Dough vs Chase: A Canadian Merchant's Honest Comparison

TL;DR

The 30-second answer

Chase isn't a bad processor — it's an enterprise processor. If you're a small or medium Canadian business, you're paying enterprise-overhead rates for service designed for businesses 100x your size. Dough is built for your scale.

Chase

Stick with Chase if…

You're an enterprise merchant with leverage to negotiate near-interchange rates
You're inside a long-term contract with high early termination fees
You need bank-level processing infrastructure for high-stakes transaction volume
You don't care about flexibility, perks, or a real relationship with your processor

Dough

Switch to Dough if…

You're a small or medium Canadian business processing under $500K/month
You want a choice between surcharging, IC+, or flat rate pricing
You want a free website and monthly social content as part of the deal
You're tired of statements that take a Chartered Accountant to read

Side-by-side

The honest comparison

Chase pricing is negotiable but rarely transparent for small business. Default rate cards are tiered with bundled fees. Here's how the two stack up.

	Dough	Chase
In-person credit card rate	$0 (surcharge) / IC+ 0.20% / 2.75% flat	Tiered & bundled — varies by negotiation
Debit transactions	$0.04 per transaction	Bundled into tiered rates
Pricing model choice	Surcharge, IC+, Flat, or Dual Pricing	Bundled tiered pricing as default
Statement readability	Plain language, line-by-line	Dense — qualified, mid-qualified, non-qualified tier coding
Hidden / surprise fees	None — every line itemized	PCI, monthly minimum, batch, statement, network access fees layered in
Contract length	Month-to-month or 4-year (your choice)	Typically multi-year with substantial early termination fees
Free website + social with processing	Yes — Boost program	No
Free custom AI tool	Yes — Boost program	No
Support	Real Canadian humans, founder-led	Tier-gated phone support, enterprise queue
Terminals	Clover Flex / Mini / Station Duo / Newland / Ingenico	Verifone / PAX units locked to Chase
Setup time	2–3 days from statement to live	Variable — enterprise underwriting timelines
Owner / parent company	Independent Canadian operator	JPMorgan Chase — largest US bank

Honest take

Where each one actually wins

Chase Paymentech earned its scale for a reason. It's just not the reason most small businesses think.

Where Chase wins

Enterprise scale. If you're processing $1M+/month, Chase will negotiate down to near-interchange rates that few processors can match.
Global infrastructure. For multi-country enterprise merchants, Chase's banking-network depth is hard to beat.
Banking relationship bundling. If your business already has deep banking ties with Chase, integration with your existing accounts can be convenient.
Brand confidence. Some merchants feel safer with the biggest US bank's name on their processing.

Where Dough wins

Lower overhead means lower rates. Chase has tens of thousands of employees and a massive corporate cost structure baked into every transaction. Dough doesn't.
Three pricing models to pick from — surcharge, IC+, flat — plus dual pricing for the right verticals. Chase bundles you into one tiered structure as a default.
Plain-English statements. Every fee itemized. No tier coding mystery.
The Boost program — free website, free monthly social content, custom AI, Google review cards. Chase gives nothing back.
Modern Clover hardware vs Chase's older Verifone and PAX fleet.
You talk to a real Canadian who runs the business, not an offshore tier-1 rep reading a script.
No early termination drama. Flexible contract structure to match how you want to pay for hardware.

Decision matrix

How to choose in 60 seconds

No fluff. Run yourself through this list.

Choose Chase if…

You're processing over $1M/month with the leverage to negotiate down to near-interchange.
You're a multi-location enterprise with banking already at Chase.
You're locked in a contract that's too expensive to break right now.
You don't care about Boost perks or pricing flexibility.

Choose Dough if…

You process under $500K/month and want actual transparency.
You want to surcharge and pay $0 in processing fees.
You want a free website and monthly content with your processing.
You're tired of statements that look like a phone bill.
You want a real human on the phone when you call.

Real switch story

What happens when you actually move

Ron's Transmission — an auto repair shop on Chase processing ~$50K/month. What the math looked like after switching.

We were with Chase for years. Statements were a mess, fees kept creeping up. Switched to Dough and within a month I was saving real money. Plus they built our website for free. Should've called Zachary two years ago.

— Ron, Ron's Transmission (auto repair, ~$50K/mo volume)

The numbers

Previous processorChase

Monthly card volume~$50,000

Old Chase fees~$1,500/mo

Dough fees~$700/mo

Boost perk earnedFree 5-page site

Monthly savings~$800/mo

FAQ

Switching from Chase — the questions we hear most

Is Dough cheaper than Chase?

For most Canadian small businesses, yes — significantly. Chase Paymentech (and the rebranded Chase Merchant Services in Canada) is built for big enterprise merchants. Their pricing for small business is typically tiered with bundled fees that obscure the actual cost. Dough offers transparent pricing models: surcharge ($0 in credit card processing fees), Interchange Plus (interchange + 0.20%), or flat rate at 2.75% + $0.15. Typical Dough merchants save 30–60% versus a Chase statement.

Why is Chase so expensive for small businesses?

JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States. Chase Paymentech operates at enterprise scale with massive infrastructure and corporate overhead built into every transaction. Their best pricing is reserved for enterprise merchants with leverage to negotiate. Small Canadian merchants get the default tiered rate cards — which is rarely competitive. Dough doesn't carry bank-level overhead, so we can offer lower rates and still reinvest margin into the merchant's business through the Boost program.

Am I locked into a long-term contract with Chase?

Most Chase merchant agreements include multi-year terms with substantial early termination fees. Read your contract carefully before assuming you can switch freely. Dough offers flexible contract options: month-to-month with no early termination fees, or a 4-year term if you want a free or subsidized terminal. You choose the structure that fits how you want to pay for your hardware.

Does Chase give back the way Dough's Boost program does?

No. Chase is a transactional processor — you pay their fees, they collect their margin, that's the relationship. Dough's Boost program reinvests our margin back into your business: free websites, free monthly social media content, custom AI tools, and Google review cards. Tier scales with monthly volume. No bank-owned Canadian processor offers anything close to this.

Can I keep my Chase terminal if I switch to Dough?

No. Chase terminals are programmed to work only with the Chase processing network. When you switch to Dough you'll move to a Clover Flex, Clover Mini, Clover Station Duo, or a Newland N910 — all of which run more powerful POS apps than the older Verifone and PAX units Chase typically deploys.

How long does it take to switch from Chase to Dough?

2 to 3 days from start to installed. Send your last Chase statement, we'll quote you, you sign the application, we ship and program your new terminal, and you're live. Your bank account doesn't change. Your bookkeeping doesn't change. The only thing changing is who's actually processing the cards.

Is it worth switching from Chase if I'm a high-volume merchant?

Often, yes. High-volume merchants are exactly the ones Chase quotes its best rates to — which sounds great until you realize most still pay more than they would with a transparent Interchange Plus model. Send us your Chase statement. We'll do the math line by line and show you whether switching makes sense. If it doesn't pencil out, we'll tell you straight.

Chase is built for Walmart. You're not Walmart.

Send us your Chase statement