Card machines with no monthly fee

A card machine with no monthly fee charges a flat percentage on each sale and nothing else. SumUp charges 1.69%, Square and Zettle charge 1.75% on in-person UK card payments, and none of the three charges a monthly fee on its basic plan (rates checked August 2026). That is the cheaper arrangement at low card turnover. Once turnover reaches a few thousand pounds a month, a contract with a lower rate and fixed monthly charges usually costs less, and the crossover point can be calculated in one line.

There is a third shape, which is a contract with no monthly charge either. For businesses under £100,000 a year in card turnover, Dojo's plan through CapExpand is 1.2% of each transaction with all fees included, subject to Dojo's approval of the business and confirmed in writing before you sign. The sums below use the verified flat rates, an illustrative contract with fixed charges, and that plan. Above £100,000 a year Dojo quotes individually; for higher card volumes a quote is often the lower option, and the only way to know is to compare it against your current statement.

The break-even formula

A flat-rate reader costs turnover multiplied by its rate. A contract costs turnover multiplied by its rate, plus the fixed monthly charges. The two are equal when:

Against SumUp's 1.69%, an illustrative contract at 1.0% with £25 of fixed monthly costs breaks even at about £3,600 of card turnover a month. Against Square or Zettle's 1.75% the gap is wider, so the break-even is lower, about £3,300. Below those figures the flat rate wins; above them the contract does, and the gap grows with every extra pound of turnover.

"Fixed monthly costs" has to include everything that arrives regardless of sales: terminal rental, any minimum monthly service charge, a PCI compliance fee, and a share of any one-off setup charge. Per-transaction authorisation fees belong in the rate rather than the fixed costs; the authorisation fee page shows how to fold them in.

Worked figures at four turnovers

Monthly card fees only, before VAT where applicable; readers and terminals are left out of every column. The contract column is illustrative (1.0% plus £25 a month) and is not a quote from Dojo or any other provider. The last column is the plan Dojo offers through CapExpand to businesses under £100,000 a year, which is about £8,300 a month, so the two larger turnovers fall outside it and are quoted individually. SumUp's 0.99% applies to domestic consumer cards on its £19/month Payments Plus plan; premium, international and Amex cards stay at 1.69%, so that column assumes a domestic consumer card mix.

At £2,000 the flat rate is lower than the illustrative contract by £11 a month. At £5,000 the positions have swapped. At £20,000 the illustrative contract saves £113 a month against SumUp pay-as-you-go and £125 against Square or Zettle, which over a year is real money. The 1.2% column has no fixed charge to recover, so it sits under the flat-rate readers at both turnovers it applies to: £24 against £33.80 at £2,000, and £60 against £84.50 at £5,000. The same table shape applies to any quote: swap in the rate and fixed costs you are offered.

A contract with no monthly charge either: Dojo through CapExpand

The usual trade for a lower rate is a set of fixed monthly charges, which is what the break-even formula exists to price. The plan Dojo offers through CapExpand to businesses under £100,000 a year in card turnover does not make that trade. The rate is 1.2% of each transaction with all fees included: no separate authorisation fee, no monthly charge, no PCI fee. Dojo's own pricing page lists 1.2% for that turnover band (checked August 2026). Review sites have reported a 5p secure transaction fee alongside it; through CapExpand there is no separate per-transaction fee on this plan. The offer is subject to Dojo's approval of the business, and the rate is confirmed in writing before you sign.

With no fixed charge, the formula gives a break-even of zero: 1.2% is below 1.69% and 1.75% at every turnover, so on fees alone the plan costs less than the flat-rate readers from the first pound, and a quiet month costs 1.2% of whatever you took. The terminal is the one cost outside the rate. It is bought or rented, and the written quote says which and at what price. Review sites put Dojo's rental at £15 to £25 a month depending on the model (August 2026); if you rent, that figure is your fixed cost and the formula applies. At £15 a month against SumUp the break-even is £15 ÷ 0.0049, about £3,100 of card turnover a month; at £25 it is about £5,100. Below those figures a bought flat-rate reader is still the lower-cost option on paper; above them the 1.2% plan is, and the gap grows with turnover.

What the plan still has is an agreement with a minimum term. No monthly charge removes the cost of a quiet month, not the commitment, and the Dojo contract and cancellation page sets out the term, notice and exit terms before you sign. The pence-fee side of the comparison, and why it matters for small sales, is on the no authorisation fees page.

Over £30,000 a month on card: the terminal is free

For businesses taking more than £30,000 a month in card payments, CapExpand offers the terminal free for the life of your agreement, subject to approval: transaction fees only, no terminal rental. Rates at that volume are quoted individually against a recent statement, so there is no percentage to print here. For the break-even the point is that the fixed-cost side of the formula goes to zero, leaving only the gap between the quoted rate and the flat rate. We confirm the rate and the free terminal in writing before you sign.

What the headline rate leaves out

On the flat-rate side, the published percentage is for standard UK consumer cards. Square adds 1.5% for non-UK cards; SumUp's 0.99% plan charges 1.69% on premium, international and Amex cards. A business with a lot of tourist trade pays more than the table suggests on either plan.

On the contract side, quotes vary in shape as much as in rate. Some bundle the per-transaction and PCI charges into one figure, some itemise them, and a blended rate hides how premium and business cards are priced. The card machine costs explained page lists each line item. Whatever the shape, the comparison is total monthly cost divided by card turnover, which the fee comparison calculator produces from the published rates.

One part of every rate is fixed by law. The interchange fee paid to the card issuer is capped at 0.2% for UK consumer debit and 0.3% for UK consumer credit cards under the Interchange Fee Regulation. Everything above that is the acquirer's margin and scheme fees, which is where quotes differ.

When no monthly fee is not the right choice

A flat-rate reader is the wrong tool once card turnover sits comfortably above the break-even, because every month you keep it you pay the difference. A cafe or salon taking £10,000 a month on cards is paying £169 to £175 for the privilege of no contract, against an illustrative £125 on the contract side, and against whatever a quote for that volume turns out to be.

It is also the wrong tool if you need a printed receipt, a machine that works without a phone, or several terminals running on one account with staff logins. Those features live on full terminals, and the receipt printer page lists which devices have them.

Conversely, a contract is the wrong choice for a business still testing whether it works, a seasonal trader, or a sole trader with irregular takings. A minimum term is a commitment, and the contract length page explains what the regulator allows and what the terms typically say.

Common questions