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Getting paid as a small business owner, especially if you operate mostly online, can be tricky business. It can also get expensive. Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments are a way to get paid smoothly, quickly and relatively cheaply, so you can keep more of the money you earn running your business. In this guide, we’ll show you how to accept ACH payments (hint: it’s easier than you might think).

Both businesses and customers have a lot of reasons to love ACH payments, but they’re not a perfect fit for every kind of business. If you’re in one of these types of businesses, ACH payments are probably a good fit for you.

If you sell services and invoice for your work, ACH transfers are a great way to get paid. Whether you’re a freelancer, coach, consultant, massage therapist or construction company, bank transfer is a smart way to collect payments.

This is often easy if you’re a freelancer, consultant or contractor working with established companies. Businesses that pay lots of vendors often have a payment system set up to facilitate ACH payments, so all you have to do is give them your bank information.

If you’re a one-to-one service provider such as a coach or therapist, you probably have to facilitate payments on your end, and clients might be less likely to have their bank information on hand than their credit card.

ACH is great for recurring payments.

Customers only have to enter their information once, so it’s not a burdensome task. And they’re less likely to change bank accounts than to cancel or max out credit cards frequently, so you have less troubleshooting to do over broken payments.

If you run a subscription for a publication, an online community or a yoga or fitness studio, look into adding an ACH payment option for your customers.

Rent is a major payment every month. Neither you nor your tenants want to bear the fees that accompany a credit card payment for several hundred or thousands of dollars, and cash and checks are outdated, slow and inconvenient.

Make it easy on all parties by accepting ACH payments. Use a rent payment platform such as Avail to let tenants pay online through a bank transfer, and get the money deposited automatically into your account.

ACH payments are electronic transfers from one bank account to another, almost exclusively within the U.S. They’re facilitated by the Automated Clearing House network, a hub connected to thousands of banks around the country.

If you’ve ever been paid through “direct deposit” from a job or client, the payer likely used the ACH network to facilitate it. Automated transfers among your financial accounts—for example, from your checking account into an IRA at a different institution—usually take place through ACH, too.

To set up an ACH payment with a customer:

Typical ACH payments take one to two business days to process, though ACH offers a Same Day service that usually comes with a higher fee for the payer.

Some payment services, including Zelle, offer instant bank-to-bank transfers via ACH (and other networks) without additional fees. Zelle makes the money available immediately in the recipient’s account and settles the transfer later with ACH.

The cost of accepting ACH payments depends on the platform you (or the payee) use to facilitate it. A typical per-transaction cost is between $3 and $10. Payment processors such as Stripe and Square set the ACH cost at a percentage of the transaction that’s a fraction of the credit card processing fees.

If you’re being paid by a company as a vendor through a platform such as Gusto or Bill.com, it might cost you nothing to accept an ACH payment. Companies typically pay a subscription fee to use their payment processor, which covers ACH transaction fees.

Here are the benefits and drawbacks of using ACH payments in your small business.

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Dozens of payment platforms facilitate ACH payments for payers and payees. If you want to pay vendors, contractors or employees via ACH from your business, look into these top payroll services.

The following services let you easily accept ACH payments for your services.

Square is a popular online and POS payment system for small businesses. You can accept ACH payments using Square Invoices. It’s free to use, and you pay 1% per ACH transaction (minimum $1).

Stripe is an online payment processor that facilitates POS and subscription payments. It’s the built-in payment system for many website builders, membership platforms and invoicing systems. You pay a 0.80% ACH transaction fee, capped at $5.

Braintree is an online payment processor owned by PayPal. ACH Direct Debit is available for U.S. transactions for an additional processing fee that varies according to your pricing agreement. Users report 0.75%, capped at $5.

Wave is an online accounting, invoicing, payments and payroll platform for small businesses and freelancers. When you send an invoice, customers can choose to pay via credit or debit card, or ACH transfer directly through the platform. You pay a 1% ACH transaction fee (minimum $1).

Zelle works with hundreds of banks around the U.S. If your bank account works with the platform, it’s a great way to get fee-free, instant direct deposit payments from individual clients just by sharing your username or email address.

Anyone with a bank account within the Automated Clearing House network can receive an ACH payment. ACH network banks are mostly U.S.-based, but some operate in the U.K. and Europe.

Banks have to be part of the Automated Clearing House network to accept and send ACH payments. Thousands of banks, mainly in the U.S., but also in the U.K. and Europe, are part of the network. If you use a bank within the U.S., it’s likely you can accept ACH payments.

PayPal accounts don’t facilitate ACH payments, but PayPal-owned Braintree does. Through PayPal, you can be paid via credit or debit card, or directly from a payer’s PayPal balance to yours.

To receive an ACH payment, you need to provide your bank’s routing number and the account number for the checking or savings account you want the money deposited into. With some companies, you may also need to sign an ACH authorization form; your client should provide that if it’s required.

Dana Miranda is a certified educator in personal finance (CEPF) who has been writing and editing since 2011, covering personal finance, careers and digital media. She’s written about work and money for the New York Times, CNBC, The Motley Fool, The Penny Hoarder, a column for Inc. and more. Dana has taught journalists, writers and editors how to write for the web through Utah Valley University, Queen's University at Kingston, ACES: The Society for Editors, the National Association for Independent Writers & Editors, online courses and private trainings. Find her at danasitar.com.

Rob is an SMB writer and editor based in New Jersey. Before joining Forbes Advisor, he was a content producer at Fit Small Business. In that role, he was responsible for writing, editing, and strategizing content geared toward small business owners. Before that, he worked at PCMag as a business analyst.