Sunbit vs Cherry for Dental Practices: Honest Comparison

Why this comparison is so contentious

If you've searched for "Sunbit vs Cherry" before landing here, you've probably noticed something unusual: both companies publish blog posts and comparison pages attacking each other's pricing. Sunbit claims Cherry's merchant fees reach 13.9%. Cherry claims Sunbit's advertised 2.4% rate is misleading. Both companies have built content designed to make direct comparison difficult — and we suspect that's intentional.

That kind of vendor-on-vendor marketing makes it nearly impossible for a practice owner to get a straight answer. That's what this page is for — cutting through the noise using 74 practitioner and vendor sources across Reddit, BBB, and G2.

Feature comparison

The merchant fee controversy

Both companies run marketing that makes this actively difficult to compare — and we suspect that's intentional.

Sunbit advertises merchant fees "starting at 2.4%." That starting rate appears to apply only to patients with the strongest credit profiles. The effective starting rate for most transactions runs closer to 4.7%. To be precise about the sourcing: our 74 sources include vendor documentation and practitioner accounts — the 4.7% figure comes specifically from practitioner-reported fee data on Reddit and BBB, not from vendor materials. Fees also improve with higher transaction volume, so a high-volume practice may see better rates. The exact tier structure isn't published.

Cherry advertises merchant fees "starting at 1.9%." Sunbit's attack content claims Cherry fees can reach 13.9% for certain plan types. Cherry disputes this — though neither company publishes a complete fee schedule broken down by plan term and credit tier, which is exactly why you need to ask for one before signing. The base rate almost certainly varies by plan term (longer terms = higher merchant fee) and patient credit tier, similar to how CareCredit charges more for longer promotional periods.

Ask both vendors for a complete fee matrix broken down by plan term and credit tier before you sign anything. The headline rate is meaningless without it.

Who should choose Sunbit

Sunbit is the stronger pick if these describe your practice:

• You want the highest approval rate. At 87%, Sunbit approves more patients than any other financing option in the dental space. If case acceptance is your primary bottleneck, this matters.
• Your average treatment cost is under $20,000. Sunbit's $20K cap covers the vast majority of general dentistry, crowns, bridges, single implants, and routine procedures. If your cases rarely exceed this threshold, the cap is not a limitation.
• Patient experience is a priority. Zero late fees, zero NSF fees, zero origination fees, and no prepayment penalty. Sunbit's patient terms are the cleanest in the category. Your patients won't get surprise charges, which means fewer complaints directed at your practice.
• You want faster payment. Sunbit deposits in 1-2 business days versus Cherry's 2-3 days. Not a dealbreaker, but better for cash flow.

What your patients actually pay on Sunbit installments

"No fees" doesn't mean "no interest." When your front desk presents Sunbit to a patient at the treatment table, they need the actual APR range. Per sunbit.com, the rate varies by loan amount and credit profile:

• Up to $1,000: 0–35.99% APR
• $1,001–$3,000: 0–20.99% APR
• Above $3,000: 0–14.99% APR

Plans run from 6 to 72 months, covering amounts from $50 to $20,000. State caps apply — Colorado tops out at 14.99%, New York at 24.99%. Sunbit's 0% APR offers are true 0%: no retroactive interest if a patient misses the payoff window, which is a meaningful distinction from CareCredit's deferred interest model.

The right front-desk script: "Your rate will be between 0% and X% depending on your credit profile, and you'll see the exact number before you accept." Patients see their specific rate before committing. If your team isn't comfortable presenting that range, that's a training gap to close before rollout — not a reason to avoid Sunbit.

One hard constraint before you commit: Sunbit doesn't operate in Vermont, West Virginia, or US territories. If your practice is in one of those states, Cherry or CareCredit are your realistic options. Confirm state coverage with your rep before building your checkout workflow around it.

Who should choose Cherry

Cherry is built for practices that regularly move big-ticket treatment. These are the cases where it wins:

• You regularly do treatments above $20,000. Implants, full-mouth rehabs, and orthodontic cases in the $20,000–$50,000 range exceed Sunbit's hard cap. Cherry's $50,000 limit — 2.5x Sunbit's — covers these cases without requiring patients to piece together multiple loans.
• True 0% APR is a talking point for your front desk. Cherry's Pay-in-4 offers biweekly interest-free payments with no retroactive interest. For patients who can pay off treatment quickly, it's a cleaner deal than fixed-rate installments — and an easier front-desk pitch than explaining an APR range.
• You need longer repayment terms for restorative cases. Cherry offers up to 60 months, which matters when patients genuinely can't pay quickly. The trade-off is real: merchant fees on extended plans run significantly higher than the advertised 1.9% starting rate. Get the full fee schedule before you sign.
• An 80%+ approval rate meets your case acceptance needs. Cherry's approval rate is strong, though lower than Sunbit's 87%. If maximizing approvals across the broadest possible patient base is your primary goal, Sunbit has the edge.

One geographic note worth flagging: we named three states where Sunbit doesn't operate, but we couldn't find published state exclusions for Cherry comparable to Sunbit's restrictions. That could mean Cherry operates broadly, or their exclusions simply aren't clearly documented. What we did find: Iowa has state-specific underwriting criteria, with APR capped at 20.99% for all Iowa borrowers. Cherry also operates through lending partners whose coverage varies by location (listed at withcherry.com/lending-partners). If Sunbit isn't available in your state, don't assume Cherry is the automatic fallback — confirm directly with Cherry before designing your checkout workflow around it.

PMS integration and point-of-service workflow

Neither Sunbit nor Cherry publicly documents PMS integration depth. We found no confirmed documentation of either platform integrating with Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Curve, or Open Dental in a way that pushes treatment plan data directly into a financing application.

Before signing with either, ask this specific question: does the financing application launch from within your treatment plan workflow, or does your team need a separate tablet or browser tab? That answer determines how much checkout friction your front desk absorbs on every case.

Ask each vendor to demo the full patient-facing flow — is it a tablet handoff, a QR code scan, or a link texted to the patient's phone? While you're at it, time the actual application. Sunbit's takes roughly 30 seconds with no hard credit check, fast enough to present chairside during a treatment conversation rather than waiting until checkout. Cherry doesn't publish its application timing. If the approval process takes longer than 60 seconds in practice, your front desk will stop presenting it consistently. Your front desk coordinator's reaction to that demo matters more than anything in the comparison table above.

Training support is worth asking about separately. Does Sunbit or Cherry provide live onboarding, or just documentation? For smaller practices, a vendor with a dedicated rep who assists with front desk rollout is worth more than a 0.5% fee difference. Ask each vendor directly: who covers training for new hires after the initial rollout, and is there a cost?

Contract terms and cancellation

Contract terms for both platforms aren't publicly disclosed. Practices that got burned on multi-year CareCredit agreements are right to ask hard questions before signing anything new.

Get written answers to these before committing:

• Is there a minimum commitment period? Neither Sunbit nor Cherry discloses whether they require a fixed contract term. Ask your rep directly.
• Is there a transaction volume minimum? Some financing platforms require a minimum monthly or annual volume to maintain your rate tier or stay active on the platform.
• What happens to in-progress patient accounts if you cancel? If you decide to switch, are patients mid-plan affected? Who services those accounts going forward?
• What happens when a patient disputes a financed treatment? If a patient finances a $4,000 crown, the crown fails, and the patient files a dispute — does the practice owe Sunbit or Cherry the full funded amount back, or just the net received? Is there a clawback window after treatment completion? Neither platform publicly documents their merchant refund or chargeback policy. Also ask: does a pattern of patient disputes affect your merchant account status? Given that Cherry has terminated merchant accounts for patterns the company deemed high-risk, this isn't a theoretical question.
• For Sunbit: does the exclusivity clause prevent you from also offering Cherry or accepting existing CareCredit cards? Sunbit hasn't published its exclusivity terms. If running multiple financing options is part of your strategy, get a written answer before you sign.
• What happens to patient plans if you're acquired or shut down? Both Sunbit and Cherry are venture-backed. If either is acquired or pivots, your financing workflow breaks. Ask each vendor: is there a successor servicer for outstanding patient installment agreements? Point-of-care fintech consolidation is ongoing — this is not a hypothetical question.
• Can we see your BAA? Patient financing involves personally identifiable information and potentially treatment plan data. Ask each vendor for their Business Associate Agreement and confirm HIPAA compliance — specifically where patient data is stored, who has access, and what happens to patient records if you cancel.

Neither company's rep will volunteer this information upfront. Ask directly, and don't sign until you have it in writing.

What happens when patients don't pay?

This is where Sunbit and Cherry diverge most sharply — and where the fee structure becomes a patient-experience question, not just a cost question.

Sunbit charges patients nothing for delinquency: no late fees, no NSF fees, no balloon interest, no prepayment penalties. Cherry takes the opposite approach. Per Cherry's vendor terms as of October 2025, delinquent accounts accrue a 29.99% late APR, with a $15 late fee and a $15 NSF fee assessed on each missed payment. Patients who chose Cherry specifically for the low-cost payment option can end up paying significantly more if they fall behind.

There's also a merchant-side risk with Cherry that practices should understand before signing. Cherry has terminated thousands of merchant accounts — some, according to BBB complaints, for approving too many patients with low credit scores. That's a meaningful business risk if your patient base skews toward lower credit tiers. Before committing, ask Cherry directly: under what circumstances do you terminate merchant agreements, and what notice do you provide?

What about offering both?

Some practices offer both Sunbit and Cherry — a reasonable strategy for practices that do substantial financing volume. Use Sunbit as your primary option for general cases (higher approval rate, cleaner patient terms), and bring in Cherry for treatments that exceed Sunbit's $20,000 cap or when patients specifically want true 0% financing through Pay-in-4. As a rough threshold, this dual-platform approach tends to make sense somewhere in the $400,000–$600,000 range of annual treatment financing — though that range is our editorial estimate, not a vendor benchmark.

Before going this route, check both contracts for exclusivity requirements — particularly Sunbit's. Running two financing platforms adds training overhead for front desk staff, but the payoff is higher overall case acceptance across a broader range of treatment costs.

CareCredit: the third option worth considering

Start with the fine print: CareCredit's deferred interest model charges retroactive interest at 32.99% APR on the full original balance if patients miss the promotional payoff deadline. That's the specific reason practices are reconsidering it. CareCredit's consumer-facing brand is also not BBB accredited and settled a $34.1 million refund case.

That said, CareCredit is the dominant incumbent — a revolving credit card (not an installment loan) with the broadest brand recognition in healthcare financing. Your patients may already carry a CareCredit card from a previous provider, which removes the friction of a new application entirely.

CareCredit's approval rate lands significantly below both Sunbit and Cherry. The 60-65% approval figure and roughly 10% merchant fee are cited across dental industry forums and consultant materials — CareCredit doesn't publish either number, and we couldn't trace them to a primary source. What is documented: the 32.99% deferred interest rate, the BBB accreditation gap, and the $34.1 million refund settlement. If the approval rate and merchant fee matter to your decision, ask CareCredit directly rather than relying on estimates we can't verify. Many practices are adding Sunbit or Cherry alongside CareCredit rather than replacing it outright.

For a detailed three-way breakdown, see our CareCredit vs Sunbit vs Cherry comparison. For a broader view of all financing options, see Best Patient Financing Options for Dental Practices.

First-year costs beyond merchant fees

For a practice adding patient financing from zero, startup costs are lower than most expect. Neither Sunbit nor Cherry charges documented setup fees, and neither requires dedicated POS hardware — patients apply on their phone or an existing tablet. The real first-year cost is merchant fees on your financed treatment volume, plus the time your front desk spends learning to present financing confidently.

A rough sense of scale: a practice financing $200,000 in treatments during its first year will pay roughly $8,000–$14,000 in merchant fees at the 4–7% range. Real money — but compare it against the case revenue you'd lose without a financing option at the treatment table. The variable neither vendor helps you estimate is training time: how long it takes your team to go from awkward to confident presenting payment options chairside. Ask about that timeline during your sales process, not after you've signed.