CareCredit vs Cherry for med spas
CareCredit is a health and wellness credit card and pay-later loan program a practice enrolls to accept, and it publishes patient promotional terms but not the processing rate a practice pays. Cherry is a payment-plan platform with a published merchant fee starting at 1.7% to 1.9% per financed transaction, no setup or monthly fee, and no stated minimum term.
MedSpaVendorGuide does not sell any of the products compared here, and nobody paid to be on this page. Every vendor fact comes from the vendor's own website and links to its source, and the order is the computed score, which counts what each vendor publishes, not how good it is.
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 1.8/5 (7 of 19 checks) | 4.0/5 (15 of 19 checks) |
| What it is | Health and wellness credit card and pay-later loans that practices enroll to accept | Patient payment plans for med spas and other practices, paid for by a per-transaction merchant fee |
| Starting price | Not published | Merchant fee from 1.7% per financed transaction |
| How it charges | Processing fee deducted from each payout; the rate depends on the financing option used. No annual or monthly provider fees. | Merchant fee on each financed transaction, deducted before payout; varies by plan type and pricing settings |
| Setup fee | Not published | None |
| Minimum term | Not published | Not published |
| Cancellation | Not published | Patient refunds are processed from the provider account; no extra fee for refunds, and merchant fees are prorated on partial refunds. Provider agreement termination terms were not found. |
| Free trial | Not published | Not published |
| Free demo or audit | Not published | Yes |
| Coverage | United States (nationwide) | Not published |
| Last checked | Oct 1, 2026 | Oct 1, 2026 |
As of October 2026, checked on each company's own website. Scores count published facts, not quality. How we score.
How do CareCredit and Cherry differ?
CareCredit is a health and wellness credit card and pay-later loan program that a practice enrolls to accept, so patients can apply or prequalify and pay over time.
Cherry is a payment-plan platform a practice offers at checkout: the patient applies through a link, the practice is paid, and Cherry collects from the patient.
Both take their fee out of the money paid to the practice rather than billing a subscription.
The published numbers are where they separate.
CareCredit's provider FAQ says the processing rate is based on a few factors, including which special financing option a purchase is processed with, and that there are no annual or monthly fees.
The site does not state the rate itself, so the cost per financed dollar is not published.
Cherry publishes a merchant fee on each financed transaction, deducted before payout, starting at 1.7% to 1.9% and varying by plan type and pricing settings.
What does each one cost a practice?
CareCredit publishes the patient side: no interest if paid in full within 6, 12, 18 or 24 months on purchases of $200 or more, and longer terms of 24 to 60 months at a reduced APR with fixed monthly payments.
Its site also says the practice is paid within two business days, with no recourse if the patient delays or defaults.
What it does not publish is a starting rate, a setup fee or any other provider cost figure.
Cherry's help center says it is free to sign up, with no setup fee or monthly fee.
Cherry's site says patient plans run from $35 to $65,000 with terms between 1 and 60 months, and that every approved patient gets a zero-interest Pay-in-4 offer, plus qualifying 0% APR or as low as 5.99% on interest-bearing long-term monthly plans.
Cherry says it pays the provider within 2-3 business days and handles repayment directly with the patient, taking the credit risk.
Neither site states a free trial, and across the 17 vendors in the category only 1 publishes one.
What are the contract and cancellation terms?
CareCredit's site does not state a minimum term, a month-to-month option or cancellation terms for providers.
Cherry's site does not state a minimum term for providers either.
It does publish refund handling: patient refunds are processed from the provider account, there are no additional fees for processing refunds, and merchant fees are prorated on partial refunds.
Across the 17 vendors, only 1 states its contract terms, and that one is BoomCloud at no long-term contract; 3 publish cancellation terms.
Ask each provider for the agreement length and the cost of leaving before you sign.
Enrollment is described on both sites: CareCredit says a practice fills out a form, talks to its team about fees and financing options, then receives training and access to provider support and marketing tools.
Cherry says a practice applies through the signup page or books a free demo, and its med spa page says setup can happen the same day.
Which one is built for med spas?
Cherry names med spas among the markets it says it is widely used by, and its medical-aesthetics page carries the headline "Top Choice for Over 10,000 Med Spas".
That page describes a direct integration with Allē payment plans, the Allergan Aesthetics loyalty program, and 6 months of 0% APR for qualifying patients on eligible Allergan Aesthetics treatments at no cost to the practice.
Cherry names Sea of Beauty Med Spa in a testimonial and Bodify CoolSculpting in a case study of over $1 million with Cherry.
CareCredit lists medical spas as one entry in a longer industry list, with a med spa page that describes injectables, fillers, chemical peels and laser hair removal.
Its testimonials include Destination Aesthetics Medical Spa and Nip & Tuck Plastic Surgery, next to dental and chiropractic practices.
Neither site publishes third-party reviews.
Both describe a no-hard-credit-check path for patients: CareCredit prequalification and a Cherry application link. Both also describe marketing materials for practices.
Which should you look at first?
Look at CareCredit first if you want patients to pay over published promotional windows and you are prepared to ask for the processing rate, since the site does not publish one.
Look at Cherry first if you want checkout plans with a published per-transaction fee, no published setup or monthly fee, and a free demo before you commit.
Both publish support hours: CareCredit's provider line runs Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM Eastern, and Cherry publishes Monday to Friday 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM ET and Saturday 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM ET.
Both publish integrations: CareCredit lists Epic, Adit and a partner directory of practice management software, while Cherry's medical-aesthetics page describes an integration with Allē, a loyalty program.
What other patient-financing options are there?
The patient financing category lists 17 vendors, and 13 of them do not publish a starting price.
BoomCloud is the only vendor in the category that publishes a monthly price and states its contract terms, and its terms say no long-term contract. It sells membership-plan software rather than financing.
PatientFi sells monthly payment plans mainly to aesthetic practices and does not publish a starting price.
BoomCloud and Cherry are compared on a separate page, BoomCloud vs Cherry.
Which one fits you
Choose CareCredit if
- You want a patient credit card with published promotional terms: no interest if paid in full within 6, 12, 18 or 24 months on purchases of $200 or more, or 24 to 60 months at a reduced APR.
- You are fine asking the company for its processing rate, because the site does not publish one.
- You want collection handled outside the practice: the site says the practice is paid within two business days with no recourse if the patient delays or defaults.
Choose Cherry if
- You want checkout payment plans with a published merchant fee starting at 1.7% to 1.9% and no setup fee or monthly fee.
- You use Allē: the medical-aesthetics page describes an integration and 6 months of 0% APR for qualifying patients on eligible Allergan Aesthetics treatments at no cost to the practice.
- You want to see the product first: the site advertises a free demo and publishes support hours of Monday to Friday 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM ET.
Questions and answers
What is the difference between CareCredit and Cherry?
CareCredit is a health and wellness credit card and pay-later loan program that a practice enrolls to accept. Cherry is a payment-plan platform offered at checkout: the patient applies through a link, the practice is paid, and Cherry collects from the patient. Both deduct their fee from the payout, but only Cherry publishes a starting figure, a merchant fee starting at 1.7% to 1.9% per financed transaction, while CareCredit's processing rate is not published.
Which costs a practice less, CareCredit or Cherry?
Of the two, only Cherry publishes a per-transaction provider cost: a merchant fee on each financed transaction starting at 1.7% to 1.9%, with no setup fee or monthly fee. CareCredit states there are no annual or monthly provider fees, but its processing rate is not published, so its cost per financed dollar cannot be worked out from the site.
Do CareCredit and Cherry require a long-term contract?
Neither site states a minimum term for providers, and neither states a month-to-month option. Across the 17 vendors in the patient financing category, only 1 states its contract terms, and that vendor, BoomCloud, says it has no long-term contract. Cherry does publish refund handling: patient refunds come from the provider account, there are no additional fees for processing refunds, and merchant fees are prorated on partial refunds. Ask both providers for the agreement length and the cost of leaving in writing.
Which one is built for med spas?
Cherry names med spas among the markets it says it is widely used by, and its medical-aesthetics page describes an Allē integration and 6 months of 0% APR for qualifying patients on eligible Allergan Aesthetics treatments at no cost to the practice. CareCredit lists medical spas among many industries, with its own med spa page and a testimonial from Destination Aesthetics Medical Spa.
Who carries the credit risk, CareCredit or Cherry?
CareCredit's site says the practice is paid within two business days with no recourse if the patient delays or defaults. Cherry's site says it pays the provider within 2-3 business days, handles repayment directly with the patient and takes the credit risk. Both, by their own published wording, put the risk of a patient's delay or default on the company rather than the practice.
How does a practice enroll with each one?
CareCredit describes filling out a form, talking to its team about fees and financing options, then receiving training and access to provider support and marketing tools. Cherry describes applying through its signup page or booking a free demo, after which it reviews the business and sets up checkout links, and its med spa page says setup can happen the same day.
What should a practice ask each provider before signing?
Ask CareCredit for the processing rate that applies to each financing option, in writing, since the site does not publish it, and for the terms of the provider agreement. Ask Cherry which merchant fee applies to your plan mix, since it varies by pricing settings, and what notice is needed to end the agreement.
Sources
Vendor facts: each profile links every fact to the page it was read on. CareCredit (checked Oct 1, 2026), Cherry (checked Oct 1, 2026).