Small businesses can define the cheapest card payment machines in a few different ways: by card reader price, subscription or monthly fees, and more.
Transaction fees can’t be forgotten here. If you process a high volume of sales, those transaction costs are going to add up. This is especially true for subscription services, digital downloads, online dropshipping and other high-volume businesses.
To help keep your costs down, here are some of the cheapest card readers on the market.
- Worldpay
- Square
- Revolut
- Tide
- Takepayments
- MyPOS
- Dojo Go
- Tyl by NatWest
- Barclaycard Anywhere
- SumUp
- PayPal POS
>See also: How to start a dropshipping business – What is dropshipping, what are the advantages and how do you start a dropshipping business?
Worldpay
Device cost: £15-£22 per month
Transaction fee: Custom pricing or Simplicity tariff (1.50% per Mastercard and Visa transaction)
Features
- Mobile & Wi-Fi enabled for payments on the go
- Accepts major cards
- Touchscreen display for easy navigation
- Prints receipts for customers
- Worldpay Dashboard access for transaction tracking and insights
- Next-day terminal replacement service available
Worldpay offers multiple tariffs, allowing you to choose the most cost-effective solution for your business. The Simplicity tariff bundles all fees into a very competitive flat rate of 1.5%, while the custom tariff enables you to access custom pricing (only available if your monthly turnover exceeds £75k). There’s no joining fee for either.
Card readers are available to rent on a pay-monthly basis – £22 on the Simplicity tariff and £15 on the Custom tariff. However, Worldpay runs regular promotions that reduce your rental cost to £1 per month for the duration of your 18-month minimum hire term.
Square
Device cost: £19
Transaction fee: 1.75 per cent in-person payment
Features
- Accept Apple Pay and Google Pay
- Start accepting payments within minutes
- Funds settled either next day or instantly for a small fee
- Offline mode allows you to take transactions for up to 24 hours without an internet connection
The Square card reader is just £19. The standard transaction fee is 1.75%, though custom rates are available for businesses that take more than £200,000 in card sales. Fraud protection, payment dispute management and data protection is included in the cost.
Revolut
Device cost: £169 + VAT
Transaction fee: From 0.8 per cent +2p (UK consumer cards), 1 per cent +20p for in-person
Features
- Create your own catalogue, which sits in the Revolut app
- Access funds the next day
- No-fee refunds
- Fraud monitoring solution included
- Receive and settle in over 25 currencies
Look beyond the device cost (£169 + VAT), and you see that Revolut has some of the lowest transaction fees on the market – just 0.8% + 2p for UK consumer cards, with no ongoing subscription fees. The savings you make on those fees really add up over time, especially if you’re a high-volume business. On top of that, you also have access to sales analytics, which can provide crucial insights into performance; you can request digital tips from your customers; you can add colour-coded products and categories to your store catalogue; and the battery lasts all day. Revolut claims you can accept payments in under 3 seconds, with funds settled in your account within 24 hours.
Tide
Device cost: From £159
Transaction fee: From 0.79% + 3p
Features
- Payments cleared within 3 working days
- Pay-as-you-go and subscription models available
- Small and highly portable
The Tide Card Reader is a great option for businesses with a Tide Business account. Fees start from just 0.79% + 3p, depending on which plan you choose. There’s a pay-as-you-go option, a subscription plan and a purchase plan that allows you to spread the cost of your device into more manageable sums. With Wi-Fi and lifetime-free 4G connectivity, and weighing just 170g, you can take card payments either in-store or on the go..
Takepayments
Device cost: Contact for pricing
Transaction fee: Customised for every business
- Product management and stock inventory
- Split payments and serve multiple customers at once
- Fixed discounts and offers
- Add notes and configure orders
- Enhanced reporting
takepayments allows you to access the lowest rates possible by customising transaction fees to your business, based on turnover and other factors. While it doesn’t make pricing information publicly available, its 5-star rating on Trustpilot from over 64,000 reviews is a good sign that business customers are happy with its pricing.
Get started with Take Payments
MyPOS
Device cost: £29 (though keep your eye out for frequent promotional pricing)
Transaction fee: 1.10 per cent – 2.45 per cent + 7p transaction (depending on card or transaction type)
Features
- Integrated SIM card gives you 3G/4G connectivity
- Send digital receipts – email or SMS
- Instant payment settlement at no extra cost
- Get e-money and IBAN account in over 14 currencies
MyPOS Go 2 is a lightweight but powerful card reader. The device itself weighs just 180g (smaller than many smartphones) and it has an all-day battery, making it a great choice for businesses that need a portable card payment solution. You can have funds settled in your merchant account within 3 seconds at no extra cost.
The price of the MyPOS Go 2 card reader is usually £29, though it regularly offers promotional discounts. If your business takes more than £10,000 a month, you can request a quote for custom transaction fees, which could work out cheaper.
Dojo Go
Device cost: £15 per month or £79 upfront
Transaction fee: Fixed percentage rate of 1% or flat monthly fee from £39.99
Features
- Accepts all major card types
- Next-day settlement
- 24-hour card machine replacement
- 10-hour battery life
Dojo Go users benefit from built-in Wifi and 4G, next-day settlement of funds, as well as integration with more than 600 EPOS systems. Terminal fee starts from £15 per month. Flat £39.99 transaction rate covers turnover of up to £3,999, with takings over this charged at 1%. If your annual turnover is over £1m, you can access reduced rates and a tailored setup.
Dojo Go’s transactions are encrypted and require strong customer authentication (SCA), which both protects you and the customer and ensures simplified PCI compliance.
Tyl by NatWest
Device cost: From £13.99 per month + VAT
Transaction fee (for turnover up to £50,000): UK/Europe personal cards – 1.39 per cent + 5p; all other cards – 1.99 per cent + 5p
Features
- No charges for international card payments
- No fees on refunds
- Link with your accountancy package
- Range of terminals available
With Tyl by NatWest, there is no additional charge for issuing refunds, and taking international, online, and over the phone payments. Device costs start from £13.99/month + VAT per month with a 12-month contract. Your choice of device is free for first three months. If you take over £50k a month, you can request custom pricing.
Choose from the PAX A80 (countertop), PAX A50 (pocket-sized), or PAX A920 Pro (smart terminal), which all accept contactless, chip & PIN and mobile wallet payments.
Barclaycard Anywhere
Device cost: £29 + VAT
Transaction fee: Custom (per transaction)
Features
- No contract – pay-as-you-trade model
- Up to 700 sales a day on a full charge
- Funds can be settled the next day
The Barclaycard Anywhere is a compact card payments solution that’s contract-free and settles your funds the next day. The terminal has a one-off cost of £29 and transaction fees are custom on a per-transaction basis.
Added benefits include 24/7 support and multi-user access.
SumUp Air
Device cost: £25 + VAT
Transaction fee: 0.99 per cent (pay-as-you-go) or 1.69% subscription
Features
- Card machine available with a free business account as your payout account
- With this account, you’ll receive each sale within one day for a limited time
- Free bank transfers
- 500 transactions on a single charge
A SumUp Air card reader costs £25 with no contracts or hidden fees. You can choose either a pay-as-you-go pricing model, charged at 1.69% per transaction for in-person payments and 2.5% for online, or a subscription model (£19 per month), charged at 0.99% for both (only available if you take £3,000 per month).
The device has an all-day battery and can be set up to start taking payments in minutes.
PayPal POS
Device cost: £29
Transaction fee: 1.75 per cent per transaction (including Amex)
Features
- Point of sale integrations
- Use PayPal debit card anywhere that MasterCard is accepted
- POS software allows sales management and inventory tracking
Formerly Zettle, the PayPal POS card reader starts from £29 (New business users only – £69 for each additional card reader). When you take a payment, it typically arrives in your PayPal balance within minutes, and you can set up scheduled transfers to your business bank account at no extra cost. You can use the balance in your PayPal business account to pay for goods and services, or to pay your suppliers.
You can enhance your set-up with easy-to-use POS software, which allows you to track inventory, and manage products, orders and sales.
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More on card payments
10 card payment machines ideal for small business – Featuring the SumUp Air, Zettle 2, and Square, we break down the fees and functions of the best card payment machines for UK small businesses
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How to take a card payment over the phone using a virtual terminal – If you have a telephone, an internet connection, a merchant account, and a virtual terminal, you can start taking payments over the phone today
