Card Machine Fees UK 2026: True Costs at Real Volumes

Most card machine comparisons show you a headline rate. What they don’t show you is how that rate compounds into a real annual cost – and how dramatically costs vary depending on your monthly card turnover.

We verified pricing from 13 UK card machine providers in March 2026 and calculated the exact annual cost of card acceptance at four real business volumes: £2,500, £5,000, £10,000, and £25,000 per month. The results reveal a gap that most business owners don’t realise exists. For a full buyer’s guide, see our roundup of card machine and payment processing costs.

Key Findings

At £5,000 per month in card turnover, UK small businesses pay between £600 and £1,071 per year in card acceptance costs – a 79% difference between the cheapest and most expensive transparent-pricing provider. At £10,000 per month, that gap widens to £900 between a PAYG flat-rate terminal like Square at £2,100 per year and a contracted monthly plan like Dojo Fix at £1,200 per year. For a full comparison of card machine rental options and what monthly plans include, see our rental guide.

The gap is not driven by service quality or capability – every provider in this comparison offers chip and PIN, contactless, Apple Pay, and Google Pay as standard. The difference is entirely structural: pricing model, monthly fee inclusion, and how each provider handles card-type surcharges. Businesses choosing on headline rate alone routinely overpay by £500 to £900 per year at moderate card volumes.

The most expensive provider across all four tiers is Stripe Terminal at 1.5% + 10p per transaction; the most price-efficient at higher volumes is Tide’s Buy Plan at 0.79% + 3p + £12.99/month. Four findings stand out: PAYG rates become costly at scale; subscription plans only save above a break-even threshold; chargeback fees vary by up to 200% (Square £0, SumUp £10, Stripe £20); and six of 13 providers do not publish pricing.

Provider Rates at a Glance

The table below covers all 13 providers we analysed, showing in-person transaction rates, monthly fees, hardware costs, and contract requirements. Providers marked “Quote only” do not publish rates publicly. All data verified from provider websites in February–March 2026. Individual reviews: Square, SumUp, Dojo, Stripe, Worldpay.

Sources: Provider websites verified February–March 2026. “Quote only” providers were contacted for rates but do not publish pricing. Worldpay and TakePayments publish “from” rates only – actual costs depend on business type, card mix, and volume.

True Annual Cost by Monthly Card Turnover

The table below shows what businesses actually pay per year at four real turnover levels. Calculations assume an average transaction of £35, 100% in-person sales on UK consumer cards, and no international or corporate card transactions. Hardware costs are excluded – see the hardware cost breakdown below.

*Worldpay Simplicity calculated at published “from” rates (0.75% + 5p per transaction, £17.50/month). Actual rates may be higher depending on business type and card mix. All other figures calculated at published rates.

The Break-Even Analysis: When Do Subscription Plans Save Money?

Subscription-based plans charge a fixed monthly fee in exchange for lower transaction rates. Understanding the break-even point – the monthly turnover above which a subscription saves money versus pay-as-you-go – is essential before signing up. The maths is straightforward: divide the monthly subscription cost by the rate reduction it offers.

The SumUp Plus break-even of £2,714 per month is a critical benchmark for UK small businesses deciding between pay-as-you-go and subscription card machine plans. Below that monthly turnover, the free PAYG plan at 1.69% per transaction costs less than the £19 monthly subscription. Above it, the subscription saves money every month – by £34 at £5,000 per month, by £136 at £10,000 per month, and by £422 at £25,000 per month in card turnover.

For a tradesperson or market stall taking £3,500 per month in cards, SumUp Plus saves approximately £57 per year – modest but real. Tide’s Buy Plan break-even is even lower at approximately £1,850 per month, making it the earliest point at which a subscription model becomes cost-effective for UK businesses accepting card payments.

Hardware Costs: What the Terminal Actually Costs You

Hardware costs are often overlooked in fee comparisons – but they matter, particularly for businesses that buy multiple terminals or replace hardware frequently. The cheapest entry point is Square’s reader at £19 (+ VAT); the most expensive transparent-pricing terminal is Tide’s Reader Plus at £199 (+ VAT) with a built-in receipt printer. Dojo and Barclaycard offer rental options from £15–£18/month that include hardware replacement, which suits businesses that prefer not to own equipment outright.

Chip & PIN Terminal vs Contactless-Only Reader: Cost Difference

The phrase “chip and PIN costs” usually means one of two things, and they have very different price points. A chip & PIN-capable terminal has a numeric keypad and accepts both inserted (chip) and tapped (contactless) payments. A contactless-only reader processes taps and digital wallets but cannot accept inserted-card transactions over £100.

The £100 contactless cap is the practical breakpoint. If your average transaction is under £45 and you rarely exceed £100, a contactless-only reader (Square Reader £19, SumUp Solo Lite £25) covers most of what you need. Above £100 – or for any business that takes international cards (which often require PIN entry) – a true chip & PIN PDQ terminal is necessary. PDQ is just the older name for chip & PIN; the technology is the same.

Card Machine Rental vs Purchase: Which Is Cheaper?

Rental and purchase work out at different break-even points depending on how long you keep the terminal. The rough rule: rental wins for terminals you’ll replace within 2 years; purchase wins past that.

Rental looks expensive year-on-year but bundles three things into the monthly fee: hardware replacement on failure, software updates, and (on most contracts) the merchant account itself. If your terminal lasts 4+ years and you don’t mind replacing it yourself, buying outright always wins. The honest middle path: most modern card terminals last 3-5 years before needing replacement, so the £149-£199 purchase tends to beat rental over a typical lifespan.

For a deeper breakdown of monthly rental tiers and what’s included, see our card machine rental comparison.

Virtual Terminal Rates: Taking Card Payments Without a Machine

If you take card payments over the phone, by email, or by entering details into a web dashboard, you’re using a virtual terminal rather than a physical card machine. Rates are typically 0.7-1.0 percentage points higher than chip & PIN because the cardholder isn’t present – the bank treats keyed-in transactions as higher fraud risk.

Virtual terminals fit specific use cases: solicitors taking phone payments for invoices, B2B businesses processing remote orders, charities taking phone donations, repair trades collecting deposits over the phone. For a business taking 80%+ of payments in person, a physical terminal beats a virtual one on cost. For a business taking 80%+ remotely, a virtual terminal removes the hardware cost entirely – just be aware that the per-transaction rate is permanently higher.

Single-Use Account and Temporary Setup Fees

Some businesses need card acceptance only briefly – a charity event, a pop-up shop, a one-off conference, a trade show stall. Three approaches work for this:

• PAYG flat-rate providers (Square, SumUp, Stripe) – no monthly fee, no contract, no minimum volume. You buy the reader once and pay only on transactions. Genuinely the cheapest “single-use” option for under £5,000 of total turnover.
• Short-term rental from your bank – Barclaycard and NatWest offer short-term hire from around £25/week + £100 setup for events. Useful if you’re already a banking customer; rarely cheaper than buying a Square Reader outright.
• Trade show / event payment hire companies – charge £150-£400 for a 1-3 day rental with full kit (terminal + Wi-Fi hotspot + setup support). Worth it for high-value transactions where reliability matters; overpriced for everyday use.

For most businesses asking about single-use card machine fees, a £19 Square Reader with no contract is the answer – the hardware is cheaper than a one-week rental and stays usable for any future events.

Hidden Fees: The Costs Most Providers Don’t Advertise

Transaction rates and monthly fees are only part of the cost picture. Chargebacks, international card surcharges, and currency conversion fees can add materially to annual costs for businesses with the wrong customer mix. These fees are rarely surfaced in headline comparisons – and they vary significantly between providers.

For hospitality businesses with international tourist trade, Stripe’s 1.75% international card surcharge compounds significantly. A restaurant processing £1,000/month from non-UK card holders pays an additional £17.50/month – £210/year – beyond the standard Stripe rate. Square’s 0.75% international premium on the same volume costs £7.50/month, saving £120/year on international card costs alone.

Which Provider Is Right for Your Business Type?

The cheapest provider by headline rate is rarely the cheapest for your specific business. The right choice depends on your monthly card volume, average transaction size, whether you need standalone hardware or a phone-paired reader, and how important same-day settlement is. Below are recommendations based on business type, using the annual cost data from our worked examples.

Six Providers That Don’t Publish Pricing

Six of the 13 providers we analysed – Handepay, TakePayments, Clover, TYL (NatWest), Global Payments, and Verifone – do not publish transaction rates publicly. All require a sales call or online enquiry before pricing is disclosed. This makes independent comparison impossible without requesting individual quotes.

This matters for three reasons. First, opaque pricing correlates with longer contract terms – typically 24–48 months for Handepay and TakePayments versus zero for Square, SumUp, and PayPal. Second, rates negotiated without competitive benchmarks are typically higher than necessary; the published rates in this study give you a floor to negotiate from.

Third, cancellation fees for mid-contract termination at opaque providers can reach £300–£1,000 depending on remaining term – a risk that doesn’t exist with PAYG providers. If you request a quote from any of these six providers, use the transparent-provider annual cost data in this study as your reference point.

How Rates Have Changed: 2024 vs 2026

Card machine rates across PAYG providers have remained broadly stable between 2024 and 2026. Square has held its 1.75% flat rate since 2020. SumUp reduced its PAYG rate from 1.75% to 1.69% in 2023 and has not changed it since. Dojo launched its Fix plan in 2024, introducing a subscription-based model to the sub-£100K market for the first time.

The most significant structural shift has been the arrival of bank-backed competitors: Tide launched card acceptance in 2023, and TYL (NatWest) expanded availability in 2024. Neither changed the overall rate environment materially. The main competitive battleground has moved from transaction rates – which have converged in the 1.39–1.75% range for PAYG – to subscription plan thresholds and hardware quality.

Methodology

Summary: The Three Questions That Determine Your Best Rate

Choosing the right card machine provider comes down to three questions, in order. First: how much do you take in cards each month? Below £2,500/month, any PAYG provider works and price differences are marginal – choose on hardware and usability. Between £2,500–£5,000/month, subscription plans start saving money and Dojo Fix becomes the cheapest contracted option. Above £5,000/month, the annual cost differences become significant enough to justify a sales call to Worldpay or TakePayments for a negotiated rate.

Second: do you need a contract, and can you commit to one? PAYG providers (Square, SumUp, PayPal) have no lock-in and lower exit risk. Contracted providers (Dojo, Worldpay, Barclaycard) offer lower rates but typically require 12–18 months. Third: what does your card mix look like? If you regularly take international cards or American Express, the surcharge structure matters as much as the base rate – and Dojo’s Fix plan includes Amex, which most PAYG providers treat as a premium card type.

Emma Clarke

Technology & Payments Specialist

Emma covers the full range of business technology, including EPOS systems, merchant accounts, telecoms, and web tools. Her experience as a retail systems consultant helps businesses choose the right digital solutions to improve efficiency and sales.

Reviewed by

Sarah Mitchell

B2B Commerce & Finance Reviewer