Helcim Review 2026: Features, Pricing, Alternatives
Helcim’s volume discounts and interchange-plus pricing can help high-volume businesses, in particular, save money.
The bottom line:
Helcim is one of our top payment processing picks, thanks to its interchange-plus pricing. This model can save high-volume businesses money — especially if they process more than $50,000 per month. That’s when volume discounts kick in. We also recommend Helcim for professional/home service businesses thanks to its built-in invoicing tools.
Software details
Payment processing fees
In-person: 0.4% + $0.08
Online: 0.5% + $0.25
Plus interchange
Monthly fee
$0
Pros & Cons
Pros
Businesses save when customers use cards with low interchange rates.
Offers free POS software.
Applies volume-based discounts automatically.
No termination fees, long-term contracts or PCI compliance fees.
Cons
Deposits are available within two business days; same-day deposit option is not available.
Interchange-plus costs can be difficult to predict.
Compare to other products
Payment processing fees
In-person: 0.4% + $0.08
Online: 0.5% + $0.25
Plus interchange
Payment processing fees
In-person: 2.29% + $0.09
Online: 2.99% + $0.49
Payment processing fees
In-person: 0% + $0.08
Online: 0% + $0.15
Plus interchange
Payment processing fees
In-person: 2.7% + $0.05
Online: 2.9% + $0.30
Need more options? Check our picks for best payment processing systems
PayPal: Lowest flat-rate pricing. PayPal charges 2.29% plus 9 cents per in-person transaction. That’s significantly lower than most of its flat-rate competitors. Plus, customers tend to trust the brand name. Read our full PayPal Business review.
Stax: More potential savings for high-volume businesses. Stax is another interchange-plus option. But instead of taking a percentage of each transaction, like Helcim, Stax charges a monthly fee ($99 and up) plus a small flat per-transaction amount (8 to 15 cents). This costs more upfront, but possibly less in the long run. Read our full Stax review.
Stripe: Better for online businesses. Stripe gives you as much control over your business’s online checkout process as you want. You can use its prebuilt checkout forms or build your own. At 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction, its online rates are also competitive. Read our full Stripe review.
Full review
Helcim is an all-in-one payment processing platform. It provides processing services, invoicing and POS systems all under the same roof. If you run a high-volume retail or professional service business, it's a solid option. It has useful tools, like inventory management and in-depth invoicing, for those industries.
Helcim is ideal for high-volume businesses because of its interchange-plus pricing. This processing model passes interchange fees to the business instead of charging a flat rate across the board. That means you save money when customers use cards and/or payment methods that have low interchange rates. Your savings will be even higher if you process more than $50,000 monthly and qualify for Helcim's volume discount.
Helcim also stands out for offering dedicated merchant accounts. Lots of its competitors, like Square, combine multiple businesses' funds into one account. Applying for a dedicated merchant account can be more time consuming. But it can also result in fewer account disruptions.
That said, Helcim isn't the best fit for low-volume businesses. Think solopreneurs making just a handful of sales each week. Interchange pricing typically doesn’t pay off for these types of businesses. It makes it harder to predict processing costs, too. Helcim is not well equipped to support businesses in the restaurant industry either. We recommend competitors, like Toast, with industry-specific features for those.
Helcim is best for:
✔️ Automatic volume discounts.
✔️ Interchange-plus pricing.
✔️ Free POS tools.
Helcim overview
| Payment processing model | Interchange-plus. |
| Payment processing fees |
|
| Monthly fee | $0. |
| Hardware cost |
|
| Contract length | No contracts. |
| Customer support | Phone and email support 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. MT on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. MT on Saturdays. |
» MORE: Best merchant services
What's new with Helcim?
In January 2026, Helcim introduced Payment Extension. The browser extension lets you use Helcim to process payments in other business platforms (e.g., WooCommerce, QuickBooks Online and Xero). This doesn't just make it easier to sync transactions. It also gives you broader access to Helcim's rates.
Where Helcim stands out
Free POS software
Helcim packs its free POS software with useful features — especially for retailers. Some examples include inventory management tools, recurring invoicing and an online store builder. You can also add Helcim’s checkout form to an existing website. The platform gives you the option to sell via social media, too.
Automatic volume discounts
Helcim’s margins begin to decrease once your business processes more than $50,000 per month in credit card sales. And the company automatically applies the discounts to your account. You don’t have to speak with a representative or put in any extra work.
Competitors, like Clover, offer volume discounts but don’t openly disclose any information about them. Instead, you need to work with a company representative and discuss your industry, average ticket size and what types of cards you typically accept.
In terms of Helcim’s volume discounts, here are the rates you’ll get based on monthly credit card volume:
| Monthly credit card volume | In-person rates | Online rates |
|---|---|---|
| $0 - $50,000 | 0.4% plus 8 cents and interchange | 0.50% plus 25 cents and interchange |
| $50,000 - $100,000 | 0.35% plus 7 cents and interchange | 0.45% plus 20 cents and interchange |
| $100,000 - $500,000 | 0.25% plus 7 cents and interchange | 0.35% plus 20 cents and interchange |
| $500,000 - $1 million | 0.20% plus 6 cents and interchange | 0.25% plus 15 cents and interchange |
| More than $1 million | 0.15% plus 6 cents and interchange | 0.15% plus 15 cents and interchange |
Interchange-plus pricing
Helcim’s interchange-plus fees can be more cost-effective than flat-rate pricing for high-volume businesses. That’s because interchange fees vary. If a customer uses a card with a lower interchange rate, you don’t have to pay as much.
For example, say you work in the service industry and process 10 online transactions for $8,000 each with Helcim.
If customers only pay with Mastercard: You’d owe 1.65% plus 30 cents per transaction. That means you’d pay $1,323 in fees.
If customers only pay with American Express: You’d owe 3.00% plus 35 cents per transaction. That would result in $2,402.50 in charges.
That’s a difference of more than $1,000. Obviously, not all customers will use cards from the same network for every purchase. But those savings can add up month after month, especially versus flat-rate processors.
Those processors don’t take lower interchange fees into account. Instead, they charge you the same rate per transaction. Let’s say that rate was 2.9% plus 30 cents. In our example, you’d pay $2,323 in fees. That’s less than AmEx alone, but far more than when your customers use Mastercard.
Where Helcim falls short
No same-day deposit options available
Some competitors, like Finix, offer next-day and even same-day deposits. Helcim deposits funds into your account within two business days and doesn’t have an option for same-day deposits.
Your business may qualify for next-day deposits, depending on where you bank. Big-name institutions like Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo are eligible, as are many regional options. You can find complete lists here and here.
If your business’s cash flow is tight, longer processing times can cause issues. Regardless, make sure to factor potential delays into your projections so that you can plan for them.
Limited hardware options
Helcim sells a card reader and a handheld terminal. You can download its POS software to other devices, like tablets. But there are no full countertop POS systems available.
This can be problematic for busy brick-and-mortar retailers that need a more robust hardware setup. Some competitors like Square and Clover, for example, have countertop registers with two screens: one for employees and one for customers.
What small-business owners think of Helcim
NerdWallet checked online forums like Reddit and reviews from sites like TrustPilot, G2, the App Store and Google Play to gauge how users feel about Helcim. We used an AI tool to help analyze this feedback. Here are the major trends we spotted.
👍 Invoicing
Online commenters appreciate Helcim’s straightforward and efficient invoicing process. The company lets you send an unlimited number of invoices for free — you just pay payment processing fees.
You can use Helcim to process partial invoice payments, list billable hours, enforce retainer fees and set up recurring invoicing. This is part of what makes the company such a good fit for service-based businesses.
👍 Transparency
Positive reviews often mention Helcim’s pricing transparency. This is something you don’t always get with other payment processors. And it’s one of the reasons Helcim makes our list of top payment processing picks. Helcim lists its interchange markups and clearly indicates which fees it doesn’t charge. These include fees for setup, PCI compliance and cancellation.
👎 Merchant account approvals
Some online users say Helcim didn’t approve their applications after they put significant time into them. Others say the company approved their accounts but later terminated them.
Applying for a dedicated merchant account requires more time than applying for an aggregated account. If Helcim thinks your business is high risk (i.e., extra vulnerable to chargebacks or fraud), it may deny your application. I understand that this can be frustrating, but it’s normal for these types of merchant account providers.
Claims about abrupt account closures are more concerning. Helcim’s terms of use say it can cancel your account at any time without notice. Still, at the very least, you’d hope a company gives you a heads up if you process a transaction it considers suspicious. That kind of extra leeway is also supposed to be the advantage of having a dedicated merchant account versus an aggregated one.
No matter which processor you choose, be upfront about your business’s industry and the types of transactions it deals with. If Helcim is your pick, talk to a representative before you take the time to fill out an application. You might be able to find out sooner whether it’s a good fit.
How we evaluated Helcim
NerdWallet’s writers and editors independently review payment processing companies, like Helcim, by analyzing more than 30 data points. We collected data from Helcim’s public-facing website, help articles and company representatives.
Our evaluations also take user sentiment into account. This involves looking through individual reviews and feedback on sites like Trustpilot, the App Store, Google Play and Reddit. Then, we use AI tools to help spot larger trends within those comments. Since we cannot verify each user’s individual experience, we don’t incorporate user reviews in our star ratings. For more information on how we score payment processing companies, see our full methodology.