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SumUp sells its card readers outright and charges a fee on each payment, with no contract. Here is what it really costs, which reader to buy and when another provider works out cheaper.
Published rates from every major UK card machine provider, plus the quoted rates that only come on request. You see them side by side, on your own takings.
The short answer
A SumUp card machine costs £25 for the Solo Lite, £79 for the Solo or £135 for the Terminal, excluding VAT, bought outright with no rental. On pay-as-you-go you pay 1.69% per in-person payment and no monthly fee. Payments Plus costs £19 a month and cuts domestic debit and credit cards to 0.99%. Prices read 26 October 2026.
Published prices read 26 October 2026 from each provider's own pricing page. Quote only means the provider gives rates on request; we obtain those for you.
| Provider | In-person card rate | Monthly fee | Card machine | Contract | Payouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SumUp Source | 1.69% pay as you go, or 0.99% on Payments Plus (domestic cards) | £0, or £19 on Payments Plus | Solo Lite £25, Solo £79, Terminal £135 (ex VAT), bought outright | None, cancel anytime | Next day, 7am, weekends included |
| Dojo Source | 1.2% blended under £100k a year; custom above | £0 Essential; Plus £11.99 new customers (£25 list) | Go Max £149 or £25 a month; Pocket £239 or £20; Wired £179 or £15 | 30-day rolling or 12-month fixed (custom rate) | Next day |
| Square Source | 1.75% UK cards; +1.5% non-UK cards | £0, or Plus £29+ | Reader £19; Terminal £149 (ex VAT) | None, cancel anytime | Next day free; instant for 1.95% |
| Zettle Source | 1.75% all major cards | £0 | PayPal Reader from £29; Terminal £149 (ex VAT) | None | Within minutes to PayPal balance |
| Flatpay Source | 1.49% all cards (terminal, under £200k a year) | £0 | Payment terminal free to start | Not published | Daily |
VAT is excluded where the provider states it. Rates are for in-person UK consumer cards unless stated. Our service is free to you. We may receive a fee from the provider you choose; it never changes the price you pay.
Tell us about your business. We compare the whole market, including the providers that only quote on request, and come back with the lowest total cost for your takings and the right machine. You keep a named account manager who looks after you after setup.
Our service is free to you. We may receive a fee from the provider you choose; it never changes the price you pay.
SumUp publishes all of its pricing, which makes it one of the easiest providers to check. On pay-as-you-go, the default plan, every in-person card payment costs 1.69%. That includes American Express and premium cards (premium cards are rewards and business cards, which usually cost more to accept). There is no monthly fee, no setup fee, no hardware rental and no monthly minimum. Payments made with a SumUp card cost 0.00%.
Payments Plus costs £19 a month, or £189 a year, and comes with a 7-day free trial. On this plan, domestic debit and credit cards cost 0.99%, while premium, international and American Express cards stay at 1.69%. The plan includes 24/7 priority support, and you can cancel at any time. Businesses taking £10,000 or more a month can ask SumUp for bespoke fees.
Online payments cost 2.5%. SumUp does not publish a PCI fee (a charge some providers make for checking you store card data safely) or a chargeback fee (a charge when a customer disputes a payment through their bank). All figures were read on SumUp's pricing page on 26 October 2026.
SumUp sells three card readers, and you buy them rather than rent them. SumUp states there are no hardware rentals. Prices below exclude VAT and each comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee from the date of delivery. To buy a SumUp machine you order it from SumUp's card readers page and pay once.
If you are unsure, start small. The difference between the Solo Lite and the Solo is £54, and the money-back guarantee gives you 30 days to change your mind after delivery.
On £2,000 a month of card sales at 1.69%, pay-as-you-go costs £33.80 a month. Payments Plus at 0.99% plus the £19 fee would cost £38.80, so pay-as-you-go is cheaper at this level.
On £5,000 a month at 1.69% you pay £84.50. On Payments Plus, if all those payments are domestic debit and credit cards, you pay £49.50 in fees plus £19, a total of £68.50, which saves £16 a month or £192 a year.
The break-even point is about £2,714 a month of domestic card sales. Below that, pay-as-you-go wins. Above it, Payments Plus wins. If many customers pay with American Express, premium or international cards, those stay at 1.69% on both plans, so the saving is smaller.
For comparison, Dojo publishes a 1.2% blended rate (one rate for every card type) for businesses under £100,000 a year. On £5,000 a month that is £60 on its free Essential plan, before the cost of a Dojo machine, which starts at £149 upfront.
Yes, if you mean using your phone as the card machine. SumUp's Tap to Pay works on iPhone and Android and costs £0 to set up. The customer taps a contactless card or phone against yours, and you pay 1.69% per payment, or 0.99% on Payments Plus. There is no reader to buy, which suits tradespeople and anyone starting out.
If you mean taking card details from a customer during a phone call, SumUp's pricing page lists online payments at 2.5% but does not set out a separate rate for phone orders, so confirm the method with SumUp before you rely on it. Square, by comparison, publishes 2.5% for manually entered payments.
Payouts are quick. Money reaches your free SumUp Business Account by 7am the next day, including weekends and public holidays. Paid to your own bank account, it arrives the next working day. SumUp states no payout fee. Support is by chat in the app or the Support Centre. SumUp says it does not currently offer support by email, and phone support may be available in the app depending on the topic.
This review is based on SumUp's own published pricing, read on 26 October 2026. The fit depends mostly on how much you take and how you like to get help.
SumUp is strong on simplicity, but its 1.69% pay-as-you-go rate is not the lowest published rate in the UK. These four providers are the closest like-for-like options, with figures read on 26 October 2026.
If you take under about £2,700 a month, SumUp pay-as-you-go is hard to beat on total cost because there is no monthly fee and the reader is cheap. Above that, check Payments Plus first, then Dojo and Flatpay, whose lower published rates start to outweigh their higher hardware cost within the first year.
SumUp's published rates are a fair starting point, but above about £10,000 a month SumUp itself offers bespoke fees, and other providers do the same. We compare the whole UK card machine market for your business, including providers that only quote in private. We take your real monthly takings, average sale and card mix to them and negotiate the rate on your behalf, so you are not comparing headline figures that do not fit your trade.
We then handle the switch for you, from the application to the timing of any exit from your current contract, so you are not left without a working card machine. You get a named account manager who stays with you after setup and checks your rate as your business grows. You pay us nothing for this. We may receive a fee from the provider you choose. Fill in the quote form to start.
The SumUp Solo Lite costs £25, the Solo £79 and the Terminal £135, all excluding VAT and bought outright with a 30-day money-back guarantee from delivery. There is no rental. Tap to Pay, which uses your own iPhone or Android phone, costs £0. Prices read 26 October 2026.
On pay-as-you-go, SumUp charges 1.69% per in-person payment with no monthly fee. On Payments Plus, at £19 a month or £189 a year, domestic debit and credit cards cost 0.99% and premium, international and American Express cards cost 1.69%. Online payments cost 2.5%. Read 26 October 2026.
Not on pay-as-you-go. SumUp states there are no setup fees, no hardware rentals and no monthly minimums. Payments Plus is optional and costs £19 a month. It pays for itself once you take more than about £2,714 a month on domestic debit and credit cards.
Yes. SumUp states its 1.69% in-person rate applies to all other in-person payments including American Express and premium cards. On Payments Plus, American Express stays at 1.69% while domestic debit and credit cards drop to 0.99%.
You can use your iPhone or Android phone as a contactless card machine with SumUp Tap to Pay, at 1.69% or 0.99% on Payments Plus. For card details read out on a phone call, SumUp's pricing page does not set out a separate rate, so confirm with SumUp first.
Into the free SumUp Business Account, by 7am the next day, including weekends and public holidays. Into your own bank account, the next working day. SumUp does not state a payout fee.
Yes. SumUp states that SumUp Payments Limited is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011, register number 900700. Being authorised means the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK's financial regulator, supervises it.
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