The cheapest card machine to buy is not the cheapest to run
A £19 + VAT reader sounds cheaper than a £179 terminal. Then you take £5,000 a month on it, and the 1.75% rate costs you £1,050 a year against £600 on Dojo's Fix plan (£39.99/month + 1% flat on card turnover above £4,000 a month). The device is the small number; the rate is the bill.
Prices and rates below checked 25 August 2026on each provider's own site. Corrections logged publicly.
| Provider | Hardware | In-person rate | Year-one total |
|---|---|---|---|
| SumUpCheapest at £2k | £25 ex VAT | 1.69% | £431 |
| Square | £19 + VAT | 1.75% | £439 |
| Zettle | £29 | 1.75% | £449 |
| Dojo | Free through MerchantSwitch (from £179 bought direct) | Fix: £39.99/month + 1% flat over £4,000/month | £480 |
Where Tide fits
Tide's Nano (from £15 + VAT) and pay-as-you-go rate of 1.5% + 5p look competitive, but that rate covers domestic consumer debit cards; other card types priced per Tide terms. Because credit, commercial and international cards are priced separately, we can't put Tide in a like-for-like flat-rate table without guessing your card mix, so we won't. Its £17.99/month + VAT plan at 0.89% + 3p carries the same caveat, and standard settlement takes up to 3 working days unless you pay for the £2.99 + VAT per month (standard settlement is up to 3 working days).
Cheapest by volume, in one paragraph each
Under £2,500 a month: buy the cheapest reader of the flat-rate three and stop optimising. At £2,000 a month the whole field sits between £431 and £480 for the first year; the £49 spread is not worth a contract to close.
£2,500 to £8,300 a month: this is where the rate starts to bite and monthly plans start to pay. SumUp's Payments Plus breaks even around £2,700 a month on domestic cards, and above roughly £2,370 a month Dojo's Fix plan (£39.99/month covering card turnover up to £3,999 a month, then 1% flatabove £4,000 a month) beats SumUp's flat rate, with next-day settlement as standard thrown in. The trade is a 12-month price-locked plan, so check the exit terms first.
Above £8,300 a month: you are past the Fix plan's £100,000 a year ceiling and into quote territory everywhere. Published prices stop being the ceiling here: the lowest negotiated rate we have seen is 0.29%. Get your statement priced rather than trusting any table, including this one.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest card machine to buy in the UK?+
On device price alone: Square Reader at £19 + VAT, then SumUp Solo Lite at £25 ex VAT, then Zettle's first reader at £29 (full price £69). Tide's Nano starts at from £15 + VAT. But the device is the small number: at £2,000 a month of card sales you pay about £400 a year in transaction fees on any of them, so the rate matters more than the reader within the first few months.
What is the cheapest card machine to run?+
It moves with your volume. At £2,000 a month, SumUp's 1.69% makes it cheapest at about £431 in year one; Dojo's Fix plan would cost £480 (£39.99 a month, a 2.0% effective rate), so don't switch at that volume. By £5,000 a month the Fix plan wins at £600 a year (£39.99 + 1% × £1,000 = £49.99 a month) against SumUp's £1,039. Above £8,300 a month you are outside the Fix plan's £100,000 a year ceiling and into negotiated pricing, where the biggest cuts live.
What hidden costs should I watch for?+
On pay-as-you-go readers, mainly the rate jumps: keyed and online payments cost more than contactless at every provider. On contracted acquirers, look for authorisation fees, PCI compliance charges, minimum monthly service charges, terminal rental, and the exit fee. All of them are in the contract summary; none of them are in the advert. This is exactly what we look for in a free statement review.
Is a card machine with a monthly plan ever cheaper?+
Yes, once volume covers the plan fee. SumUp's Payments Plus (£19/month) drops domestic in-person cards to 0.99% and pays for itself above roughly £2,700 a month. Tide's Sell In-Person plan (£17.99/month + VAT) cuts its rate to 0.89% + 3p. The caveat on both: the low rate applies to domestic cards, so a business with tourist or corporate card traffic saves less than the headline suggests.
Can I get a free card machine?+
Offers that include free hardware normally sit inside a contract, so judge them on total first-year cost rather than the free device. Through MerchantSwitch, Dojo's switcher deal includes the terminal and up to £3,000 towards your old provider's exit fees (arranged through MerchantSwitch; eligibility confirmed at quote).
Can I negotiate a cheaper rate?+
The pay-as-you-go providers publish one price and rarely move. Acquirers negotiate, and the leverage is your volume and your current statement: the lowest quote we have seen is 0.29%, at high turnover. If you take more than about £10,000 a month, a negotiation is usually worth more than any table on the internet.
Cheapest is a number we can actually work out for you
Tell us your monthly card volume and current provider; we price the realistic options line by line and send you the working. Mon to Fri, 9am to 5:30pm.