Every other processor in Canada takes your fees and disappears. We built Dough to do the opposite — give back to the merchants whose fees pay our bills.
Dough Payments was founded in Hamilton, Ontario in 2022 by Zachary, after watching too many Canadian small business owners get squeezed by their processors — paying thousands a month in fees and getting nothing in return except a confusing statement and a 1-800 number nobody answers.
The math never made sense. Small businesses are the customers paying the most, in raw dollars, relative to what they get back. Big-box merchants negotiate their rates down to nearly nothing. The shop on the corner pays 3% on every transaction and never gets a phone call.
So we built the processor we wished existed.
Three pricing models — surcharge, Interchange Plus, or flat — plus dual pricing where it fits. Whatever model keeps the most dough in your pocket, that's the one we put you on.
Plain-English statements. Every fee itemized. No tier coding mystery. No bundled "network access fees" buried on page four.
The Boost program. We reinvest our margin back into the merchant's business through free websites, monthly social media content, custom AI tools, and Google review cards. Tier scales with monthly volume. No other Canadian processor does this — because no other Canadian processor was built around the idea that the merchant should get something back.
And a real human relationship. You call, Zachary answers. You email, you hear back the same day. You have a problem, a real person figures it out with you.
A few facts about Dough as of 2026.
No mission statement. No corporate values poster. Just four things we run the business by.
We don't chase enterprise. We don't chase high-risk. We exist for the shop on the corner, the contractor in the truck, the agency on the laptop. #teamsmallbusiness isn't a hashtag — it's the entire customer base.
You pay processing fees you'd pay anyway. Now you get a free website, free social content, a custom AI tool, and review cards on top. That's the Boost program. That's the whole pitch.
You shouldn't need a chartered accountant to read your processing statement. Every fee should be itemized. Every rate should be explainable in one sentence. If we can't say it plainly, we don't say it.
No offshore tier-1 queues. No chat bots. No 1-800 voicemail jail. You call, you get Zachary or someone who actually knows your account. That's the standard, not the exception.
There are dozens of payment processors in Canada. On rate alone, you could find one or two as competitive as Dough. So the honest answer to "what makes Dough different" isn't a list of features. It's three things, in order of strength.
No other Canadian processor reinvests its margin back into merchants through free websites, free social media content, custom AI tools, and review cards. This is uncopyable without rebuilding the company around it. Big processors won't — their cost structures don't allow for it. Small processors can't — they don't have the operational depth to deliver on it.
Dough is founder-led, Hamilton-based, real-name visible. For older merchants, trades, and small business owners who'd rather work with a person than a portal, this matters more than the rate sheet.
Three pricing models plus dual pricing. Most processors push merchants into one model. Dough builds the pricing around your industry, ticket size, and customer mix.
Canadian small and medium business owners who currently process credit cards and are paying too much. That's the entire target market.
The industries where Dough fits best:
Where we don't operate: US merchants, high-risk verticals (CBD, firearms, gambling, adult), enterprise / Fortune 500, and general e-commerce storefronts.
Two to three days from statement to live. Real human on the phone. Free Boost perks on top. That's the whole deal.