GuavaPay Payment Processing Review (2026): Fees, Features and Verdict
GuavaPay’s MyGuava Business combines a payment gateway, POS terminals, business account, and corporate cards in one platform. Transaction rates start at 0.6%; POS costs £10/month on a rolling 30-day contract. UK businesses only.
- Transaction rates from 0.6% in-store and online — lower entry rate than SumUp or Square flat rate.
- Free business account included: no monthly fee, free Faster Payments and SEPA transfers.
- POS terminal at £10/month rolling contract; no long-term commitment required.
⚠️ GuavaPay is no longer accepting new merchants (January 2026)
GuavaPay suspended all customer onboarding and new deposits in September 2025 following intervention by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over concerns about fraud prevention and customer due diligence. The company entered compulsory liquidation in January 2026 after a winding-up petition was filed by Mastercard over unpaid debts.
GuavaPay cannot accept new merchants or process card payments. If you hold a GuavaPay account, the company has stated that customer funds are accessible, but normal services have been suspended. For guidance on your funds, contact the appointed liquidators: Interpath Advisory.
Looking for an alternative? See our best card machines guide for current providers, or compare SumUp, Zettle and Square as established no-contract alternatives.
GuavaPay Payment Processing at a Glance
Verdict. If you want one provider for payment acceptance and a business account, GuavaPay’s combination of a 0.6% entry rate and a free account is a genuine proposition. The 3.6/5 Trustpilot score and seven-day onboarding are the honest trade-offs you accept for it.
Best For. UK small businesses wanting an all-in-one payment gateway, POS terminal, and business account without juggling multiple providers.
Not Ideal For. Developer-led businesses needing deep API customisation, businesses operating outside the UK and Europe, or merchants who need to be live today.
Key Facts. Transaction rates from 0.6%; POS terminal £10/month rolling contract; free business account (Faster Payments and SEPA included); 20+ currencies; WooCommerce and Xero integrations; UK businesses only; onboarding up to seven working days; Trustpilot 3.6/5.
What Is GuavaPay Payment Processing?
GuavaPay is a London-based fintech founded in 2017. Its MyGuava Business product covers e-commerce payment gateways, POS terminals, a business account, and corporate cards under a single platform.
The proposition is that you can manage payment acceptance and basic banking with one provider. If you currently run a payment processor alongside a separate business bank account, GuavaPay positions itself as the consolidation.
How GuavaPay Processes Payments
GuavaPay operates as a payment institution, handling card acceptance through its own platform across in-store and online channels. Card takings settle directly into your GuavaPay business account.
We’d note that the combined account structure simplifies reconciliation: your card receipts, supplier payments, and expense cards all sit in one dashboard rather than requiring you to match a merchant account against a separate bank feed. That’s the genuine practical difference vs running two separate accounts.
Picture your bookkeeper reconciling Friday’s card takings on Monday morning. With GuavaPay, the settlement lands in the same account as your outgoing payments — no manual import from a separate merchant portal.
Payment Channels Supported
You can take payments in-store via POS terminal, online via the GuavaPay gateway, and remotely via payment links (Request by Link). Supported card networks include Visa, Mastercard, and UnionPay.
If your business operates across online and in-person channels, you get both under one account — a practical advantage over card-reader-only providers that leave you managing a separate online gateway.
GuavaPay Payment Processing Fees
Transaction rates start at 0.6% for in-store and online payments. Your business account has no monthly fee. POS terminal rental is £10/month on a rolling 30-day contract.
Card Payment Fees
If you process £5,000/month in card payments at 0.6%, your transaction cost is £30. At SumUp’s 1.69% flat rate, the same volume costs £84.50. We’d call that a meaningful saving at this volume band — worth modelling against your own monthly figures.
Payment links (Request by Link) are charged at 1.5% — higher than the standard transaction rate. If you rely on payment links for a significant share of your revenue, check that blended rate before comparing against competitors.
That’s the rate structure: competitive in-person and online rate, less competitive on payment links.
Monthly, Setup and Contract Costs
Your business account carries no monthly fee. UK Faster Payments and SEPA transfers are free. SWIFT transfers cost £10 per outgoing transaction.
FX conversion is 0.5% of the transaction amount. ATM withdrawals incur a 1% fee. Virtual and physical card issuance is free.
If you regularly send international payments via SWIFT, the £10 per-transaction fee adds up. Run your typical monthly payment count before assuming the free account makes GuavaPay cost-neutral vs a traditional business account.
Other Fees to Watch
Chargeback administration fee is £25 per dispute. If you operate in a sector with above-average chargeback rates — online retail, travel, subscriptions — model this cost into your total processing cost before you commit.
Top-up via another bank’s card, digital wallet-to-card transfers, and card-to-card transfers all carry a 1.5% fee. Top-up via PayPoint costs £1.70 per transaction.
The catch is the chargeback fee — £25 is a fixed per-dispute charge regardless of transaction value.
Payouts and Settlement
If your cash flow depends on card takings clearing before supplier payments go out, settlement timing matters as much as the headline rate.
Standard Settlement Times
Standard settlement is 1–3 business days into your GuavaPay business account. We’d note this is slower than Stripe (2-day standard, with instant payout option) and Dojo (10am next-day including weekends in year one).
If your accountant runs supplier payments every Thursday based on Wednesday’s settlement, a 1–3 day settlement window from a Saturday trade means you’re waiting until Tuesday. Pin down settlement timing precisely before switching from a faster provider.
Holds, Reserves and Delays
GuavaPay’s documentation does not publish explicit rolling reserve terms for new accounts. We’d recommend confirming reserve policy directly with GuavaPay during onboarding — particularly if your business is new or operates in a higher-risk transaction category.
Payment Features
You get in-person, online, and payment-link channels alongside a multi-currency business account and corporate cards under one platform.
Online Checkout and Payment Links
The GuavaPay e-commerce gateway integrates with WooCommerce for online checkout. If you run a WooCommerce store, you can accept card payments through GuavaPay without a separate gateway relationship.
Payment links let you take remote or telephone payments without a full checkout build — useful if you occasionally invoice clients or take deposits by phone. Note the 1.5% rate on payment links vs 0.6% standard.
Batch payments and recurring payment functionality are available — useful if you run regular supplier payments or subscription billing from the same account.
Integrations and API Options
Published integrations include WooCommerce and Xero. If your bookkeeper uses Xero, the direct integration covers the reconciliation workflow without manual exports.
We’d put API depth as a clear weakness relative to Stripe or Checkout.com. If your business needs custom checkout flows, webhook-driven automations, or developer-maintained integrations, Stripe is the more capable platform for that profile.
Recurring, International or Advanced Payments
Multi-currency accounts support 20+ currencies, with SEPA transfers free and SWIFT at £10 per outgoing transaction. This covers the standard UK and European use case.
If your business regularly takes payments from or sends payments to markets outside the UK and Europe, we’d recommend comparing GuavaPay’s international coverage against Airwallex or Stripe before deciding.
Dashboard, Reporting and User Experience
The MyGuava Business platform is designed for small business owners managing payments and accounts without a dedicated finance team.
Dashboard and Reporting Tools
You get real-time transaction tracking, account management, and multi-user access with customisable team permissions. Real-time notifications on transactions and account activity are included.
If your accountant needs weekly card takings reconciled against outgoing payments for VAT, the Xero integration handles that automatically. That’s the deal — Xero users get clean reconciliation; everyone else gets a manual export workflow.
Account Setup and Day-to-Day Use
Platform access is desktop-based. The interface is described as straightforward, though the 3.6/5 Trustpilot score suggests the day-to-day experience isn’t uniformly smooth. We’d recommend reading recent reviews before committing, specifically for account access issues and onboarding friction.
Onboarding takes up to seven working days and requires Certificate of Incorporation and Proof of Address. If you need to be taking payments this week, SumUp or Square will have you live in minutes.
The catch is the seven-day onboarding. Not built for speed of setup — that’s the trade-off for the all-in-one structure.
Security, Compliance and Chargebacks
GuavaPay is PCI-DSS compliant. 3D Secure authentication applies to your online card transactions under PSD2/SCA requirements. Two-factor authentication is enforced on login.
Payment Security and Fraud Checks
POS and card reader hardware does not store card data. PCI-DSS compliance, 3DS, and 2FA together cover the standard security baseline for UK payment processing.
For businesses in regulated sectors or with higher fraud exposure, we’d recommend evaluating whether GuavaPay’s configurable fraud controls meet your specific requirements before committing.
Chargebacks and Disputes
Chargeback administration fee is £25 per dispute. Picture your finance manager chasing a disputed transaction on a Tuesday morning, two days before your payroll run. A £25 administration fee on top of the chargeback value is a fixed cost you absorb regardless of outcome.
Dispute handling is managed through the GuavaPay platform via live chat or phone. We’d suggest logging a test support query before going live to check response times against your expectations.
Who GuavaPay Payment Processing Is Best For
Best Use Cases
You’ll find GuavaPay a good fit if you run a UK small business and want a single provider for payment acceptance and banking. The free account, 0.6% rate, and WooCommerce/Xero integrations are a coherent package for an owner-managed business that would otherwise run two separate relationships.
You’re also well-served if your card volume is high enough for the 0.6% rate to beat SumUp or Square flat rates materially — the crossover vs SumUp’s 1.69% is somewhere above £3,000/month, depending on your mix.
When to Consider Alternatives
If you need to be live and taking payments this week, SumUp or Square will onboard you in minutes. GuavaPay’s seven-day onboarding is a genuine blocker for time-sensitive starts.
For developer-led businesses needing deep API access, Stripe covers the profile far better than GuavaPay will.
If your Trustpilot threshold is 4.0+ before you trust a provider with your payments and banking, GuavaPay’s 3.6/5 doesn’t clear that bar — Square (4.3/5) and SumUp (4.4/5) do. Not the right call if the review score is a hard gate for you.
Customer Support and Reviews
Support Channels
You can reach GuavaPay via 24/7 live chat, email, and phone. We’d describe the breadth of support hours as a genuine differentiator vs payment processors with UK-business-hours-only coverage.
Customer Review Themes
Trustpilot score is 3.6/5 at the time of this review — below Square (4.3/5), SumUp (4.4/5), and Stripe (4.5/5). We’d treat this as a yellow flag rather than a red one, but it warrants reading recent reviews for recurring patterns before you commit.
When you review Trustpilot, filter for the most recent entries and look specifically for onboarding delays, account access issues, and settlement problems. Those are the operational pain points that affect your cash flow directly.
GuavaPay Payment Processing Alternatives
GuavaPay vs Stripe
Stripe charges 1.5% + 20p for UK online card transactions — higher than GuavaPay’s 0.6% entry rate. But Stripe’s API depth, global reach, developer documentation, and Trustpilot score (4.5/5) are materially stronger.
We’d put GuavaPay ahead if you want a combined payment and banking account at a competitive rate; Stripe ahead if your business is developer-led, international, or needs a proven reliability track record.
GuavaPay vs SumUp
SumUp charges 1.69% flat PAYG with a £39 card reader. No business account is included, but you can be live within minutes. SumUp’s Trustpilot score is 4.4/5.
We’d put GuavaPay ahead at volume (the 0.6% rate compounds) and for the free business account; SumUp ahead for anyone who values instant setup, simpler pricing, or a stronger support track record. Rate wins at volume; simplicity wins at low volume.
GuavaPay vs Square
Square charges 1.75% flat with a £19 reader and a genuinely capable free POS app. No business account is bundled, but Square’s ecosystem — inventory, payroll, invoicing — goes well beyond what GuavaPay’s platform currently covers.
We’d put GuavaPay ahead on transaction rate at volume; Square ahead for retail and hospitality businesses that want a capable free POS and a more developed ecosystem.
Final Verdict: Is GuavaPay Payment Processing Worth It?
GuavaPay’s strongest case is the combination of a 0.6% entry rate and a free business account. If you’re consolidating a payment processor and a business account into one provider, that’s a coherent argument.
The friction points are real. Seven-day onboarding, a 3.6/5 Trustpilot score, and API depth that doesn’t match Stripe are the three things you accept in exchange for the combined platform.
Model your actual monthly card volume, payment link share, and chargeback exposure before you decide. The £25 chargeback fee and 1.5% payment-link rate can erode the rate advantage if either is a significant part of your mix.
Worth evaluating if: you want one provider for payments and banking, your volume justifies sub-1% rates, and you can wait seven days to go live.
That’s the deal: competitive rate, free account, slower onboarding.
Frequently Asked Questions
What transaction fees does GuavaPay charge?
Transaction rates start at 0.6% for in-store and online payments. Payment links (Request by Link) are charged at 1.5%. Chargeback administration fee is £25. Top-up via another bank’s card and card-to-card transfers are 1.5%.
Is GuavaPay available to businesses outside the UK?
MyGuava Business is available to UK-registered businesses only. You’ll need to provide a Certificate of Incorporation and UK Proof of Address to apply.
How long does GuavaPay onboarding take?
Onboarding typically takes up to seven working days. If you need to be live faster, SumUp and Square can activate your account within minutes.
Methodology and Disclosure
This review is based on GuavaPay’s published product documentation, pricing pages, and publicly available Trustpilot data, verified May 2026. Confirm current rates and terms directly with GuavaPay before signing, as pricing may vary by volume and business type.
Affiliate disclosure. GuavaPay is not part of the BusinessExpert affiliate programme. This review is editorially independent. BusinessExpert may receive affiliate compensation from other payment providers mentioned on this page; this does not affect our editorial assessments.