Cheapest card machine in the UK 2026: every provider ranked by real cost

Every provider ranked cheapest-first by total cost of acceptance

Ranked low-volume cheapest-first. Every rate, hardware price and contract figure below is the real published headline rate from our terminal reviews, not an estimate. Two providers (Revolut, Tyl) show a lower headline rate but only behind a condition, so they sit lower on a true cost-of-acceptance ranking for most small businesses.

Rates, hardware prices and contract terms quoted from MerchantHQ terminal reviews, last reviewed 2026-04-26. Headline rates change; confirm the current rate with the provider before signing. Worldpay, Adyen and the Verifone / Ingenico estate price bespoke per merchant and are covered in the high-volume section below rather than ranked here.

Cost at £2k, £5k and £10k monthly turnover

The headline rate alone does not tell you the cheapest machine. What matters is the transaction cost at your actual monthly card turnover, plus any monthly fee and hardware. Below is the pure transaction cost at three common turnover bands, using each provider's published headline rate. Hardware and any monthly fee are separate and noted underneath.

Transaction cost per month only. Add one-off hardware (from £59 to £79 for a no-contract reader) and, for Revolut, Dojo and Tyl, the monthly fee or subscription. Revolut's 0.8% to 1.0% per transaction (depending on subscription tier) and Tyl's Bespoke per merchant; published headline rates from 0.74% are the lowest published rates but apply only with the qualifying plan or banking relationship; without it, a no-monthly-fee reader is usually cheaper for sub-£5k turnover.

Read across the rows and the pattern is clear: at £2,000.00 a month the gap between the cheapest no-fee reader and the most expensive flat-rate option is only a few pounds, so contract-free convenience wins. By £10,000.00 a month the rate difference is real money, and a lower contracted rate starts to pay back its monthly fee. That break-even is the actual question a cost-led buyer has, and it is covered next.

When a no-monthly-fee reader is cheapest

A pay-as-you-go reader with no monthly fee and no contract is the cheapest option when:

• Monthly card turnover is roughly under £2,000 to £2,500.
• You trade mobile, seasonal, pop-up, market-stall or sole-trader.
• You want zero lock-in and same-day or next-day setup.

On those terms the shortlist is SumUp Solo (1.69% per transaction, £99 to £149 hardware), Zettle Reader 2 (1.75% per transaction, £59 to £79, the cheapest hardware) and, for Tide Business banking customers, Tide Card Reader (1.5% per transaction (UK), £49 hardware). All three have no contract and no monthly fee, so the only cost is the rate and the one-off hardware. If you already own a recent iPhone you can skip hardware entirely with Tap to Pay on iPhone, which runs on the same acquirer rates.

When a contracted terminal is cheaper

A contracted blended or interchange-plus terminal with a monthly fee becomes the cheaper option when:

• Steady monthly turnover is above roughly £5,000 to £8,000, where a lower transaction rate beats the monthly fee.
• You want same-next-day settlement, integrated EPOS or 24/7 support.
• Your card mix is consumer-debit heavy, where the regulated 0.2% interchange makes a lower rate achievable.

Dojo Go at 1.4% to 1.9% blended and Tyl by NatWest at Bespoke per merchant; published headline rates from 0.74% are the contracted options here. The break-even is the point where the lower rate saves more than the monthly fee costs. Roughly: at £5,000.00 a month, a 0.3 percentage-point rate saving is £15.00 a month, so a monthly fee below that pays back. At £10,000.00 a month the same saving is £30.00, comfortably covering most monthly fees. Below £2,500.00 a month a contract rarely pays back, so stay on a no-fee reader. To model your own break-even on your real card mix, use the Total Cost of Acquiring calculator and the interchange-plus vs blended guide.

Decision matrix by monthly turnover

High volume and enterprise: where a flat rate stops being cheapest

Above roughly £25k monthly card volume the flat-rate readers stop being the cheapest because interchange-plus pricing exposes the regulated 0.2% consumer-debit interchange that a blended rate hides. Dojo Go offers interchange-plus on enterprise contracts; Tyl by NatWest prices from Bespoke per merchant; published headline rates from 0.74% for NatWest customers; Worldpay and Adyen price bespoke per merchant. UK card payments are a high-volume market overall: UK card transaction volumes are tracked annually by the industry body^{[UK Finance]}, and the cost models differ enough at scale that the cheapest answer is genuinely volume-dependent. The interchange-plus vs blended guide sets out the £25k threshold and a worked saving.

Cheap is not the same as no catch

A genuinely cheap card machine has a clear rate, a contract you understand and no auto-renewal surprise. The "free card machine" offers and rolling-contract terminals that look cheapest up front are a separate question: whether free is really free, what the early-termination fee is, and how to cancel. For that side of the decision, including contract traps, hidden fees and cancellation, see the Kartapay card machine contract-traps guide. This page stays on cost and cheapest-first ranking; the contract-trap teardown lives there.

Frequently asked questions

Related comparisons and tools

• Card machine comparison hub: head-to-head matchups between the providers above.
• Card machine fees calculator: estimate your monthly cost.
• Total Cost of Acquiring calculator: model blended vs interchange-plus on your real volume.
• Which card machine?: a decision tool by trade and turnover.
• All terminal reviews: the full data behind every rate quoted here.