INTEGRATIONS
Who actually processes payments inside your funnel?
Your funnel builder is rarely the payment processor itself. Stripe or PayPal collects the card charge, typically around 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful US transaction, varying by country, while some platforms add their own fee on top, like Podia's 5% charge on its Mover plan, or HighLevel's separate telecom and AI usage billing. The processor account should always sit in the merchant's name, never an agency's.
Two layers of cost, not one
Every card payment inside a funnel passes through two possible cost layers: the payment processor that actually moves the money, and, on some platforms, a separate fee the funnel builder charges on top. Confusing the two is the most common reason a "low-fee" platform ends up costing more than expected once real transaction volume runs through it.
What the card processor charges
Stripe and PayPal are the processors most funnel builders connect to, and their standard US online rate runs roughly 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful charge, varying by country; confirm the exact rate for your country and card type on the processor's own pricing page before budgeting against it. This fee exists regardless of which funnel builder sits on top, because it's charged by the processor, not the platform.
Platform fees that stack on top
Some funnel builders add their own transaction fee on top of the processor's cut. Podia charges 5% on its Mover plan, with no additional Podia fee on the Shaker and Earthquaker tiers, per the official pricing page. HighLevel doesn't charge a transaction fee on sales, but bills telecom (SMS, calls) and AI usage separately from the plan price, a different kind of add-on cost that shows up on the same invoice. Always check a platform's current pricing page for whether it layers a fee on top of the processor's.
Who should hold the processor account
The Stripe or PayPal account that collects the revenue should be registered in the merchant's own name and tax details, always. This matters most in agency setups: an agency-owned processor account means a client's revenue flows through the agency's banking and tax identity, which complicates handover and creates liability that has nothing to do with the funnel itself. See what to negotiate before an agency client can leave with their funnel for the contractual side of this.
What happens to active subscriptions when you migrate
A recurring subscription is billed by the processor account connected at the time the customer subscribed, not by the funnel builder's page layout. Moving to a new funnel builder doesn't automatically move existing subscriptions; if you also change processor accounts, plan how existing subscribers keep being billed without a gap, and test the new checkout thoroughly before cancelling the old one. The general sequence is in the funnel migration checklist.
How to check your real all-in cost
Add the processor's percentage-plus-fixed rate to any platform-level transaction fee, plus usage-based billing like HighLevel's telecom and AI charges, to get the real cost of a sale, not just the subscription price. Run your actual transaction volume through the cost calculator rather than comparing plan prices alone.
Questions people also ask
Does my funnel builder process payments itself?
Usually not directly. It connects to a processor, typically Stripe or PayPal, which actually moves the money and charges its own fee, roughly 2.9% plus 30 cents per US transaction, varying by country. Some platforms add a separate fee on top of that.
Does Podia charge extra on top of Stripe or PayPal fees?
Yes, on the Mover plan: a 5% Podia transaction fee applies in addition to the processor's own charge. The Shaker and Earthquaker plans carry no additional Podia fee, per the official pricing page.
Why does HighLevel's bill vary month to month?
Because telecom usage, SMS and calls, and AI features are billed separately from the flat plan price. A month with heavier SMS follow-up costs more even though the subscription tier didn't change.
Should an agency hold the payment processor account for a client?
No. The processor account should be registered in the client's own name and tax details from the start, so revenue and liability stay with the merchant, not the agency managing the funnel.