Visa or Mastercard: Which difference really matters for merchants?

The short answer

For you as a merchant, Visa and Mastercard cost the same in practice: both fall under the same EU caps, and every price list I checked today shows the two brands on the same line at the same rate. What makes the difference on your statement is not the brand but the card type – debit or credit, consumer or commercial card, EEA or overseas.

Search results for “difference Visa Mastercard” are full of consumer topics: rewards programmes, travel insurance, use abroad. None of it matters at the till. This piece is about the three questions a merchant actually has: what does each card cost me, do I have to accept both, and where are the real differences hidden?

What is the same and what is not

	Visa	Mastercard	Relevant for you?
Interchange fee, consumer debit (Art. 3 Regulation 2015/751)	max. 0.2 %	max. 0.2 %	same
Interchange fee, consumer credit (Art. 4 Regulation 2015/751)	max. 0.3 %	max. 0.3 %	same
Commercial cards, non-EEA cards	not capped	not capped	outside the cap and more expensive for both
Scheme fee to the card scheme	own price schedule	own price schedule	different, but not published
Surcharge on consumers (§ 270a BGB)	not permitted	not permitted	same
Terminal, contactless, PIN	standard	standard	no difference for your hardware

The only line in which the two schemes genuinely differ is the scheme fee – the fee Visa and Mastercard charge the acquirer for using their network. It is neither capped nor public. The British regulator found that these fees have risen by at least 25 per cent for both schemes since 2017; I wrote about this in the news piece on scheme fees. Whether Visa or Mastercard is cheaper for your provider to buy in, you will never learn from a blended tariff, and from an Interchange++ statement only line by line.

What the price lists say

I retrieved the public pricing pages on 29.09.2026. None of them distinguishes between the two brands:

Provider / tariff	Visa	Mastercard	What they distinguish instead
PAYONE All Time Flex	1.9 % credit / 0.89 % debit	1.9 % credit / 0.89 % debit	credit versus debit card
SumUp Payments Plus (€19/month)	0.79 % domestic	0.79 % domestic	1.39 % for premium, international cards and Amex
SumUp without monthly fee	1.39 %	1.39 %	one rate for all cards
Adyen	€0.11 + mark-up + Interchange++	identical	actual costs per transaction are passed through

PAYONE is worth noting: its credit card line literally reads “Mastercard, Visa”, while the debit line still carries the discontinued names “Maestro, V-Pay”. How to clarify on which line your Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit are billed is covered in the piece on girocard, Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit.

Worked example: brand versus card type

Model calculation with freely chosen assumptions and PAYONE All Time Flex rates as of 29.09.2026. A business takes 8,000 euros a month on Visa and Mastercard cards.

Scenario	Credit share	Debit share	Merchant discount per month
A: 50 % Visa, 50 % Mastercard, 40 % of it credit	€3,200 × 1.9 %	€4,800 × 0.89 %	€60.80 + €42.72 = €103.52
B: 80 % Visa, 20 % Mastercard, 40 % of it credit	€3,200 × 1.9 %	€4,800 × 0.89 %	€103.52
C: brand mix as in A, but 60 % of it credit	€4,800 × 1.9 %	€3,200 × 0.89 %	€91.20 + €28.48 = €119.68

The shift between brands (A to B) costs you nothing. The shift from debit to credit (A to C) costs 16.16 euros a month, just under 194 euros a year – on the same turnover. Per ticket: 100 euros on Visa Debit costs 0.89 euros, on a Visa credit card 1.90 euros. The difference lies within the same brand.

How large these card types have become in German retail is shown by the EHI study 2026 as summarised by BANKINGCLUB (07.05.2026): international debit cards 9.4 per cent and credit cards 8.2 per cent of retail turnover, girocard 40.5 per cent. Visa and Mastercard together thus carry around one sixth, and their debit share is growing.

Do I have to accept both?

There is currently no statutory obligation in Germany to accept cards at all, or both brands. The rules only kick in once you accept a brand. Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2015/751 leaves you the choice between card types: you may, for example, accept Visa Debit and refuse Visa credit cards. Within the same brand and the same type, however, the obligation to accept all cards applies to consumer cards (para. 2): if you accept Mastercard credit cards, you may not turn away a particular bank’s card. You must display any restriction visibly at the entrance and at the till (para. 4).

In practice the question rarely arises, because all providers in the table activate both brands together. Leaving out one brand saves you not a cent, but loses every customer whose bank has only given them the other card. Whether you should accept credit cards at all I have calculated in the piece What does it cost to accept credit cards.

Where a real difference lies

Co-badging. If a card carries two brands, such as girocard and Visa Debit, you may set a pre-selection on the terminal under Art. 8(6) of the Regulation; the customer may override it. That is a real cost lever – but one between girocard and Visa or Mastercard, not between Visa and Mastercard.

Commercial and foreign cards. Both brands issue commercial cards, and both have customers from countries outside the EEA. These payments lie outside the cap; why they are so much more expensive is explained in the piece on commercial cards and non-EEA cards.

Premium. Some providers bill premium cards of both brands at a higher rate, even though the cap for consumer cards also applies to gold and platinum. The difference sits in the scheme fee and the margin.

What I advise merchants

1. Do not compare by brand, but by card type: debit, credit, commercial, non-EEA.
2. Work out the credit share of your Visa and Mastercard turnover – it determines your costs, not the logo.
3. Clarify in writing on which line Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit are billed if your price list still shows “Maestro, V-Pay”.
4. Ask for the definition of premium if your tariff bills it separately.
5. Accept both brands. Leaving one out saves nothing.
6. From medium turnover upwards, demand an itemised statement – then you also see the scheme fees per brand.
7. Check the pre-selection for co-badged cards – that is where the lever is, not between Visa and Mastercard.