Best Payment Processing Companies for UK Small Businesses
The cheapest processor on paper is not always the cheapest for your business. The right choice depends on turnover, average transaction value, card mix, payment channels and whether you value flexibility, POS tools or negotiated pricing.
Get quotes based on your actual business
Tell us how much you process and how customers pay so you can compare payment-processing options on a useful like-for-like basis.
Which payment processors stand out?
There is no single winner for every small business. These are the strongest starting points for common UK SME payment needs.
Square
A strong combination of transparent pricing, inexpensive hardware and useful POS tools.
- 1.75% UK card-present rate
- Reader from £19 + VAT
- £0 standard POS monthly fee
SumUp
Particularly attractive to sole traders, markets, events and smaller businesses that want low fixed costs.
- 1.69% PAYG
- 0.99% eligible cards with £19 plan
- No monthly fee on PAYG
Dojo
Strong for pubs, cafés and restaurants where terminal reliability, portability and EPOS integration matter.
- 1.2% blended below £100k turnover
- Custom pricing above £100k
- Hospitality-focused setup
Top UK payment processing companies
Published rates are useful benchmarks. Businesses with meaningful card turnover should also ask providers to price their actual transaction profile.
| Provider | Best for | Pricing snapshot | Commercial setup |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Square | Best overall starting point | 1.75% UK card-present; 1.4% + 25p UK online | Reader from £19 + VAT; standard POS £0/month |
| 2. SumUp | Sole traders and variable turnover | 1.69% PAYG; 0.99% eligible domestic consumer cards with £19/month Plus | PAYG option has no monthly fee |
| 3. Dojo | Hospitality | 1.2% blended below £100k annual card turnover; custom above | Package and hardware terms vary |
| 4. Revolut Business | Qualifying UK consumer cards | 0.8% + 2p UK consumer Visa/Mastercard; higher for other card types | Terminal £169 + VAT |
| 5. Worldpay | Traditional merchant services | Simplicity tariff 1.50% Mastercard/Visa | Published terminal offer uses an 18-month hire agreement |
| 6. Stripe | Ecommerce, software and subscriptions | 1.5% + 20p standard UK online cards | PAYG standard pricing; custom pricing at scale |
| 7. takepayments | Managed merchant service | Tailored rates | 12-month machine contract advertised |
| 8. PayPal POS | Businesses already using PayPal | 1.75% card/contactless | Reader £29 ex VAT; Terminal £149 ex VAT |
| 9. Clover | POS-heavy retail/hospitality | Tailored transaction pricing | Flex £15/month; Mini £20; Station Duo £30 |
| 10. Tyl by NatWest | SMEs wanting clear card-type pricing | 1.39% + 5p personal UK/European cards under £50k annual card turnover; 1.99% + 5p other cards | Card machines from £13.99 + VAT/month; custom pricing above £50k |
| 11. Global Payments | Growing SMEs and omnichannel businesses | Tailored quote based on turnover and card mix | Contracts from 12 months; next-working-day settlement advertised |
Which processor suits your type of business?
Sole trader or market seller
Start with SumUp and Square. Low fixed costs and bought-outright readers are useful when turnover varies.
Restaurant, pub or café
Price Dojo alongside Square and a traditional merchant-service quote. Support, portable terminals and EPOS integration matter.
Retail shop
Compare Square, Clover, Dojo and traditional acquirers. EPOS integration can be more valuable than a tiny rate saving.
Ecommerce or software
Stripe deserves a place on the shortlist, with PayPal and Worldpay also relevant depending on your checkout and international needs.
Established higher-volume SME
Use your previous processing statements and compare Worldpay, takepayments, Dojo and other tailored acquiring quotes.
Revolut Business customer
Revolut can be extremely competitive if most customers use qualifying UK consumer Visa or Mastercard. Model the full card mix first.
takepayments is worth comparing if you want quoted pricing, UK support and a traditional card-machine package rather than a purely self-service reader.
Worked example: £10,000 of monthly card sales
Assume 500 face-to-face transactions. This is deliberately simplified to show how pricing structures change the maths.
| Pricing model | Approx. monthly processing cost | Assumption |
|---|---|---|
| 1.75% | £175 | All turnover priced at the flat percentage |
| 1.69% | £169 | All turnover priced at the flat percentage |
| 0.99% + £19/month | £118 | All payments qualify for the lower rate |
| 0.8% + 2p | £90 | 500 qualifying transactions |
| 1.2% | £120 | No additional processing charge included in example |
| 1.50% | £150 | Before considering terminal/contract costs |
The lowest row is not automatically the cheapest deal
Commercial cards, international cards and Amex can be priced differently. Hardware, software, minimum charges, settlement and contract terms can also change the total cost.
Square
Square is our strongest general starting point for a UK small business because it combines card processing, affordable hardware and genuinely useful point-of-sale software without forcing you into a traditional terminal-rental agreement.
That makes it particularly easy to understand for cafés, salons, barbers, independent retailers and service businesses. You can start with a simple reader and add invoicing, online checkout or more capable POS hardware as the business grows.
If you process substantial card volumes, use Square as a benchmark rather than assuming it must remain the cheapest option as you grow.
Check current pricing and availability before choosing a plan.
SumUp
SumUp is one of the easiest options for a sole trader or microbusiness to understand. Buy the hardware, pay a flat transaction fee and avoid a monthly processing charge if you choose PAYG.
The Payments Plus plan makes SumUp more interesting once card turnover increases. Moving from 1.69% to 0.99% on eligible domestic consumer cards for £19 per month means the subscription is recovered at roughly £2,715 of qualifying monthly face-to-face card sales.
Read our SumUp fees guide for a fuller breakdown.
Dojo
Dojo is one of the first providers we would price for a restaurant, pub or café. Hospitality businesses tend to care about terminal speed, reliable connectivity and quick support because a payment problem at 8pm on Saturday can stop the whole operation.
The published 1.2% blended rate for businesses below £100,000 annual card turnover gives smaller merchants a useful benchmark. Higher-turnover businesses move to custom pricing, where recent processing statements become important when comparing the quote.
See our Dojo review.
Revolut Business
Revolut Business has one of the most eye-catching published rates in this comparison for qualifying UK consumer Visa and Mastercard transactions. For the right business, the saving versus a 1.69% or 1.75% flat rate can be material.
The important phrase is “qualifying cards”. Amex, commercial and international cards carry different rates. A consumer-focused local business can therefore get a much better blended result than a B2B merchant or a retailer with a large tourist customer base.
Read our Revolut Terminal review.
Worldpay
Worldpay is a useful benchmark when you want a conventional acquiring relationship rather than a simple reader-and-flat-fee setup. It can support face-to-face, online and more complex payment requirements as the business grows.
The current Simplicity tariff gives smaller businesses a published Mastercard/Visa rate to compare, but the terminal agreement and charges for other card categories still need to be considered as part of the total package.
Read our Worldpay review.
Stripe
Stripe is the strongest specialist on this list for businesses where the checkout lives online rather than beside a till. It is widely suited to ecommerce, SaaS, subscriptions, marketplaces and companies that want developers to control the payment experience.
Its value is not simply a transaction percentage. Stripe’s broader appeal is the depth of its APIs, recurring billing, international payment methods and ability to fit into custom software.
See our online payment gateway guide.
takepayments
takepayments is a good counterpoint to the self-service providers. Instead of simply buying a reader and accepting a fixed percentage, you receive a quoted merchant-services package designed around the business.
That can suit owners who would rather have a provider set up and support the card-machine service. It also means the quote needs more scrutiny because there is no single transaction percentage that tells you the full cost.
Review the full transaction, terminal and contract costs before signing.
PayPal Point of Sale
PayPal POS is most interesting when PayPal already plays a meaningful role in the business. The face-to-face rate does not obviously undercut Square, so the reason to choose it is usually ecosystem convenience rather than being the cheapest physical-card option.
Clover
Clover makes more sense when you want a point-of-sale platform rather than just a payment terminal. Its hardware is designed to sit alongside inventory, reporting, staff and customer-management tools.
That can make it valuable to a retailer or hospitality business that wants operations and payments closely connected, but it is more functionality than a sole trader who only wants to tap a card needs.
Read our Clover review.
Tyl by NatWest
Tyl is a strong additional option for UK SMEs that prefer a more conventional merchant service but still want relatively clear published pricing. For businesses taking up to £50,000 a year in card payments, Tyl currently publishes 1.39% + 5p for UK and European personal cards and 1.99% + 5p for other cards, with Amex quoted separately.
Card machines start from £13.99 + VAT per month, while Tap to Pay can be used without a monthly device charge. Businesses above £50,000 annual card turnover move to custom pricing.
Global Payments
Global Payments is worth adding to the shortlist for an SME that wants a more traditional quote but may also need online payments, smart terminals, EPOS or integrated software as the business grows.
It does not publish one universal processing percentage because pricing is tailored around turnover, card types and the equipment you need. That makes it less immediately transparent than Square or SumUp, but potentially more relevant for an established business that wants providers to compete for its volume.
Want providers to price your actual business?
Published rates help you shortlist. A tailored comparison shows whether your transaction volume gives you access to a better commercial deal.
How to compare processors properly
Calculate your effective processing rate
Add your processing charges and fixed transaction fees for the month, divide by card turnover and multiply by 100. If relevant processing charges were £280 on £20,000 of card sales, the effective rate is 1.4%.
Model your real card mix
Consumer debit, commercial cards, Amex and international cards can all cost differently. A provider quoting a very low headline rate may not be cheapest once your real card mix is applied.
Look at fixed pence fees
A 2p or 20p fee has a much bigger effect when your average transaction is £5 than when it is £200.
Add hardware and software
Include terminal rental, purchased readers, POS software, gateway fees and other subscriptions.
Check settlement
Fast settlement matters if today’s card takings help fund tomorrow’s stock or wages. For another business, it may have little practical value.
Read the contract
Pay-as-you-go providers are usually flexible. Traditional merchant-service agreements can have minimum terms and early-termination conditions that deserve as much attention as the percentage rate.
Judge support against your trading hours
A restaurant needs reliable evening and weekend support. A consultant processing a few payments a week may not.
Should you have a backup processor?
Most small businesses need one main processor, but keeping a low-cost backup can make sense where losing card acceptance would immediately stop sales.
A restaurant might keep a spare reader or Tap to Pay app ready in case its main terminal or broadband fails.
In-person vs online payments
The cheapest in-person provider is not necessarily the cheapest online provider. Square offers both channels in one accessible ecosystem, while Stripe is much stronger when checkout customisation and developer control dominate the decision.
See our ecommerce merchant account guide.
Tap to Pay and mobile payments
Compatible smartphones can accept contactless payments without a separate physical reader through Tap to Pay services. This can suit mobile workers, occasional sellers and businesses wanting a backup payment route.
See our iPhone card reader guide and mobile reader comparison.
Chargebacks, fraud and PCI DSS
Online businesses should compare fraud screening, 3-D Secure, chargeback handling and dispute tools as well as successful-transaction fees.
Every business accepting cards should also understand its PCI DSS responsibilities. See our PCI DSS guide.
Need to compare the wider payment setup?
Use these guides to compare merchant accounts, card-machine providers and the best card-machine options for smaller UK businesses.
10 questions to ask every processor
- What is the full rate for each card type we accept?
- Are there fixed pence fees?
- Is there a minimum monthly charge?
- What does each terminal cost?
- How long is the contract?
- What happens if we close, sell or cancel early?
- When do weekday and weekend takings settle?
- What support is available during our trading hours?
- How are chargebacks and refunds charged?
- Can we export our data and integrate payments with our other systems?
Frequently asked questions
Which payment processor is cheapest in the UK?
There is no universal cheapest provider. The answer changes with card type, average transaction value, monthly turnover, hardware and fixed charges.
Which processor is best for a new small business?
Square and SumUp are usually the strongest starting points because setup is simple, pricing is transparent and long terminal-rental contracts can be avoided.
Which payment processor is best for restaurants?
Dojo is a strong hospitality shortlist choice. Square, Clover and traditional merchant-service providers can also make sense depending on EPOS integration, support and turnover.
Which processor is best for ecommerce?
Stripe is one of the strongest options when APIs, subscriptions and checkout flexibility matter. PayPal, Square and Worldpay can also be relevant.
When should I ask for tailored processing rates?
Once card turnover becomes meaningful, it is worth comparing individually quoted acquiring against flat-rate providers. Growing businesses can have more negotiating power than when they first signed up.
What is an effective processing rate?
It is your relevant payment-processing charges divided by card turnover. It helps compare providers whose fee structures look completely different.
Compare the whole deal, not one percentage
Give providers the same turnover, card mix and transaction profile so you can see which offer is genuinely cheaper for your business.
Our verdict
Square is our best general starting point because of its mix of transparent processing and useful software. SumUp is particularly strong for low or variable turnover, while Dojo is our leading hospitality shortlist choice.
Revolut Business is worth modelling when most customers use qualifying UK consumer cards. Worldpay and takepayments remain relevant for traditional acquiring. Choose Stripe for online flexibility, Clover where POS functionality matters and PayPal POS when PayPal is already central to the business. Tyl by NatWest is worth comparing if you want transparent small-business card-type pricing, while Global Payments gives growing SMEs another strong tailored acquiring option.
