Clover fees come from three separate places: the hardware, a monthly software plan, and a per-transaction processing rate, plus whatever markup the company that sold you the box adds on top. We sell and install Clover every week, and the complaint we hear most is not really about Clover. It is about a reseller who quoted a low rate up front and buried the real cost somewhere else.
Here is what Clover itself actually charges, what varies by who sold you the system, and how to buy it so the processing side stays fair.
The Three Places Clover Fees Actually Come From
Clover's own pricing FAQ (checked live on clover.com in August 2026) puts it plainly: “Clover merchants can expect to pay a monthly software fee plus processing rates per transaction,” and it offers Starter, Standard, and Advanced software and hardware plans, with “fees vary[ing] depending on your business type.” That gives you three cost lines before a single reseller markup is added:
- Hardware. Buy a terminal outright, finance it, or take it as part of a subscription bundle. Clover states plainly that subscriptions are “non-cancelable and ineligible for refunds,” though a subscription can be broken during a buyout or upgrade.
- The monthly software plan. This licenses the point-of-sale software, reporting, and the specific features your plan tier includes. The tier you need depends on whether you run a countertop retail counter, a full-service restaurant floor, or a simple payments device.
- The processing rate. A percentage of the sale plus a flat fee per transaction, charged every time a card runs.
Clover's pricing pages do not publish one number for any of these three lines. Instead they route you into a quote tool built around your business type, which is a real limitation if you are trying to comparison shop from your couch. It is also the reason so many “clover fees” threads on Reddit and elsewhere read like people comparing completely different accounts, because they are.
Clover's Own Rate Example, and Why It Isn't Necessarily Yours
The same FAQ explains how the rate is structured, using its own example numbers: “Our credit card processing rates consist of a transaction fee, which is a percentage of the amount charged, and a flat fee per charge (for example: 1.0% + 10¢). Credit card processing rates also come in pairs, meaning there is an ‘in-person’ fee where the card is presented at your POS card reader, and a slightly higher ‘typed-in’ fee for transactions (for example: 2.0% + 10¢) where the card is not present.”
Notice the word “example” appears twice. Clover is telling you how the rate is built, a percentage plus a flat fee, split into an in-person rate and a higher card-not-present rate, without promising those specific numbers to any given merchant. Your actual rate depends on your business type, your processing volume, and, most of all, who sold you the account. Treat any blog post that states one fixed “the Clover rate is X” number, ours included, as an illustration of the structure, not a quote for your business.
Why Two Merchants With the Same Clover Station Pay Different Rates
This is the part Clover itself confirms and most reviews skip. From the same pricing FAQ: “Contract terms and any termination fees can vary based on your service provider, whether Clover Direct or among our trusted partners including Citi, PNC and Wells Fargo, or from more than 3,000 other financial institution partners that also sell Clover solutions in the US.”
Read that again: more than 3,000 different banks and resellers sell the exact same hardware and software, and each one sets its own processing rate, contract length, and termination terms on top of it. Two merchants can buy an identical Clover Station and walk away with completely different pricing, because they bought it from different sellers, not because Clover charged them differently. That is also why so many “does Clover have hidden fees” complaints are really reseller complaints. The box is the same. The account behind it is not.
A Statement Walk-Through: Where Each Fee Lands
Using Clover's own example rates, here is how a single $50 in-person sale and a $50 phone order would appear on a statement, purely to illustrate the mechanics:
| Transaction | Example rate | Fee on a $50 sale |
|---|---|---|
| Card presented in person | 1.0% + 10¢ | $0.60 |
| Card keyed in or phoned in | 2.0% + 10¢ | $1.10 |
On top of those two lines, your statement will carry the monthly software plan fee as a single recurring charge, and, if your reseller adds one, a batch or statement fee. The processing lines move with your volume. The software line does not. If your effective rate (total fees divided by total card volume for the period) looks far higher than the example above once you include everything, that gap is your reseller's markup, and it is worth asking about directly. Our guide to reading a merchant statement walks through finding that number in about five minutes.
The “Hidden Fees” Complaints Are Usually Reseller Fees
We checked Clover's own pricing and FAQ pages line by line while writing this, and they do not list a platform fee, a PCI non-compliance fee, or an annual security fee anywhere. Those charges show up in complaints across review sites and forums, but they are added by the specific bank or reseller that boarded the account, not published by Clover as a standard cost. That matches what Clover itself says about contract terms varying by provider.
None of this means every reseller is padding your bill. A PCI compliance fee, for example, can be a legitimate pass-through cost tied to real PCI compliance work. The problem is when a fee shows up on your statement that nobody explained at signing. Ask for a complete, written fee schedule before you sign, and compare it against the fees merchants most often get surprised by.
Does Clover Charge a Debit Card Surcharge?
No, and this is not a Clover-specific choice. It is a card network rule. Visa's published merchant surcharge guidance is explicit: merchants must “limit surcharging to credit cards only (debit cards and prepaid cards cannot be surcharged),” and “U.S. merchants cannot surcharge purchases made using a Visa debit card or prepaid card,” even when the cardholder selects “credit” at the terminal, since that selection only controls signature versus PIN authorization, not the card type. This is a card network rule, not a federal law, and it holds for every processor and every terminal brand, Clover included.
On the credit side, Visa caps a surcharge at the merchant's own cost of acceptance or 3%, whichever is lower, and requires 30 days' notice to your acquirer before you start. For the full state-by-state picture on surcharging, see our credit card surcharge laws by state guide.
How to Buy Clover So the Processing Stays Fair
Since the hardware and software are identical no matter who sells them, the only real negotiation is the processing account behind the box. A few things worth doing before you sign with anyone:
- Ask for interchange-plus pricing, not a blended rate. An interchange-plus quote shows you the network cost and the markup separately, so you can judge whether the markup is reasonable instead of taking a single number on faith. See our pricing models comparison for how it stacks up against flat-rate.
- Get the full fee schedule in writing. Software plan, per-transaction rate, any monthly platform or PCI fee, batch fee, and the early termination terms, before you sign, not after your first statement.
- Ask who actually holds your merchant account. The reseller you bought the terminal from and the entity that sets your processing terms are not always the same company.
- Consider running Cash Discount on top of Clover. Clover supports a two-price setup at checkout that shows the card price and the cash price automatically. Paired with a compliant program, this can offset the processing side entirely rather than just negotiating the markup down. Our cash discount program guide covers the mechanics and the compliance rules.
If you are still deciding on hardware, our guide to choosing a POS system and our Clover versus Square comparison cover how Clover stacks up on features before you get to pricing at all.
Frequently asked questions
How much are Clover fees per transaction?
Clover does not publish one fixed rate. Its own FAQ describes the rate as a percentage plus a flat fee, split into a lower in-person rate and a higher rate for keyed-in or online sales, and says the numbers vary by business type and by which reseller sets up your account. The only number that matters is the one on your signed rate sheet.
What is the Clover monthly fee?
Clover charges a monthly software plan fee that scales with the tier and business type you pick, on top of any hardware cost. Clover's own pricing pages send you to a quote tool rather than listing a flat number, so get your specific plan cost in writing rather than relying on a number from a review site.
Does Clover have hidden fees?
Clover's own pricing pages do not list a platform fee, a PCI non-compliance fee, or similar charges. When merchants report fees like those, they typically trace back to the specific bank or reseller that boarded the account, since Clover confirms that contract terms and termination fees vary by provider. Ask for a complete written fee schedule before signing.
Does Clover charge a surcharge fee on debit cards?
No. Visa's published merchant surcharge rules prohibit surcharging debit and prepaid cards, including on Clover terminals, even when a debit card is run as credit. This comes from card network rules, not federal law, and applies no matter which processor you use.
Rules and provider terms change, and this article is not legal or compliance advice. Confirm current surcharge rules with your acquirer and current fees with your specific reseller before you sign.
Related reading: The hidden cost of “free” flat-rate POS · What is a good credit card processing rate?