Best card machine by UK trade, 2026
Trade-specific picks for every UK trade we cover. Each guide tells you the top recommendation, who it's for, why it wins on cashflow and average ticket size, and the watch-outs to confirm before signing. 35 trades, free quotes, whole-of-market UK comparison.
Best for restaurants
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo)
The best card machine for a UK restaurant in 2026 is Dojo Go Max, on the strength of next-working-day settlement (weekend transfers are a paid upgrade), peak-hour throughput, table-side split-bill and tip handling. Typical UK restaurant card volume is £35 to £85 average transaction on our estimate, with a mix of contactless and chip and PIN. Dojo pays at 10am the next working day, and weekend transfers are a paid upgrade, so a venue trading Friday to Sunday should price that upgrade into the 12-month contract.
Best for pubs
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo)
The best card machine for a UK pub in 2026 is Dojo Go Max, on the strength of multi-network connectivity (4G + WiFi + Bluetooth) that holds up when WiFi struggles in a busy bar, fast tap-and-go throughput, and next-working-day settlement (weekend transfers are a paid upgrade). Typical UK pub card volume is £12 to £25 average transaction on our estimate, and most payments are tapped. Smaller venues below about £4,500 a month get better economics from Square Terminal because there is no contract.
Best for salons and barbers
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo)
The best card machine for a UK salon or barbershop in 2026 is Dojo Go Max for established multi-chair venues, or Square Terminal for independents and single-chair barbers. Treatment-by-treatment payment, tipping at the device, and deposit-on-booking are standard. Salons taking online bookings via Treatwell or Booksy should confirm POS integration before signing because the integration cuts the daily reconciliation work.
Best for mobile traders
Our pick: Tap to Pay on iPhone (SumUp or Square)
Mobile mechanics, mobile groomers, market traders, pop-up retail. No fixed location, intermittent connectivity.
Best for vape shops
Our pick: High-risk specialist hardware (PAX A920, Verifone) (Trust Payments / Cardstream)
Vape and CBD retail are classified high-risk by most mainstream UK acquirers. Specialist routing required.
Best for taxis and private hire
Our pick: Tap to Pay on iPhone or compact Bluetooth reader (SumUp or Square)
The best card machine for a UK taxi or private-hire driver in 2026 is Tap to Pay on iPhone (zero hardware, choose any supported acquirer) or SumUp Solo with the free 4G SIM. Typical UK taxi card volume is £8 to £35 per trip on our estimate, and most payments are tapped. No-contract pay-as-you-go acquirers fit the seasonal late-night and weekend volume; the fixed-fee Dojo and Tyl contracts only make sense for fleet operators taking enough for the lower rate to cover the monthly fee (Dojo against SumUp at 1.69%: about £5,100 a month).
Best for hotels and b&bs
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo (Worldpay where your booking engine only integrates with Worldpay))
Independent hotels and B&Bs. Mixed payment patterns: card-on-file authorisations at booking, settlements at checkout, ancillary spend during stay.
Best for electricians
Our pick: Tap to Pay on iPhone (SumUp)
The best card reader for a UK electrician in 2026 is Tap to Pay on iPhone (no hardware, take payment before you leave the job) or SumUp Solo with its free 4G SIM for lofts, basements and new-build sites where signal drops. Typical electrician card payments run £60 to £400 across call-outs, consumer-unit swaps and periodic inspection work, so no-contract pay-as-you-go pricing suits job-by-job cashflow better than a fixed monthly contract. Customers often want a receipt for warranty or landlord records, so pick a reader that emails one automatically.
Best for dog groomers and mobile pet services
Our pick: Tap to Pay on iPhone or SumUp Solo (SumUp)
Mobile and shop-based dog groomers, pet-walking services, mobile pet care. Job-by-job payment.
Best for market traders and pop-up retail
Our pick: SumUp Solo or Tap to Pay on iPhone (SumUp)
Outdoor market stalls, pop-up retail, event traders. Volatile flow tied to event days. No fixed location.
Best for gyms and fitness studios
Our pick: Stripe Reader S700 with PoS integration (Stripe)
Gym chains, independent studios, yoga / pilates / CrossFit. Subscription-led revenue with secondary in-person purchases (PT sessions, merch, drinks).
Best for dentists and private clinics
Our pick: Square Terminal (Square)
NHS and mixed-private dental practices, cosmetic dentistry, allied health. Higher-value transactions, often staged across treatment plans.
Best for veterinary practices
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo)
Independent and chain vet practices. High-value emergency transactions plus routine care. Insurance-linked transactions add complexity.
Best for beauty clinics and aesthetic services
Our pick: Square Terminal (Square)
Aesthetic clinics, laser, injectable, semi-permanent makeup, advanced beauty. Higher-value transactions, deposit-on-booking, treatment-plan staged payments.
Best for pet shops and pet retailers
Our pick: Square Terminal (Square)
Independent pet shops, aquariums, exotic-pet retailers. Mix of retail goods and live-animal sales (with associated regulation).
Best for caterers and food trucks
Our pick: SumUp Solo or Tap to Pay on iPhone (SumUp)
Independent caterers, mobile food trucks, festival traders, event caterers. Mobile or semi-mobile operations with strong seasonal patterns.
Best for soft play and play centres
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo)
Indoor play centres, trampoline parks, bowling alleys, escape rooms. Family-led venues with strong weekend / school-holiday peaks.
Best for b&bs and airbnb hosts
Our pick: Stripe Reader S700 (Stripe)
Independent B&Bs, self-catering hosts, Airbnb / VRBO operators. Booking-platform-mediated revenue plus direct bookings.
Best for independent pharmacies
Our pick: Square Terminal (Square)
Independent pharmacies and chemists. Mix of NHS prescription dispensing (NHS-side reimbursement, not card) and over-the-counter retail. Card volume varies widely.
Best for post offices and newsagents
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo)
Post Office branches (independently operated) and newsagents. Multi-revenue: postal services, mail-order, retail, lottery, bill-pay, e-top-up. High transaction count, low average ticket.
Best for cash-and-carry and wholesale
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo (under £100,000 a year in card takings))
Cash-and-carry depots, builders' merchants and wholesale trade counters. B2B-led with commercial cards common. Higher-value transactions and account-customer flow.
Best for grocery stores and convenience retail
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo)
Independent grocery stores, convenience retail, off-licences, ethnic-food specialists. High transaction count, low-to-mid ticket. Strong contactless share.
Best for import-export and international trade
Our pick: Adyen or Stripe Reader S700 (Adyen for higher volumes; Stripe for invoice-pay-by-card flows)
Independent import-export businesses, freight forwarders, international trade counters. Cross-border invoicing, multi-currency settlement, B2B-heavy with commercial cards common.
Best for driving instructors
Our pick: Tap to Pay on iPhone (SumUp)
Approved Driving Instructors (ADIs) and Potential Driving Instructors (PDIs). Lesson-by-lesson micro-charges or block-booked hours. Mobile by definition.
Best for mobile car wash and valeting
Our pick: Tap to Pay on iPhone (SumUp)
Mobile car wash, hand-wash, mobile valeting and detailing. Historically cash-heavy, transitioning to card under HMRC reporting and customer demand.
Best for farm shops
Our pick: Square Terminal (Square)
Farm shops, pick-your-own counters and rural retail combining own-produce, third-party stock and on-site café. Mix of high-frequency retail and seasonal event flow.
Best for garden centres
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo)
Independent garden centres combining plant retail, gift shop, café and seasonal event flow. Multi-counter operations with strong seasonal swing.
Best for art galleries
Our pick: Stripe Reader S700 (Stripe)
Independent art galleries and exhibition spaces. Higher-value transactions, commission-based sales, deposits-on-commission, occasional staged payments.
Best for nail salons and nail bars
Our pick: Square Terminal (Square)
Independent nail salons, nail bars and mobile nail technicians. Treatment-by-treatment payment, walk-in plus booked, tipping common.
Best for private gp clinics
Our pick: Stripe Reader S700 (Stripe)
Private GP practices, walk-in clinics and concierge medical services. Higher-ticket consultations, occasional insurance-direct billing, prescription dispensing add-ons.
Best for mobile massage therapists
Our pick: Tap to Pay on iPhone (SumUp)
Mobile massage therapists, sports massage practitioners and reflexologists. In-home and corporate-event delivery. Job-by-job payment.
Best for wedding venues
Our pick: Dojo Go Max (Dojo)
Independent wedding venues, country-house venues, barn weddings and licensed-ceremony locations. Deposit-on-booking 12 to 24 months ahead, staged balance payments, day-of bar and ancillary spend.
Best for gas engineers
Our pick: Tap to Pay on iPhone (SumUp or Square)
The best card reader for a UK gas engineer in 2026 is Tap to Pay on iPhone (zero hardware, take payment on the doorstep) or SumUp Solo with its free 4G SIM for connectivity in plant rooms and rural calls. Typical gas-engineer card payments run £80 to £3,000, spanning a quick service through to a full boiler installation, so no-contract pay-as-you-go pricing fits the lumpy, job-by-job cashflow far better than a fixed Dojo or Tyl contract. Gas Safe registration does not affect card acceptance, but a pay-by-link is worth adding for larger installs the customer wants to settle by card.
Best for plumbers and heating engineers
Our pick: Tap to Pay on iPhone (SumUp or Square)
The best card reader for a UK plumber in 2026 is Tap to Pay on iPhone or SumUp Solo: zero hardware, no contract, and payment taken at the door the moment the job is signed off. Typical plumber card payments run £90 to £2,500 across emergency callouts and bathroom installs, with emergency work skewing toward immediate same-visit payment. The no-contract, pay-as-you-go acquirers fit a mobile sole-trade better than a fixed Dojo contract, and a pay-by-link covers larger jobs the customer prefers to pay later.
Best for builders and tradespeople
Our pick: Pay-by-link + Tap to Pay on iPhone (SumUp, Square or Stripe)
The best way for a UK builder or general tradesperson to take card payments in 2026 is a pay-by-link for staged invoices plus Tap to Pay on iPhone or a SumUp reader for on-site deposits and smaller jobs. Building work is typically invoiced in stages and runs from a few hundred pounds to tens of thousands, so the card-acceptance job is mostly deposits, snagging payments and smaller jobs, with bank transfer still common for the large balances. No-contract acceptance avoids paying a fixed monthly fee between large jobs.
FAQ
How do you pick the best card machine for a trade?
Each trade guide weighs the cashflow profile of that trade (average ticket size, contactless share, peak-day surges) against rate, hardware cost, contract terms and settlement speed across the whole-of-market set of UK acquirers we compare. The pick is the terminal and acquirer that best fit that trade's real trading pattern, not a single house favourite.
Do different trades really need different card machines?
Yes. A mobile trader with low average tickets is best served by a no-contract reader or Tap to Pay on iPhone, while a busy restaurant doing high volume benefits from dependable next-day settlement, including weekends. Matching the terminal to the trade's cashflow is what these guides are for.
Is MerchantHQ tied to any provider?
These are whole-of-market picks. No provider pays for inclusion or position, and fees never affect how we compare. Written by Adam Parker for Best Business Loans Ltd (16833937).
An earlier version of this page was reviewed by Derren Powell on 22 October 2026.