Merchant processing fee calculator: what card payments cost on each field service platform
A $2,000 invoice costs $58.30 to collect by card on Jobber and $59.80 on Housecall Pro when the customer pays online. Paid by bank transfer, the same invoice costs $20.00 on either. The rate on the pricing page matters less than how your customers pay and how large each payment is. This calculator takes your monthly volume, payment size and payment mix, and returns the monthly and annual processing cost on each processor that publishes its rates.
Only two field service platforms publish a full card rate sheet. Jobber and Housecall Pro do. Service Fusion publishes an “as low as” rate, Workiz publishes only its bank-transfer rate, and ServiceTitan and FieldPulse publish no rates at all. For those, enter your quote in the “Your quote” fields. Square and Stripe are included as independent benchmarks, and are labelled as such.
Who this is for
Owner-operators and office managers at US trade service businesses who take card payments through their field service software, or are deciding which platform’s built-in processor to use. It is most useful if you are comparing Jobber Payments with Housecall Pro Payments, or checking whether a quoted rate from another vendor is competitive.
It is not built for businesses on an interchange-plus merchant account (enter your statement’s effective rate as a quote, but the calculator cannot model interchange itself), for businesses outside the US where rates differ, or for anyone who wants the software subscription included. For subscription, seats and add-ons together, use the FSM total cost calculator.
What you will enter
Every input maps to a variable in the formula further down. In plain language:
- Monthly volume (V)
- Dollars per month customers pay through the processor, by card and by bank transfer combined.
- Average payment size (T)
- The typical amount of one payment. It sets how many payments make up your volume, and therefore how much the flat per-payment fee adds up to.
- Payment mix (s)
- The share of your dollars paid by card in person, by card keyed in or saved on file, and by bank transfer. Online card payments are whatever remains, since that is how most invoices get paid.
- Rate and fixed fee (R, F)
- Each processor’s percentage and flat fee per payment, by payment method. These are pre-filled from the vendors’ own pages and shown in the rate table below.
- Monthly plan fee (M)
- A fixed monthly charge tied to a lower rate, where a vendor publishes one. Square Plus is the only one listed here.
Calculate your processing cost
Estimates only, for informational purposes. This is not professional financial, legal or tax advice. Processor rates, fees and terms change and depend on your account; confirm every figure with the processor before you sign.
Cheapest processor at $5,000, $20,000 and $50,000 a month
This table reuses your average payment size and payment mix from above and changes only the monthly volume. The lowest cost in each column is highlighted. A processor shows “No published rate” when it has no published rate for a payment method your mix uses.
| Processor | $5,000 a month | $20,000 a month | $50,000 a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enter an average payment size above to see the comparison. | |||
Each cell shows fees per month and, in brackets, fees as a share of volume.
What the volume comparison shows
At the starting assumptions (20% card in person, 70% online, 10% keyed, $500 average payment, no bank transfers), Jobber comes out lowest at all three volumes at about 2.92% of volume. Housecall Pro, the best-case Service Fusion rate and Stripe land at about 2.96%, and Square’s Free plan at about 3.23%. The gap between Jobber and Housecall Pro is $8 a month at $20,000 and $240 a year at $50,000 a month.
Volume barely changes the ranking, because flat-rate processors charge the same percentage at every volume. The exception is a monthly plan fee. Square Plus costs $49 a month and lowers the online rate from 3.3% to 2.9% and the in-person rate from 2.6% to 2.5%. At the starting mix that saves 0.30% of volume, so Plus overtakes the Free plan at roughly $16,300 a month. Below that, the fee costs more than it saves.
The ranking changes when the mix or the payment size changes. The next section shows where it flips for the two platforms that publish full rate sheets.
Worked example: where Jobber and Housecall Pro switch places
Jobber charges 2.9% + $0.30 on card payments and 2.7% + $0.30 for Tap to Pay. Housecall Pro charges no fixed fee, and 2.59% in person, 2.99% online and 3.49% keyed in. The fixed fee is what makes payment size decisive.
- Online card payments. The two cost the same on a $333 payment (Jobber 2.9% + $0.30 equals Housecall Pro 2.99%). Below that, Housecall Pro is cheaper: on $150 it is $4.49 against $4.65. Above it, Jobber is cheaper: on $1,000 it is $29.30 against $29.90.
- Card in person. Housecall Pro is cheaper at any size, because it has a lower percentage and no fixed fee. On a $500 payment it is $12.95 against $13.80. Housecall Pro charges $5 per active device per month for Tap to Pay, which about six $500 payments a month per device would cover.
- Bank transfer. Both charge 1%, so a $2,000 payment costs $20.00 on either.
Fee on one $2,000 invoice
| Processor | Card, paid online | Bank transfer |
|---|---|---|
| Jobber Payments | $58.30 | $20.00 |
| Housecall Pro Payments | $59.80 ($69.80 if keyed in) | $20.00 |
| Service Fusion Payments (as low as) | $58.30 | Not published |
| Workiz Pay | Not published | $20.00 |
| Square (Free plan) | $66.30 | $20.00 ($10.00 if Square’s $10 cap applies) |
| Stripe | $58.30 | $5.00 (0.8%, capped) |
On the platforms that publish a bank rate, moving that one invoice from card to bank transfer saves about $38 to $50. On a shop with a few large invoices a week, that is a bigger lever than choosing between Jobber and Housecall Pro.
What changes your real cost
Four things move the total more than the headline percentage does, and only the first two are in the calculator.
- How the card is entered. Housecall Pro’s rate climbs from 2.59% to 3.49% depending on whether the card is present, entered online or keyed. Square and Stripe also charge more for keyed cards. Training technicians to use a reader or an invoice link instead of typing in numbers is the cheapest change available.
- Payment size. A flat $0.30 is 0.06% of a $500 payment and 0.25% of a $120 payment. Small-ticket work pays much more of its bill in fixed fees.
- Card type. Housecall Pro charges 3.49% on American Express and on commercial, corporate and business cards regardless of method. If you do a lot of commercial work, your blended rate will sit above the figure shown here.
- Payout speed. Instant payouts cost an extra 1% on Jobber and Housecall Pro, and on Workiz with a $0.50 minimum. Standard payouts are free of that fee.
Rates used in the calculator
These are the figures behind every result above, exactly as the calculator uses them. “Not published” means the vendor has no public figure and the calculator will not guess one.
| Processor | Card in person | Card online | Card keyed in or on file | Bank transfer | Not modeled or needs caution |
|---|
Methodology and sources
For each processor, the calculator returns monthly fees with this formula:
Monthly fees = M
+ Σ over card methods: [ V × s_m × R_m + (V × s_m ÷ T) × F_m ]
+ (V × s_ach ÷ T) × [ min( max( T × R_ach, floor ), cap ) + F_ach ]
Annual fees = 12 × Monthly fees
Effective rate = Monthly fees ÷ V
The first line is any fixed monthly fee. The second is the percentage fee on the dollars paid by each card method plus the flat fee on each payment, where the number of payments is the dollars divided by the average payment size. The third is the bank transfer fee, which some processors apply with a minimum (floor) or a cap per payment. Volume and payment mix are monthly figures, so the annual result multiplies by 12.
This is the same processing term used in the FSM total cost calculator, split by payment method instead of using one blended card rate. Payment size is assumed to be the same for every payment method.
What it leaves out: instant payout fees, chargeback and dispute fees, American Express and commercial card surcharges, Tap to Pay device fees, hardware, taxes, refund costs, negotiated or interchange-plus pricing, and any fee a vendor does not publish.
Sources
| Processor | Last checked | Basis | Source |
|---|
Every rate comes from the vendor’s own pricing or help page, read on the date shown. Where a vendor publishes no rate (ServiceTitan, FieldPulse, and Workiz for cards), the calculator leaves it blank rather than use a third-party figure. Third-party sources are used only to flag figures a vendor does not publish, and when they conflict with a vendor’s own page, the vendor’s page wins.
Note on Housecall Pro and Service Fusion: Housecall Pro's pricing page gives only the starting rate (2.59%), and the full table by payment method is in its help center. Service Fusion's payments page gives only an “as low as” rate.
Frequently asked questions
Housecall Pro says card processing starts at 2.59%. Why would I pay more?
The 2.59% applies to cards swiped, tapped or chipped in person. Cards your customer enters online on an invoice cost 2.99%, and cards keyed in by staff, scanned in the app or saved on file cost 3.49%. American Express and commercial, corporate and business cards cost 3.49% by any method. Your blended rate depends on how your customers pay, so use the payment mix inputs rather than the headline rate.
Does a higher monthly volume get me a lower rate?
Not on the flat-rate schedules published by Jobber, Housecall Pro or Stripe: the percentage is the same at $5,000 and at $50,000 a month, so the fees rise in proportion. Volume matters in two places. A monthly plan fee such as Square Plus only pays off above a certain volume, and quoted rates such as Service Fusion’s as-low-as price or ServiceTitan’s agreement-based fees can be negotiated. If you process a lot, ask for a written quote.
Should I push customers to pay by bank transfer instead of card?
Bank transfers cost 1% on Jobber, Housecall Pro and Workiz, against 2.9% to 3.49% for cards, so on a $2,000 invoice the saving is roughly $38 to $50. The trade-offs are speed and disputes. Workiz says bank transfers take about 6 to 8 business days to pay out against 3 to 4 for cards, and that a bank dispute is final with a non-refundable $25 fee. Offer it on larger invoices where the saving is biggest.
Why do Workiz, ServiceTitan and FieldPulse show no result for card payments?
None of them publishes a current card rate. Workiz publishes only its 1% bank-transfer rate, ServiceTitan says fees depend on your agreement, and FieldPulse says to talk to its team. Rather than use an unverified third-party figure, the calculator shows no result and lets you enter your own quote in the Your quote fields.
Why are Square and Stripe in a field service comparison?
They publish complete rate sheets, so they give you a fixed reference point for what a card payment costs outside a field service platform. They are labelled as independent benchmarks. Before using one alongside a field service platform, check whether that platform can record and reconcile payments taken outside it.
Can I add a fee to card payments to cover processing costs?
Some platforms offer it. Workiz has a service fee option and asks you to confirm it complies with your state’s laws, and FieldPulse offers a Card Fee Recovery feature. Whether you may add a fee depends on your state and on card-network rules, so check with your processor and an attorney first. Fees passed on to customers are not reflected in this calculator.
Does the calculator include instant payouts, chargebacks or monthly platform fees?
It includes fixed monthly processing fees where a vendor publishes one, such as Square Plus at $49. It does not include instant payout fees, chargeback or dispute fees, American Express surcharges, Tap to Pay device fees, hardware, or refund costs. These vary by account and are listed in the notes for each processor.
Is card processing part of the total cost of field service software?
Yes. It scales with your revenue rather than your headcount, and on a busy shop it can exceed the subscription. This calculator isolates the processing part. The FSM total cost calculator combines it with base subscription, extra seats and add-ons in one annual number.