Stop getting frozen by Stripe.
Your agency processes $30K, $100K, sometimes $500K a month in client retainers. Stripe sees that volume spike and locks your account for 90 days. Then the chargeback hits and they hold the rest. Dough is a real merchant account, underwritten by humans, built around the way agencies actually run — recurring retainers, HighLevel integration, virtual terminal for one-off invoices, no random freezes. Interchange-plus pricing that usually saves agencies 30 to 50 percent versus Stripe.
See what your agency would save
Send us a sample month of your Stripe statements and we'll show you exactly what interchange-plus would do to your monthly bill — and how fast we can get you onto a real merchant account.
Stripe wasn't built for agencies. It shows.
Stripe was built for SaaS startups with predictable subscription volume. Your agency has lumpy retainers, the occasional huge campaign payment, and clients whose cards bounce. Stripe's algorithm hates all three.
Random account freezes
Onboard a new $20K/mo retainer client and Stripe locks your funds for "review." Funds held 90 to 180 days. Your payroll doesn't wait that long.
Chargeback clawbacks that never end
Lose one $5K chargeback and Stripe doesn't just take that one back — they up your reserve and start watching every transaction more closely.
2.9% + 30¢ on every transaction
At $100K a month that's roughly $3,000 a month in fees. Interchange-plus pricing on a real merchant account usually saves agencies 30 to 50% of that.
Support is a chatbot
When your account gets locked, you email "support" and get a templated reply 48 hours later. With Dough you call Zachary. Real human, same day.
Three reasons agencies switch and stay.
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Real merchant accounts. Real underwriting. Real stability.
Stripe is a payment facilitator — they aggregate millions of merchants under one umbrella account, which is why their algorithm has to be paranoid. Dough sets you up with your own merchant account, underwritten by a human who looked at your business. Once you're approved, you don't get re-evaluated every Tuesday.
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HighLevel and the agency software stack, no rebuild required.
If you're on HighLevel, Dough plugs into the existing payment flow. Recurring subscriptions, one-off invoices, hosted checkout — all the same workflows your team already uses. We've onboarded plenty of HighLevel agencies. We know the integration cold.
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Interchange-plus pricing kills the Stripe markup.
You're paying Stripe a flat 2.9% + 30¢ on everything. Dough's IC+ pricing is wholesale interchange plus a 0.20% markup. On most agency volumes that's a 30 to 50% reduction in your monthly processing bill. Same money, different pocket.
$100K/mo agency on Stripe, switching to IC+
Estimate based on typical agency card mix and average ticket. Real savings depend on your client mix, ticket sizes, and chargeback rate. Send a sample month of your Stripe data and we'll show you the exact math for your agency.
Card-not-present, built for agencies.
Most agencies don't need a countertop terminal. You need recurring billing that doesn't break, virtual terminal for one-off invoices, and a hosted checkout for new client signup. Here's the stack.
Authorize.Net
Owned by Visa. The recurring billing engine for most agency setups — subscription retainers run automatically, failed cards retry on a schedule, virtual terminal for one-off charges, hosted checkout pages for new client signup.
- Recurring monthly retainers
- Virtual terminal for invoices
- Hosted checkout pages
- Plays nicely with HighLevel
- Failed-payment retry logic
Converge
Owned by Elavon. Alternative gateway for B2B invoicing and virtual terminal. Supports surcharging on online transactions if you want to pass fees on B2B clients.
HighLevel integration
If you're already on HighLevel, Dough plugs into the existing payment flow. Your funnels, subscriptions, and invoices keep running.
Clover Flex (optional)
For agencies that occasionally meet clients in person and want to take a card on the spot. Wireless, takes signatures, prints receipts.
Custom checkout pages
Branded hosted payment pages so client signups feel like part of your agency, not a Stripe-branded redirect.
All gateways are configurable for recurring billing, virtual terminal, and HighLevel integration. See all our terminal options →
Why agencies switch from Stripe — and don't go back.
"We had $40K of client revenue locked up by Stripe for almost three months after we onboarded a new retainer. That was the day we started looking. Dough got us approved on a real merchant account in two days and we haven't had a single hold since."
A Canadian growth agency — $80K/mo recurring, switched from Stripe in 2025
A typical mid-sized agency. Stripe was charging roughly $2,400 a month on $80K of card volume. Dough's interchange-plus pricing brought that down to about $950 — and they got off the platform-risk model. No more arbitrary holds. No more chargeback clawbacks triggering reserve increases.
Typical agency numbers
The stuff Stripe charges you for, included.
No app marketplace. No tier upgrade prompts. The stack agencies actually need to run client billing — set up correctly the first time.
Real merchant account
Underwritten on your actual business, not aggregated under a payment-facilitator umbrella. Once you're approved, you stay approved.
HighLevel + agency stack integration
Plugs into your existing HighLevel funnels, subscriptions, and invoicing. Your team doesn't rebuild a single workflow during the switch.
Recurring retainers that don't break
Monthly subscriptions run automatically. Failed cards retry on a schedule. You get a heads-up before a decline hits your cash flow.
A real human on the phone
You call Zachary. Same day. No chatbot, no 48-hour ticket queue, no escalation path through three levels of "support."
If you bill clients monthly, we can help.
Doesn't matter what flavour of agency you run — if you charge cards, we process them.
Quick answers, no fluff.
The questions every agency asks before switching from Stripe. If yours isn't here, call us at (647) 691-9085.
Dough is a real merchant account underwritten by humans — once you're approved, you stay approved unless something genuinely changes.
The difference with Dough versus Stripe is that one chargeback won't trigger a full account freeze. Your other revenue keeps flowing while the dispute plays out.
On a $100K per month agency, that's typically $1,500 to $3,000 a month in savings. Send a sample month of your Stripe statements and we'll show you the exact comparison.
If you ever do an in-person meeting where a client wants to pay on the spot, we can add a Clover Flex later. See all terminal options →
Because we're underwriting your agency individually rather than aggregating you under a payment facilitator, we look at your actual business — your services, your client mix, your chargeback history — and approve based on that. Once approved, you stay approved unless something genuinely changes about your business.
Make more dough from every retainer.
Send us a sample month of your Stripe statements. We'll show you exactly what your agency would save and how fast we can get you onto a real merchant account. No commitment, no pushy reps.