A gateway monthly fee is a flat, recurring subscription charge for using a payment gateway. It covers the merchant's account, access to the dashboard and reporting, support and maintenance of the connection to processors, and is charged each month whether the merchant processes many transactions or none. It typically sits alongside a per-transaction gateway fee.
Monthly fees are common with standalone gateways and with traditional merchant service packages, while many modern payment service providers charge no monthly fee and earn revenue only from transaction pricing. Some providers waive the fee above a certain volume or replace it with a monthly minimum fee, which applies only if transaction charges fall below a threshold. Merchants with low or seasonal volumes should compare these structures, since fixed fees can make the effective cost of acceptance per transaction high. Other recurring charges may include a PCI fee.