SumUp Pricing: Is It Good Value for Money?

SumUp is a cheap payment processing provider popular among small businesses. You’ll pay zero monthly fees on the SumUp pay-as-you-go plan and be charged transaction fees of 0.99% for in-person payments. Transaction fees go down to 0.99% with a £19 per month Payments Plus subscription.

SumUp’s cheapest card reader, the SumUp Air, starts at £34 + VAT, but rises to £44 + VAT if you also want a charger. We think it’s a great option, which is why it made our list of the best card readers for UK small businesses.

Those are the basics, but there’s more to SumUp’s pricing. We’ll give you a full breakdown, from the cost of its card machines to every transaction fee you might incur. We’ll also let you know how SumUp’s costs compare to competitors so that you can get the best deal.

How Much Do SumUp Card Machines Cost?

Range: £34-£139 + VAT

SumUp offers three readers, all of which are a one-off purchase:

• SumUp Air: £34 + VAT (+£10 for charger)
• SumUp Solo: £79 + VAT
• SumUp Solo & Printer: £139 + VAT

SumUp charges a one-off fee for all its card machines, making it cheaper in the long term than providers who charge monthly rental fees for their card machines, like takepayments or Worldpay.

Other mobile card reader providers, such as Square and Zettle, also charge one-off fees for card machines, but their starting price is cheaper than SumUp’s. Zettle’s card reader starts at £29, while Square’s card machines start at £19. And, at two years, Square’s warranty is longer than SumUp’s one year.

SumUp Air vs SumUp Solo vs SumUp Solo and Printer

Here’s a quick overview of the differences between each SumUp card reader:

The main differences between SumUp’s cheapest card reader, the £34 SumUp Air, and the other two models are that it can only be used when connected via Bluetooth to the free SumUp app on your phone, while the two Solo models are standalone card machines. The SumUp Air also doesn’t come with a charging dock outright, and it’ll cost you an additional £10 + VAT if you want one.

That said, the SumUp Air has a longer battery life than the other two, 12 hours instead of 8 hours, which comes in handy if you’re a mobile business owner relying on your phone’s signal to take payments.

In comparison, the SumUp Solo and Solo Printer come equipped with Wifi connectivity, a built-in SIM card with unlimited free data, and a charging dock. So, despite their shorter battery life, these models can easily be charged on a countertop or table when they’re not in use, and they don’t rely on being connected to a smartphone to accept payments.

The main difference between the SumUp Solo and Solo and Printer is that the latter comes with a built-in receipt printer, and charges faster. If receipts are essential to your business, then it could be a good option.

Overall, however, the £79 + VAT SumUp Solo card reader offers the best value for money. You get a machine that can take payments anywhere there’s internet or a phone signal, plus you don’t need to pay extra for a charging dock.

SumUp Transaction Fees & Payment Processing Charges

Before we get into SumUp’s transaction fees in more detail, here’s a quick summary of the fees you can expect for different types of payment processing:

SumUp transaction fees

Range: 0.99%-2.95% + 25p per transaction

On the pay-as-you-go plan

On SumUp’s zero-contract, pay-as-you-go plan, you’ll pay transaction fees of 1.69% for in-person transactions and 2.5% for remote payments (online, payment links, digital gift cards).

SumUp’s pay-as-you-go transaction fees are on the pricier end compared to the providers we researched when assessing the best merchant accounts in the market. For example, while SumUp’s pay-as-you-go in-person transaction fee is cheaper than Zettle’s and Square’s, both of which charge 1.75%, it’s more expensive than Stripe (1.4% +10p) or Tyl by Natwest’s (1.39% +5p).

For this reason, SumUp’s pay-as-you-go offering is a poor choice for businesses that deal with a high volume of card transactions (like busy bars and coffee shops), as they’re bound to build up and turn into a great expense.

With a Payments Plus subscription

You can get cheaper fees with SumUp’s £19 per month Payment Plus subscription, previously called SumUp One (SumUp still refers to it as SumUp One in certain cases).

With the subscription, you’ll pay transaction fees of 0.99% on both in-person and remote transactions on domestic cards (international, AMEX, and commercial cards have a 1.99% fee)

This is a significant reduction, but you’re likely to get even lower fees with takepayments or Worldpay if you’re a high-volume seller. Worldpay’s transaction fees are as low as 0.75%.

SumUp monthly fees

Range: £0-£19 per month

If you opt for SumUp’s pay-as-you-go plan, you’ll pay zero monthly fees. To use it, you only need to buy one of its readers, and the rest of your expenses will be transaction fees.

If you’re a small business owner with low transaction volume, you’ll benefit from lower monthly overheads, although your transaction fees will be higher than they would be with a SumUp subscription.

If you subscribe to Payments Plus, you’ll pay a monthly fee of £19 per month, or £15.75 per month if you pay for the whole year upfront (a 17% discount). What you’ll get in return are:

• Lower transaction fees (from 0.99%)
• 24/7 priority support
• 50% off SumUp card readers

Payments Plus is designed for businesses that process over £39,600 in card payments a year (over £3,300 a month). It’s a good option for cashless small businesses, such as cafes or independent stores, or ones with a lot of card-paying customers, such as restaurants, pubs, and bars.

Although Payments Plus comes with a monthly fee, it’s contract-free, unlike offers from traditional card machine providers such as takepayments and Worldpay. You can cancel your Payments Plus subscription anytime, and there’s no cancellation fee.

SumUp ecommerce and online gateways fees

Range: £0 per month + transaction fees

SumUp doesn’t charge any extra monthly service fees for selling online through its payment gateway. The only charges you’ll pay are transaction fees, which are 2.5% on the pay-as-you-go plan and 0.99% on Payments Plus.

There are several ways to sell online with SumUp’s payment gateway:

• Payment links: send links to customers by email, messaging app, SMS, or QR code, which takes them to a payment page.
• Online store: build a free online store with SumUp, which comes with a built-in payment gateway
• Payment gateway integration: integrate SumUp’s payment gateway into your existing online store (plugins for WooCommerce, Wix, and Prestashop, or use API or widgets).

This breadth of ways to take payments online landed SumUp a spot on our list of the UK’s best payment gateway providers.

SumUp invoicing fees

Range: £0-£7 per month + transaction fees

You can send unlimited invoices for free using SumUp’s free invoicing software. However, you have to have signed up for a free SumUp Business Account to receive transfers.

For £7 per month on the SumUp Pro invoicing plan, you can send unlimited customised invoices in 14 different languages and accept transfers to any bank account. The transaction fee for online invoices also goes down to 1.25% from 2.5% with free invoicing.

SumUp virtual terminal fees

Range: £0 per month + transaction fees

There are no extra charges for taking payments over the phone with SumUp’s virtual terminal. However, because this is considered a risky transaction, the transaction fees are higher, at 2.95% + 25p.

If your business takes a lot of payments over the phone and you want to keep fees down, you’ll be better off with Square. Like SumUp, Square doesn’t charge monthly fees for using its virtual terminal, but its transaction fees are lower at 2.5%.

See our list of the best virtual terminals for the full range of options.

How Much Do SumUp’s EPOS Systems Cost?

Range: £0/month to £49/month

In addition to offering payment processing services and card machines, SumUp also offers EPOS systems, providing both software and hardware.

Here’s what SumUp’s EPOS software plans cost:

• Free POS App: £0. If you have an existing tablet (Apple or Android), you can download and use SumUp’s basic EPOS app for free with no monthly costs. It comes with basic sales reporting and product cataloguing features.
• Plus: £19/month. You’ll get extra features, such as cash payment logging and table plan management.
• POS Pro: £49/month. Extra features include scheduled menu changes, staff hour tracking, online ordering, and accounting integrations.

Providers such as Square and Tyl also offer free EPOS apps, so SumUp is by no means an outlier in this regard, nor does it offer the best free EPOS software.

Square’s free EPOS app comes with far more features than SumUp’s. For example, if you’re a restaurant, you won’t be able to manage your table plan on SumUp’s free plan, whereas you can on Square’s. So, if you’re looking for a cheap EPOS solution for your restaurant or store, we’d suggest going with Square. Like SumUp, it allows you to upgrade to paid plans once you outgrow the free version.

You can find out what the best EPOS systems in the UK are by looking at our official ranking.

SumUp EPOS hardware costs

Besides its card machines, SumUp offers an iPad stand for its app-based EPOS software as well as a few accessories:

• iPad Stand: £109 + VAT
• Cash drawer: £69 + VAT
• Combined cash drawer and printer: £320 + VAT
• Wifi/Bluetooth printer: £219 + VAT
• Barcode scanner: £59 + VAT

Does SumUp Have Any Hidden Fees?

SumUp is very transparent with its costs, so you’re unlikely to get any surprise charges.

Its transaction fees are flat-rate and cover interchange fees, which are the processing charges the merchant account pays out to the banks of your customers. This means what you see advertised is what you’ll pay. Since SumUp doesn’t have fixed-term contracts, there are also no exit fees or early termination fees to worry about.

Plus, SumUp doesn’t charge extra for PCI compliance, unlike many traditional payment processing providers such as Worldpay or Barclaycard.

This straightforward pricing structure keeps SumUp’s fees easily visible and traceable, making it a popular option for small businesses.

How Does SumUp’s Pricing Compare with Its Competitors?

Here’s a quick overview of how SumUp’s pricing stacks up against similar zero-contract rivals:

Square vs SumUp

Square’s in-person transaction fees are more expensive than SumUp’s, at 1.75% compared to 1.69%. However, Square’s online transaction fees are cheaper, at 1.4% + 25p, compared to 2.5%, and its card readers start at a cheaper price point, £19 + VAT, compared to SumUp’s £34 + VAT.

Both providers come with zero monthly fees and free EPOS apps. However, Square’s free EPOS solution offers far more features than SumUp’s, making it a better value option for small businesses looking for an integrated payment processor and EPOS provider.

Read our full Square vs SumUp comparison.

Tyl vs SumUp

Tyl has cheaper transaction fees than SumUp, at 1.39% + 5p for standard personal UK cards, both in-person and online, compared to SumUp’s 1.69% for in-person transactions and 2.5% for online ones.

However, Tyl doesn’t sell its hardware outright, the way SumUp does. It charges monthly fees starting at £9.99 + VAT for leasing its card machines. Because of this, SumUp is a better value option in the long run.

Stripe vs SumUp

Stripe has cheaper transaction fees than SumUp, at 1.4% + 10p for in-person transactions, compared to SumUp’s 1.69%. Neither provider charges monthly fees, but Stripe’s card reader is more expensive than SumUp’s, starting at £49 + VAT, compared to £34 + VAT.

Stripe, however, comes with better reporting features than SumUp, and supports 125+ currencies, whilst SumUp only supports UK transactions. This makes Stripe a better value option if your business operates near tourist spots or if you’re interested in rigorous reporting.

Read more in our Stripe vs SumUp head-to-head.

Zettle vs SumUp

Zettle and SumUp are quite evenly matched in terms of price. SumUp’s basic in-person transaction fees are slightly cheaper than Zettle’s  (1.69% compared to 1.75%), but their online transaction fees are the same, at 2.5%, and neither provider charges monthly fees for their basic offering.

Zettle’s card readers do have a cheaper price point, starting at £29 + VAT compared to SumUp’s £34 + VAT, but Zettle’s 4G card reader costs £149 + VAT, almost double SumUp’s £79 + VAT 4G reader. Overall, however, Zettle is a better value for money than SumUp. It has more advanced reporting capabilities and integrates with a wider network of software.

Read our full Zettle vs SumUp comparison.