Helcim Review 2025: Features, Pricing, Alternatives
Helcim’s volume discounts and interchange-plus pricing can help high-volume businesses, in particular, save money.
Overview
The bottom line:
Helcim is a merchant services provider that offers transparent, competitive online and in-person payment processing rates, volume discounts and an all-inclusive platform. When customers use cards with low interchange rates, Helcim passes those interchange savings to the merchant, instead of charging a consistent flat-rate per transaction.
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.
Offers 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.
Full review
Helcim provides merchant accounts point-of-sale (POS) systems POS hardware
Helcim has a virtual terminal for manually typing customers’ credit card info in a web browser, too. This is especially convenient for businesses that accept credit card transactions over the phone
In terms of pricing, Helcim operates on an interchange-plus pricing structure, meaning you pay a markup on top of the interchange rate. There are also volume discounts for businesses exceeding $50,000 in monthly credit card sales. Helcim does not charge monthly subscription fees or PCI compliance
- $5 for any returned or rejected ACH or EFT/PAD transactions.
- $15 for
chargebacks
Helcim is best for businesses that:
- Can benefit from volume discounts: Helcim places businesses in one of five pricing tiers, depending on their monthly sales volume. Businesses doing more than $50,000 in monthly credit card sales are charged smaller interchange markups. Those markups continue to improve as monthly sales volume increases.
- Are looking for an alternative to flat-rate processors: Flat-rate processing is predictable and easy to understand, but it doesn’t charge you any less per transaction when a customer uses a card with a lower interchange rate. On the other hand, Helcim passes these savings along to you. Its interchange-plus pricing model is less predictable than flat-rate ones, but it can ultimately help your business save money, especially as your sales grow.
Deciding factors
| 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.-5 p.m. MT on weekdays and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. MT on Saturdays. |
Where Helcim stands out
No contracts
Unlike some of its competitors, Helcim doesn’t make businesses commit to a long-term contract to access its services. The main costs are the processing fees (interchange rates plus Helcim’s markup). That means if Helcim isn’t the right fit for your business, it should be simple to switch to a different credit card processing company
Volume-based discounts
Helcim’s margins begin to decrease once your business processes more than $50,000 per month in credit card sales. Businesses processing more than $100,000, $500,000 and $1,000,000 per month can access even greater discounts.
Interchange-plus pricing
Helcim is transparent about the margins it charges you on top of interchange rates, which are determined by card networks (not payment processing companies
Where Helcim falls short
No same-day deposit options available
Unlike some competitors that offer same-day and next-day deposits, Helcim deposits funds into your account within two business days. If your business’s cash flow is tight, this delay could cause issues. Regardless, make sure to factor potential delays into your cash flow projections so that you can plan for them.
» MORE: Best merchant services
Alternatives to Helcim
Square
Why we like it: Square offers a number of tailored software options including Square POS, Square for Retail Square for Restaurants Square Appointments Square review
- $0 for Square Free plan.
- $49 for Square Plus plan.
- $149 for Square Premium plans.
- 2.6% plus 15 cents for in-person transactions with Free plan.
- 3.3% plus 30 cents for online transactions with Free plan.
- 2.5% plus 15 cents for in-person transactions with Plus plan.
- 2.4% plus 15 cents for in-person transaction with Premium plan.
- 2.9% plus 30 cents for online transactions with Plus and Premium plans.
- 3.5% plus 15 cents for manually keyed transactions.
- $0 for Square magstripe-only card reader ($10 for each additional reader) or if using Tap to Pay for iPhone (iPhone not included).
- $59 for Square Reader contactless and chip card reader.
- $149 for Square Stand iPad POS or Square Stand Mount (iPad not included; monthly financing available).
- $149 for Square Kiosk for self-serve ordering.
- $299 for Square Terminal mobile card reader with built-in printer (monthly financing available).
- $399 for Square Handheld portable POS system with built-in barcode scanner (monthly financing available).
- $799 for Square Register two-screen system (monthly financing available).
Stax
Why we like it: Stax charges interchange rates plus a smaller markup than Helcim, but merchants must pay a monthly fee to access these lower rates. This subscription-based pricing model can help high-volume businesses save in processing costs. The subscription fees, however, may not be worth it for lower-volume businesses. Read our full Stax review
- $99 if you process less than $150,000 per year.
- $139 if you process between $150,000 and $250,000 per year.
- $199 and up if you process more than $250,000 per year.
- Interchange plus 8 cents for in-person transactions.
- Interchange plus 15 cents for manually keyed transactions.
Quote-based.
A version of this article was first published on Fundera, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.