Our Best Credit Card Reader Picks
These picks are organised by the decision most likely to matter for mobile card acceptance. Each includes an explicit condition for when it is the wrong choice.
Best Overall
SumUp Solo Lite. At £25 +VAT and 1.69% flat with no monthly fee, it is the cheapest reader to run that also takes American Express at the same rate as everything else.
Square undercuts it on hardware at £19, and for occasional sellers that £6 is the whole argument. SumUp is already 0.06 points cheaper per transaction (1.69% vs 1.75%), so the only question is the £6 hardware gap. That gap is repaid after roughly £10,000 of cumulative card sales, about ten months at £1,000 a month, and SumUp keeps paying after that.
The catch is the same as every phone-paired reader here: when your phone battery dies, your till dies with it. If you trade somewhere with poor signal, or you are on your feet all day and cannot keep the phone charged, a standalone device is worth the extra outlay.
You cannot buy a Revolut Reader any more. It held this spot until Revolut withdrew it from sale in 2026, and the company’s help centre now states plainly that it is no longer available to buy. New customers cannot even pair one. If you already own a Reader it keeps working at the same 0.8% + 2p, and we have set out what that means for you in our Revolut Reader review. If you came here wanting one because it was the cheap way into Revolut, the cheapest device it sells now is the £129 +VAT Lite Terminal, which is £80 more than the Reader ever cost. Revolut is no longer the cheap way to start taking cards.
Not right if: your average sale is under a few pounds. SumUp’s flat 1.69% has no fixed pence component, which helps on small tickets, but at very low volumes Square’s £19 hardware never gets paid back by the rate gap.
Visit SumUpBest for Low Transaction Fees
Tide Card Reader on the Sell In-Person plan. From 27 April 2026 the plan costs £17.99 +VAT/month and drops the consumer debit rate to 0.89% + 3p, the lowest per-transaction rate in this guide for any reader without a rental contract.
The break-even against Tide’s PAYG rate (1.5% + 5p, no monthly fee) is roughly £2,600/month at an average £30 transaction. Above that, the plan saves money. Below it, PAYG costs less. Run the maths on your actual volume before subscribing.
Not right if: you cannot bank with Tide, the reader is not sold to non-Tide customers. Also not right if your customers pay regularly by Amex, which Tide does not accept.
Visit TideBest for Fast Payouts
myPOS Go 2. Takings land in a myPOS account the moment the sale completes, which no next-day provider here can match.
Work a Saturday market and you can spend Saturday’s takings on Saturday. Against Square (next working day) and Tide (three working days standard), that is a different cash position going into the weekend: if your cash flow runs weekly rather than monthly, it decides whether you pay a supplier on Monday or wait until Wednesday.
Not right if: you want money in your normal business bank account without an extra step. The funds sit in a myPOS wallet, and moving them to a UK bank is a separate transfer that can carry a fee. You are trading one delay for another kind of friction, not removing it.
Visit myPOSBest for POS Features
Square Reader. The Square POS app is free and covers unlimited employee accounts, real-time sales analytics, inventory management, customer CRM, gift cards, and an online store, all without a monthly subscription.
Most businesses that need a point-of-sale alongside a card reader can run the whole operation through Square without a second software bill.
£19 +VAT for the hardware, no contract, and Amex accepted at the same 1.75% flat rate. For a café, independent retailer, or market trader who wants a till as well as a reader, this is the most complete free POS offering in this guide.
Not right if: you process more than £6,000/month in card takings. At that volume Tide’s lower per-transaction rate beats Square’s flat 1.75%, even after you have paid for the plan.
Visit SquareBest for Ecommerce Integration
Shopify POS. If you already run a Shopify online store, adding Shopify POS gives unified inventory across web and physical sales. A product sold in-person deducts from the same stock pool as an online order, with no manual sync. No other provider in this guide offers that natively.
The cost structure is the most complex here. Shopify Payments is effectively mandatory: using a third-party processor adds a 0.5–2.0% surcharge per transaction on top of all other fees. The WisePad 3 reader costs around £59 +VAT and the eCommerce plan starts at £25/month. Settlement takes 2–5 business days.
Not right if: you do not have or plan to start a Shopify eCommerce subscription. The reader makes no sense without the broader platform, and the platform cost is significant for a business taking only in-person payments.
Visit ShopifyiPhone and Android Compatibility
The title promise is compatibility, so here is what actually works with your phone. Most readers pair to an app over Bluetooth and run on both iPhone and Android. Two of them, the Tide Card Reader and the myPOS Go 2, are standalone terminals that need no phone at all.
| Reader | Needs a phone to work? | Connection | Take payments with just your phone (Tap to Pay) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square Reader | Yes, paired to the app | Bluetooth | iPhone and Android (Android 9+) |
| SumUp Solo Lite | Yes, paired to the app | Bluetooth | iPhone and Android |
| PayPal Card Reader | Yes, paired to the app | Bluetooth | iPhone and Android |
| Shopify WisePad 3 | Yes, paired to the POS app | Bluetooth | Tap to Pay on iPhone |
| Tide Nano | Yes, paired to the app | Bluetooth | Tap to Pay on iPhone |
| Tide Card Reader | No, standalone | Built-in Wi-Fi + 4G | Not needed, runs on its own |
| myPOS Go 2 | No, standalone | Built-in 4G + Wi-Fi | Not needed, runs on its own |
Credit Card Readers for iPhone and Android Compared
Revolut Reader
Discontinued
Tide Card Reader
Low-fee option
Square Reader
Top Pick
SumUp Solo Lite
Best for Startups
PayPal Point of Sale
No monthly fee
Shopify POS
Best for Ecommerce
How to Choose a Credit Card Reader
Phone and Operating System Compatibility
Every Bluetooth reader in this guide pairs to both iPhone and Android via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). The variable is app quality on each platform. Square and Revolut maintain parity across iOS and Android. SumUp’s Android support is solid.
Zettle’s Android app has historically attracted more reported issues than its iOS counterpart, check current app store reviews for your device before committing.
Tap to Pay on your phone, with no hardware, is available on both iPhone and Android from SumUp, PayPal and Square; check the compatibility table above for the current position by provider. If you want to test card acceptance before buying hardware, Tap to Pay is the lowest-friction entry point.
Hardware and Ease of Use
All Bluetooth readers here are pocket-sized. All of these pair to your phone over Bluetooth, so the practical difference is what happens when the battery dies mid-shift.
Tide’s reader runs independently of the phone, so a dying phone does not stop payments. For Bluetooth-paired readers, the phone’s charge level becomes part of the checkout reliability equation.
Setup time on Bluetooth readers is under 15 minutes from account creation to first transaction. Shopify POS takes longer if the eCommerce subscription is new. Tide requires a verified Tide business account before the reader can process payments, which can add several days.
App and POS Features
Square has the deepest free POS: inventory, CRM, employee management, reporting, and an online store all included at no extra cost.
SumUp and Zettle cover basic inventory and sales reporting. Revolut Business’s app is built around banking rather than POS, in-person payments work well, but advanced till features are not there.
Shopify POS Lite (included with any Shopify eCommerce plan) covers basic checkout. POS Pro adds unlimited staff accounts, purchase orders, and multi-location inventory for £69/month per location on top of the eCommerce plan.
Payout Speed
Revolut: next-day including weekends (seven-day hold on first payout). SumUp: next day at 7am. Square: next working day. Zettle: minutes to PayPal, then 1–2 days to bank. Tide: three working days standard (£2.99 +VAT/month for next-day). Shopify: 2–5 business days.
The difference between next-day and three working days is three days of working capital on any given week’s takings. If you are managing tight stock cycles or supplier payment terms, settlement speed may matter as much as the transaction rate.
Connectivity and Battery Life
Square, SumUp, Zettle, Revolut, and Shopify all pair to the phone over Bluetooth, which means they inherit the phone’s problems.
A flat battery, a dropped connection, or a backgrounded app stops checkout. In a stable shop on WiFi, this rarely matters. At an outdoor market, an event pitch, or in a building with poor signal, it matters often.
Tide Card Reader has a built-in 4G SIM (the myPOS Go 2 is the other reader here with one), so it does not depend on the phone for connectivity or power. For any mobile trade where signal is unreliable, that is the relevant differentiator, not the headline rate.
Credit Card Reader Fees and Costs
Hardware Cost
Square Reader: £19 +VAT. SumUp Solo Lite: £25 +VAT. myPOS Go 2: £29 +VAT. PayPal Reader: £29 +VAT. Shopify WisePad 3: £59 +VAT. Tide Card Reader: £99 +VAT (with Sell In-Person plan) or £159 +VAT (PAYG); Tide Card Reader Plus £199; Tide Nano from £15.
Two devices that appear on older comparisons are gone: Revolut withdrew the £49 Reader in 2026, and SumUp no longer sells the £15 Air. If a page still quotes either price, it has not been checked recently. Revolut’s own card-machine page is one of those pages: when we checked it on 13 August 2026 it was still offering “Get the Revolut Reader for £49”, while the company’s help centre said the device was no longer available to buy. Order from it expecting a £49 Reader and you are relying on marketing copy the company’s own support pages contradict.
Hardware is a one-off cost; include it in the first-year total rather than the monthly comparison to get an honest picture.
In-Person Transaction Fees
Flat-rate providers (Square 1.75%, Zettle 1.75%, SumUp 1.69%) charge the same percentage on all card types including Amex.
Plan-based providers (Revolut 0.8% + £0.02, Tide 0.89% + 3p) quote consumer card rates; commercial card and non-UK card rates are higher. If a meaningful share of your customers pay by corporate card, always ask for the full rate card rather than the headline figure.
Remote and Online Payment Fees
In-person rates do not apply when you key in a card number or take an online payment.
Square: 2.5% keyed, 1.4% + 25p online. Revolut: 1% + £0.20 online, 1.7% + £0.20 for Amex online. Zettle: 2.5% online. SumUp: varies by plan. Shopify: 1.5–1.7% via Shopify Payments online, with a 0.5–2.0% surcharge added if using a third-party processor.
Monthly and Other Charges
Square and Zettle: no monthly fee on the standard plan. SumUp: £0 flat or £19/month (Payments Plus, 0.99% rate). Revolut: minimum £10/month Business account required.
Tide: £0 PAYG or £17.99 +VAT/month (Sell In-Person plan, from 27 April 2026). Shopify: from £25/month eCommerce plan required, plus £69/month/location for POS Pro if advanced features are needed.
A monthly fee only makes financial sense if your card volume clears the break-even. For Tide’s plan that is roughly £2,600/month at a £30 average sale, and if your takings sit below that, the monthly fee costs you more than a flat-rate reader would. Below the break-even, the lowest rate on this page is the most expensive option you can pick. The same sum lands at roughly £1,020/month for a Revolut Business account, though that only helps you if you already own a Reader.
Most providers do not return the original processing fee on a refunded sale. A 1.75% charge on a £100 transaction stays with the provider even if the customer gets their money back. If your business has a meaningful refund rate, clothing, events, or online-led retail, that adds up and is rarely included in rate comparisons.
Chargebacks typically cost £10–£25 per dispute on most providers, regardless of outcome. Square and SumUp handle disputes in-app. Tide disputes go through Adyen’s process. Ask each provider for their specific chargeback fee before signing up if your category carries dispute risk.
Fees and hardware prices verified against provider websites, 24 August 2026. Tide Sell In-Person plan rising from £12.99 to £17.99 +VAT from 27 April 2026.
Shopify Amex acceptance on WisePad 3 confirmed via Shopify help documentation, 24 August 2026. This page is editorial content, not regulated financial advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a card reader with any iPhone or Android phone?
It depends on the reader, so use the compatibility table above. Most pair to a recent iPhone or Android over Bluetooth, but the exact operating system (OS) minimum varies by provider (Square’s current reader needs a newer iOS and Android version than some rivals). The Tide Card Reader and myPOS Go 2 are standalone and need no phone at all. The constraint is the provider’s app: Bluetooth must be enabled and the app must be open or backgrounded. Older phones may experience slower Bluetooth pairing or occasional app performance issues.
Do I need a business bank account to use a mobile card reader?
Most providers require a UK bank account for settlement. Revolut Reader requires a Revolut Business account (minimum £10/month). Tide requires a Tide business account. Square and SumUp settle to any UK business bank account. Zettle settles to PayPal first, then transfers to any bank. Shopify settles via Shopify Payments to a linked UK bank account.
What is the cheapest card reader for iPhone and Android?
Square Reader at £19 +VAT has the lowest hardware entry cost in this guide. For businesses processing under £1,000/month, though, SumUp Solo Lite at 1.69% with no monthly fee gives a lower total first-year cost than any plan-based alternative, despite its £25 reader. SumUp Solo Lite at £25 +VAT is the next cheapest to buy and carries the lowest PAYG rate here at 1.69%; Square’s free POS app is the more capable of the two.
Which card readers accept American Express?
Square, SumUp, and Zettle accept Amex at the same flat rate as other cards. Revolut Reader does not accept Amex (the Revolut Terminal does, but not the Reader hardware). Tide does not accept Amex. Shopify POS via Shopify Payments: Amex accepted on the WisePad 3 (confirmed via Shopify help documentation, 24 August 2026).
Can I use a card reader without an internet connection?
No, card payments require a live connection to authorise in real time. Bluetooth readers use the phone’s WiFi or mobile data. Tide’s reader uses a built-in 4G SIM with WiFi as a fallback. Square can take card payments while offline and uploads them when you reconnect, within 24 hours; they are not authorised until then, so there is a risk of decline on reconnection.
How do card readers connect to iPhone and Android?
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is the standard connection method. Pairing takes 30–60 seconds on first setup and reconnects automatically on subsequent uses. The phone’s Bluetooth must be on and the provider’s app must be running. Tide’s reader connects over its own 4G SIM or WiFi and does not pair to the phone at all.
Is there a card reader that works without a phone?
Yes. Tide Card Reader has a built-in 4G SIM, a touchscreen, and runs completely independently of a phone. It and the myPOS Go 2 are the readers here with a built-in 4G SIM included in the purchase price. The trade-off: a Tide business account is required, and the hardware costs £99–£159 +VAT depending on whether you take the Sell In-Person plan.
How We Reviewed Credit Card Readers
How we tested. We installed each reader’s app on both an iPhone and an Android phone, paired the phone-paired readers over Bluetooth, and set up the standalone terminals (Tide Card Reader, myPOS Go 2) on their own without a phone. We ran live chip and contactless sales and timed how fast the money reached the bank.
What we checked. We pulled every fee and hardware price straight from the providers’ own pricing pages in August 2026, and we cross-checked each against the FCA register for its e-money or acquiring permissions.
Update cadence. We re-verify every provider on this page at least monthly, and whenever a provider changes pricing, eligibility, or terms. The verification date on the page reflects the most recent full review. Some links on this page are affiliate links, see our editorial policy.
Regulatory note. This page is editorial content, not regulated financial advice. Credit products are subject to status and approval. Compare offers directly with providers before you apply.