The Quiet Shift Reshaping How Businesses Pay Each Other

Jessica Albright · 2026-09-22

Remember when writing a check felt like the ultimate business move? You'd pull out that leather-bound checkbook, scribble a signature, and drop it in the mail. Those days are fading fast — and ACH is the reason. ### The Numbers Don't Lie Over the past decade, ACH has quietly become the backbone of B2B payments. According to the Cleveland Fed, the number of B2B payments made via ACH more than doubled from 3.6 billion in 2015 to 8.7 billion in 2024. Since 2020, it's been the most-used B2B payment method. Meanwhile, other payment rails — wires, credit cards, debit cards — have stayed pretty flat. The one exception? Checks, which have been steadily declining. Nearly all of ACH's growth has come at the expense of paper checks. ### Checks Are Losing Their Grip In 2015, checks were the top B2B payment method with 4.6 billion payments. By 2024, that number had fallen to 2.7 billion. Checks' share of total B2B payments dropped from 32% to just 13%. But here's the twist: nearly 90% of businesses still used checks in 2025. So while the volume is shrinking, the habit hasn't disappeared entirely. ### Why the Slow Move Away from Checks? "The slow move towards ACH away from checks is about cost, automation, and reducing risk," said Ben Danner, Senior Analyst of Debit at Javelin Strategy & Research. "If you think about paper checks, there is a huge risk with mishandling, counterfeit, and alterations just to name a few things. When you add up all the costs associated with paper checks, ACH is just a better modality and also gives businesses the option of speed with same day ACH. Businesses have slowly followed consumer trends in moving towards digital payments in general." Cost is a big factor. The median fee for sending or receiving an ACH payment is 25 to 50 cents per transaction. For checks, it's $1 for sending organizations and just under $1 for receiving organizations. That difference adds up fast when you're processing thousands of payments. ### Where ACH and Checks Fit Both ACH and checks tend to handle mid-sized B2B payments. In 2024, the average ACH transaction was $8,084, compared with $5,577 for checks. Wires were used for much larger payments, averaging nearly $3.2 million per transaction. Credit and debit card transactions averaged $275 and $119, respectively. As ACH has gained ground, other payment methods have seen little change. Credit cards and wire payments accounted for nearly 30% and 2% of B2B payments, respectively, with both shares largely unchanged over the decade. Debit cards saw a bit more movement, increasing from 13% to 17%. ### What This Means for Your Business If you're still relying heavily on checks, you're not alone — but you might be leaving money on the table. ACH offers lower costs, faster processing (especially with same-day options), and fewer security headaches. The shift is happening slowly, but it's happening. The question is whether your business will lead or follow. > "When you add up all the costs associated with paper checks, ACH is just a better modality." — Ben Danner, Javelin Strategy & Research The transition from checks to ACH isn't just a trend — it's a fundamental change in how businesses move money. And as digital payments continue to evolve, those who adapt early will likely reap the rewards.