Contactless card readers

A contactless card reader is any device that takes a tapped card or phone. They come in two families: small readers that pair with an app on your own phone, from £19 + VAT, and full terminals with their own screen, connection and usually a printer, from £135 ex VAT or priced within a contract quote. Both take contactless, chip and PIN, Apple Pay and Google Pay. The difference is what else the device does and how the fees are structured.

The contactless limit is set by the card, not the reader. £100 per tap is still the typical UK figure, with a £300 running total before the card asks for a PIN.

Reader or terminal

A reader is a small box that talks to an app. Your phone or tablet supplies the screen, the internet connection and the receipt-by-email. It is cheap, fits in a pocket, and relies on the phone having battery and signal. If staff use the device, each of them needs the app on a phone, and the phone needs to be one you are happy to hand over.

A terminal is self-contained. It has its own screen for the customer to see the amount, its own Wi-Fi or 4G, and in most cases a printer. It costs more to buy, or comes as part of a contract, but it does not tie up anyone's phone and it looks like a till to a customer. The Dojo Pocket sits between the two: a terminal in size and independence, but without a printer.

The third option is no device at all. Tap to Pay on iPhone turns a compatible iPhone into the reader. It is contactless (check with the provider for PIN-on-phone support), so a payment above the limit may need a card machine or a payment link.

Published prices and rates

Pay-as-you-go figures are the providers' published prices, checked August 2026. Dojo pricing is quoted individually for each business. The more you put through on cards, the more likely a quote is to undercut a flat rate, and a recent statement is the thing to test it against.

Full device-by-device printer detail is on the receipt printer page; the fee comparison puts the rates against your own turnover.

The contactless limit

On 3 March 2021 the FCA confirmed an increase in the single contactless transaction limit from £45 to £100, and in the cumulative limit (the running total before a PIN is required) from £130 to £300. Those are the figures most UK cards still work to.

In December 2025 the FCA announced that from March 2026, firms with strong fraud controls can set their own contactless limits, with consumers reimbursed for unauthorised fraud. In practice £100 is still the typical limit; since March 2026 banks may set their own. If a tap is declined at £100, it is the card issuer's setting, not the reader.

Mobile wallets are the exception. An Apple Pay or Google Pay payment authenticated by face, fingerprint or passcode on the phone is not bound by the card limit, which is why a £400 tap from a phone goes through where the card would ask for a PIN. The contactless limit guide and the Apple Pay and Google Pay page cover the detail.

Connection, battery and offline

A phone-paired reader is only as connected as the phone. A terminal with a 4G SIM, such as the Dojo Go or Pocket, carries its own connection, which is what makes it usable in a van, at a stall or in a beer garden with poor Wi-Fi. Review sites note that Dojo terminals need some kind of connection to take a payment, so there is no offline queue. Square states that its Terminal can take offline payments for up to 24 hours.

For the mobile case, the mobile card machine page and the market stall guide weigh the options by setting.

When a small reader is not the right choice

A reader paired to a phone is the wrong choice where a printed receipt is expected or required. London taxis must use a TfL-approved fixed unit and provide printed receipts on request; handheld devices are not approved. Restaurants that print the bill, and retail that prints for returns, want a terminal.

It is also the wrong choice once card turnover is high enough that the flat 1.69% to 1.75% costs more than a quoted contract would. The crossover is usually in the low thousands of pounds a month, and the break-even page shows the sum.

Common questions