What Canadian businesses actually pay to process credit cards
Street prices, not rack rates: median effective rates by industry and province, aggregated from anonymized statements analyzed by the free FinalPOS statement analyzer. Processors quote teaser rates; statements tell the truth.
25th percentile
2.10%
the well-negotiated
Median effective rate
2.40%
the middle of the market
75th percentile
2.90%
the overpaying
Published Canadian small-business reference band. Our direct cohort of Canadian small businesses is still filling in — figures switch to street-price data automatically once at least 8 businesses contribute.
Rates by industry
Restaurants
reference band — cohort filling in
Cafés & coffee shops
reference band — cohort filling in
Bars & nightlife
reference band — cohort filling in
Retail stores
reference band — cohort filling in
Grocery & convenience
reference band — cohort filling in
Salons, spas & barbers
reference band — cohort filling in
Health & wellness
reference band — cohort filling in
Automotive
reference band — cohort filling in
Professional services
reference band — cohort filling in
Trades & home services
reference band — cohort filling in
Hotels & hospitality
reference band — cohort filling in
How these numbers are computed
Every figure is an effective rate: everything a business paid its processor in a month divided by its card volume that month — the only number that captures every hidden fee.
The data comes from two anonymized sources: processing statements analyzed by the free FinalPOS statement analyzer (each contributing one normalized, PII-free observation) and aggregate processing totals from businesses running FinalPOS. Only medians and quartiles over cohorts of at least 8 businesses are ever published, statements older than 18 months age out, and implausible rates (data problems, not real pricing) are excluded.
Where a cohort is still too small, we show the published Canadian small-business reference band (roughly 2.1%–2.9% blended) and say so. Figures update automatically as new statements are analyzed.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good credit card processing rate in Canada?
Measured as an effective rate — total monthly fees divided by card volume — most Canadian small businesses land between roughly 2.1% and 2.9%. Card-present, debit-heavy businesses should sit near the bottom of that band; card-not-present and premium-card-heavy businesses run higher. Anything above ~2.9% blended usually means the processor's markup, not the card networks, is the problem.
Why do rates differ so much between industries?
Interchange — the wholesale cost set by Visa and Mastercard — varies with how you take cards (tapped, keyed, online), what cards your customers carry (debit, premium credit, corporate), and your industry's network category. Grocery earns special low rates; hospitality and card-not-present services pay more. The processor's markup on top varies even more, which is what these pages make visible.
Where does this data come from?
From anonymized processing statements analyzed by the free FinalPOS statement analyzer and aggregate processing data from businesses running FinalPOS. Only medians and quartiles over cohorts of at least 8 businesses are published, and statements older than 18 months age out.
How does your rate compare?
Averages tell you the market; your statement tells you your deal. Upload it and the AI itemizes every fee, splits true interchange from markup, and computes what you'd save — free, in about a minute.
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