Card reader / mobile POS · United Kingdom
United Kingdom card readers and mobile POS costs for a shop taking £10,000 to £50,000 a month, by share of card sales
At £25,000 of card sales a month, the 9 published plans we hold take between 1.07% and 3.20% of everything the shop takes.
The lowest is SumUp Payments Plus at 1.07% — advertised at 0.99% (no flat fee stated) — which leaves 98.93% with the shop.
At this size, in order
Every figure is the plan's own published rate applied to £25,000 a month, with the monthly fee added and any hardware spread across 36 months.
| Provider and plan | In person | Monthly fee | Hardware | Effective at £25,000 | Cost a month | 3-year cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SumUp Payments Plus | 0.99% (no flat fee stated) | £19.00 ex VAT | £79 once | 1.07% | £266 | £9,673 |
| Barclaycard Payments Barclaycard Anywhere (pay as you go) | 1.60% (no flat fee stated) | none ex VAT | £29 once | 1.60% | £400 | £14,429 |
| SumUp Tap to Pay | 1.69% (no flat fee stated) | none ex VAT | free | 1.69% | £422 | £15,210 |
| SumUp Pay as you go | 1.69% (no flat fee stated) | none ex VAT | £25 once | 1.69% | £422 | £15,235 |
| Square Free (Square Reader) | 1.75% | none ex VAT | £19 once | 1.75% | £438 | £15,769 |
| PayPal (Zettle) Zettle Reader 2 | 1.75% (no flat fee stated) | none ex VAT | £29 once | 1.75% | £438 | £15,779 |
| PayPal (Zettle) Zettle Terminal | 1.75% (no flat fee stated) | none ex VAT | £149 once | 1.77% | £438 | £15,899 |
| Square Free (Square Terminal) | 1.75% | none ex VAT | £149 once | 1.77% | £438 | £15,899 |
| myPOS Non-domestic and commercial cards | 2.85% + £0.07 | none VAT basis not stated | not stated | 3.20% | £800 | £28,800 |
UK providers do not publish on the same basis. Monthly fees and hardware are printed exactly as published, and where the provider states the basis we print it. At 20% VAT an ex-VAT fee is 1.2 times higher on the invoice, so an ex-VAT figure and an inc-VAT figure are not comparable as printed. We do not convert between them.
Scroll sideways on a phone.
How that is worked out
The average sale is an assumption of this site, not a published figure: $25.00 in the United States and £20.00 in the United Kingdom. It decides how heavily a per-transaction fee lands, so the calculator lets you change it. Interchange, chargebacks, refunds, currency conversion, sales tax and VAT are not in any figure on this site, because the pricing page does not price them for a given shop. Every figure here is a floor. The full method is at Method.
Where does the answer change?
The order above holds only under these conditions.
- 1 of these plans charges a monthly fee whether the shop trades or not. At this volume it is already in the figures; in a quiet month it is the whole of the bill.
- 6 of these publish a percentage and no per-transaction fee. We compute them as though there is none, which is the provider's own claim, not our estimate.
- Do not decide yet if the shop is growing, but the order holds: SumUp is still lowest at £75,000 a month, at 1.02%.
Who this is not for
This is not a list of the best card readers and mobile POS. It is every plan we hold that a shop of this size could buy, in price order. We have not used these products and we do not rate them.
Sources
- SumUp pricing page. checked 2026-08-25
- Barclaycard Payments pricing page. checked 2026-08-25
- Square pricing page. checked 2026-08-25
- PayPal (Zettle) pricing page. checked 2026-08-25
- myPOS pricing page. checked 2026-08-25
Related
- Every provider, and which publish a rate
- Effective rate calculator
- What card payments cost
- SumUp fees in full
Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from providers' published pricing pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.