How do I pass the processing fee on to the customer?

Switch to the second mode (I want to receive → charge) and enter the amount you need to land in your account. The tool solves for the price you should charge so the fee comes out of the larger amount the customer pays, not out of your target. Important: you cannot just add 2.9% to your target — that under-charges you, because the percentage fee is then taken on the bigger number too. The correct gross-up is gross = (net + fixed) ÷ (1 − rate). For a $100 target at Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 you must charge $103.30, not $102.90. Note that some processors and many jurisdictions restrict or ban surcharging card payments, so check your processor's rules and local law before passing fees on.

What exactly is the gross-up formula?

Start from net = gross × (1 − rate) − fixed, which is what you receive after a percentage fee and a flat per-transaction fee. Solve that for the gross you must charge: gross = (net + fixed) ÷ (1 − rate), where rate is the percentage as a decimal (2.9% = 0.029). The fixed fee is added to your target before dividing because it is charged regardless of size, and dividing by (1 − rate) compensates for the percentage being taken on the new, larger total. If the percentage fee is 100% or more there is no finite charge that nets you anything, so the tool flags it instead of returning nonsense.

Why are cross-border and currency-conversion fees higher?

International cards cost processors more in interchange and risk, so most add a cross-border surcharge — Stripe adds about 1% for international cards and around 1% more if a currency conversion happens, pushing an effective rate toward 3.9–4.9%. PayPal's international receiving rate is similar. This tool ships Stripe intl and PayPal intl presets as starting points, but the exact number depends on the card's country, the currencies involved and your account's negotiated rate, so always confirm against your own fee schedule and edit the percentage and fixed fields to match.

Why is my effective rate so much higher than the headline percentage?

Because the fixed per-transaction fee does not scale with the amount. On a $100 charge, Stripe's $0.30 is tiny next to the $2.90 percentage, so the effective rate is 3.2%. On a $3 charge the same $0.30 is most of the fee, and the effective rate jumps to about 13%. This is why bundling small payments, setting order minimums, or using a flat-rate micropayment plan can save real money. The Effective rate line shows fee ÷ gross so you always see the all-in cost, not just the sticker percentage.

Is my transaction data sent anywhere?

No. Every calculation runs as plain JavaScript inside your browser tab — nothing is uploaded and nothing is logged. The one caveat: the shareable URL encodes your amount and rate in the query string, so a share link reopens the exact numbers. For a confidential payout figure, copy the result text instead of sharing the URL.

Price a freelance invoice so the client covers Stripe's cut

You quote a client $2,000 and want exactly $2,000 in your account, not $2,000 minus fees. Switch to gross-up mode, enter $2,000 as the amount you want to receive, keep the Stripe preset, and the tool tells you to invoice $2,060.06 so the 2.9% + $0.30 comes out of the client's payment, not your fee. Paste that figure into your invoice line and the payout that hits your bank is the round number you quoted.

Decide whether to accept $3 micro-payments

A buyer wants to pay $3 for a digital download. Enter $3 in forward mode with the Stripe preset and the effective rate line reads about 13% — the $0.30 fixed fee is most of the cost on a tiny charge. That tells you to either bundle downloads into a $15 pack (effective rate drops back near 3%) or set a minimum order, instead of quietly losing an eighth of every micro-sale to fees.

Compare PayPal vs Stripe on a $250 order

Same $250 sale, two processors. Click the Stripe preset: fee $7.55, you net $242.45. Click PayPal: fee $9.21, you net $240.79. That's $1.66 per order, which on 500 orders a month is $830 a year — enough to justify steering checkout toward the cheaper rail or negotiating your PayPal rate.

Reconcile a payout against what you expected

Your Stripe payout came in at $96.80 on a $100 charge and you want to confirm the math before logging it. Enter $100 in forward mode, read fee $3.20 and net $96.80 — it matches, so you book the $3.20 as a processing expense and move on. When a number doesn't match, edit the percentage to find the rate your contract actually billed.

Set a SaaS price that nets a clean monthly figure

You want each subscriber to net you exactly $29 after fees so your revenue model uses round numbers. Gross-up mode, target $29, Stripe preset → charge $30.18. Round to $30 if you prefer a tidy sticker price and accept netting $28.83, or list $30.18 to hit $29 on the nose. Either way you decide with the real net in front of you, not a guess.

Payment Processing Fee Calculator — Stripe, PayPal, Square & Custom Rates

Stripe, PayPal, Square fees — see what lands in your account, and gross-up to net any target — 100% in your browser

Runs locally
Category Calculator
Best for Getting a realistic range before a purchase, plan, workout, or schedule decision.

Common processors — tap to fill, then edit any field:

CurrencyPercentage fee %Fixed fee / transaction

Amount you charge the customer

Customer pays

$100.00

Processor fee

$3.20

You receive

$96.80

Effective rate: 3.2%

What this tool does

A payment processing fee calculator that works the way card fees actually work: a percentage of the sale plus a fixed amount per transaction. Pick a preset — Stripe 2.9% + $0.30, PayPal 3.49% + $0.49, Square 2.9% + $0.30, or the international rates — then edit any field to match your exact contract. Two directions answer the two questions every freelancer, Etsy seller and SaaS founder has. Forward: you charge the customer a given amount and want to know the fee and what truly lands in your bank after the processor's cut. Reverse (gross-up): you need a specific amount to land net — your invoice total, your rent split, your payout — and the tool back-solves the price to charge so the fee comes out of the customer instead of eating your margin, using gross = (net + fixed) ÷ (1 − rate). It also shows the effective rate, which is the number that matters on small charges: a $0.30 fixed fee on a $3 sale is a real 13% bite, not the 2.9% on the label. Every input is encoded in the URL so a "here's what I'll receive" link reopens the exact scenario, and your currency and last rate are remembered locally. No sign-up, no upload, no server round-trip — the math runs in your tab.

Tool details

Input: Numbers; The page exposes text boxes, numeric controls, file pickers, or structured inputs depending on the tool.
Output: Live result + Copy; The result area focuses on usable output, with copy, download, or preview actions when supported.
Privacy: Browser-side processing; The main tool logic does not call an external API, so inputs normally stay in the current tab.
Save / share: Shareable URL state; Key settings are encoded in the URL so another person can reopen the same setup.
Performance budget: Initial JS <= 9 KB; No WASM budget is declared, keeping the tool quick to open on mobile.
Best fit: Calculator · Finance; Category and role tags drive related tools, internal links, and quick fit checks.

How to use

1. Input

Paste or drop your content into the tool panel.
2. Process

Click the button. All processing is local in your browser.
3. Copy / Download

Copy the result or download to disk in one click.

How Payment Processing Fee Calculator fits into your work

Use it for fast estimates, comparisons, and planning numbers before you make the final call.

Calculation jobs

Getting a realistic range before a purchase, plan, workout, or schedule decision.
Comparing scenarios by changing one input at a time.
Turning rough assumptions into a number you can discuss.

Calculation checks

Double-check units, dates, rates, and rounding assumptions.
Treat health, finance, tax, and legal outputs as planning aids, not professional advice.
Save the inputs that produced an important result so you can reproduce it later.

Good next steps

These links move the current task into a more complete workflow.

Real-world use cases

Price a freelance invoice so the client covers Stripe's cut
You quote a client $2,000 and want exactly $2,000 in your account, not $2,000 minus fees. Switch to gross-up mode, enter $2,000 as the amount you want to receive, keep the Stripe preset, and the tool tells you to invoice $2,060.06 so the 2.9% + $0.30 comes out of the client's payment, not your fee. Paste that figure into your invoice line and the payout that hits your bank is the round number you quoted.
Decide whether to accept $3 micro-payments
A buyer wants to pay $3 for a digital download. Enter $3 in forward mode with the Stripe preset and the effective rate line reads about 13% — the $0.30 fixed fee is most of the cost on a tiny charge. That tells you to either bundle downloads into a $15 pack (effective rate drops back near 3%) or set a minimum order, instead of quietly losing an eighth of every micro-sale to fees.
Compare PayPal vs Stripe on a $250 order
Same $250 sale, two processors. Click the Stripe preset: fee $7.55, you net $242.45. Click PayPal: fee $9.21, you net $240.79. That's $1.66 per order, which on 500 orders a month is $830 a year — enough to justify steering checkout toward the cheaper rail or negotiating your PayPal rate.
Reconcile a payout against what you expected
Your Stripe payout came in at $96.80 on a $100 charge and you want to confirm the math before logging it. Enter $100 in forward mode, read fee $3.20 and net $96.80 — it matches, so you book the $3.20 as a processing expense and move on. When a number doesn't match, edit the percentage to find the rate your contract actually billed.
Set a SaaS price that nets a clean monthly figure
You want each subscriber to net you exactly $29 after fees so your revenue model uses round numbers. Gross-up mode, target $29, Stripe preset → charge $30.18. Round to $30 if you prefer a tidy sticker price and accept netting $28.83, or list $30.18 to hit $29 on the nose. Either way you decide with the real net in front of you, not a guess.

Common pitfalls

Adding the percentage to your target instead of grossing-up. Tacking 2.9% onto a $100 target gives $102.90, but the fee is then charged on $102.90, leaving you $99.72 — short of your goal. Use gross = (net + fixed) ÷ (1 − rate) = $103.30, which the gross-up mode does for you.
Quoting the headline percentage on small charges. "It's only 2.9%" is false on a $3 sale where the $0.30 fixed fee makes the real rate ~13%. Always read the Effective rate line before pricing micro-transactions.
Forgetting the fixed fee scales with transaction count, not size. Splitting one $100 order into ten $10 charges multiplies the $0.30 fee tenfold ($3.00 vs $0.30) even though the percentage portion is identical. Batch where you can.
Assuming domestic and international rates are the same. A customer's foreign card or a currency conversion can push the effective rate from ~3% to ~5%; edit the percentage field to your real cross-border rate before relying on the net.

Privacy

All fee math (forward fee = gross × rate + fixed, reverse gross-up = (net + fixed) ÷ (1 − rate), and the effective-rate readout) is plain JavaScript that runs in your browser tab. No transaction amount ever leaves the page, nothing is logged, and there is no analytics on what you calculated. The one privacy caveat: the shareable URL state encodes your amount, percentage and fixed fee in the query string, so a "share link" reopens the exact numbers. For routine pricing that's fine; for a confidential payout or invoice figure, copy the result text rather than sharing the URL.

FAQ

Tool combos

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Payment Processing Fee Calculator — Stripe, PayPal, Square & Custom Rates

What this tool does

Tool details

How to use

1. Input

2. Process

3. Copy / Download

How Payment Processing Fee Calculator fits into your work

Calculation jobs

Calculation checks

Good next steps

Real-world use cases

Price a freelance invoice so the client covers Stripe's cut

Decide whether to accept $3 micro-payments

Compare PayPal vs Stripe on a $250 order

Reconcile a payout against what you expected

Set a SaaS price that nets a clean monthly figure

Common pitfalls

Privacy

FAQ

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