How much does a card machine cost to run per month, all in?
On a pay-as-you-go reader, a card machine costs exactly what the percentage says: £33.80 a month on £2,000 of card sales at SumUp's 1.69%, rising to £338 at £20,000. On a contract, a lower percentage plus fixed charges means the all-in cost depends heavily on volume. In the illustration below a contract is dearer than pay-as-you-go at £2,000 a month and cheaper from roughly £4,000 upwards. The number to compare is the effective rate: everything you pay divided by everything you take.
What goes into the monthly figure
Most people think of a card machine as costing a percentage. That is true for pay-as-you-go readers and only part of the story for contracts. The full list of things that can appear on a monthly statement looks like this.
Transaction fee: a percentage of each sale, sometimes different for debit, credit, premium and international cards
Authorisation fee: a few pence per transaction on some contracts, charged whether the sale goes through or not
Terminal rental: a fixed monthly charge for the device on contracts that do not sell it outright
Minimum monthly service charge: a floor on transaction fees in quiet months
Incidentals: chargebacks, refunds, paper billing, PCI non-compliance; amounts vary by provider
Each line is explained in our card machine costs explained page. Here we are only interested in adding them up.
All-in monthly cost at four turnover levels
The pay-as-you-go columns use published rates checked in August 2026: SumUp at 1.69% with no monthly fee; SumUp Payments Plus at £19 a month for 0.99% on domestic consumer cards (premium, international and Amex stay at 1.69%; the column assumes all domestic for simplicity); Square at 1.75% in person on UK cards with no monthly fee. The contract column is an illustration, not a quote from any provider: 1% blended, 5p per transaction, £20 a month terminal rental, and an average sale of £25 to turn turnover into a transaction count.
| Monthly card turnover | SumUp PAYG | SumUp Payments Plus | Square PAYG | Illustrative contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £2,000 | £33.80 (1.69%) | £38.80 (1.94%) | £35.00 (1.75%) | £44.00 (2.20%) |
| £5,000 | £84.50 (1.69%) | £68.50 (1.37%) | £87.50 (1.75%) | £80.00 (1.60%) |
| £10,000 | £169.00 (1.69%) | £118.00 (1.18%) | £175.00 (1.75%) | £140.00 (1.40%) |
| £20,000 | £338.00 (1.69%) | £217.00 (1.09%) | £350.00 (1.75%) | £260.00 (1.30%) |
Effective rate in brackets. Hardware purchase excluded from all columns. Contract column is illustrative only; real quotes are individual to each business.
Two things stand out. First, the flat-rate readers are exactly as expensive as they look, no more and no less, and at £2,000 a month they win. Second, fixed charges on a contract matter enormously at low volume and fade at high volume: the same £20 rental is 1% of turnover at £2,000 and 0.1% at £20,000. The crossover in this illustration sits near £4,000 a month. A real quote with a different rate or rental moves it.
Dojo pricing is quoted individually for each business. For higher card volumes a quote is often the lower option, and the only way to know is to compare a quote against your current statement. Our fee comparison calculator does the arithmetic above with your own turnover and average sale.
Rental vs buying the hardware
The table above leaves out the device itself. Readers are cheap to buy and never rented. Terminals with printers are either bought outright or rented on the contract. Published prices as of August 2026:
| Device | Buy | Rent | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| SumUp Solo Lite | £25 + VAT | Not offered | Reader, pairs with phone |
| Square Reader | £19 + VAT | Not offered | Reader, pairs with phone |
| Zettle Reader | From £29 + VAT | Not offered | Promotional price |
| SumUp Terminal | £135 + VAT | Not offered | Built-in printer |
| Square Terminal | £149 + VAT | £25 + VAT/mo for 6 months | Built-in printer, offline mode |
| Dojo Go Max | £149 | £25/mo | Printer, 4G backup (review sites) |
| Dojo Pocket | £239 | £20/mo | No printer, 4G (review sites) |
| Tap to Pay on iPhone | £0 | £0 | Your phone is the terminal |
SumUp, Square and Zettle prices from their UK pricing pages. Dojo hardware prices from four review sites that agree; Dojo's own pricing page could not be verified. All checked August 2026.
Square's own numbers make the comparison easy: £149 plus VAT to buy, or £25 plus VAT a month for six months, which is £150 plus VAT. Over six months it is a wash. A contract rental that runs for the length of a twelve-month or longer agreement will usually total more than the purchase price; check the rental terms for what happens if the device fails. Our rental vs purchase piece goes through the trade-off properly.
The £0 option
Tap to Pay on iPhone turns the phone into the terminal, with no hardware to buy or rent. SumUp, Square, Zettle and Dojo all offer it in the UK. The transaction rate still applies, and there is no printer, so it suits mobile traders and low-ticket sales rather than a busy counter. Details on our Tap to Pay on iPhone page.
When a contract is not the right choice
Below a few thousand pounds a month, the arithmetic above says pay-as-you-go, and we would say the same. The same goes for seasonal businesses with dead months, where a rental and minimum charge keep billing against nothing, and for anyone who is not sure their idea will still exist in a year. A contract is a commitment; the rate only pays for itself if the volume turns up.
Above that, a contract is usually the lower-cost route, but only if the quote lists every fixed line. Get the fees schedule, add it up at your quietest month and your busiest, and compare the effective rates. Get the full schedule in writing before you sign; without it the comparison cannot be done.
Want the all-in number for your business?
Tell us your monthly card turnover and average sale. We introduce you to Dojo for an individual quote with every line included.
Get a Dojo quoteCapExpand is an authorised Dojo partner and is paid by Dojo when a business signs up through us. That does not change the price you pay.
Frequently asked questions
What is the lowest-cost way to run a card machine each month?
At low volume, a pay-as-you-go reader with no monthly fee. SumUp charges 1.69% per in-person transaction with no monthly fee, so £2,000 of card sales costs £33.80 and a month with no sales costs nothing. At higher volumes a contract with a lower percentage rate usually works out cheaper, even after a monthly rental is added.
Is it cheaper to buy or rent a card machine?
Buying is cheaper over a long enough period. A Square Terminal is £149 plus VAT outright or £25 plus VAT a month for six months, which comes to £150 plus VAT, about the same. Contract rentals run for the length of the agreement, so over two or three years the rental total usually exceeds the purchase price; check the rental terms for what happens if the device fails.
What is an effective rate?
Your total card costs for the month divided by your card turnover. It is the only fair way to compare a flat-rate reader with a contract that has a lower percentage but adds a rental, authorisation fees and other charges. In the illustrative contract above, a 1% headline rate becomes 2.2% at £2,000 of turnover once fixed costs are included.
At what turnover does a contract beat pay-as-you-go?
It depends on the rate you are quoted and the fixed charges attached. In our illustration (1% plus 5p per transaction plus £20 rental) the crossover against SumUp at 1.69% is around £4,000 a month. Your own crossover will differ; the fee comparison calculator on our site lets you test it with your real figures.
Are there costs beyond the monthly fees?
Yes. Chargeback fees, refund fees, paper billing charges, PCI non-compliance charges and early exit fees can all apply on contracts, and the amounts vary by provider. Review sites report Dojo chargebacks at £28 plus VAT and refunds at 50p. Ask for the full fees schedule before you sign, and read the early exit clause.
Published rates were checked in August 2026 and change without notice. The contract column is a worked illustration, not an offer from any provider.
Sources (checked August 2026)
- SumUp: 1.69% PAYG, Payments Plus £19/month for 0.99%
- SumUp card readers: Solo Lite £25, Terminal £135 (ex VAT)
- Square UK pricing: 1.75% in person, Reader £19 + VAT
- Square Terminal: £149 + VAT or £25 + VAT/month for 6 months
- Zettle UK pricing: 1.75%, reader from £29 ex VAT
- Seamless POS: Dojo hardware buy and rent prices (review site)
- Mobile Transaction Dojo review: refund and chargeback fees (review site)
CapExpand Ltd (Company No. 14433858) is an authorised Dojo partner, not a card machine manufacturer. We are not currently authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Card machine pricing and availability are subject to change. All information on this page is for general guidance only.