Dojo Review: Fast Transfers But Is It Worth It In 2026?

Dojo offers transaction fees as low as 1%, 24-hour fund transfers every day of the week, and integrates with over 600 EPOS devices. This makes the merchant services provider ideal for small businesses after fast payouts, and who are looking to integrate a card machine with their existing EPOS setup.

However, Dojo’s hardware doesn’t support offline payments, and you’ll potentially face more ongoing fees than you would with other providers. For this reason, Dojo falls short of some of the best merchant service providers, with takepayments offering better rates for high-volume merchants and Clover letting you accept sales offline, and integrate with more hardware options, without a long-term contract.

To evaluate Dojo fairly, we tested and researched it on five main areas: hardware, software, pricing, ease of use, and customer support. Read on for an in-depth look at Dojo’s pricing, features, and overall value, or use our free quote tool to get no-obligation quotes from top providers.

What is Dojo?

Dojo is a UK-based payment provider offering hardware, software, and merchant account services for small to medium-sized businesses. Its next-day payouts, cloud-based reporting, and integration with over 600 EPOS systems help it stand out from the competition, making it appealing to retailers, restaurants, and mobile sellers who value speed and connectivity.

However, Dojo has some limitations. Its card machines require an internet connection and don’t support offline payments, which can be a problem for remote or on-the-go businesses. Yet, this shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for small to medium-sized retailers, cafes, and restaurants with reliable connectivity.

Compared to competitors like Square and Stripe, Dojo typically offers lower transaction rates for established, higher-volume businesses, but it does charge monthly fees and usually requires a contract. Meanwhile, providers such as Clover and takepayments may offer more flexible hardware options, but have less transparent prices.

How Much Does Dojo Cost?

Dojo operates on a flexible, modular pricing structure that allows businesses to choose how they pay, their rate option, and their contract terms.

Dojo’s pricing is structured around two components: a rate (Fix, Flex, or Pro) and a plan (Free or Plus). Your chosen rate will determine how much you’ll pay in transaction fees, while your plan will determine which features, customer support tools, and add-ons you have access to.

Below, we break down Dojo’s rates and plans and explain which combination suits different types of businesses.

Dojo’s rates

Your rate will determine how much you pay per transaction, your monthly fees, and the terms of your contract. The right rate package for you will depend on your business’s annual turnover, as the Fix, Flex, and Pro plans are designed to fit businesses of different sizes.

Learn more about Dojo’s rate options below:

Dojo’s plans

Dojo’s service plans dictate which features you get, rather than which rates you pay.

How much does Dojo’s hardware cost?

There is now a choice for either paying monthly or paying upfront for Dojo’s hardware (although the validity for the former depends on business turnover):

• Pay monthly, ongoing
  • From £15 per month (only available for businesses with an annual card turnover of £100,000 or more)
• Pay once, upfront
  • From £79 with no ongoing hardware costs (available to any business)

Whether you pay monthly or upfront for your Dojo card machine, the cheapest device is the Dojo Go model, according to our research (there is no public pricing for any other hardware devices Dojo offers, such as the Dojo Pocket, as these require you to get a pricing quote from the supplier). Alternatively, you can also purchase this hardware outright for £79 and not have any more ongoing costs to consider.

By comparison, you can purchase hardware outright for around one month of Dojo’s monthly fee via providers like Square (£19 + VAT). In other words, there are cheaper options than Dojo for hardware on the UK market. However, that low-cost hardware is much less capable than the Dojo Go, as we’ll detail in our hardware section further down this page.

How much are Dojo’s platform fees?

With Dojo, businesses with an annual card turnover above £100k pay a base rate of £10 per month for the use of its cloud-native payments platform. This price is in line with providers like Worldpay’s £9.95 per month costs.

For businesses with an annual turnover under £100k, the platform is included in the £39.99 per month base fee they pay for transactions.

Although Dojo has dropped its fees in recent years, it’s worth mentioning that many other providers don’t have monthly fees at all. That includes the likes of Zettle, Tide, Square, and SumUp.

Does Dojo have any hidden fees?

Dojo isn’t very transparent with its pricing, so it most likely has hidden fees.

For example, it’s likely businesses will pay higher transaction fees on certain types of cards, such as Amex, commercial, or international cards, than they would on standard UK personal cards.

If you have a store with multiple locations, it is also worth reiterating that you’ll have a £10 per month charge per location to access its cloud-native payments platform.

Are Dojo’s Card Machines Any Good?

Dojo offers three card readers: the Dojo Go, which costs from £15  per month, the Dojo Pocket, and the Dojo Wired, both for an additional, unknown cost.

Dojo doesn’t support third-party card readers, so these are the only options you have on that front. That means no tabletop machines or any smartphone-centric readers.

Still, the readers themselves are of excellent quality, with reportedly fast speeds and a modern interface. The price points are more expensive than some options out there, especially providers that have a one-time fee, but they aren’t outside of industry norms (Tyl by Natwest has a similar price for its main reader).

1. Dojo Go: Portable Card Machine

• Price: From £15 per month, or from £179 upfront
• Best for: On-the-go sellers like market stalls and food trucks, and table service restaurants

The Dojo Go is essentially a must-have if you opt for a Dojo merchant account.

That’s not just because it is Dojo’s most feature-rich card machine, but down to it being the only option you have. Dojo doesn’t support third-party card reader hardware, and the Dojo Pocket – a slimmer card machine accessory– is only available to you after you’ve purchased the Dojo Go for your business first.

Those limitations aside, let’s detail the key features of the Dojo Go and what we think about it compared to other top card readers.

What are Dojo Go’s key features?

• Connectivity: Equipped with both Wi-Fi and a built-in 4G SIM card to ensure reliable connectivity anywhere.
• Touchscreen interface: Features a high-resolution touchscreen for intuitive navigation and ease of use.
• Battery life: Long-lasting battery designed to last a full trading day on a single charge.
• Security: Fully PCI DSS compliant with point-to-point encryption (P2PE) for secure transactions.
• Built-in receipt printer: Allows for immediate printing of customer receipts after transactions.
• Weight: 458g

What do we think about the Dojo Go?

Dojo states that the Go card machine can take payments 58% faster than the market average, according to an independent study by Savanta (2023), which is an impressive claim that seems to bear out in reality, according to our additional research.

We found the Dojo Go to be very user-friendly, with a speedy touchscreen interface that allows staff to navigate and process transactions efficiently. At 458g, it’s not the lightest card reader in the world (that role is saved for the Dojo Pocket), but it’s still eminently portable, with a sleek design that looks professional, too.

The dual connectivity options of WiFi and 4G provide reliable performance, which means you can accept payments even if one connection type is unavailable. On the other hand, that’s not useful if you are selling outdoors in a remote region without either, nor is it an apt table-top option, given it forgoes ethernet connectivity. But for most businesses, it should still work well.

Likewise, the built-in receipt printer saves you from purchasing one separately and improves convenience for both staff and customers when taking payment.

2. Dojo Pocket: Compact Card Reader

• Price: Custom
• Best for: Smaller solo operations like retail counters, coffee carts or service businesses

Only available after purchasing the Dojo Go, the Dojo Pocket is a more slimline alternative that offers many of the same features, minus the ability to print physical receipts.

What are Dojo Pocket’s key features?

• Ultra-portable design: Small and lightweight, it is designed to fit comfortably in your pocket for ultimate mobility.
• Same connectivity as Dojo Go: Both WiFi and 4G are supported on the Dojo Pocket.
• Smartphone connectivity: Pairs with smartphones via Bluetooth to use it with the Dojo app (available on iOS and Android).
• Digital receipts: You can send receipts directly to customers via email or text message through the app (there’s no in-built receipt printer).
• Battery life: Built to last through a full day of transactions on a single charge.

What do we think about the Dojo Pocket?

We think the Dojo Pocket is ideal for businesses on the move, such as market traders, food trucks, or mobile service providers, due to its compact size.

Customers can simply tap their card/smart device for any sale or refund amount. If the payment is over £100, the device will display a virtual PIN pad to use without the need to insert a card. There’s also the ability to pay via a QR code if a customer has a smartphone.

Speaking of which, pairing the device with a smartphone is pretty seamless by all accounts, and the Dojo app itself offers an intuitive interface, making it easy to manage transactions and send digital receipts to relevant email addresses or phone numbers.

Our main annoyance about the Dojo Pocket is that you can’t opt to purchase it without the Dojo Go. If Dojo allowed it to be purchased individually, the Pocket could take centre stage rather than be a sideshow to the Go model.

Of course, it is also not the best choice for printing physical receipts regularly, since it doesn’t have this built in. But since you would need the Dojo Go to purchase it anyway, which has this functionality, it is something of a moot point.

3. Dojo Wired: Traditional countertop card machine

• Price: Custom
• Best for: Busy countertop businesses like retail shops and cafes

Dojo has replaced Dojo One with the Dojo Wired, a new and updated wired countertop card machine that uses Wifi or Ethernet, so you would never lose connection to the internet.

What are Dojo Wired’s key features?

• Connectivity: Wifi and Ethernet
• Interface: Traditional button PIN pad with screen
• Charging/battery: Wired device, so it does not require charging to maintain battery
• Integration: Integrates with your chosen EPOS system through Cloud Connect integration

What do we think of the Dojo Wired?

The Dojo Wired is a great option for businesses that only do counter service, such as retail stores or takeaways, and need a customer-facing card machine.

The card machine accepts both contactless and chip and PIN payments, and has a large bright screen and button PIN pad, making it easy for customer to see the amount they owe and enter their PIN securely.

It connects to your EPOS system using Dojo’s Connect Cloud integration, and operates on both Wifi and Ethernet, making it a reliable option for stationary checkouts.

What Software Features Does Dojo Offer?

Now you know what the prices are, and the sorts of best credit card machines you can get with Dojo, you next need to consider the features you are getting for your investment.

Here’s a run-through of the areas we considered as part of our extensive, impartial research and the results we found with Dojo.

What payment methods does Dojo accept?

Dojo supports all major credit and debit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, making it easy for businesses to accept payments from most customers. All Dojo card machines are equipped with NFC technology, allowing customers to pay quickly and securely using contactless methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.

In addition, Dojo machines handle chip-and-PIN and magnetic stripe payments, so even customers who prefer traditional card transactions are covered. This broad range of payment options ensures businesses can serve customers efficiently, whether in-store, at events, or on the move.

Does Dojo integrate with EPOS systems?

Another big boon of Dojo card terminals is that they can integrate with an almost endless number of EPOS systems via API integrations. Dojo collaborates with several top EPOS providers directly so it can offer seamless integration of data with relevant software, such as Lightspeed and Square.

These integrations allow for inventory control and management directly through an EPOS, as well as syncing transactions and sales data between your hardware and EPOS system.

Perhaps why Dojo has gone to great lengths here is that it doesn’t have its own native EPOS platform, so it requires external parties for this functionality. Still, this can be a benefit if your business is already using a particular EPOS software, as you won’t need to transfer over existing data.

What reporting tools does Dojo offer?

Dojo provides reporting capabilities for transaction breakdowns, peak trading times, and top-selling products. You’ll have easy access to real-time transaction data through the cloud-based platform and specifically, its overview dashboard. Plus, you’ll get notifications for things like when funds are transferred.

For more advanced insights, Dojo Intelligence (included with the Plus plan) tracks customer behavior, sales trends, and repeat vs. new customers, helping businesses make data-driven decisions without separate analytics software.

However, should you want to track employee sales performance or generate detailed reports on sales, customer behaviour, and inventory, you’ll need to integrate Dojo with a compatible third-party EPOS system.

Do Dojo card machines work offline?

As discussed in our hardware section, Dojo’s card machines utilise WiFi and are supported by a 4G SIM card should they be out of range of a WiFi connection.

However, if you are in a remote region where you can’t get reliable connectivity via either of those options, Dojo’s hardware can’t function. It has no offline mode and requires some kind of connection to work, meaning it’s not a great choice for on-the-go businesses in areas without strong 4G service.

Does Dojo offer a mobile app?

Yes — Dojo’s Sidekick app for iOS and Android lets businesses manage payments on the go. Once your card reader is paired, you can view live transaction updates, track sales performance over time, and access key insights through a simple, user-friendly interface.

The app also lets you process refunds and voids directly from your phone, and provides quick access to customer support whenever you need assistance, making it a convenient companion for busy business owners.

Compared to similar apps from providers like Square or takepayments, Dojo Sidekick offers a clean interface and real-time sales tracking. However, some advanced reporting and employee management features may require integrations with third-party EPOS systems.

How secure is Dojo?

Dojo is PCI DSS compliant, and the process to become compliant is fairly straightforward. You’ll just need to read two documents and answer two questions. After this, you’ll be compliant via the app or your Dojo account online.

We’d say Dojo’s compliance process is the easiest and cheapest out of all the providers in our research. For instance, takepayments, our highest-rated provider, has a self-assessment questionnaire of up to 300 questions. In other words, Dojo is a good choice for businesses that want to ensure PCI compliance without paying extra or dealing with lengthy processes.

Dojo also offers Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) of card data at the point of interaction to ensure secure transactions. Plus, it offers assistance with handling and/or disputing chargeback claims, should you need it.

Does Dojo Have Good Customer Support?

Dojo offers fairly extensive help and support options, including phone and live chat lines. Customers get tech support every day of the week between the hours of 8am and 11pm. The support team is UK-based, so you’ll be getting agents who understand your queries from a UK-based business standpoint.

Impressively, if you need immediate card machine support, Dojo technicians can log into your device remotely to assist with any problems. And it also offers 24-hour card machine replacement if a device is unrepairable, too.

Dojo’s online help centre means you’ve got a lot of additional documentation to help you find answers quickly yourself, too. As part of our testing, we tried looking for answers to five common business problems across all of the top merchant account providers. With Dojo, we were able to easily find answers to all five of our test queries within Dojo’s help centre, in one click.

The only thing missing from Dojo’s help and support armoury is a user forum and, perhaps more importantly, an email line. This may make Dojo less suited to businesses that prefer to resolve their queries without relying on phone or live chat.

How Does Dojo Compare to Its Competitors?

We’ve tried to offer a comparison throughout this Dojo review to other big names, but sometimes it is easier to compare key attributes of each provider side-by-side. Here’s a table to do just that.

Dojo sits in the middle of the market for monthly fees, charging £10 per location for businesses with an annual turnover of over £100k. This is lower than some providers like takepayments or Worldpay, but higher than no-monthly-fee alternatives such as Square, Zettle, and SumUp.

In terms of hardware and transaction costs, Dojo’s devices are competitively priced upfront (£79) and offer flexible rental options, but still cost more than the basic hardware from Square, Zettle, or SumUp (£19–29). Transaction fees are negotiable for higher-volume businesses, giving Dojo an advantage for larger operations, whereas very small businesses may prefer the predictable flat rates of Square, Zettle, or SumUp for ease of budgeting.

Dojo offers solid operational benefits, including 24-hour fund transfers—faster than Zettle, SumUp, and Clover—and advanced reporting via its integrations. However, its 12-month contract may be restrictive for startups or very small businesses, who might benefit more from the no-contract flexibility of Square, Zettle, or SumUp.

Methodology: How Did We Review Dojo?