Cheapest Card Processing Providers Reviewed
Nine providers earn a place on this page. The four affiliate partners (Revolut, Tide, SumUp and Square) lead because they win a clear use case on cost; the rest are here because they are genuinely competitive at a particular volume or payment type.
Every rate below was checked against the provider’s own pricing page in October 2026.
Revolut
0.8% + 2p in-person. Revolut Business account from £10/month. This is the lowest next-day in-person rate of any provider here, and it applies on every Revolut Business plan rather than only on a paid tier.
If you already run your money through Revolut Business, takings settle into a Merchant account inside the same app, usually within 24 hours, and one transfer moves them into your main balance. The catch is what it now costs to get started.
Revolut withdrew the £49 Reader from sale in 2026, so the cheapest way in is the Lite Terminal at £129 +VAT. On rate alone Revolut still leads; on total first-year cost that £129 changes the picture, which our cheapest card machines comparison works through band by band.
See Revolut card machinesTide Card Reader
1.5% + 5p PAYG, 0.89% + 3p on the £17.99 +VAT Essential plan, or 0.69% + 3p on the £19.99 +VAT Premium plan. Reader from £29 +VAT. Tide gives you the lowest rate that comes packaged with a full business current account, which is why it suits anyone setting up banking and card acceptance together.
The Essential rate beats pay-as-you-go once you take more than roughly £2,950 a month in card sales. Two things to weigh: the reader doesn’t accept Amex, and standard settlement is two to three working days unless you add Next Day Settlement for £2.99 +VAT a month. And you have to bank with Tide to use it.
That last one is the real gate.
Visit TideSumUp Solo Lite
1.69% PAYG, or 0.99% on the £19/month Payments Plus plan. £25 +VAT reader. Online and payment links 2.5%. SumUp is the cheapest way to start taking cards with no commitment: the lowest hardware cost here and no monthly fee on pay-as-you-go. Money settles the next morning by 7am.
It’s the right reader for a sole trader or new business that can’t yet forecast card volume, with a clear upgrade path to 0.99% once you pass roughly £2,700 a month. Cheapest to start, no strings.
Visit SumUpSquare Reader
1.75% in-person flat. Online 1.4% + 25p (UK cards) or 2.5% + 25p (non-UK). £19 +VAT reader. Free POS app. Square isn’t the cheapest on rate, but its free point-of-sale software is the best in class, and the 1.75% rate never changes with volume on the free plan, so there are no surprises.
Pick Square when you want a proper till system and predictable pricing rather than the absolute lowest rate.
Just watch the ceiling: 1.75% gets expensive above roughly £6,000 a month, when a sustained run of card sales starts to cost you real money against a sub-1% rival.
Visit SquareLopay
0.79% in-person (Essential, weekly payouts) or 0.99% (Standard, next-day). £35 + postage reader (£49 for additional orders). No monthly fee, no contract.
Lopay publishes the lowest in-person rate of any provider we checked here. The catch is the settlement cycle: the 0.79% Essential tier clears weekly, every Thursday. If you take Friday or Saturday sales, those funds do not arrive until the following Thursday, up to eight days later.
If that timing fits your business, the rate advantage is real at any volume. The Standard tier at 0.99% gives you next-day settlement and still undercuts Square (1.75%), SumUp (1.69%) and PayPal POS (1.75%).
Two things to weigh: Amex cards carry a 1% surcharge on top of whichever tier you use, so it suits businesses where customers mostly pay on domestic Visa or Mastercard. Lopay runs on Stripe infrastructure, with FCA cover via Stripe Payments UK rather than Lopay directly.
Tap to Pay on your phone is available at zero hardware cost if you want to try before you buy the reader.
Visit LopayTyl by NatWest
Rate quoted per business. Terminal rental from £13.99 to £19.99 +VAT a month, 12-month contract. Tyl is built for staffed shops and fixed retail sites trading year-round.
The terminals connect over Wi-Fi (the A920 Pro adds 4G, the A80 adds Ethernet), and Tyl’s card machines page lists American Express among the cards they accept. Tap to Pay on a phone does not take Amex.
The downside is the 12-month commitment, and Tyl publishes no standard rate, so you cannot compare it with the flat-rate providers until you have a quote. That makes it a poor fit for pop-ups and seasonal traders.
Visit Tyl by NatWestStripe Terminal
1.4% + 10p in-person on EEA cards (2.9% + 10p non-EEA). Online 1.5% + 20p. Reader from £49 +VAT. Stripe Terminal makes sense when you already run your online payments through Stripe and want one dashboard for in-person and online.
The in-person rate is competitive, there is no contract, and you can build it into a custom checkout. It is more developer-focused than the plug-and-play readers, and there is an optional £7 per reader per month for cellular connectivity, so it rewards businesses with some technical resource.
Visit Stripe TerminalPayPal POS (formerly Zettle)
1.75% card-present, 2.5% on invoices and payment links. £29 +VAT reader. No monthly fee. PayPal POS (previously called Zettle in the UK) suits market stalls, mobile traders and pop-ups that want zero monthly cost and instant access to funds inside PayPal.
The PayPal POS Terminal (formerly Zettle Terminal), with built-in 4G at no ongoing SIM cost, is the best standalone mobile pick here. The trade-off is that money lands in PayPal first, so there is one extra transfer step before cash reaches your bank account.
Visit PayPal POSDojo (formerly Paymentsense)
1.2% blended rate on all cards below £100k annual card turnover (custom above), plus a £0.05 per-authorisation fee. Hardware from £149 to buy or £15–£25/month to rent, 12-month contract. Dojo, which rebranded from Paymentsense, is aimed at hospitality and retail businesses at steady volume.
Its strengths are next-working-day settlement, table-side ordering and tipping through Dojo Pocket, and integration with 450+ EPOS systems.
It is not the cheapest on a small ticket: the £0.05 per authorisation and £0.50 per refund add up, and the 12-month contract locks you in. Compare it against the flat-rate providers before you sign.
Get a Dojo QuoteCheapest Card Processing by Monthly Turnover
The cheapest provider for you depends almost entirely on how much you take in card sales each month. A low-volume trader and a busy cafe should not pick the same reader, because monthly plan fees that look expensive at £500 a month become a bargain at £5,000.
Here is where each band lands once you do the maths.
Under £2,000 a month
Below £2,000 a month, a monthly plan fee rarely pays for itself. SumUp wins for straightforward pay-as-you-go: 1.69% with a £25 +VAT Solo Lite, next-day settlement, no monthly cost. At £1,000 of card sales that is roughly £16.90 in fees, against £17.50 on Square at 1.75%.
Lopay Essential is the lower rate at 0.79%, but payouts clear weekly, every Thursday. If your cash flow can wait a few days and you are not starting out, Lopay is cheaper from the first sale. Under £2,000 a month the saving is modest in pounds and pence; above it, the gap compounds.
If your customers rarely pay by card and you want zero ongoing cost, PayPal POS (formerly Zettle, 1.75%, no monthly fee) is the other sensible pick, especially if you already use PayPal to get paid.
Visit SumUp£2,000 to £5,000 a month
This is the band where the lowest published rates start paying off. Two providers now compete for the cheapest in-person rate: Lopay Essential at 0.79% with weekly payouts, and Revolut Business at 0.8% + 2p with next-day settlement.
At £3,000 a month, the difference is around £3 a month in Lopay’s favour on rate alone, before the settlement timing is weighed.
If you already bank with Revolut or are happy to add a Revolut Business account from £10 a month, the 0.8% + 2p rate applies on every plan and clears into your balance the same or next day.
Tide has three Sell In-Person options, all requiring a Tide business account and priced ex VAT: Pay As You Go has no monthly fee, charges 1.5% + 5p for debit, settles in two to three working days and can be cancelled at any time; Essential costs £17.99 a month, charges 0.89% + 3p, settles in two to three working days and can also be cancelled at any time. Premium costs £19.99 a month or £159.99 annually, charges 0.69% + 3p and includes next-day settlement, but it has a 12-month contract.
If you do not want to switch your banking, SumUp’s Payments Plus drops you to 0.99% for £19 a month. Tyl by NatWest quotes a rate per business instead, with terminal rental from £13.99 +VAT a month on a 12-month contract.
Visit TideOver £5,000 a month
Above £5,000 a month the rate matters more than the monthly fee, because every tenth of a percent compounds. Lopay Essential at 0.79% (weekly) and Revolut at 0.8% + 2p have the lowest rates here that do not tie you into a contract. Tide Premium’s 0.69% + 3p looks lower, but it sits on a £19.99 monthly plan with a 12-month contract, and per sale it only undercuts 0.79% above a £30 average sale.
At £5,000 of card sales, Tide’s Essential plan costs roughly £69.99 all in and Premium costs £61.99 on monthly billing, against about £87.50 on Square’s flat 1.75% and around £39.50 on Lopay Essential. The Lopay saving is real, but only applies on the weekly settlement cycle.
At this level it is also worth getting a quote from a negotiated-rate merchant account.
Dojo (formerly Paymentsense), Takepayments and Worldpay all price per business rather than off a published rate card, and can undercut flat-rate providers once your volume is high and your average transaction is large.
The trade-off is a 12-month contract and rental hardware, so only commit once your volume is proven.
See Revolut card machinesWhen Paid Card Processing Plans Become Cheaper
A monthly plan only saves you money once your card takings clear the fee. Below that break-even point, pay-as-you-go wins; above it, the plan pulls further ahead every month. These figures use the verified rates above and assume ordinary UK consumer cards.
| Plan | Monthly fee | Rate drop | Break-even card takings | Verdict | Deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SumUp Payments Plus | £19 | 1.69% → 0.99% | ~£2,714/month | Worth it above ~£2,700 | View Deal → |
| Tide Sell In-Person | £17.99 +VAT | 1.5% + 5p → 0.89% + 3p Essential; 0.69% + 3p Premium (12 months) | ~£2,950/month | Worth it if you bank with Tide | View Deal → |
| Square Retail Plus | £49 | 1.75% → 1.6% in person | ~£32,700/month | Buy for the software, not the rate | View Deal → |
Read the Square row twice. There is no single Square Plus plan: paid tiers run from £29 to £69 a month by product. Retail Plus (£49) and the Appointments Plus (£29) and Premium (£69) plans trim the in-person rate from 1.75% to 1.6%; Restaurants Plus (£69) keeps it at 1.75%.
A 0.15-point saving needs roughly £32,700 of monthly card sales just to cover the £49 fee, and it only applies when you are signed in to Retail Plus on the POS app. On Appointments Plus at £29 the same 0.15 points needs about £19,300 a month. Every other Square plan buys software features, not a lower rate.
If you are chasing cheaper card fees at volume, a Square plan is the wrong lever; look to Revolut, Tide or a negotiated merchant account instead.
The pattern holds across every provider here: a plan fee is a bet that your card takings will stay above the break-even line. Win that bet and the plan quietly saves you money; lose it in a slow month and you’ve simply paid more to process less.
What Card Processing Really Costs
The headline rate is only part of the bill. Two providers quoting 1.75% can cost you very different amounts once you account for monthly fees, hardware, refunds and how fast you get paid. Here is everything that sits underneath the rate.
Transaction fees
This is the percentage (and sometimes a few pence) taken from each sale. Watch for the pence component: a 0.89% + 3p rate costs more than a flat 1% on small tickets, because the 3p is a bigger share of a £3 coffee than a £30 meal.
Premium, commercial and non-UK cards almost always cost more than the headline rate, so check the small print if your customers pay with business or overseas cards.
Monthly fees
Plans like SumUp Payments Plus (£19) and Tide Sell In-Person (£17.99 +VAT) charge a fixed monthly fee in exchange for a lower rate. Square’s paid plans (£29 to £69 by product) mostly add features; only Retail Plus and the paid Appointments plans trim the in-person rate, to 1.6%.
Revolut Business requires a Business account from £10 a month. Pay-as-you-go providers (SumUp, Square, PayPal POS) charge nothing monthly.
Always test the monthly fee against your real volume before committing, because a plan that saves a high-street shop money will quietly drain a quiet one.
Hardware costs
Readers range from £25 +VAT (SumUp Solo Lite) to £49 +VAT (Tide, pay as you go) to monthly rental on Tyl by NatWest and Dojo. Buying outright is cheaper over time; rental ties you to a contract but spreads the cost and usually includes support.
The PayPal POS Terminal (formerly Zettle Terminal) and myPOS-style standalone units cost more upfront but include built-in 4G, so you do not need to pair a phone.
Refund, chargeback and authorisation fees
These are the fees that do not show up in the headline rate. Dojo charges £0.05 per authorisation and £0.50 per refund; some merchant accounts add monthly minimums and PCI compliance fees.
SumUp, Square, Tide, Revolut and PayPal POS do not charge authorisation or refund fees on their published prices, which is one reason flat-rate providers are simpler for low-volume businesses.
Business, Amex and international card fees
The headline rate almost always covers standard UK consumer Visa and Mastercard transactions only. Business, corporate and premium cards cost more, and American Express is dearer again where accepted at all. The Revolut and Tide readers do not take Amex.
Lopay charges a 1% surcharge on Amex, commercial and international cards on top of its base rate, so an Amex transaction on Lopay Essential costs 1.79% rather than 0.79%. Tyl’s card machines page lists American Express as accepted on its terminals, though not on Tap to Pay.
Cards issued outside the UK carry a surcharge too. Stripe Terminal jumps from 1.4% + 10p on EEA cards to 2.9% + 10p elsewhere.
If a real slice of your customers pay on a company card or an overseas card, the rate you actually pay can sit well above the number on the pricing page. Weigh your own card mix before locking in to a headline rate.
Cheapest Card Processing by Payment Type
The cheapest provider also depends on how you take payment. A face-to-face rate does not apply when you send an invoice or sell online, and the gaps between channels are wide, so match the provider to the way your customers actually pay.
In-person card processing
For tap, chip and PIN in front of the customer, Lopay Essential (0.79%, weekly payouts) and Revolut Business (0.8% + 2p, next-day) are now the cheapest options on headline rate.
SumUp (1.69%, no monthly fee) is cheapest with full pay-as-you-go flexibility. Tyl by NatWest (rate quoted per business, terminal rental from £13.99 +VAT a month) suits a busy shop trading year-round on a fixed terminal.
In-person rates are the lowest on every provider here, so push customers toward tap or chip payment where you can.
Online card processing
Selling on a website costs more than in person. Stripe Terminal (1.5% + 20p) and Square (1.4% + 25p on UK cards) are the cheapest mainstream options; SumUp and PayPal POS both charge 2.5% online.
If most of your sales are online, choose on the online rate, not the in-person headline, because that is the number you will actually pay.
Payment links and invoices
For a link or invoice you send to a customer who pays remotely, SumUp and PayPal POS charge 2.5%, Square charges its online rate, and Tide offers payment links from within its app. Dojo includes payment links, hosted checkout and a virtual terminal on its plans.
These rates sit between in-person and full e-commerce, so they suit occasional remote billing rather than high online volume.
Phone payments and virtual terminals
Taking a card number over the phone or typing it into a virtual terminal is the priciest way to get paid, because the card isn’t present and the risk sits with you. Square charges 2.5% on a manually entered card, against 1.75% in person.
Dojo and Stripe both run a proper virtual terminal for phone and mail orders, which suits trades and B2B sellers who invoice by phone. SumUp lets you key a payment inside its app rather than run a separate terminal.
Keyed rates are worth avoiding where you can. If a customer can tap a payment link instead, you will usually pay less and chase fewer disputes.
How to Choose the Cheapest Card Processor
The cheapest reader on paper is rarely the cheapest for your business. Four checks separate a genuine bargain from a headline rate that quietly costs you more.
Match pricing to monthly card turnover
Start with what you actually take in card sales each month, because that single number decides almost everything.
Under about £2,000 a month, a no-fee pay-as-you-go rate wins; above it, a paid plan or a sub-1% rate starts to pull ahead. Work out your own figure before you compare a single reader.
Compare percentage-plus-pence fees
A rate written as “0.89% + 3p” is two charges, not one, and the pence part bites hardest on small tickets.
On a £3 coffee, 3p is a full percentage point on its own; on a £30 order it barely registers. If your average sale is small, a flat percentage can beat a lower rate that carries a per-transaction fee.
Check contract and hardware costs
A low rate behind a 12-month contract isn’t the bargain it looks. SumUp, Square, PayPal POS, Stripe Terminal and Revolut let you stop any time and own the reader outright; Tyl by NatWest and Dojo rent you the hardware on a year’s commitment.
Add the reader cost and any rental to the rate before you judge which is genuinely cheapest across a full year.
Check payout speed and extra charges
The rate is not the whole bill. SumUp settles next morning by 7am and Dojo next day including weekends, while Tide Pay As You Go and Essential take two to three working days unless you add Next Day Settlement for £2.99 +VAT a month. Essential with that add-on costs £20.98 a month, more than Premium’s £19.99, which includes next-day settlement.
Watch too for the fees that hide off the price list: Dojo charges 5p per authorisation and 50p per refund, where the flat-rate providers charge neither.
How to Reduce Card Processing Costs
Even on the right provider, a few habits shave real money off your card bill over a year.
- Take payment in person where you can. Face-to-face rates are the lowest on every provider here; the same sale online or keyed can cost you almost twice as much.
- Move onto a plan only once your takings clear the break-even line. Below it, a monthly fee just drains a quiet month. Re-check the maths whenever your volume shifts.
- Buy the reader outright instead of renting. A £15 to £99 reader you own beats £20 a month on a 12-month contract for most low-to-mid volume businesses.
- Nudge customers toward cheaper cards. A payment link usually costs less than a keyed phone payment, and a UK debit card costs less than a corporate or overseas card.
- Get a quote before you sign a negotiated deal. Above roughly £5,000 a month, Dojo, Takepayments and Worldpay will often undercut a flat rate, but only ask once your volume is proven.
- Review your provider once a year. Rates and plans move, and no-contract providers make switching cheap. Loyalty rarely earns you a lower rate.
Our Final Verdict on Cheapest Card Processing
The cheapest published in-person rate is Lopay Essential at 0.79%, but weekly settlement is the condition. Below is our pick by use case, based on rates verified in October 2026.
| Use case | Pick | In-person rate | Key condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest published rate | Lopay Essential | 0.79% | Weekly settlement only |
| Lowest rate, next-day settlement | Revolut Business | 0.8% + 2p | Revolut Business account required |
| Lowest rate with a business account | Tide Sell In-Person | 0.89% + 3p | £17.99 +VAT/month plan |
| Cheapest no-commitment start | SumUp Solo Lite | 1.69% | £25 +VAT reader, no monthly fee |
| POS features and predictable pricing | Square | 1.75% | Free POS app, no monthly fee |
| Busy fixed retail with Amex | Tyl by NatWest | Quote only | 12-month contract, rental from £13.99 +VAT |
| Existing Stripe users or developer builds | Stripe Terminal | 1.4% + 10p | EEA cards; one dashboard for in-person and online |
| Mobile traders wanting zero SIM cost | PayPal POS (formerly Zettle) | 1.75% | Terminal has built-in 4G |
| Hospitality and retail at steady volume | Dojo | 1.2% under £100k | Next-working-day; custom rate worth quoting above ~£100k/year |
No-contract providers (SumUp, Square, Revolut, Lopay, Stripe and PayPal POS) let you switch when your volume changes without penalty. If you trade above £5,000 a month, request a quote from Dojo or Tyl before you lock into a flat rate.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest card processing rate in the UK?
The lowest published in-person rate is Lopay Essential at 0.79%, but it applies only with weekly payouts (funds clear every Thursday). Revolut Business at 0.8% + 2p is the cheapest rate with next-day settlement, on any Revolut Business plan. Tide’s Premium plan at 0.69% + 3p is the lowest rate bundled with a business current account, on a 12-month contract. If you prefer pay-as-you-go with no commitment and no cash-flow wait, SumUp at 1.69% is the cheapest no-strings option.
Are there card readers with no monthly fee?
Yes. SumUp, Square, PayPal POS (formerly Zettle) and Stripe all offer card acceptance with no monthly fee on pay-as-you-go. Your rate is higher than on a paid plan, but there is no commitment and no minimum, which suits businesses taking card payments only occasionally.
Does the lowest rate mean the lowest total cost?
Not always. A 0.89% rate with a £17.99 plan fee costs you more overall than 1.69% pay-as-you-go below roughly £2,950 a month in card sales. Always model your actual monthly card volume against the plan fee before you commit, and factor in hardware, refund fees and settlement speed.
Is Paymentsense still a separate company from Dojo?
No. Dojo was launched by Paymentsense and the group now trades as Dojo, so the live card-machine product you sign up for today is Dojo, not a separate Paymentsense offering. If you are searching for Paymentsense card machine pricing, the current equivalent is Dojo’s 1.2% blended rate under £100k turnover (custom above).
What is the cheapest way to take card payments online?
For online sales, Stripe (1.5% + 20p) and Square (1.4% + 25p on UK cards) are the cheapest mainstream options. SumUp and PayPal POS (formerly Zettle) both charge 2.5% online. Online rates are higher than in-person rates across the board, so if you sell on a website, choose your provider on the online rate rather than the in-person headline.
How We Ranked the Cheapest Card Processing Providers
How we checked and ranked these providers
Ranking criteria. We rank on cost first, then contract flexibility, hardware and payout speed. Cost carries the most weight because every business pays it whatever else it needs, but a low rate behind a 12-month contract isn’t a real bargain. Terms matter too.
Data sources. We pulled every rate, fee and contract length from providers’ own pricing pages in October 2026, then totted up the real annual cost on a typical month’s takings, not a best case. Where a provider won’t publish a rate (Dojo prices per business), we say so.
What that means for you. The figure we quote is what you’d actually pay across a year, so a cheap headline rate with a fat monthly fee doesn’t jump the ranking.
Update cadence. We re-verify every provider here at least monthly, and whenever one changes pricing, eligibility or terms. The verification date reflects the most recent full review. Some links on this page are affiliate links, see our editorial policy.