Big retainers, big fees. Cut both.
A $5,000 retainer on Stripe or PayPal costs you $145 in fees. Across a year of monthly retainers, that's a junior bonus going to a payment processor instead of your team. Dough's interchange-plus pricing usually saves professional service firms 30 to 50% on processing — and Boost funds the professional website most firms keep meaning to redo. Trust-account compliant. Set up in 2 to 3 days.
See what your firm would save
Send us your last statement and we'll show you exactly what your firm's monthly bill would be on Dough — plus which Boost tier your volume qualifies for.
Professional services have a fee problem nobody talks about.
Your tickets are big. Your volume is predictable. Your processor is treating you like a coffee shop. Most firms haven't audited their processing in years and have no idea what they're paying.
3% on every $5K retainer
That's $150 per retainer, every month, for the same client. Across 30 monthly retainers, you're shipping a junior salary to your processor.
Trust account compliance is a minefield
Law society rules about how processing fees interact with trust deposits trip up most firms. Your processor doesn't know the rules — and neither does your bookkeeper most months.
Account holds when volume spikes
Onboard a big new client, take a $25K retainer, watch Stripe lock the funds for "review" while you scramble to make payroll.
The website that hasn't been touched since 2019
Your firm bills $3M a year and the homepage still has a stock photo of a handshake on it. Clients Google you before they call. The site is the first impression.
Three reasons firms switch and stay.
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Predictable volume + big tickets = the math works hard.
Professional services have the perfect profile for interchange-plus pricing. Predictable monthly retainers, big average tickets, low chargeback rates. The savings versus Stripe or PayPal usually run 30 to 50% — and the bigger your retainers, the bigger the gap.
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Trust-account-aware setup, configured to your provincial rules.
If you're a lawyer, your provincial law society has specific rules about how processing fees interact with trust deposits. We know the rules in Ontario, Alberta, BC, and the rest. Tell us where you're called and we'll set up the deposit and fee flows correctly the first time.
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The Boost program funds the professional website your firm keeps meaning to redo.
Most firms have a website from 2019 with a homepage stock photo of a handshake. Clients Google you before they call. The Pro tier of Boost gets you a five-page firm website built by Dough — clean, modern, professional — funded by processing fees you'd be paying anyway.
$50K/mo law firm on Stripe, switching to IC+
Estimate based on a typical professional services card mix and average retainer size. Real savings depend on your client mix and volume. Send your last Stripe or PayPal statement and we'll show you the exact math for your firm.
Card-not-present, configured for retainers.
Most firms don't need a counter terminal. You need recurring retainer billing, hosted invoice links, and a virtual terminal for phone payments. Here's the stack.
Authorize.Net
Owned by Visa. The recurring billing engine for most professional services setups — monthly retainers run automatically, hosted invoice links for project payments, virtual terminal for phone-based collection. Trust-account-aware fee routing.
- Recurring monthly retainers
- Virtual terminal for phone payments
- Hosted invoice payment links
- Failed-payment retry logic
- Trust-account-compliant config
Converge
Alternative gateway for B2B invoicing. Supports surcharging on online transactions if your firm wants to pass card fees on large engagements.
Clover Mini (optional)
For firms with walk-in clients or downtown offices that occasionally take an in-person card. Compact countertop with a built-in receipt printer.
Practice management integrations
Works alongside common firm software like Clio, PracticePanther, QuickBooks, and Xero. Mention your stack on the call.
Branded payment pages
Hosted checkout pages with your firm's branding so client payments don't look like a Stripe redirect.
Most firms don't need terminal hardware at all. See all our terminal options →
The numbers most firms don't realize they're losing every month.
"We hadn't audited processing in five years. Dough showed me we were paying about $1,500 a month to Stripe on $50K of retainers. Switched, dropped to about $650, and got a new firm website on top of it."
A typical Canadian law firm — anonymized example, $50K/mo card volume
Most professional service firms look like this — predictable monthly retainers, big average tickets, low chargeback rates, and a payment processor that hasn't been audited in years. Switching to interchange-plus pricing typically saves $400 to $1,000+ a month. The Pro tier of the Boost program kicks in around $30K/mo and includes a free firm website.
Typical firm numbers
The professional website your firm keeps meaning to redo.
Most firms have a website that hasn't been touched in years. Clients Google you before they call. Boost is the easiest way to fix that — funded by processing fees you'd be paying anyway.
Firm website built for you
Five to seven pages. Practice areas, attorney or partner bios, contact form, blog. Clean professional design. Hosted free at the Pro and Premium tiers.
Monthly LinkedIn-ready content
Professional posts for LinkedIn and Facebook every month — graphics and captions. Up to 12 posts a month at the Premium tier. No video.
Custom AI assistant
A GPT trained on your firm's practice areas, intake process, and FAQs. Lives on your site. Qualifies prospective clients while your team is in client meetings.
Google review card
Free at every tier. A tap-to-review NFC card to leave with clients post-engagement. They tap their phone, land on your Google review form.
Built for the businesses that bill by the hour.
If you send retainers or invoice clients for professional work, we can help.
Quick answers, no fluff.
The questions every firm asks before switching. If yours isn't here, call us at (647) 691-9085.
Dough configures this correctly so your retainer deposits go into trust and the processing fee gets pulled separately. Let us know which provincial law society you're under on the call and we'll set it up to match the rules.
Same workflow as Stripe subscriptions, but on a real merchant account that won't randomly freeze.
Some firms do dual pricing (separate quoted prices for cash vs card) for very large engagements, but that's the exception.
Works for one-off project invoices, deposits, and final fee payments. Same infrastructure most firms use today, just on a more affordable processor.
If you do want a counter unit for in-office payments — say, a downtown firm with walk-in clients — the Clover Mini is the standard pick. See all terminal options →
On a $50,000 per month consultancy, that's typically $400 to $700 a month in savings — plus you get a real merchant account, not a payment-facilitator umbrella that freezes you when volume spikes.
The Pro tier includes a five-page website, hosted free, with the kind of clean professional design clients expect when they search you.
Make more dough from every retainer.
Send us your last statement. We'll show you exactly what your firm would save and which Boost tier you'd qualify for. No commitment, no pushy reps.