Sooner or later a business client replies to an invoice with "can we pay by card?", or the opposite: "just send bank details, we pay everything by ACH." If you invoice other businesses, the honest answer is usually to offer both and know where each one fits.
This post compares card and ACH for B2B invoices: which kinds of invoice suit each, how the fees scale, and what invoicing and recurring billing look like in practice. We build SaturnShift, so we use it for the concrete numbers and limits. The trade-offs themselves apply to most tools.
The short version
- ACH suits larger, one-time invoices from clients who pay from a US bank account. On a percentage fee, the gap between card and ACH grows with every dollar on the invoice.
- Card suits smaller invoices, clients who want to pay on a company card, and anything recurring, because recurring billing charges a card.
- Offering both on the same invoice lets the client choose, which removes one reason for an invoice to sit unpaid.
When card fits
Recurring work. In SaturnShift, recurring billing charges a card. Recurring ACH is not available. If you bill a fixed retainer every month, a card subscription is the route (more on that below).
Smaller invoices. Platform fees are a percentage plus a fixed amount, so on a small invoice the difference between card and ACH is a few cents to a few dollars. Convenience for the client often matters more.
Clients who want to pay by card. Some businesses put supplier spend on a company card for their own reasons. Offering card means one less reason for the invoice to wait in someone's queue.
When ACH fits
Larger invoices. This is where the fee gap shows (see the worked numbers below). For a $10,000 project invoice, the difference is no longer a rounding error.
Clients who already pay suppliers from a bank account. For them, a bank payment option is simply the expected way to pay, and asking them to use a card adds friction.
Two conditions to know: ACH in SaturnShift is for payers with US bank accounts, and it is for one-time payments such as invoices and payment links, not subscriptions.
What the fees look like
Here are SaturnShift's platform fees per transaction for card and ACH, from the pricing page:
| Plan | Monthly price | Card | ACH |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $0 | 0.35% + $0.10 | 0.25% + $0.10 |
| Full Suite | $69 | 0.15% + $0.10 | 0.05% + $0.10 |
Crypto Suite ($49) is stablecoin only, so it has no card or ACH fees.
One important caveat: Stripe processes card and ACH payments, and Stripe's own processing charges apply on top of these platform fees. The table is not the all-in cost of a payment. We are not quoting Stripe's charges here; check them before you compare totals.
With that caveat, here is the SaturnShift platform fee alone on two invoice sizes:
| Invoice | Starter card | Starter ACH | Full Suite card | Full Suite ACH |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | $7.10 | $5.10 | $3.10 | $1.10 |
| $10,000 | $35.10 | $25.10 | $15.10 | $5.10 |
Two things fall out of this:
- Plan choice matters as much as rail choice. On both card and ACH, Full Suite's platform fee is 0.20 percentage points lower than Starter's. On platform fees alone, that gap covers Full Suite's $69 a month at about $34,500 of monthly card and ACH volume. Below that, the case for Full Suite rests on its features (recurring billing, no monthly invoice cap) rather than fees.
- ACH's advantage scales with invoice size. On the platform fee, ACH is 0.10 percentage points cheaper than card on either plan: $2 on a $2,000 invoice, $10 on a $10,000 one. Add Stripe's charges for each method before deciding where to steer clients.
Some businesses pass processing fees on to the customer. SaturnShift supports processing-fee pass-through and late fees on invoices. Check what your plan includes on the pricing page, and check the rules that apply to your business before you pass card fees on.
What invoicing looks like
The practical point is one invoice, several ways to pay. You send one invoice, and the client picks card, ACH or stablecoin (subject to plan) on SaturnShift's hosted checkout page. You don't send a separate bank-details PDF and a separate card link and then match them up by hand.
Around that:
- Branded invoices and templates, so recurring clients get a consistent layout.
- CSV import and bulk send, if invoices start life in a spreadsheet or another system.
- Automatic email reminders before the due date and after an invoice is overdue. Reminders skip invoices that are already paid or have a payment in progress, so a client who just paid by ACH doesn't get chased.
- Text to Pay, to send an invoice or payment link by SMS.
- Limits: Starter includes up to 10 invoices per calendar month; paid plans have no monthly invoice cap. There are no payment plans or instalments.
What recurring billing looks like
Recurring billing is a Full Suite feature for approved merchants, and it charges a card. You create subscription plans, bill customers on a schedule, and manage or cancel subscribers from your account. We covered the model and its limits in detail in our post on hosted subscription links.
For B2B work, the pattern that tends to fit is a split:
- Fixed monthly retainer: card subscription.
- Project work, overages and one-off fees: one-time invoices, where the client can choose ACH for the larger amounts.
Getting it into the books
QuickBooks Online is available on Crypto Suite and Full Suite. With it connected, invoices, payments, refunds and fees are reflected in your books. Subscription payments do not sync to QuickBooks Online, so decide upfront how retainer payments reach your accounting. The QuickBooks Online page has the details, and our invoice-to-QuickBooks walkthrough covers the data flow.
The honest trade-offs
- Stripe's charges are extra for card and ACH, and they belong in any cost comparison.
- No recurring ACH. Clients who want to pay a monthly retainer by bank transfer have to pay one-time invoices instead.
- ACH payers need US bank accounts.
- No promised payout time. Timing depends on the payment method and processing conditions, so leave slack in your own cash planning.
- Approval first. Every account completes Stripe onboarding and a SaturnShift review, and you can start accepting payments once your account is approved.
FAQ
Is ACH always cheaper than card?
On SaturnShift's platform fee, ACH is lower than card on both Starter and Full Suite. Stripe's processing charges are added to both, so compare the totals.
Can a client pay the same invoice by either method?
Yes. One invoice can be paid by card or ACH (and stablecoin, subject to plan); the client chooses at checkout.
Can I bill a monthly retainer by ACH?
Not as a subscription. Recurring billing charges a card; use one-time invoices for ACH.
Do I need a paid plan to accept card and ACH?
No. Starter ($0) includes card and ACH, with up to 10 invoices a month. Recurring billing is on Full Suite.
To compare plans, see pricing. If it fits, create a SaturnShift account, set up your invoices and start accepting payments once your account is approved.
Top comments (1)
the plan-choice point is the one most cost comparisons miss. people fixate on the card-vs-ACH rate spread and ignore that a 0.05% versus 0.35% platform delta on the same invoice is often a bigger swing than the rail itself. also worth underlining the 'not the all-in cost' caveat: the percentage-plus-fixed structure means the ACH advantage compresses on small invoices where the fixed component dominates, which is exactly why the fixed retainer-on-card split makes sense. the no-recurring-ACH gap is honest to call out; bank-debit recurring in the US still fights NACHA authorization and return windows, so most platforms quietly punt on it.