Who Authorize.net is for

Authorize.net is the gateway you use when something else requires it. Your ecommerce platform only supports Authorize.net and PayPal. Your processor uses Authorize.net as their gateway. Your POS or invoicing system integrates with Authorize.net but not Stripe. In these scenarios, Authorize.net is the reliable, widely-compatible choice that works with virtually everything.

The gateway has been around since 1996 and is now owned by Visa. Over 430,000 merchants use it. That longevity means it has integration support that newer gateways have not caught up to: 145+ shopping carts, CRMs, invoicing tools, and business platforms. If your software supports only one payment gateway, it is probably Authorize.net.

The other reason to use Authorize.net: you already have a merchant account with a processor that gives you good rates, and you need a gateway to connect that processor to your website. Authorize.net’s gateway-only plan ($0.10 per transaction + $25/month) lets you keep your processor while using their gateway infrastructure. This is how most established businesses use it.

The two pricing plans

Authorize.net offers two ways to pay:

Plan	Monthly fee	Transaction fee	Best for
All-in-One	$25	2.9% + $0.30	Businesses that want gateway + processing bundled
Gateway Only	$25	$0.10 + $0.10 daily batch fee	Businesses with their own merchant account/processor

Both plans carry the same $25/month gateway fee. The difference is whether Authorize.net also handles your payment processing or just passes transactions to your existing processor.

All-in-One plan (2.9% + $0.30): Authorize.net handles both the gateway and the processing. You do not need a separate merchant account. The rate is identical to Stripe’s standard pricing, but you also pay the $25/month gateway fee. This makes the All-in-One plan more expensive than Stripe at every volume level unless you negotiate custom rates above $500K/year.

Gateway Only plan ($0.10 per transaction + $0.10 daily batch fee): You bring your own processor. Authorize.net charges a flat $0.10 per transaction plus a $0.10 daily batch fee (charged once per day when you batch out transactions). Your total cost is the $25/month gateway fee + the per-transaction gateway fees + whatever your processor charges.

eCheck/ACH: 0.75% per transaction with no fixed per-transaction fee. Available on both plans.

Additional fees:

Chargeback fee: $25 per dispute (Stripe charges $15, Braintree charges $15)
Setup fee: $0
Contract: No long-term contract, no early termination fee
PCI compliance: Your responsibility (Authorize.net provides tools to help, but you maintain compliance)

The stacking fee problem

This is the central issue with Authorize.net’s pricing. The fees stack.

With Stripe, you pay 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction and nothing else. No monthly fee. The gateway and processing are bundled.

With Authorize.net’s gateway-only plan, you pay:

$25/month gateway fee
$0.10 per transaction gateway fee
$0.10 daily batch fee
Your processor’s rate (interchange-plus, flat rate, or tiered)

For a business doing 500 transactions per month at $50 average ticket ($25,000/month):

Cost component	Monthly cost
Gateway fee	$25
Transaction fees (500 x $0.10)	$50
Batch fees (~30 x $0.10)	$3
Total gateway cost	$78
Processor (e.g., Dharma IC + 0.15% + $0.08)	~$528
Total cost	~$606

The same business on Stripe (2.9% + $0.30):

Cost component	Monthly cost
Processing (500 x ($1.45 + $0.30))	$875
Monthly fee	$0
Total cost	$875

At $25,000/month with a good interchange-plus processor, the Authorize.net gateway-only plan saves roughly $269/month compared to Stripe despite the stacking fees. That is because your processor’s rates are lower than Stripe’s 2.9%, and the gateway fees are relatively small at this volume.

But here is where it flips: at low volume, the $25/month fee and per-transaction charges make Authorize.net more expensive. At 100 transactions per month ($5,000 volume), the gateway fees alone are $38/month. Your total cost with a processor would be roughly $140. Stripe’s total cost on the same volume would be roughly $175. The savings are only $35/month, and if your processor is not interchange-plus (say it charges 2.6% + $0.15), the savings shrink to nearly zero.

The rule of thumb: Authorize.net’s gateway-only plan saves money when you process $10,000+/month and have an interchange-plus processor. Below that, Stripe’s bundled pricing with no monthly fee is simpler and often cheaper.

What you can do with Authorize.net

Accept payments online: Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover), debit cards, eChecks/ACH, Apple Pay. Integration through API, Accept.js (JavaScript library), or Accept Hosted (redirect/embed form).

Recurring billing (ARB): Automated Recurring Billing lets you set up subscription payments with automatic retries and card-on-file updates. When a customer’s card expires or gets replaced, Authorize.net automatically updates the card details through Visa and Mastercard’s account updater service. This reduces failed payments on subscriptions.

Customer profiles (CIM): Customer Information Manager stores tokenized payment information so returning customers do not need to re-enter card details. You store a customer profile, and Authorize.net handles the PCI-compliant storage. Now called “Accept Customer,” it provides a hosted form for managing stored payment methods.

Virtual terminal: Accept phone orders and mail orders by keying in card numbers through a web interface. Included with both plans. Useful for businesses that take orders over the phone.

Invoicing: Send payment requests to customers via email. Basic compared to dedicated invoicing tools, but functional for simple billing.

Fraud detection: The Advanced Fraud Detection Suite includes 13 configurable filters:

Address Verification System (AVS)
CVV verification
Daily velocity filter (limits transactions per day)
Amount filters (min/max transaction amounts)
IP address blocking
Shipping/billing address mismatch detection
Suspicious transaction filters

These filters are automatically configured for new accounts. You can customize thresholds. For businesses in higher-risk industries, the fraud suite is one of Authorize.net’s genuine strengths. Stripe Radar is more sophisticated (machine learning-based), but Authorize.net’s rule-based filters give you direct control over what gets blocked.

Integration options for developers

Authorize.net offers four integration paths, each with different PCI compliance implications:

Accept.js: A JavaScript library that tokenizes card data in the browser before it reaches your server. The card number never touches your infrastructure, reducing your PCI scope to SAQ A-EP. Good for custom checkout forms where you want design control.

Accept Hosted: A hosted, mobile-optimized payment form that you embed via iframe or redirect to. The simplest integration with the least PCI burden (SAQ A). You request a token via API, display the form, and Authorize.net handles the rest.

Accept Customer: Hosted form for storing and managing customer payment profiles. Replaces the legacy Hosted CIM. Handles card storage, updates, and deletions while keeping you at SAQ A compliance.

Authorize.net API: Full REST API supporting XML and JSON. Handles all transaction types, customer profiles, recurring billing, fraud management, and reporting. This is the deepest integration but requires the most development work and PCI responsibility.

The API documentation is comprehensive but dated in style. If you have used Stripe’s documentation (clean, interactive, with code examples in every language), Authorize.net’s docs will feel like a step back. They work, but the developer experience is not in the same league.

The admin interface

The Authorize.net admin dashboard is functional and dated. Transaction search, reporting, settlement batches, and account settings all work. The interface just looks and feels like it was built 10-15 years ago.

This matters less than you might think. Most businesses interact with their gateway through their ecommerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.), not through the gateway’s admin panel directly. You might log into Authorize.net to run a report, issue a refund, or check on a disputed transaction. For those tasks, the interface is fine. It is not enjoyable, but it gets the job done.

If you spend significant time in your gateway’s dashboard (managing subscriptions, running fraud reports, analyzing transaction data), Stripe’s dashboard is meaningfully better. If you log in once a month to check settlements, the interface difference is irrelevant.

Reliability

Authorize.net’s uptime is one of its genuine strengths. The platform has been processing payments for nearly 30 years, and major outages are rare. The status page shows consistent operational stability. For businesses where gateway downtime means lost sales, this track record matters.

That said, every gateway has occasional issues. Authorize.net’s January 2026 had a brief Merchant Interface login disruption that was resolved quickly. No major processing outages are documented in recent history.

Support and complaints

Support is available via phone and email. The quality is mixed based on BBB complaints and user reviews:

Billing disputes: Complaints about unauthorized monthly fees on dormant accounts. Multiple reports of merchants being charged the $25/month fee for years on accounts they thought were closed. If you stop using Authorize.net, close your account explicitly and confirm in writing
Fund holds on new accounts: Some merchants report account approval followed by fund holds during underwriting review, with deposits held for 90-120 days
Support quality: Reviews range from knowledgeable reps to unhelpful runarounds. The experience appears inconsistent

The BBB shows 53 complaints over three years, with 17 closed in the last 12 months. For a gateway with 430,000+ merchants, this complaint volume is relatively low.

Authorize.net vs. Stripe vs. Braintree

Feature	Authorize.net	Stripe	Braintree
Monthly fee	$25	$0	$0
Transaction fee (online)	2.9% + $0.30 (all-in-one) or $0.10 (gateway-only)	2.9% + $0.30	2.59% + $0.49
Chargeback fee	$25	$15	$15
Gateway-only option	Yes ($0.10/txn)	No	Yes (varies)
Integrations	145+	630+	40+
API/developer experience	Functional, dated	Best in class	Strong
Fraud tools	13 rule-based filters	Radar (ML-based, $0.05-$0.07/txn)	Basic + Kount add-on
Recurring billing	ARB with auto card update	Billing with smart retries	Vault with subscriptions
Setup complexity	Moderate	Easy (<5 min)	Moderate
Contract	Month-to-month	Month-to-month	Month-to-month
eCheck/ACH	0.75%	0.8% (capped at $5)	Via PayPal

Choose Authorize.net when: Your platform or processor requires it. You have a merchant account with an interchange-plus processor and need a gateway to connect it to your website. You need compatibility with legacy systems or niche software that only integrates with Authorize.net.

Choose Stripe when: You want the simplest setup, the best developer experience, and bundled gateway + processing with no monthly fee. You are building a modern ecommerce site or SaaS product. You process under $500K/year and do not have a separate merchant account.

Choose Braintree when: You want PayPal integration alongside standard card processing. You run a subscription business and want Braintree’s vault and recurring billing tools. You want a $0/month gateway with competitive rates.

Who should not use Authorize.net

New businesses without an existing processor: If you do not already have a merchant account, there is no reason to pay $25/month for Authorize.net’s all-in-one plan when Stripe offers the same rate (2.9% + $0.30) with no monthly fee and a better dashboard.

Low-volume businesses (under $10K/month): The $25/month gateway fee and per-transaction charges eat into margins. Stripe’s bundled pricing with no monthly fee is almost always cheaper below $10K/month.

Developers building new projects: Stripe’s API, documentation, and developer tools are significantly better. Unless your client specifically requires Authorize.net, Stripe is the faster and more pleasant integration.

Businesses that need the latest payment methods: Authorize.net supports Apple Pay but is slower to adopt new payment methods compared to Stripe (which supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, Cash App Pay, Afterpay, Klarna, and more). If offering cutting-edge checkout options matters for your conversion rate, Stripe stays ahead.

Bottom line

Authorize.net is the gateway you choose for compatibility, not for price or developer experience. It integrates with more platforms, processors, and business tools than any other gateway. If your ecommerce software, accounting system, or processor requires Authorize.net, it works reliably and the fraud detection tools are solid.

The cost is higher than modern alternatives. The $25/month fee plus per-transaction charges stack on top of your processor’s rates. At $25,000/month with a good interchange-plus processor, the total gateway cost is roughly $78/month, which is worth it if your processor’s rates are low enough to make the combined cost beat Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30. Below $10,000/month, the math rarely works in Authorize.net’s favor.

If you are starting from scratch with no existing processor relationship, Stripe is the better choice. If you have a processor you like and need a gateway to connect them to your online sales, Authorize.net’s gateway-only plan at $0.10 per transaction is the standard tool for the job. A statement audit can show you whether your current gateway + processor combination is costing you more than a bundled alternative like Stripe.

Authorize.net

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