ACH vs. Credit Card Payments: Which Is Cheaper for Your Business?

Every payment method has a cost — the only question is who pays it and how much. Here's how ACH vs. credit card payments actually compare on fees, and how to steer clients toward the option that costs your business less, without making it awkward.

How the fees actually compare

Credit card processing fees typically run 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (this varies slightly by processor, but that range is a reliable ballpark). On a $1,000 invoice, that's about $29 coming out of what you actually collect.

ACH (bank transfer) fees are usually much lower — often a flat 0.8–1%, frequently with a low cap (many processors cap ACH fees around $5–$10 regardless of the invoice size). On that same $1,000 invoice, ACH might cost you $8–$10 instead of $29.

The gap gets more dramatic as invoice size grows, since credit card fees scale with the amount while ACH fees often don't (past the cap). For a $5,000 invoice, that's the difference between roughly $145 in card fees and a flat $5–$10 in ACH fees.

Why clients often prefer credit card anyway

Even knowing this, plenty of clients default to card — it's what they're used to, it can earn them rewards points, and for a business client, it may be easier to route through a company card than to hand over bank details. None of that is wrong, but none of it changes what it costs you.

How to steer clients toward the cheaper option — without being pushy

• Make ACH the default option, not an obscure alternative buried in a dropdown. If "Pay by bank" is presented as equally easy as "Pay by card," a meaningful share of clients will choose it just because it's right there.
• Mention it for larger invoices specifically. A quick, low-pressure note like "Bank transfer is available too if you'd prefer — no fee difference to you either way, just a different payment rail" works well on big-ticket invoices where the fee gap is largest.
• Never make credit card feel like the "wrong" choice. Clients should never feel penalized for using card — offer ACH as a convenience, not a guilt trip.

Is it ever worth passing the fee to the client?

Some businesses add a card-processing surcharge to offset the fee. This is legal in most (not all) states, but it adds friction and can feel nickel-and-dimey to clients — often the fee itself is smaller than the goodwill it costs. Whether it's worth it depends heavily on your margins and invoice volume; for most small service businesses, simply defaulting to the cheaper rail (ACH) accomplishes more with less friction than surcharging does.

Both, built in: every Featherwork invoice offers card and ACH side by side through Stripe, so clients pick what's easiest for them — and you can see exactly what each payment actually cost you.