WorkingFigures

Rates checked: 2026-09-26

Payment fees dataset

Every number on this page is computed from the processors' and platforms' published standard rates, across realistic invoice sizes and income levels. Reproducible, dated, and downloadable. Quote it, link it, or take the CSV.

Numbers worth quoting

  • On a $100 invoice, PayPal's standard rate costs 24% more than Stripe's.
  • Card fees are regressive: Stripe's effective rate is 3.2% on a $100 invoice and 2.91% on a $2,500 one.
  • A freelancer earning $5,000/month on Fiverr pays $12,000 per year in platform fees.
  • The same earnings on Upwork cost $6,000 per year, less than half of Fiverr's toll.

Online payment fees by invoice size

Invoice Stripe PayPal Square
fee effective fee effective fee effective
$100 $3.2 3.2% $3.98 3.98% $3.6 3.6%
$500 $14.8 2.96% $17.94 3.59% $16.8 3.36%
$1,000 $29.3 2.93% $35.39 3.54% $33.3 3.33%
$2,500 $72.8 2.91% $87.74 3.51% $82.8 3.31%
$5,000 $145.3 2.91% $174.99 3.5% $165.3 3.31%
$10,000 $290.3 2.9% $349.49 3.49% $330.3 3.3%

The fixed fee makes small invoices expensive: the same processor costs nearly double in percentage terms at $100 vs $2,500.

Effective card fee by invoice size
0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% $50 $100 $250 $500 $1,000 $2,500 $5,000 fee as % of invoice 4.47% PayPal · $50: 4.47% 3.5% Stripe / Square · $50: 3.5% 3.98% PayPal · $100: 3.98% 3.2% Stripe / Square · $100: 3.2% 3.69% PayPal · $250: 3.69% 3.02% Stripe / Square · $250: 3.02% 3.59% PayPal · $500: 3.59% 2.96% Stripe / Square · $500: 2.96% 3.54% PayPal · $1,000: 3.54% 2.93% Stripe / Square · $1,000: 2.93% 3.51% PayPal · $2,500: 3.51% 2.91% Stripe / Square · $2,500: 2.91% 3.5% PayPal · $5,000: 3.5% 2.91% Stripe / Square · $5,000: 2.91% PayPal Stripe / Square

What marketplaces take, by monthly earnings

Monthly earnings Upwork Fiverr Freelancer.com
fee /yr fee /yr fee /yr
$1,000 $100 $1,200 $200 $2,400 $100 $1,200
$3,000 $300 $3,600 $600 $7,200 $300 $3,600
$5,000 $500 $6,000 $1,000 $12,000 $500 $6,000
$10,000 $1,000 $12,000 $2,000 $24,000 $1,000 $12,000

Flat percentages scale linearly: the platform fee is small at the start and becomes a salary at volume.

A year of marketplace fees at $5,000 per month
Fiverr $12,000
Upwork $6,000
Freelancer.com $6,000

Methodology

Checked against the provider pages below on the date above. We model Stripe domestic cards at 2.9% + $0.30, PayPal Checkout at 3.49% + $0.49, and Square Free online payments at 3.3% + $0.30. For marketplaces, Fiverr pays 80% and Freelancer.com charges 10% on the listed scenarios; Upwork's published fee ranges from 0-15%, so our 10% is a planning scenario. Our tested engines compute each row. Different payment methods, plans, and contract terms can change the result.

Provider pricing pages:

Download the data

Processor fees CSV · Platform fees CSV · JSON

Free to reuse with a link back to this page.

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