Best Card Machines for Small Businesses
Square Reader is the safest first machine for most small businesses, Tide is cheaper once you take a few thousand pounds a month by card and bank with it, and myPOS suits traders who work away from a counter. We weighed more than the rate, because a machine also costs you money when it lets you down: a busy Saturday of card sales that reaches your account on Wednesday leaves a gap to cover, and a reader that keeps reconnecting while a customer waits at the counter loses you the sale.
Best Overall
Square Reader is our pick for most small businesses because it costs little to start and ties you to nothing: £19 plus VAT for the reader, with no monthly fee or contract. You pay 1.75% on every in-person sale on a UK-issued card, Amex included, and the free Square Point of Sale app covers basic sales, products and reporting. The surcharge to watch is on cards issued abroad, which add 1.5%, so a £100 sale to an overseas visitor costs you £3.25.
SumUp undercuts it by 60p on every £1,000 of sales (1.69% against 1.75%), and if that were the whole decision SumUp would win. We’d pay the 60p, because Square’s free transfer goes straight to your own bank, usually the next day and within two working days at most, whereas SumUp’s next-day payout needs a SumUp Business Account. If the business changes direction, you have a £19 reader to write off and no contract to get out of. Square also keeps taking payments offline for up to 24 hours, subject to its conditions, so a dropped connection need not stop the queue.
Square stops being the cheapest choice once your card takings can carry a monthly plan, and the plan we’d price first is Tide’s Premium, at £19.99 plus VAT a month on a 12-month contract and 0.69% plus 3p. At a £20 average sale it costs less than Square from about £2,200 a month in card sales, or about £2,650 if you are not VAT-registered and cannot reclaim the VAT on the plan.
Tide’s Essential plan asks for more sales but lets you cancel at any time. At today’s £17.99 and 0.89% plus 3p it needs about £2,550 a month (£3,050 without reclaiming VAT), and that gets harder from 1 December 2026, when the rate becomes 0.99% plus 3p. At the £19.99 fee in Tide’s December schedule, the same sum comes to about £3,280. None of these figures counts the hardware, which moves the first-year sum, so add the price of Tide’s reader before you switch.
Not right if: you expect to take more than about £2,500 a month by card and would bank with Tide anyway, or you need a standalone 4G terminal rather than a reader paired with a phone or tablet.
Get Square’s £19 readerBest for Low Fees
Tide Sell In-Person has the lowest published in-person rate of the eleven providers we compared, at 0.69% plus 3p, although you only get it by banking with Tide and paying for its Premium plan. Tide prices its three plans before VAT and quotes its rates on UK consumer debit cards. Pay As You Go has no monthly fee and charges 1.5% plus 5p. Essential costs £17.99 a month for 0.89% plus 3p, and you can cancel it at any time. Premium, at £19.99 a month or £159.99 a year, brings the rate down to that 0.69% plus 3p in return for a 12-month contract.
Two of those rates rise on 1 December 2026, when Tide’s revised terms put Pay As You Go up to 1.6% plus 5p and Essential up to 0.99% plus 3p. Premium stays where it is. Tide’s December fee schedule also lists Essential at £17.99 in one table and £19.99 in another, and if you budget on the higher figure, as we would, Essential costs the same as Premium for a higher rate. So if you can commit for a year, Premium is the plan to price.
Payouts are another reason to look at Premium first. Tide’s card reader page shows next-day settlement on all three plans, but its December schedule lists a £2.99-a-month next-day settlement add-on that Premium includes, and we could not tell from the schedule whether Essential or Pay As You Go will pay it.
The reader needs a Tide business account, so this is a banking decision as much as a card-machine one. The paid plans make most sense when you want Tide anyway and your card takings reliably cover the plan fee. If SumUp is the other name on your shortlist, our SumUp vs Tide comparison costs the two side by side at different monthly takings.
Tide does take Amex, but at a much higher rate. From 1 December 2026 its terms charge 3.25% plus 5p on every Amex card, on every plan, against 0.69% plus 3p for a debit card on Premium. If your customers include corporate travellers, premium retail shoppers or anyone else who pays by Amex regularly, work out that part of your takings at the Amex rate, not at the debit rate in the headline.
Not right if: your turnover is low or irregular, you do not want to move banking to Tide, or a large share of your takings comes on Amex.
Get Tide’s 0.69% Premium rateBest for Mobile and On-the-Go
myPOS Go 2 suits anyone who takes payments away from a counter, because the £39 plus VAT machine carries its own 4G connection and never leans on a phone. That makes it a better fit than a paired reader for markets, mobile services and sites where Bluetooth pairing is inconvenient. Payments settle immediately into a myPOS e-money account, and you then transfer the money to your usual business account if you want it elsewhere.
The 1.10% plus 7p rate only applies to UK consumer cards, and only if you take under £10,000 a month by card. Other cards cost a good deal more: 2.20% plus 7p from the European Economic Area (EEA), 2.45% plus 7p on Amex and 2.85% plus 7p on all other consumer and commercial cards. If a good share of your customers pay with those, your average rate will sit well above 1.10%.
The 7p weighs most on small sales, which is where a plain percentage can beat myPOS. On the fee alone it undercuts SumUp’s 1.69% once your average sale passes about £11.90, or £12.70 on first-year cost at £3,000 a month, once each reader’s price is counted. A coffee shop selling at £6 a time pays more here than on SumUp.
Not right if: you trade from a stable fixed checkout, or you take enough Amex, overseas or commercial cards to lose the advantage of the domestic rate.
Go phone-free with myPOSBest for Shops and Fixed Checkouts
Tyl by NatWest makes most sense for an established shop that wants a conventional terminal kept at one counter and its takings paid straight to a bank. Countertop and portable terminals start at £13.99 plus VAT a month, and the 1.39% plus 5p rate covers UK and European personal cards, with other cards costing more. Tyl pays takings out the next business day, normally by the end of that day.
The contract runs for 12 months, so price the full term at the standard rental, even if a temporary free-hardware offer is available when you apply.
Not right if: you trade seasonally, move between locations, or do not want a hardware rental commitment.
Get Tyl’s 1.39% rateBest for Cafes and Hospitality
Dojo fits a cafe or restaurant because its Pocket terminal supports table ordering and split bills, and it integrates with more than 450 EPOS systems. Its pricing suits hospitality too. A blended rate is one price for every card, so what you pay does not rise when a customer uses Amex or a commercial card, and Dojo’s is 1.2% if you take less than £100,000 a year by card.
Everything else is priced separately. The Go Max costs from £149 upfront or £25 a month, and other terminals have their own purchase or rental price. Essential software is free, while Plus costs £25 a month per location, or £11.99 on an offer for new customers and new locations. Dojo’s FAQ puts contracts under £1m a year at 12 months, then monthly rolling.
That means the saving against Square’s 1.75% has to pay for the terminal before Dojo is any cheaper. At 0.55 percentage points, a £15 monthly rental needs about £2,730 a month in card sales to cover itself, and a £25 rental needs about £4,550.
Those figures assume the 1.2% is the whole charge. Dojo’s pricing page calls it an all-in blended rate, but its own FAQ lists a 5p secure transaction fee on every authorisation. If your quote includes it, at a £20 average sale it adds about 0.25 percentage points, and the break-even points rise to about £5,000 and £8,300 a month. Ask Dojo to confirm in the quote whether the fee applies. Our Square vs Dojo comparison sets the two side by side if they are your shortlist.
Not right if: your monthly card volume is too low to recover the hardware cost, or you want one simple price without separate equipment and software decisions.
Get Dojo’s 1.2% blended rateBest for Fast Payouts
PayPal Point of Sale (formerly Zettle) settles card payments to a PayPal balance in minutes, from a reader that costs £29 excluding VAT, at 1.75% in person and with no monthly fee or fixed contract. It is worth choosing if you already take online payments through PayPal, because your in-person and online takings then land in one balance and reconcile together.
The minutes only apply to that balance, though. Moving the money on to your business bank account is a separate step, and the standard transfer takes longer.
Not right if: you need the takings to arrive directly in your bank account without passing through PayPal.
Get paid in minutes with PayPal Point of SaleBest for Growing Businesses
SumUp Solo Lite suits a business that expects to grow, because you can start small and change your plan and your equipment without changing provider. The reader costs £25 plus VAT and charges 1.69% per in-person payment with no subscription. When your takings can carry one, SumUp’s Payments Plus plan cuts the domestic consumer-card rate to 0.99% for £19 a month, and SumUp sells standalone terminals for when you no longer want to rely on a phone.
Payments Plus covers its subscription at roughly £2,715 a month of qualifying sales, or £2,250 on the £189 annual plan, but only domestic consumer cards qualify. Amex, premium, corporate and non-EEA cards stay at 1.69% on both plans, so if 60% of your takings qualify, the monthly plan needs about £4,525 a month in total card sales before it pays for itself.
Not right if: you already use Tide or Revolut and can obtain a lower rate inside an account you need anyway.
Grow with SumUp, no switchingBest No-Contract Option from a Bank
Barclaycard Smartpay Anywhere gives you a reader from a bank with no monthly fee, minimum volume or fixed contract. It costs £29 plus VAT, and settlement is normally the next working day and may be earlier for Barclays customers. Where it falls down is the price of each sale, because Barclaycard no longer publishes a standard transaction rate for this reader, so you need a quote, and nobody can rank it on price until that quote shows the rate for each type of card. It takes Visa and Mastercard but not Amex, although Barclaycard’s other terminals do, at their own quoted rates.
Not right if: you want to compare a published rate before applying, or you need to accept Amex.
Get Barclaycard, no contractBest for Existing Revolut Business Customers
Revolut’s card machines make sense if you already pay for Revolut Business: its in-person rate starts at 0.8% plus 2p for UK consumer cards, the second lowest here. Amex costs 1.7% plus 2p, and international and commercial cards cost more.
Bought on its own, it is not cheap. The original Revolut Reader is discontinued, so new customers pay £129 plus VAT for the Lite Terminal or £169 plus VAT for the Terminal, and both need a Revolut Business account from £10 a month. Takings settle into a Revolut Merchant account and are usually ready to pay out within 24 hours, after which you move them into your Business balance.
Not right if: you do not already want Revolut Business, or you need settlement into a different bank without another transfer.
See Revolut card machinesTwo more to price: Teya and Flatpay. We left both out of the ranked eleven, because we have not reviewed Flatpay in full and Teya prices its larger accounts by quote, but each publishes enough for you to set it against the picks above.
Teya’s Start plan has no membership fee and charges 1.59% on consumer cards if you take up to £7,500 a month by card, with a custom offer above that. You buy the machine: the Teya Lite is £89 plus VAT, and the Teya Go (£109) and Teya Pro (£139, with a built-in printer) are both on launch offers. The rate only holds up if you stay busy, because a £29.99 fee applies when your monthly card takings fall under £2,500, so a quiet January costs you far more than 1.59% suggests.
Teya settles sales the next day, weekends included, but into a Teya Business Account, an e-money account without Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection. Having them paid into another bank adds 0.10% to your transaction fees.
Flatpay charges 1.49% per transaction on all cards if you take less than £200,000 a year by card, with no subscription and £0 to start. That is 0.26 percentage points under Square, or £7.80 a month on £3,000 of sales. Its pricing page lists a PAX A920 Pro terminal, but we could not find a contract length there, so get it in writing with your application.
Card Machines for Small Businesses Compared
Square ReaderTop Pick
SumUp Solo LiteBest for Startups
myPOS Go 2Best for Mobile
Revolut Lite Terminal and TerminalBest for Revolut Business Counters
Tide Card ReaderLow-fee option
Dojo Go MaxBest for Hospitality
TakepaymentsBespoke pricing
PayPal Point of SaleNo monthly fee
Barclaycard Smartpay AnywhereBank-grade acquirer
Tyl by NatWestFixed checkout
WorldpayHigh-volume option
How to Choose the Best Card Machine for Small Businesses
Choose on what the machine will cost you each month at your own turnover and average sale, with the cards your customers actually use, because the lowest percentage in a table can still be the wrong machine for the way you trade. After that, the contract, where the money lands and how the machine connects will narrow it down.
Start with Total Monthly Cost
Whether a low percentage really saves you money comes down to your monthly card takings, your average sale and the share of payments made with Amex, commercial or overseas cards.
Take £3,000 a month at a £20 average sale, all on UK consumer cards. Before VAT, and counting the reader once, the first year costs £561 on myPOS Go 2, £633 on SumUp Solo Lite, £649 on Square Reader and £659 on PayPal Point of Sale. Drop the average sale to £6 and myPOS climbs to £855 while SumUp stays at £633, because the 7p is charged 500 times a month instead of 150. Our cheapest card machines page runs the same sum at other takings and for the plans with a monthly fee.
While your takings are low or unpredictable, a pay-as-you-go reader is usually cheapest, because in a quiet month you only pay the fee on what you sell. A monthly plan only starts to pay once what it saves on each sale adds up to more than the subscription and any equipment rental. Square also includes basic point-of-sale software, so if another provider needs separate till software, add that subscription to its side of the sum.
Check Amex and Commercial-Card Pricing
Square, PayPal Point of Sale and SumUp on pay as you go charge Amex at the same flat rate as other in-person cards, and Dojo’s blended rate covers it too. myPOS, Revolut and Tide charge more for Amex, and Tide charges most: 3.25% plus 5p from 1 December 2026. Barclaycard Smartpay Anywhere takes only Visa and Mastercard.
The gap matters most if your customers regularly pay on corporate or premium cards. If you don’t know how much of your takings comes that way, ask your current provider for a transaction report before you compare rates.
Choose the Right Connection
The cheapest hardware pairs with a phone or tablet. Square, SumUp Solo Lite, PayPal Point of Sale and similar readers all work this way, and our guide to card readers for iPhone and Android covers which work with yours. A machine with its own Wi-Fi or 4G connection costs more, but your phone is then no longer part of taking a payment.
At a fixed counter with reliable internet, either kind of machine can work. Mobile traders, events and businesses with patchy reception have more reason to pay for a self-contained terminal. Square’s offline payments give you some cover there, but they carry conditions, and a payment taken offline can still be declined later.
No hardware at all. Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android turns your phone into the reader, and it takes Apple Pay, Google Pay and contactless cards. SumUp and Teya offer it on both, and Revolut and Dojo on iPhone. Tide charges 0.69% to 0.89% plus 9p on a plan, which is 6p a sale more than its card readers. The limit is that nobody can insert a card, and SumUp asks customers to enter a PIN on your phone, usually above £100. Our guide to Tap to Pay solutions covers the rest.
Standalone machines. The SumUp Solo lists at £79 plus VAT, and the PayPal Terminal at £149 plus VAT with a SIM and mobile data included. The Worldpay DX8000 and Dojo Go Max also carry their own 4G. Look closely before you buy Square Terminal, because at the same £149 plus VAT it has no mobile connection: it needs Wi-Fi or Ethernet, although offline payments can cover you for up to 24 hours.
Paper receipts. A phone-paired reader sends receipts by email or text, so if your customers expect paper you need a machine with a printer. Square Terminal, SumUp Terminal and Teya Pro have one built in, and PayPal sells a printer dock for its Terminal.
Check Where and When the Money Arrives
The fastest payouts land in an account the provider runs, and the money still has to move to your business bank account from there. myPOS settles immediately to a myPOS account, and PayPal Point of Sale within minutes to a PayPal balance. SumUp pays out the next day only into a SumUp Business Account, and takes one to three working days to reach another bank. Revolut usually has takings ready within 24 hours, again in its own Revolut Merchant account.
Square’s free standard transfer goes straight to your own bank, although its pages differ on how fast. The reader page says the next day, the pricing FAQ says one to two working days, and the help page says payments taken before midnight arrive the next day and later ones on the second day. Plan on the next day at best and two working days at most, with weekend arrivals only if your bank takes real-time payments. Dojo and Tyl pay out the next day or next working day, and Tide shows next-day settlement on all three of its plans.
If cash flow is tight, those gaps are worth more of your attention than a small difference in rate. Check which account the money lands in, the cut-off time, what happens at weekends and what any faster payout costs.
Read the Contract Before Ordering Hardware
Square, SumUp, myPOS, PayPal Point of Sale and Revolut don’t require a fixed card-machine contract, so you can stop using them when you like. Dojo, Tyl, Worldpay and TakePayments tie you in for 12 to 18 months through a contract or rental, and leaving early can mean an exit charge.
A 12-month Tyl rental at £13.99 plus VAT a month commits you to almost £168 before VAT on the day you sign. An established shop can carry that easily enough, but it is a real commitment for a seasonal or new business that may not need the machine all year.
Before you sign, ask for the full contract, the initial term, how it renews and what it costs to leave early. If a provider offers to buy you out of your existing agreement, read the new one just as closely.
Match the Reader to Your Till
The apps that come with Square and PayPal Point of Sale can be enough for a small shop, cafe or service business. If you already run a till, Dojo integrates with more than 450 EPOS systems and offers hospitality-specific equipment, and Teya says its machines work with more than 200. TakePayments, Worldpay, Tyl and Barclaycard work more like a traditional card-payment provider: you agree terms with them rather than pick a plan from a price list.
If you are buying a till and not only a way to take cards, the price changes. Square Register, a dual-screen till at the same 1.75%, costs £699 plus VAT, or £59 plus VAT a month for 12 months. SumUp POS Plus is software, at £39 a month before VAT for floor plans and barcode scanning, and the PayPal Terminal comes with a built-in barcode scanner for £199 plus VAT.
When card payments are essential to trading, it matters who picks up if the machine stops on a busy day. Check that help is available during your actual opening hours, and whether it comes by chat, telephone or a named account manager.
Fees and Costs to Watch
The headline rate is only part of what a card machine costs you. The hardware, any monthly plan or rental, the higher rate on online payments and one-off charges such as refunds all add to the bill, and at low volumes they can outweigh the rate itself.
Device Cost
Phone-paired readers are the cheapest starting point: Square costs £19 plus VAT, SumUp Solo Lite £25 plus VAT and PayPal Point of Sale £29 plus VAT for your first reader, and myPOS Go 2 adds its own connection for £39 plus VAT. Tide’s prices depend on the plan. On Premium its phone-paired Nano starts at £11 plus VAT and its Card Reader at £29 plus VAT, although its December schedule puts that Card Reader at £69.
Larger terminals and rentals cost more. Dojo equipment starts at £149 upfront for the Go Max or £15 a month for the Wired, and Tyl starts at £13.99 plus VAT a month. Buying usually costs less over time, but compare the two over the full contract period, because rental may include replacement, service or a lower rate.
In-Person Transaction Fees
You can’t set the lowest published rates for UK consumer cards side by side, because some need a monthly plan and others charge a different amount for each type of card. The lowest rate of all, Tide’s 0.69% plus 3p, comes with a 12-month Premium contract, and its 0.89% plus 3p needs the £17.99-plus-VAT Essential plan and rises to 0.99% plus 3p on 1 December 2026. Revolut’s 0.8% plus 2p needs a paid Revolut Business account and a £129 terminal.
Further up the scale, myPOS charges 1.10% plus 7p for UK consumer cards, with higher rates for several others, and Dojo advertises a 1.2% blended rate below £100,000 annual card turnover, with hardware separate and a possible 5p authorisation fee on top. Tyl charges 1.39% plus 5p for UK and European personal cards, on a rental.
SumUp charges 1.69% pay as you go or, for domestic consumer cards only, 0.99% on Payments Plus, and Square and PayPal Point of Sale charge 1.75% with no monthly fee. TakePayments and Barclaycard require a quote, so compare one using every type of card you take, not just the lowest line on the rate sheet.
What sits inside a rate. Every card payment carries an interchange fee to the bank that issued the card, a scheme fee to Visa or Mastercard, and your provider’s own margin. UK interchange on consumer cards is capped at 0.2% for debit and 0.3% for credit, and commercial cards sit outside the cap, which is why Revolut, myPOS and Tide all charge more for them.
A flat or blended rate, such as Square’s or Dojo’s, rolls all three into one figure. Interchange-plus pricing, offered on some quoted deals, passes the first two through at cost and adds a margin, so your bill moves with the cards your customers use. Our guide to interchange, blended and flat-rate pricing works through the difference.
Merchant accounts and acquirers. The acquirer is the company that processes your card payments, and a merchant account is your agreement with it. Square, SumUp and PayPal Point of Sale include that in the sign-up. TakePayments does not: its terms require a separate contract with an acquiring bank it nominates, and that contract carries its own charges, so you have two sets of terms to read.
Online and Remote Payment Fees
Payments taken online, by payment link or keyed in by hand usually cost more than payments taken on the terminal. Square charges 1.4% plus 25p for UK cards paid online, 2.5% plus 25p for non-UK cards and 2.5% for manually keyed payments, while SumUp charges 2.5% online and Revolut’s published online rate starts at 1% plus 20p. If you take orders by telephone or send payment links, ask for the card-not-present rate, which is the price when the card isn’t at the machine, and include it in the same cost comparison.
Monthly Fees and Contract Costs
Your monthly bill can hold an account subscription, terminal rental, software, a Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance charge and a minimum monthly service charge, so add up whichever apply. You won’t always find them on one line: Dojo separates the transaction rate, hardware and optional software, and TakePayments sets its rental and other charges in the individual quote.
A minimum monthly service charge bills you when your takings fall short of a set level, which is the risk a seasonal business needs to price. Teya’s £29.99 fee under £2,500 a month works in much the same way, whereas Worldpay’s Simplicity plan says it has no authorisation or minimum monthly service fee. Ask any quoted provider for the PCI compliance charge and the early termination fee too, because neither appears in a headline rate.
Treat a promotional £0 rental as an offer with an end date. Worldpay’s £0 terminal hire runs to 31 December 2026 and still needs an 18-month minimum term, so the standard £17.50 rental remains the figure to plan around. Note when any such offer ends and work out the full contract cost before you sign.
Refunds, Chargebacks and Other Charges
Refund, chargeback, authorisation and faster-settlement fees are easy to miss because they sit outside the headline transaction rate. Square charges 1.95% of the balance for an instant transfer to your bank, while the standard transfer is free. Don’t confuse that with the 1.5% it adds to a card issued abroad, which is charged on the sale itself.
Dojo’s FAQ lists a 50p fee on every refund, and Tide charges £25 for each chargeback, which is when a customer disputes a payment through their card issuer and the money is taken back. myPOS and PayPal Point of Sale make money available quickly in their own accounts, although transferring it elsewhere can add a fee or a delay.
Disputes are handled differently too. App-based providers generally deal with chargebacks through self-service tools, while a traditional card-payment provider may give you an account manager. If your payments are high in value or often disputed, that difference may be worth more than a small rate saving.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best card machine for a small business?
Square Reader is the best general choice for a small business with uncertain or modest card turnover. It costs £19 plus VAT, has no monthly fee or contract, charges 1.75% in person and includes a free POS app you can start using straight away.
What is the cheapest card machine to run?
Below about £2,500 a month in card sales, a reader with no monthly fee, such as Square or SumUp, usually costs least, because there is no standing charge to cover. Above that, Tide’s paid plans, SumUp Payments Plus or Dojo can cost less, once the lower percentage saves more than the subscription or equipment cost. Your average sale and how many customers pay by Amex move the exact point.
Do I need a contract for a card machine?
Not with every provider. Square, SumUp, myPOS, PayPal Point of Sale and Revolut offer equipment with no fixed processing contract, while Dojo, Tyl, Worldpay and TakePayments use rental or contract arrangements, so check the minimum term and the exit charge before you sign.
Which card machine pays out fastest?
myPOS is the fastest, making funds available immediately in a myPOS account, and PayPal Point of Sale can settle to a PayPal balance within minutes. Both leave you a further transfer if you need the money in your usual business bank account. Square’s free transfer goes straight there, usually the next day and within two working days at most.
Which card machines accept Amex?
Most do, at very different prices. Square, PayPal Point of Sale and SumUp on pay as you go charge Amex at their normal rate, and Dojo’s blended rate includes it. myPOS, Revolut and Tide charge more, Tide most at 3.25% plus 5p from 1 December 2026. Tyl takes Amex on its card machines, at a rate shown in your quote. Barclaycard Smartpay Anywhere doesn’t take Amex at all.
Can I take card payments without Wi-Fi?
Yes, on a terminal with its own mobile connection, such as myPOS Go 2 or Dojo Go Max, which doesn’t need Wi-Fi or your phone’s connection. Square also supports offline payments for up to 24 hours under specified conditions, but an offline payment can still be declined when the device reconnects.
Can I take card payments without a card machine?
Yes. Tap to Pay lets you take contactless payments on a phone with no hardware: SumUp and Teya offer it on iPhone and Android, and Revolut and Dojo on iPhone. It can’t read an inserted card, so a business with a counter will still want a reader.
Which card machines print receipts?
Square Terminal, SumUp Terminal and Teya Pro have a built-in printer, and PayPal sells a printer dock for its Terminal. Phone-paired readers such as Square Reader and SumUp Solo Lite send receipts by email or text instead.
Do I need a merchant account to take card payments?
Not as a separate step with Square, SumUp or PayPal Point of Sale, because the sign-up includes it. A traditional provider works differently: TakePayments, for example, needs a separate contract with an acquiring bank it nominates.
How quickly will a card machine arrive?
A phone-paired reader you buy outright is usually the quickest to get running, because it is sold online and in shops. A rented terminal takes longer, since the provider has to approve your account and set the machine up before it ships. Don’t tell customers you take cards until the reader has arrived, connected and completed a test payment.
How we reviewed card machines for small businesses
Ranking criteria. We assessed the total cost, hardware, contract flexibility, where the money lands and how fast, connectivity, card acceptance and suitability for different types of small business. The order ranks how well each machine fits rather than its price: Square leads for its low commitment and its free payout to your own bank, usually the next day, even though SumUp and myPOS charge less per sale and Tide’s plans cost less at higher takings. We do not rank providers that only quote individually on rate.
Data sources. We read each provider’s own UK pricing, product and terms pages, last on 5 November 2026, including Square’s fee schedule dated 15 October 2026 and Tide’s fee schedule from 1 December 2026. Where a provider’s own pages disagree, as Dojo’s do on its authorisation fee and Square’s do on transfer times, we show both.
Calculations. Our break-even examples state the assumed monthly turnover, average transaction value and treatment of VAT. They compare transaction and stated fixed costs; they do not assume that every customer uses the cheapest type of card.
Testing basis. This is a desk-researched comparison. We have not run every device through a live shift, so we do not present claims about physical reliability, interface quality or support as first-hand findings.
Update cadence. We recheck provider pricing, contracts and equipment regularly and when a provider announces a material change. Some links are affiliate links; see our editorial policy.