Cannabis Pay Hub logomarkCannabis PayHub

Calculator · Fees and Pricing

Cannabis payment cost calculator

Published August 12, 2026 · Last reviewed · Cannabis Pay Hub editorial team

Effective payment cost is total fees divided by total payment volume. This calculator applies that formula to the fee types cannabis merchants actually see — percentage rate, per-transaction fee, monthly account and gateway fees, and the working-capital cost of a rolling reserve — using only figures you enter from your own statement.

Your figures

Take these from one month of your own statement. Nothing is sent anywhere; the maths runs in your browser.

Result

Percentage fees
$8,750.00
Per-transaction fees
$1,250.00
Fixed monthly fees
$148.00
Total monthly cost
$10,148.00
Effective rate
4.06%
Cost per transaction
$2.03
Reserve held (at this volume)
$12,500.00
Monthly carrying cost of that reserve
$104.17
Effective rate including reserve carry
4.10%
Annualised cost (excluding reserve carry)
$121,776.00

Reserve carry is the cost of money you cannot use while it is held. It is a real cost of the arrangement, but it is not a fee charged by the provider, so it is shown separately.

Published formulas

Every figure below is computed from your inputs with formulas we publish, so the result is reproducible and auditable. We do not embed assumed rates, benchmarks or industry averages, because pricing depends on the provider, the payment method and the merchant's own history.

  • Percentage fees = monthly volume × percentage rate
  • Per-transaction fees = transaction count × per-transaction fee
  • Fixed fees = monthly account fee + gateway or platform fee
  • Reserve carrying cost = monthly volume × reserve percentage × (annual cost of capital ÷ 12)
  • Effective rate = (percentage fees + per-transaction fees + fixed fees) ÷ monthly volume
  • Cost per transaction = total monthly cost ÷ transaction count

Educational reference material, not legal, tax or compliance advice. Rules, banking availability and provider policies change; check the linked primary source and the last-reviewed date before relying on anything here.

Cite this resource

Resource
Cannabis Payment Cost Calculator
Publisher
Cannabis Pay Hub · Cannabis Pay Hub editorial team
Published / updated
August 12, 2026 /
Canonical URL
https://cannabispayhub.com/resources/payment-cost-calculator

Cannabis Pay Hub. "Cannabis Payment Cost Calculator." Published August 12, 2026; updated August 12, 2026. https://cannabispayhub.com/resources/payment-cost-calculator

Attribution style: Cannabis Pay Hub (2026). Quote any passage with a link to the canonical URL above.

Related pages in this cluster

How cannabis payment pricing is structured — transaction fees, monthly charges, reserves and pass-through costs.

QuestionWhat do cannabis payment processors chargeThere is no single published rate. Dispensary payment costs are usually built from a per-transaction fee or percentage, a monthly platform or account fee, hardware or gateway charges, and sometimes reserve requirements — and they vary by payment method, provider, ticket size and volume. Compare total monthly cost per transaction, not headline rates.Open QuestionCan I negotiate my dispensary processing rateSome components are negotiable and some are not. Provider margin, monthly platform fees, gateway charges, contract length and reserve structure can often be discussed, especially with volume and clean history. Underlying network, bank program and compliance costs generally are not.Open Glossarywhat Discount rate meansThe percentage a processor charges on transaction volume, separate from per-item and monthly fees.Open ArticleCannabis Processor Pricing Models Side by SideCannabis processors price using a handful of structural models, and the labels matter less than what each one hides.Open GlossarySurchargeA fee added to a customer's transaction to offset acceptance cost. Legality and network rules vary by state and payment type.Open ServicePayment Processing Cost ReductionLine-by-line statement work that removes real cost — not marketing math.Open Case studya worked example in retailNorthStar Home Market ran 28 stores on four processors with four reporting systems. Consolidation delivered a 19% lower effective processing cost and one reporting surface.Open QuestionDispensary surcharge rulesSometimes. Many cannabis debit and ATM-style programs historically pass a fixed customer-paid fee, and some states allow surcharging or convenience fees with disclosure requirements, while others restrict them. What is permitted depends on the payment method, network or program rules, and state law — confirm all three before enabling it.Open GlossaryInterchange (glossary)The fee set by card networks and paid to the card-issuing bank on a card transaction.Open

Read next

  1. 1What do cannabis payment processors chargeThere is no single published rate. Dispensary payment costs are usually built from a per-transaction fee or percentage, a monthly platform or account fee, hardware or gateway charges, and sometimes reserve requirements — and they vary by payment method, provider, ticket size and volume. Compare total monthly cost per transaction, not headline rates.
  2. 2Can I negotiate my dispensary processing rateSome components are negotiable and some are not. Provider margin, monthly platform fees, gateway charges, contract length and reserve structure can often be discussed, especially with volume and clean history. Underlying network, bank program and compliance costs generally are not.
  3. 3Cannabis Processor Pricing Models Side by SideCannabis processors price using a handful of structural models, and the labels matter less than what each one hides.

Have us check the statement behind these numbers

Send a recent statement and we will identify which line items are pass-through, which are markup, and what a like-for-like comparison would need to include.

Get a Free Payment Review Discuss an Integration

Educational reference material, not legal, tax or compliance advice. Rules, banking availability and provider policies change; check the linked primary source and the last-reviewed date before relying on anything here.