Getting paid on time is the difference between a service business that grows and one that spends half its week chasing invoices. Which payment processor you use affects how fast you get your money, how much you lose to fees, and how smoothly it plugs into your scheduling and invoicing tools. Here's how the main options stack up for cleaning companies, landscapers, and other field service businesses in the US (with UK notes throughout).
What matters when choosing a payment processor
Before comparing brands, it helps to know what actually moves the needle for a service business:
- Transaction fees — usually 2.6%–3.5% per card transaction, which adds up fast on recurring cleaning jobs.
- Payout speed — standard is 1–2 business days; instant payout options usually cost extra.
- Recurring billing support — critical if you bill weekly or biweekly cleaning clients on autopay.
- ACH / bank transfer support (US) or Bacs/Direct Debit (UK) — much cheaper than card fees for repeat clients.
- Integration with your scheduling/invoicing software — so payments trigger automatically after a job, without manual entry.
- Chargeback and dispute handling — service businesses get disputed charges more often than retail.
Top payment processors for US service businesses
Stripe
Stripe is the default choice for businesses that want flexibility and solid developer/API support, but it also works fine for non-technical owners through integrations. Standard card rate is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction; ACH debit is 0.8% capped at $5, which is far cheaper for repeat clients on autopay.
Square
Square is popular with home service businesses because of its all-in-one hardware (card readers, terminals) plus software. Card-present rate is around 2.6% + $0.10; card-not-present (invoices, online) is 3.5% + $0.15. Square Invoices is genuinely useful for one-off jobs like carpet cleaning or move-out cleans.
QuickBooks Payments
If you already do your books in QuickBooks, this keeps invoicing and reconciliation in one place. Rates run about 2.9%–3.4% for cards and 1% for ACH. The tradeoff is it's less flexible outside the QuickBooks ecosystem.
PayPal / Venmo Business
Familiar to customers, easy to set up, but fees are on the higher end (around 3.49% + $0.49 for invoices) and payout holds can be unpredictable for new accounts. Fine as a secondary option, riskier as your only one.
GoCardless (US and UK)
Built specifically for recurring payments via bank debit rather than cards. For a cleaning business billing the same clients every week or month, GoCardless fees (around 1% capped at $10/£4) are dramatically cheaper than card processing, and failed payment retry logic is built in.
Top payment processors for UK service businesses
Stripe (UK)
Same strengths as the US version — card rate around 1.5% + 20p for UK cards, 2.5% + 20p for international cards. Works well with most UK-facing booking and invoicing tools.
SumUp
Common among UK cleaners and trades for card readers and simple invoicing. Card rates around 1.69% for reader payments, competitive for smaller businesses that mostly take payment in person.
GoCardless
Especially strong in the UK because Direct Debit is the default way many households already pay recurring bills. For weekly or fortnightly domestic cleaning, this is often the cheapest and most reliable option — clients rarely need to re-enter card details after a card expires.
Square (UK)
Same hardware-plus-software model as the US, with UK card rates around 1.75% in person and 2.5% for invoices/online.
Comparison at a glance
| Processor | Best for | Typical card fee | Recurring billing | Payout speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Flexible setup, integrations | 2.9% + $0.30 (US) / 1.5% + 20p (UK) | Strong | 1–2 days |
| Square | In-person + invoicing | 2.6–3.5% (US) / 1.75–2.5% (UK) | Good | 1–2 days |
| QuickBooks Payments | Businesses already using QuickBooks | 2.9–3.4% | Good | 1–2 days |
| PayPal | Occasional/one-off payments | ~3.49% + $0.49 | Weak-Moderate | Variable |
| GoCardless | Recurring bank debit clients | ~1% (capped) | Excellent | 2–5 days |
Card fees vs. bank debit: do the math
On a $30 weekly cleaning job, a 3% card fee costs you about $0.90 per visit, or roughly $47 a year per client. Multiply that across 50 recurring clients and you're losing over $2,000 a year to processing fees alone. Bank debit options like ACH (US) or Direct Debit via GoCardless (UK) typically cut that cost by more than half — worth setting up even if you keep cards as a backup option.
How this connects to scheduling and invoicing
A payment processor on its own only solves half the problem. The real time savings come when payment is triggered automatically after a job is marked complete — no separate invoice email, no manual follow-up, no chasing late payers. This is where your choice of scheduling and invoicing software matters as much as the processor itself. Some tools (Jobber, Housecall Pro, CleanWhale) integrate directly with Stripe or their own payment layer so invoicing and collection happen in one flow instead of three separate steps.
If you're comparing full platforms rather than just payment processors, see our detailed breakdown: Jobber vs Housecall Pro vs CleanWhale.
Which setup should you actually pick?
- Mostly one-off jobs (deep cleans, move-outs) → Square or Stripe, card-first.
- Mostly recurring clients (weekly/biweekly cleaning) → GoCardless or ACH via Stripe for lower fees and fewer failed payments.
- Already using QuickBooks for books → QuickBooks Payments to avoid reconciliation headaches.
- Small crew, simple needs → whichever processor your scheduling software integrates with natively, so you're not managing two separate systems.
Get paid without the chasing
CleanWhale handles online booking, scheduling, invoicing, and payment reminders in one place, so recurring clients get billed automatically and you're not stuck manually reconciling payments across tools. Check plans & pricing or see the full toolset on the features page.