets;
- currencies;
- refund rates;
- chargebacks;
- recurring payments;
- stored cards;
- payment methods;
- current gateway;
- current acquirer;
- technical integration;
- future markets; and
- expected growth.
Then ask each provider to separate:
- gateway;
- processing;
- interchange;
- scheme fees;
- provider margin;
- authorisation;
- fraud tools;
- 3D Secure;
- tokenisation;
- cross-border;
- FX;
- monthly fees;
- minimums;
- refunds;
- chargebacks;
- integration;
- support; and
- contractual charges.
MAS View
If two providers are quoting different things, you are not comparing prices. You are comparing packaging.
What Should Be Included in a Payment Gateway Fee Audit?
1. Transaction Data
- turnover;
- transaction count;
- average transaction value;
- successful payments;
- declines;
- retries.
2. Card Mix
- consumer;
- commercial;
- debit;
- credit;
- UK;
- international.
3. Gateway Costs
- per-transaction fees;
- monthly fees;
- minimums;
- API/platform costs;
- tokenisation.
4. Processing Costs
- interchange;
- scheme fees;
- acquiring margin;
- authorisation;
- other processing charges.
5. International Costs
- cross-border;
- FX;
- currency settlement;
- local acquiring.
6. Payment Performance
- authorisation rates;
- decline reasons;
- fraud;
- 3D Secure;
- payment-method performance.
7. Operational Cost
- finance reconciliation;
- manual reporting;
- support workload;
- multiple-provider administration;
- failed-payment management.
8. Switching Cost
- development;
- integration;
- token migration;
- testing;
- contract exit;
- parallel running.
The MAS Payment Gateway Cost Test
Merchant Advice Service would review a gateway across six areas.
1. Gateway Layer
What does the gateway technology itself cost?
2. Processing Layer
What sits underneath it — interchange, scheme costs, acquiring and provider margin?
3. Transaction Profile
How do card mix, volume, transaction count and average value affect the final price?
4. International Layer
What do cross-border transactions, currencies, FX and acquiring geography add?
5. Performance Layer
How well does the payment setup convert legitimate transactions?
6. Infrastructure Layer
What does the architecture cost to integrate, operate, change and maintain?
MAS View
Gateway → Processing → Transaction Profile → International → Performance → Infrastructure.
The cheapest payment gateway is the gateway that produces the strongest total commercial outcome — not necessarily the lowest fee on the quote.
Find Your New Processor
How Merchant Advice Service Helps Businesses Compare Gateway Costs
Merchant Advice Service helps businesses understand and compare payment-provider options where payment requirements go beyond a simple advertised transaction rate.
A gateway review may consider:
- current provider;
- actual merchant statements;
- gateway charges;
- processing costs;
- payment volume;
- card mix;
- average transaction value;
- international payments;
- currencies;
- integrations;
- APIs;
- recurring payments;
- tokenisation;
- marketplaces;
- acquiring;
- authorisation performance;
- settlement;
- reporting;
- contracts;
- migration requirements; and
- future payment strategy.
The aim is not to identify one gateway that is universally cheapest.
It is to understand which payment architecture is commercially and technically suitable for the individual business.
Businesses can read Compare UK Payment Providers, explore companies through The Payments Directory®, or read How Merchant Advice Service Works.
Sources & Further Reading
Bank of England — UK Merchant Card-Acceptance Costs
In February 2026, Bank of England Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden stated that UK merchants currently pay around 0.6% of transaction value on average to accept card payments and that the smallest merchants pay more than four times as much on average as very large merchants.
Bank of England — Talking 'bout Next Generation
Payment Systems Regulator — Scheme & Processing Fees
The PSR's market review found increases in Mastercard and Visa core scheme and processing fees and has introduced new transparency and pricing-governance measures in 2026.
PSR — Market Review Into Card Scheme and Processing Fees
Payment Systems Regulator — Scheme Fee Final Report
The PSR found that Mastercard and Visa increased core scheme and processing fees to acquirers by at least 25% since 2017, costing UK businesses at least £170 million extra per year.
PSR — Card Scheme and Processing Fees Final Report
UK Interchange Fee Regulation
For eligible UK domestic consumer-card transactions within scope, the UK interchange framework applies headline caps of 0.20% for consumer debit/prepaid cards and 0.30% for consumer credit cards.
UK Government — Interchange Fee Caps
Related Merchant Advice Service Guidance
Editorial & Commercial Disclosure
Merchant Advice Service is an independent payments information, comparison and provider-matching service.
MAS may receive commission or a referral fee from some payment providers where a business chooses to proceed following an introduction. This does not determine the factual information, fee analysis or provider-comparison principles included in this guide.
There is no universal UK payment-gateway fee or payment-processing rate suitable for every business.
Payment costs vary according to factors including provider, payment architecture, processing volume, transaction count, card mix, customer geography, currencies, payment methods, pricing structure, integrations and individual commercial terms.
The Bank of England's approximately 0.6% figure relates to the average cost to UK merchants of accepting card payments and is not presented by Merchant Advice Service as an average payment-gateway fee.
The UK interchange caps referred to in this guide apply only where the relevant UK Interchange Fee Regulation requirements are met. They do not cap the merchant's total payment-processing charge.
Illustrative calculations within this guide are examples created by Merchant Advice Service to demonstrate how different pricing structures can affect total payment cost. They do not represent market averages, provider quotations or expected savings.
Provider prices, scheme fees, interchange, products and technical functionality can change.
Businesses should confirm final pricing and contractual terms directly with the relevant payment provider before making a commercial decision.
Merchant Advice Service does not guarantee payment-provider acceptance, pricing, savings, authorisation performance, migration timescales or technical compatibility.
Payment-cost and regulatory information last checked: 27 August 2026
This guide provides general payments information and should not be treated as legal, regulatory, accounting, tax or financial advice.
