SumUp vs Zettle: Which Card Reader Wins for UK Sellers? (2026)
SumUp wins on headline rate (1.69%) and £15 reader. Zettle wins on POS depth. Decision turns on your retail setup.
- SumUp: 1.69% per card, £15 reader, no contract, no monthly fee.
- Zettle: 1.75% per card, £29 reader, free POS with full inventory.
- Decision turns on retail format, not transaction cost difference.
SumUp and Zettle are the two dominant unbundled card readers for UK small businesses — sub-£30 hardware, no contract, free POS app and a single transaction rate. The difference comes down to whether you want the lowest fee or the most complete POS ecosystem.
Both work with iPhone, iPad and Android. SumUp is independent; Zettle is owned by PayPal but operates under its own UK permissions. Picking the right one depends on what else your business runs on.
The side-by-side rate card below covers in-person fee, reader price, monthly fee and POS app coverage. Detail follows.
SumUp vs Zettle at a Glance
| Provider | In-person fee | Reader price | Monthly fee | POS app | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.69% per transaction | £15 (Air) | £0 | Free Point of Sale app | Visit → |
 | 1.75% per transaction | £29 (Reader 2) | £0 | Full POS with inventory | Visit → |
Fees verified against provider websites, 17 May 2026. Both rates apply to all UK and EEA cards including American Express. Always confirm current rates before signing up.
Verdict: SumUp for sole traders and mobile services. Zettle for retail and food-and-drink merchants who want inventory and gift cards out of the box.
Best for SumUp: taxi drivers, hairdressers, market traders, tradespeople, pop-up shops. Anyone where the reader plus phone is the whole setup.
Best for Zettle: small shops, cafes, restaurants, salons with inventory and staff. Anyone who wants a tablet POS, sales reports and stock control alongside card payments.
Not ideal for SumUp: retailers with significant inventory needs. The SumUp Point of Sale app is functional but Zettle Go is deeper.
Not ideal for Zettle: merchants who only need a card reader. The Zettle reader is £14 more than SumUp Air for similar core functionality.
Key facts: SumUp charges 1.69% on a £15 reader. Zettle charges 1.75% on a £29 reader. Neither has a monthly fee or contract. Both clear Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Which Is Better for Small UK Businesses?
For most UK sole traders and mobile businesses taking under £3,000 a month in card payments, SumUp is the simpler answer. The 6 basis-point rate saving compounds modestly — about £20 saved per £30,000 of card turnover — and the £15 reader is a lower starting cost. For a plumber, electrician or hairdresser who takes 8-15 card payments a day from a phone, SumUp is the obvious entry.
For a small retailer or hospitality venue with inventory, staff, gift cards or split tabs, Zettle is the better fit despite the slightly higher rate. Zettle Go handles SKU management, modifiers, inventory deductions, split payments, refund tracking and basic CRM — for free. SumUp’s POS app does the basics but lacks Zettle’s depth.
For a Manchester cafe doing 200 transactions a day with two part-time staff, Zettle’s POS will save more time than SumUp’s lower rate saves money. For a market trader doing 40 transactions per Saturday with a fixed price list, SumUp wins outright.
SumUp vs Zettle Fees and Charges
Card Transaction Fees
SumUp charges 1.69% per transaction across UK and EEA cards including American Express. No separate rate for premium cards, no different in-person and keyed-in rate. Online via SumUp Online Store and Payment Links is 2.5% + £0.25 — higher than in-person but predictable.
Zettle charges 1.75% per transaction across the same UK and EEA card range, Amex included. Online via Zettle Checkout and Payment Links is 2.5% + 25p. Manually keyed-in (card-not-present) is 2.5% + 25p, matching Zettle’s online rate.
For a merchant processing £40,000 a year of in-person card payments, SumUp saves around £24 over Zettle. The rate difference is real but small in absolute terms.
Monthly, Setup and Contract Costs
Neither charges a monthly fee, PCI compliance fee, or minimum-volume fee on the standard product. Both are pay-as-you-go with no contract and no early-exit penalty. Closing the account costs nothing beyond shutting it down in the dashboard.
Optional paid tier: SumUp One is a £19 monthly subscription that bundles discounted card fees (0.99% instead of 1.69%), free same-day payouts, free online store and free invoicing — worth it above ~£1,500 of monthly turnover. Zettle does not have a direct equivalent at the time of writing.
Other Fees to Watch
Chargebacks: both providers handle disputes in-app. Zettle charges no separate chargeback fee; the disputed amount is held until resolved. SumUp operates similarly with no admin fee.
Refunds: both refund the full processing fee on refunds. Neither retains the transaction cost on returns — refunds are net-neutral.
Payouts: standard payout is 1-3 business days for both. SumUp offers free same-day payouts on the One subscription; Zettle offers next-day as standard after onboarding settles.
Fee Verdict — Who Costs Less
SumUp wins the headline rate (1.69% vs 1.75%) and reader price (£15 vs £29). The combined saving is real but modest — a sole trader takes about two years to recover the £14 hardware difference from rate savings alone. For businesses where Zettle’s POS features (inventory, modifiers, gift cards) would otherwise cost £30-£60 a month elsewhere, the slightly higher rate is worth paying.
SumUp vs Zettle Payment Methods and Checkout
Cards, Wallets and Alternative Payment Methods
Both accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express debit and credit. Both support contactless, Apple Pay and Google Pay via NFC. SumUp also supports Maestro and V Pay; Zettle accepts all standard schemes plus the PayPal QR code, which merchants can enable for buyers who want to pay from their PayPal balance.
Alternative Payment Methods: both have limited APM support compared to a full gateway like Stripe. Neither natively supports BNPL (Klarna, Afterpay) at the in-person reader, though both have online integrations via partner plugins.
Checkout Experience
SumUp’s checkout flow is two taps: enter amount in the POS app, tap reader. Customer taps, swipes or inserts their card and the transaction completes in under 3 seconds. Receipts are emailed, texted or printed via the optional SumUp 3G printer.
Zettle Go has a similar flow with more steps if you’re running an inventory-based checkout — select items first, then tap to pay. The full-POS path takes longer per transaction but gives you inventory deduction and reporting. Pure-amount mode is available for fast checkouts.
Methods Verdict
Both handle the same card schemes and wallets, with no meaningful payment method difference for a UK merchant. The decision is about POS depth, not card coverage.
SumUp vs Zettle Hardware, POS and In-Person
Card Readers and Terminals
SumUp’s reader range starts at the £15 SumUp Air (entry contactless reader, no printer, phone-tethered via Bluetooth). The £29 SumUp Plus adds longer battery and faster connectivity. The £79 SumUp Solo is a stand-alone reader with its own SIM and 2.7″ screen — no phone needed. The £129 Solo with Printer adds a built-in receipt printer. All hardware sold outright with no rental.
Zettle’s reader range is shorter and slightly pricier. The £29 Zettle Reader 2 is the entry option (Bluetooth, contactless, EMV, magnetic stripe). The £199 Zettle Terminal is an all-in-one stand-alone with built-in printer and SIM. All Zettle hardware also sold outright.
POS Software and Hardware Add-ons
SumUp’s Point of Sale app is functional: amount entry, items library, basic categories, simple reports, integration with SumUp Online Store. It handles the most common needs for a service business or simple shop. It doesn’t have the depth of inventory management or modifier groups that Zettle Go provides.
Zettle Go is one of the more complete free POS apps available in the UK. Inventory with variants (size, colour), modifiers, gift cards, staff accounts with permissions, day-end Z reports, basic CRM, table layout for restaurants, integrations with Xero and QuickBooks. For a small retailer or food venue, this is the main reason to pick Zettle.
In-Person Verdict
SumUp wins on hardware breadth and entry price. Zettle wins on POS app completeness. For a sole trader or service business taking card payments from a phone, SumUp Air is the lowest-friction path. For a shop, cafe or salon that wants the till and the card reader to be the same device with inventory and reports built in, Zettle wins.
SumUp vs Zettle Online Payments and Integrations
Hosted Checkout, Payment Links and APIs
Neither is designed primarily for online payments — that’s Stripe, PayPal and Worldpay territory. Both have online add-ons adequate for occasional online sales but not for a dedicated e-commerce operation. SumUp Online Store is a hosted store builder; SumUp Payment Links take payment via a URL. Zettle has Zettle Checkout (an embed) and Zettle Payment Links.
APIs: SumUp has a more developed developer API with payment, customer and order endpoints. Zettle’s API is more limited, focused on transaction retrieval rather than payment initiation. For any integration beyond the basic, SumUp is the easier provider to extend.
Platform Integrations
SumUp integrates with WooCommerce, Wix and Shopify as a payment method, plus Xero and QuickBooks for accounting. The accounting integrations sync transaction data, fees and payouts cleanly.
Zettle has the same e-commerce and accounting coverage plus the PayPal ecosystem integration — connecting Zettle to a PayPal Business account shares customer and inventory data between the two. For merchants who already use PayPal heavily, this is meaningful. For merchants who don’t, irrelevant.
Online Verdict
If you sell primarily in-person and only occasionally online, both handle it adequately. For anything more, you should be using a proper online gateway (Stripe, PayPal Advanced, Worldpay) alongside whichever card reader you choose.
SumUp vs Zettle Payouts, Contracts and Risk
Settlement Speed and Payout Schedule
SumUp pays out in 1-3 business days as standard. Same-day payouts are available on the SumUp One subscription. Payouts are batched daily and arrive in your business bank account via Faster Payments.
Zettle pays out next business day as standard once the account is established (1-3 days during initial onboarding). Funds land in your bank account directly — Zettle doesn’t require you to hold the balance in a wallet first.
Contract Length and Exit Terms
Both are pay-as-you-go with no contract, no minimum monthly volume, no early-exit fees. Closing is done in the dashboard and incurs no charge. Outstanding payouts settle within the normal schedule after closure.
Reserves, Holds and Account Stability
Account holds are uncommon at both providers compared to PayPal’s main wallet brand. SumUp’s most-reported issue is occasional delayed payouts on high-value transactions while risk checks complete. Zettle operates similarly. Neither has the volume of fund-hold complaints PayPal Commerce attracts — separating the Zettle product from PayPal’s wallet behaviour is important for fair comparison.
For high-risk industries, neither is the right choice. Both target low-risk small-business merchants and will close accounts that drift into regulated verticals.
SumUp vs Zettle Customer Reviews and Reputation
Trustpilot and Independent Review Themes
SumUp’s Trustpilot score sits around 4.5/5 with consistent themes: low fees, easy setup, reliable reader hardware. Negative reviews cluster around occasional payout delays and support response during disputes.
Zettle’s Trustpilot score sits around 4.2/5. Positive themes are POS completeness and reader build quality. Negative themes mirror SumUp’s plus a smaller stream of complaints about the PayPal-ownership inheritance — though in practice Zettle operates more independently than this concern suggests.
Support Channels and Response Times
SumUp support is phone, email and in-app chat. Phone support is generally responsive during UK business hours. Email replies typically land within 24 hours.
Zettle support is similar — phone and email with in-app chat. Phone wait times can be longer than SumUp’s; chat is usually the faster route. Zettle’s documentation is more polished than SumUp’s, which reduces the need to contact support.
Reputation Verdict
Both have clean reputations among UK small businesses. Neither has the systemic account-hold issue PayPal Commerce attracts. The differences are minor and a merchant should pick on POS fit, not reputation.
SumUp vs Zettle for International Payments
Neither SumUp nor Zettle is designed for international payment acceptance. Both clear EEA cards at the same headline rate, but neither offers multi-currency settlement or local-currency accounts in non-UK jurisdictions. For a UK merchant taking an occasional EU customer in person, both work — the card clears at the same rate and settles in GBP.
For a business with serious international ambitions (selling to non-EEA buyers, settling in multiple currencies, holding local accounts), both fall short and you should be evaluating Airwallex or Stripe instead. The card reader can remain SumUp or Zettle for in-person UK takings.
Downsides of SumUp and Zettle
Downsides of SumUp
SumUp’s downsides: the Point of Sale app is functional but shallow if you need full inventory or modifier management. The developer API is improving but not yet at the level needed for a complex integration. SumUp One at £19/month is a good deal at higher volumes but adds a recurring cost the entry-level proposition didn’t promise. Some merchants report delayed payouts during peak periods.
Downsides of Zettle
Zettle’s downsides: the £29 reader is twice the price of SumUp Air for the same core function. The 1.75% rate is modestly higher than SumUp’s 1.69%. The API surface is narrower, which limits custom integrations. Some merchants associate Zettle with PayPal’s wider fund-hold complaints — perception isn’t always fair, but it does affect decisions.
Alternatives to SumUp and Zettle
Square is the closest direct competitor with a £19 reader, 1.75% in-person rate and the most polished POS ecosystem of the three. For a small retailer wanting a clean POS, Square Reader is the strongest alternative.
Tide Card Reader offers the lowest headline rate in the UK at 0.79% + 3p on the Sell In-Person plan with a £49.99 reader. For a Tide-banking merchant doing material in-person card volume, Tide Card Reader wins on rate alone.
myPOS is the right pick if you need a stand-alone reader with built-in connectivity and instant access to funds via an integrated e-money account. Hardware is more expensive but the daily-payout cash flow is genuinely valuable.
Final Verdict: SumUp or Zettle?
Choose SumUp if you’re a sole trader, market trader, mobile services business or any merchant where the reader plus your phone is the whole setup. The 1.69% rate, £15 reader and SumUp One option for higher-volume merchants make SumUp the lowest-friction entry to taking cards in person in the UK.
Choose Zettle if you run a shop, cafe, salon or food venue where you want the till and the card reader to be the same device with inventory, modifiers, gift cards and staff accounts built in. The £14 hardware premium and 6 basis-point rate premium are easily paid back by the POS features.
Neither is the wrong answer. Both are pay-as-you-go, both have clean reputations, and both clear all major schemes at transparent rates. The decision is about POS depth, not card processing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SumUp cheaper than Zettle?
SumUp is cheaper on transaction rate (1.69% vs 1.75%) and reader price (£15 vs £29). For a merchant processing £40,000 a year, SumUp saves around £24 in fees plus £14 in hardware — small but real. For merchants needing the POS features Zettle Go provides, Zettle’s premium is well worth paying.
Which has the better POS app?
Zettle’s POS app is more complete than SumUp’s for retail and food-and-drink. It includes inventory with variants, modifiers, gift cards, staff accounts, table layouts for restaurants, and basic CRM. SumUp’s POS handles basics but lacks Zettle’s depth.
Can I use both SumUp and Zettle?
Yes. Both readers can be paired with the same phone or tablet and used interchangeably. Some merchants do this for redundancy. Others use SumUp for quick payments and Zettle for inventory-tracked sales. Both apps coexist on the same device.
Does PayPal owning Zettle affect anything?
SumUp is independent and regulated as an e-money institution by the FCA. Zettle is owned by PayPal but operates under its own UK regulatory permissions. PayPal’s wider fund-hold practices don’t automatically apply to Zettle, though some merchants worry they might. Zettle’s Trustpilot themes are noticeably cleaner on this issue than PayPal’s main Commerce product.
How we reviewed Sumup vs Zettle
Ranking criteria. We compared Sumup and Zettle on pricing, fees, feature set, eligibility, and contract terms. We also verified regulatory status and deposit protection where applicable.
Data sources. Every provider’s pricing page, terms, and product docs were checked directly in May 2026. No comparison sites, no press releases, no affiliate material. FCA register cross-checked for regulatory status.
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.