Virtual terminals are merchant-facing platforms that allow businesses to manually enter payment information and complete transactions on the customer’s behalf. This is especially useful for businesses that have customers who prefer to transact over the phone, via email, or messaging apps. Most payment processors come with a virtual terminal platform, but the best virtual terminals offer better value for money and standout features.
Based on my evaluation, the best virtual terminals are:
As there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, we compared each of our suggested payment processors to help you choose an option that best matches your current goals.
Software Spotlight: PaymentCloud
Flexible payment processing for any business- 98% of applications are approved for a merchant account
- Wide range of payment options – including no-cost (surcharging)
- Month-to-month contract
- No setup, application, or annual fees
Visit PaymentCloud
Our Rating (out of 5)
Monthly Account Fee
Virtual Terminal Fee
Manual Entry Transaction Fee
Funding Speed
Helcim
4.73
$0
$0
Interchange plus 0.15% + 15 cents to 0.50% + 25 cents
2 business days
Payment Depot
4.65
$0
$0
Custom interchange-plus rates
2+ business days
Stax
4.43
$99–$199
$0
Interchange + 18 cents
2+ business days
PaymentCloud
4.42
$10–$45
$15–$45
From 2%
Next-day
Square
4.33
$0–$60+
$0
3.5% + 15 cents
Next-day, same-day w/fee
CardX
4.25
$29–$199
$0
From 2.91% for debit cards
Next-day
Businesses can use virtual terminals without any additional hardware, so all you need is a computer or mobile device to log in to your merchant dashboard. However, card readers can be easily connected to process occasional in-person payments.
Helcim: Best overall virtual terminal
Overall Reviewer Score
4.73/5
Pricing
5/5
Features
4.75/5
Support & Reliability
4.69/5
User Experience
5/5
Average User Review Scores
4.2/5
Pros
- No add-on or monthly fees
- Automated volume discounts
- Offers free credit card processing via surcharging
Cons
- Charges extra for AMEX transactions
- Limited back-office integrations
- Application process not idea for new businesses
Why I chose Helcim
Helcim is a traditional merchant account services provider known for its free and automated payment processing features, including a virtual terminal. The virtual terminal can be used to accept one-time and recurring payments from an unpaid invoice or simply from pulling up a customer profile. It can process credit card, ACH, and EFT payments. Plus, Helcim has tools for free credit card processing that can be used at any time, which pass along the processing fees to your customers.
Aside from zero monthly fees and interchange plus rates, what makes Helcim stand out is its automatic volume discounts. In other words, your per-transaction fees will decrease automatically as your business scales and hits certain processing volumes.
This makes Helcim the ideal solution for fast-growing small and mid-size businesses in industries like retail, professional services, automotive, healthcare, education, and wholesale.
- Automatic volume discounts: Unlike some traditional merchant services providers, Helcim does not impose volume minimums or limits. Instead, it offers built-in discounts for sales above $50,000 per month (based on a three-month average). This ensures that businesses can always maximize savings without delay from having to request lower rates every time there is a significant increase in sales volume.
- Free credit card processing: The fee-saving program is Helcim’s free credit card processing service. Users can choose to apply or remove this customer-facing fee at any time with a simple toggle feature. And like most of Helcim’s payment features, you won’t need to apply separately to qualify for this program. The fee saver is automatically available to Helcim clients that accept online ACH payments and those that use Helcim’s smart POS terminal, except for businesses located in Connecticut, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Quebec.
- Online invoicing and recurring billing: Helcim’s virtual terminal can be used to process unpaid one-time or recurring invoices. Users can initiate a payment by pulling up an unpaid invoice or specifying an invoice number in the payment form. The virtual terminal also comes with an address verification service (AVS) that helps protect businesses from chargebacks on card-not-present transactions.
- Automated level 2/3 data processing for B2Bs: As of December 2023, level 2 and 3 data processing are available for all Helcim clients. Again, this payment processing service does not require a separate application for users to qualify. Helcim’s level 2/3 interchange optimization feature can recognize cards that qualify for level 2/3 discounted rates and automatically retrieves the necessary additional transaction and customer information from the invoice and customer profile.
- Monthly Account Fee: $0
- Virtual Terminal Fee: $0
- Manual Entry Transaction Fee: Interchange plus 0.15% + 15 cents to 0.50% + 25 cents
- In-person Transaction Fee: Interchange plus 0.15% + 6 cents to 0.4% + 8 cents
- Domestic ACH Transfers: 0.5% + 25 cents per transaction
- American Express transactions: Additional 0.10% + 10 cents
- Hardware Cost: $99–$329
- Chargeback Fee: $15
- Application/Set Up Fee: $0
- Cancellation Fee: $0
- Contract Term: No long-term contract
Payment Depot: Best for mid-size businesses
Overall Reviewer Score
4.65/5
Pricing
5/5
Features
4.25/5
Support & Reliability
4.59/5
User Experience
4.69/5
Average User Review Scores
4.63/5
Pros
- No monthly fees
- Custom interchange-plus rates
- Multiple virtual terminal integrations
Cons
- Only for US-based businesses
- Lacks option for same-day funding
- ACH payment processing is an add-on
Why I chose Payment Depot
Payment Depot supports a variety of virtual terminal platforms from popular payment gateway integrations such as NMI, Authorize.net and PayTrace. There are no additional monthly fees, as Payment Depot’s custom pricing already includes every payment service that a business opts into, including a virtual terminal.
Until recently, Payment Depot operated under a similar subscription model (wholesale transaction rate + monthly fee) used by its parent company, Stax, but has since been remodeled to custom interchange plus pricing. This makes Payment Depot more affordable and attractive to mid-size businesses that have yet to reach volume levels that can maximize savings with a monthly fee and wholesale rates.
- All-in-one software: Payment Depot users get unlimited access to the same all-in-one payment software by Stax without the high monthly account fees. This includes features such as digital invoicing, hosted payment pages, one-click shopping with catalog management, card vault, recurring and scheduled payments, and choice of virtual terminals.
- Wide range of business and payments integration: Payment Depot comes with a wide range of business and payment integrations. It is compatible with most POS systems and hardware, such as Clover. Payment Depot can also integrate seamlessly with popular ecommerce platforms, including Shopify.
- Multiple virtual terminal options: Payment Depot works with a number of payment gateways and its virtual terminal features. You can choose from popular options such as NMI, Authorize.net, and PayTrace. This is especially useful to avoid any downtime for businesses migrating from other payment processors that use the same virtual terminal platform.
- Monthly Account Fee: $0
- Virtual Terminal Fee: $0
- Manual Entry Transaction Fee: Custom interchange plus rate
- In-person Transaction Fee: Custom interchange plus rate
- Hardware Cost: Depends on hardware provider
- Chargeback Fee: $25
- Application/Set Up Fee: $0
- Cancellation Fee: $0
- Contract Term: No long-term contract
Stax: Best for large, high-volume businesses
Overall Reviewer Score
4.43/5
Pricing
4.69/5
Features
4.5/5
Support & Reliability
4.69/5
User Experience
4.38/5
Average User Review Scores
3.9/5
Pros
- Wholesale transaction fees
- No long-term contract
- Text2pay feature
Cons
- High monthly fees
- Lacks same-day funding option
- ACH payment processing is an add-on
Why I chose Stax
Stax is a popular merchant services provider, offering wholesale interchange rates ideal for high-volume businesses. Its virtual terminal is built into Stax Pay, allowing businesses to accept card and bank payments, set recurring transactions, send invoices, payment links, and even SMS to collect payments.
What’s also great about Stax is that it offers a range of products that can easily keep up with fast-growing businesses and large, enterprise-level companies. For example, Stax Bill offers advanced billing and recurring payment services for businesses that run subscriptions. There’s also Stax Connect for software vendors that want to integrate an end-to-end payment processing service to their software platforms (SaaS).
- All-in-one payment software: Stax provides an all-in-one payment software, Stax Pay, that comes with every merchant account. This feature facilitates everything from integrating with card terminals to generating high-level analytics and reports. Businesses can use Stax Pay to add checkout carts on ecommerce platforms, generate payment links for embedded payments, initiate manual payments on a virtual terminal, and create invoices.
- Wide range of business integrations: Aside from POS systems, Stax Pay can be integrated with popular business systems such as QuickBooks, Salesforce, and Calendly. This allows users to sync various tasks to its virtual terminal functions, such as manually collecting outstanding receivables, integrating customer profiles, and setting appointments over the phone that require partial payments.
- Advanced payment processing features: Large, enterprise-level businesses often require more specialized payment processing tools. Stax offers different products that support these needs, such as Stax Connect, an end-to-end payment processing integration with SaaS platforms used by large nonprofits, educational institutions, and professional services. For subscription-based businesses, Stax also offers Stax Bill, which can automate large-scale accounts receivable and billing management tasks.
- Monthly Account Fee: $99–$199
- Virtual Terminal Fee: $0
- Manual Entry Transaction Fee: Interchange + 18 cents
- In-person Transaction Fee: Interchange + 8 cents
- Hardware Cost: Depends on hardware provider
- Chargeback Fee: $25
- Application/Set Up Fee: $0
- Cancellation Fee: $0
- Contract Term: No long-term contract
PaymentCloud: Best for high-risk businesses
Overall Reviewer Score
4.42/5
Pricing
3.75/5
Features
4/5
Support & Reliability
4.69/5
User Experience
5/5
Average User Review Scores
4.65/5
Pros
- Works with high-risk businesses
- Flexible fee structure
- Payment gateway agnostic
Cons
- Monthly account fee
- Add-on monthly cost for virtual terminals
- Lacks same-day funding option
Why I chose PaymentCloud
PaymentCloud is a traditional merchant services provider that supports all types of payment processing methods. While it caters to nearly all business types, PaymentCloud is particularly known for its expertise in working with high-risk businesses, which no other provider in our list can do. Virtual terminals are in-demand among high-risk business types because most of these companies accept mail-order/telephone-order (MOTO) payments.
We especially like PaymentCloud’s attention to detail when handling accounts for high-risk merchants. It works with clients right from the application to provide the highest chance of being approved for a merchant account. We also like PaymentCloud’s flexibility. It can customize its rates based on what a potential client is familiar with and seamlessly adapt the customer’s current payment gateway platform avoiding business downtime.
- Payment gateway agnostic: PaymentCloud is compatible with all payment gateways—a huge deal for businesses that are considered high-risk. Because not all merchant service providers can work with high-risk merchants, the payment types and payment methods in standard payment gateways are not readily available to them. This makes migrating to a new merchant services provider a struggle for high-risk businesses without payment gateway agnostic and high-risk experts like PaymentCloud.
- Customizable pricing: PaymentCloud’s flexibility includes its ability to adapt a potential client’s pricing structure, which is why pricing is primarily custom quoted. If a business is more familiar with flat rate pricing, or if a large high-risk business prefers a subscription-based model to maximize its savings, PaymentCloud can design a pricing plan to fit its needs.
- High-risk business expertise: PaymentCloud possesses the industry knowledge needed to help high-risk businesses successfully get approved for a merchant account. It works with a number of banks and financial institutions that are capable of shouldering the chargeback risk involved in accepting credit card payments. PaymentCloud offers the highest level of fraud protection, risk management, and customer support that high-risk businesses need to stay compliant and avoid cancellation of their merchant accounts.
Please note: All of PaymentCloud’s pricing is fully customized. The figures below are estimates provided by PaymentCloud and can vary significantly depending on your business profile.
- Monthly Account Fee: $10–$45
- Virtual Terminal Fee: $15–45
- Manual Entry Transaction Fee: 2%–$4.3%
- In-person Transaction Fee: 2%–$4.3%
- Hardware Cost: Depends on hardware provider
- Chargeback Fee: $25
- Application/Set Up Fee: $0
- Cancellation Fee: Waived
- Contract Term: Mostly short-term
Square: Best for new businesses
Overall Reviewer Score
4.33/5
Pricing
4.06/5
Features
4.5/5
Support & Reliability
4.06/5
User Experience
4.38/5
Average User Review Scores
4.67/5
Pros
- Free POS software
- No monthly fees for payment processing
- Waived chargeback fees
Cons
- Not the cheapest transaction fees
- Limited scalability
- Account stability issues
Why I chose Square
Square is the ideal all-in-one business solution for new businesses. There are no monthly fees for using its payment processing service, which comes built into Square’s suite of POS software. Square’s virtual terminal is also free with every merchant account and can just as easily handle all the payment methods supported by the other providers on our list. The biggest difference between Square and the other providers on our list is Square’s default flat-rate pricing, which is best suited for smaller businesses.
That said, Square comes with a complete ecosystem of business management tools, most of which you can get for free. Square also offers the fastest setup as it does not require an application process, making it ideal for startups that don’t have a payment processing history. Larger businesses that would like to consider Square can qualify for custom rates if you process more than $250,000 in sales volume annually.
- All-in-one POS system: Square is an all-in-one POS system with a built-in payment processor. Additionally, Square offers a suite of business management tools, such as inventory, employee and payroll, loyalty and rewards, and CRM. Square also comes with a long list of third-party integrations, such as accounting, delivery, and project management tools.
- Chargeback management: Square’s merchant dashboard includes a chargeback and dispute management feature. Businesses can receive chargeback alerts, respond to communications, and upload documents all from the Square dashboard.
- CBD program: New businesses that intend to sell CBD products (hemp and hemp-derived CBD products that have less than, or equal to, 0.3% THC) can apply for Square’s CBD program where it is legal in the U.S. This is especially useful for businesses on a limited budget looking for a fast and easy setup, although expect higher transaction rates and some additional requirements before getting approved for an account.
- Monthly Account Fee: $0–$60+ (includes POS software)
- Virtual Terminal Fee: $0
- Manual Entry Transaction Fee: 3.5% + 15 cents
- In-person Transaction Fee: 2.6% + 10 cents
- Hardware Cost: $0–$299
- Chargeback Fee: Waived up to $250/month
- Application/Set Up Fee: $0
- Cancellation Fee: $0
- Contract Term: No long-term contract
CardX: Best for free credit card processing
Overall Reviewer Score
4.25/5
Pricing
4.69/5
Features
4/5
Support & Reliability
4.69/5
User Experience
4.38/5
Average User Review Scores
3.5/5
Pros
- Automated surcharging
- Built-in invoicing and virtual terminal
- Exclusive Mastercard partner
Cons
- Charges a monthly fee
- Some limitations on invoicing tools
- Lacks same-day funding
Why I chose CardX
CardX is the leading expert in credit card surcharging services and is the exclusive surcharging partner for Mastercard. It comes with built-in invoicing and a virtual terminal feature that users can access at no extra cost. CardX also provides businesses with the necessary surcharging signage and staff training to assist with start-up.
CardX stands out for its primary credit card surcharging service. While other merchant account service providers in our list, like Helcim and PaymentCloud, also offer this feature, it’s hard to ignore CardX’ expertise. This makes CardX an overall more reliable solution for businesses where credit card surcharging is a key consideration.
- Compliance: CardX strictly adheres to surcharging guidelines. It stays on top of industry developments and ensures that its system is always up to date on state regulations. The CardX merchant dashboard also comes with fraud monitoring and protection settings that allow users to fine-tune fraud detection rules based on their comfortable risk level.
- Billing and invoicing: The CardX virtual terminal can be used to manually charge one-time and recurring transactions. It has a CRM feature that collects customer data, including payment information. Transaction records are also available, making it possible to initiate transactions from the customer profile.
- Online payment processing: CardX supports online payment processing tools like any other merchant service provider. It can generate payment links and design checkout pages via Lightbox to integrate with your ecommerce websites. CardX also comes with API integrations to provide more advanced customizations.
- Monthly Account Fee: $29–$199
- Virtual Terminal Fee: $0
- Manual Entry Transaction Fee: From 2.91% for debit card payments
- In-person Transaction Fee: From 2.91% for debit card payments
- Hardware Cost: $375–$540 (plans available)
- Chargeback Fee: $0
- Application/Set Up Fee: $0
- Cancellation Fee: $0
- Contract Term: No long-term contract
What to look for in a virtual terminal
Not all virtual terminals are the same, but there are key features you need to look for when narrowing your list for the best option:
Reasonable pricing
Ideally, access to virtual terminals should be free, and the only cost involved is the fee for processing payments. And, those processing fees should be transparent and competitive. While flat-rate fees are ideal for new businesses, interchange-plus rates are ideal for growing businesses. Both offer predictable pricing. Additionally, look for programs that allow for lower rates as your business grows, either through custom pricing or volume discounts.
Payment types
By default, a virtual terminal should be able to process credit card payments. Most virtual terminals can also accept bank payments such as ACH and eChecks. For B2Bs, the virtual terminal should be able to process level 2 and 3 data when possible. It’s also ideal for a virtual terminal to recognize card-present transactions when a card reader is connected to the computer.
Payment tools
A virtual terminal should not only be able to perform simple manual transactions. It should also work with other payment tools, such as invoicing, recurring billing, and card-on-file transactions. The virtual terminal should be accessible from the customer database, and even better if it could initiate payments from the list of unpaid invoices in the reporting function.
Security & fraud prevention
As all virtual terminal payments are, by default, card-not-present transactions, it’s important to look at a provider’s ability to prevent fraudulent chargeback claims. The provider should be equipped with features such as an address verification system and proxy detection, aside from being fully PCI compliant. It should also offer a chargeback management platform that alerts users of any chargeback claims and a means of responding to the chargeback.
Finding the right virtual terminal
When choosing a virtual terminal, consider your specific business needs. While budgetary concerns should be a priority, the cheapest is not always the best option.
We believe that new businesses will benefit most from Square’s all-in-one solution, which requires minimal upfront cost. Its transaction rates are transparent and predictable, and prices are fairly standard for new businesses.
Flexibility should be a primary consideration for growing businesses. We recommend merchant service providers like Helcim and Payment Depot, which do not charge a monthly fee and allow the business to earn savings from its fast-growing sales.
For large companies with high-volume sales, consider providers like Stax that offer membership-based plans. The monthly fee is easy to justify when you can earn big savings from the hundreds of thousands in sales being charged only a few cents (no percentage fee).
If you are running a high-risk business, chances are most of your customers prefer to pay over the phone or share their payment information via email. We believe PaymentCloud’s expertise and flexibility will give you the best chance of being approved for a merchant account.
Last, but not the least, consider CardX if you want to implement a credit card surcharging program. CardX expertise in the industry and reasonable monthly fee make it the most reliable option, particularly if credit card surcharging is new to you and you want to stay fully compliant.
FAQs
