Work out your effective rate from your statement
Your effective rate is total fees divided by total card volume. It is the only number that lets you compare two processors honestly, and it is the number a merchant statement is arranged to obscure. Three totals and this computes it, then splits it into the part nobody can discount and the part that is the whole negotiation.
Judd Alsup and the Equip Payment Solutions team, who install and support restaurant POS systems nationwide and sell Shift4 Dine and Clover.Updated August 9, 2026. Sources and dates cited on every figure.
The short answer
Your effective rate, in one box:
- The formula total fees divided by total card volume, for the same month. Everything else is commentary.
- Include every fee monthly, statement, PCI, regulatory, batch and equipment lines, not just the per-transaction rate.
- Interchange is fixed the same published table for every processor on earth. No quote can discount it.
- The markup is the negotiation your effective rate minus interchange and assessments. That difference is the only thing a competing quote can improve.
- A quoted rate is not an effective rate 2.6% plus 10 cents is a component. Your effective rate is what actually left the account.
The rest of this page is the case for each line, with sources.
Three numbers off your statement. Your real rate.
Every comparison on this site runs on your effective rate, and almost nobody knows theirs, because the statement is built so that you do not. Take three totals off last month's statement and this does the division.
The gross amount of card sales for the month. Usually the first line, sometimes called total submitted or gross sales.
Everything the processor took. Add every fee group, including the monthly ones at the bottom that are easy to skip.
Card transactions only. Gives you cost per swipe, which is the number small ticket rooms should watch.
The part no processor controls and none can discount. It moves with your card mix, so it is an assumption you can drag, never a quoted figure.
is your effective rate at these numbers. That is $1.31 per transaction, and $25,200 a year in card costs.
Fixed for everyone: $1,230 a month
Interchange and assessments at your assumption. Every processor on earth pays the same table. Nobody can discount this, and any quote that claims to is quoting something else.
The negotiable part: $870 a month
Your processor's markup, which is 1.45% of volume. This is the entire negotiation. It is also the only number a competing quote can actually improve.
Arithmetic on the numbers you entered, against the interchange assumption above. It is not a quote and it is not a promise. If the markup line looks large, that is worth a second opinion, and we read statements free whether or not you ever buy anything from us.
Finding the three numbers on an actual statement
Total card volume
Near the top, usually the first summary line. It may be called gross sales, total submitted, total charges or amount submitted. If your statement separates Visa, Mastercard, Discover and Amex, add them. Use the gross figure, before fees, never the net deposit, because netting the fees out first is what makes a bad rate look survivable.
Total fees charged
This is the one people get wrong, because the fees are not in one place. There is normally a per-transaction section, a section of monthly and account fees, and a third group at the bottom carrying PCI, regulatory, statement and sometimes an equipment lease. Add all of it. If a line left your bank account and went to the processor, it is a fee, and leaving out the ones at the bottom is how a 3.6% room convinces itself it is paying 2.7%.
Number of transactions
Usually beside the volume in the same summary block, sometimes called items, count or sales count. Card transactions only. Divide fees by this and you get cost per swipe, which is the figure that matters most to coffee shops, bakeries and bars running small tickets, where a ten cent per item fee is a bigger deal than twenty basis points.
Where the equipment lease hides
On some statements the lease sits inside the fee total and on others it is debited separately by a different company on a different day. If yours is separate, decide deliberately whether to include it. Leave it out to compare processing against processing. Put it in to see the true cost of the relationship, which is the number that matters when you are deciding whether to leave.
Why the split matters more than the headline
An effective rate on its own can mislead in both directions. Two restaurants both paying 3.1% can be in completely different positions: a steakhouse running large tickets on rewards credit cards has high interchange and may have very little markup on top, while a coffee shop running small debit tickets has low interchange and could be carrying an enormous markup inside the same headline number. The first room has almost nothing to gain from switching. The second is being quietly harvested.
That is what the split in the calculator is for. Interchange and assessments are set by the card networks in published tables and are identical through every processor in the country. Nobody discounts them, and a salesperson who offers to is describing something other than interchange. What is left after you subtract them is your processor's markup, and that number is the entire negotiation. Quoting it as basis points also makes it comparable: five basis points is five dollars a month for every ten thousand dollars of volume, every month, forever.
The assumption slider exists because we cannot know your card mix from here. The default sits in the range we typically see for full service restaurants. A debit heavy quick service room will sit lower, a fine dining room heavy in premium rewards cards will sit higher. If you drag it and the markup line goes negative, that is the tool telling you the assumption is wrong for your mix rather than telling you your processor is paying you money. The honest version of this calculator has to be able to say that, so it does.
If you want the underlying structures explained rather than computed, interchange plus is covered here, and reading a statement line by line is here. If you would rather not do any of it, send last month's statement through the quote form. We read them free, whether or not you ever buy anything from us, because an owner who understands their own paper is a better customer for everyone honest in this category.
What to do with the number once you have it
Do not shop on the headline alone
Take the markup figure to a competing quote and ask them to beat that number specifically. A processor quoting you a lower effective rate on a different card mix has told you nothing. A processor quoting a lower markup has made a real commitment.
Ask for interchange plus in writing
It is the only structure where you can see interchange at cost and audit the markup afterward. A quote that will not break the two apart is a quote that intends to keep the spread.
Watch the per transaction cost separately
Small ticket rooms are hurt more by the cents than the points. If your average ticket is under fifteen dollars, negotiate the per item fee first and the percentage second.
Recompute after three months
Rates drift, mixes change, and escalators fire on their anniversary. This calculation takes five minutes once you know where the numbers live, and it is the cheapest financial control in the building.
Check what a surcharge or dual price would change
If the markup is already tight, the next lever is who pays the remaining cost. The rules are on the surcharging page and the cash discounting page, and both are state specific.
What the major systems charge
| System | Software | Card present rate | Contract | The part they lead with least |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toast | $0 to $69per terminal, reported | 2.49% to 3.69%+ 15c, reported | 1 to 3 years | The rate climbs with add-ons. Online ordering and delivery move Starter Kit from 3.09% to 3.39%, and gift cards and loyalty take it to 3.69%. That higher rate then applies to every order, not just the online ones. Processing is mandatory and hardware is locked to Toast. |
| Square | $0 / $49 / $149per location, published | 2.6% / 2.5% / 2.4%+ 15c, published | None | The free plan carries the highest rate. Above roughly $25,000 a month in card volume it costs more than the paid one. Kitchen display and kiosk are excluded from free. |
| Clover | $89.95 to $129.85plus $849 to $4,447 hardware, reported | 2.3% + 10crestaurant plans, reported. The reseller sets your final rate | 36 months | Your rate depends entirely on who sold it to you, and identical hardware carries very different pricing from different sellers. Read who owns the equipment before signing. |
| Geniuswas Vital | $0 / $42 / $129published | 2.6% + 10cpublished | 3 years | Their own footnote requires a three year term, 4% cash discounting and $250,000 a year in volume, and mentions an early termination fee. Their pricing page asks about termination fees and then does not answer it. |
| Shift4 DineWe install this | $29.99per terminal, published | Interchange plusmarkup shown in writing | 36 months | What a rep will not lead with: there is a $250 annual program fee per device, an annual regulatory fee, and a yearly escalator on a 36 month agreement. We put all of it in the quote. What you get is a rate where the processor's margin is visible instead of blended into one number. |
| Lightspeed | $69 / $189 / $399published | 2.4% to 2.6% + 10creported, sources disagree | Month to month or annual | A reported $400 a month penalty applies for using a payment processor other than Lightspeed Payments, which makes their processing effectively mandatory. The published software page never states whether prices are per terminal or per location. |
| TouchBistro | $69 or $119published | Not publishedquote based, partner processors | Sources conflict | One reviewer reports month to month, another reports multi year auto renewing contracts that cannot be terminated early. The add-on stack is where the bill grows: reported $25 to $229 a month per module, and a reported $200 setup fee. |
| SpotOn | $0 or $55per station, published | 2.79% + 20c or 2.45% + 15cpublished | 2 years or monthly | The most published rate card in the category after Square. The fine print: a reported $995 conversion fee plus doubled software cost if you switch processors, and cancelling All-In inside a year claws back the hardware discount. |
Square, Genius, SpotOn, Shift4 and Lightspeed software figures are published by those vendors and were read on their own pages on 8 August 2026. Toast, Clover and TouchBistro figures are reported by Merchant Maverick, Expert Market, POSUSA, NerdWallet, business.com and KORONA POS, cross checked against at least two independent sources where possible and labelled where sources disagree. Software units differ: Square prices per location, Toast and Shift4 per terminal, Clover per device, SpotOn per station. Rates change without notice. General guidance, not legal, tax or accounting advice.
Questions owners ask
What is a good effective rate for a restaurant?
It depends on your card mix more than on your negotiating, which is why we will not print a single target number. What we can say is what the split should look like: interchange and assessments are what they are, and the markup on top is the part to judge. A tight markup on a high interchange mix is a good deal even if the headline rate looks high, and a wide markup on a debit heavy mix is a bad deal even if the headline looks fine.
Why is my effective rate higher than the rate I was quoted?
Because a quoted rate is a component and an effective rate is a total. The quote covers the qualifying per-transaction rate. The effective rate includes downgrades, assessments, monthly fees, PCI fees, regulatory fees, batch fees and anything else that left the account. The gap between the two is normal. A very large gap usually means tiered pricing or a fee stack nobody has looked at.
Should I include my equipment lease?
Both answers are useful. Excluded, you are comparing processing against processing, which is the fair comparison when shopping. Included, you are seeing the true cost of the relationship, which is the right figure when deciding whether to leave. Run it both ways, and if the lease is with a different company on a different agreement, read that agreement before you plan anything.
Is this a quote?
No. It is arithmetic on numbers you typed, against an interchange assumption you can drag. It cannot know your card mix and it is not a commitment from anyone. Send a statement and we will do it properly with your real interchange, free.
What if the markup line comes out negative?
The interchange assumption is set higher than your actual card mix. Drag it down until the markup goes positive. That lower figure is much closer to your real interchange, and it tells you something useful: you are running a cheaper card mix than average, which usually means debit heavy, which usually means a flat rate is costing you more than it appears to.
Do you get anything out of me using this?
If it shows you are already priced well, no, and the calculator says so in that case rather than manufacturing a reason to call. We sell Shift4 Dine and Clover, and we would rather be the people who told you the truth about your statement than the people who won an account they should not have.
Have your real interchange worked out, free
A calculator has to assume your card mix. Your statement does not. Send last month's and we will give you the real split in writing, whether or not we ever quote you.
Send your numbers
About a minute. It goes straight to the Equip team.
It reaches the Equip team. A person calls you back, and if we do not have a crew near you, the team routes it to whoever serves you best. We never ask for card or bank details on this site.