SumUp vs Square: We Compare Prices and Services

SumUp and Square offer similar products and services. Both are modern zero-contract payment processing providers with similar price points, offering merchant tools for taking in-person and online payments. And, they both also offer some of the best mobile card readers for small businesses.

With so much in common it’s hard to decide which is best, but after testing both I think Square is better than SumUp. Square has a wider range of hardware, especially when it comes to EPOS terminals and accessories, and can accommodate growing businesses better than SumUp. That being said, SumUp is a little faster and easier to set up than Square, so works well for new merchants who want to get selling fast.

If you’re unsure about which to choose, simply use our free quote tool to receive bespoke quotes from our trusted providers. However, if you want the specifics on SumUp and Square, you’ve come to the right place.

Card Machines: Square Has a Slight Edge

When it comes to card machines Square has a slight edge over SumUp, since it offers a card machine that gives you complete access to its EPOS software, while SumUp’s advanced card machine is limited to basic transaction and sales reports.

Both providers offer two card machines, simple readers that need to be paired with each respective provider’s apps, and advanced card machines that work as standalone devices. We’ll compare the simple readers first.

SumUp Air vs Square Reader

Verdict: No clear winner

Both the SumUp Air and the Square Reader need to be paired with each provider’s respective apps in order to be operated. The key difference between them is that the SumUp Air has a flat pin pad, while the Square Reader does not. If a customer needs to enter their pin when using the Square Reader, they’ll need to do it on the merchant’s phone.

Here’s a look at the other similarities and differences:

Both these card readers are compact, and designed for taking payments on the go, although, both can be used as part of an EPOS kit as well.

When it comes to their suitability for on-the-go payments, I think the SumUp Air is slightly better. If a customer needs to enter their pin, you won’t need to hand your smartphone over to them with the SumUp Air, but you would with the Square reader since it doesn’t have a pin pad.

For use paired with an EPOS kit, the Square Reader is a better choice than the SumUp Air. Square sells cables so the Square reader can easily be connected to a terminal, and it sells an iPad case with a slot for the reader, perfect for taking payments at table or on the shop floor. The SumUp Air, on the other hand, only comes with a charging case for countertops. This makes it less suited to service on the restaurant or shop floor.

The SumUp Air is also £20 more expensive than the Square Reader, but it accepts a wider range of cards, so which is best for you depends on your customers’ habits.

Lastly, the SumUp Air won’t work offline, which means that if your phone loses connectivity (whether to Wifi or 3G/4G), you won’t be able to take payments with it. The Square Reader, on the other hand, does accept payments offline. You just need to reconnect to the internet for transactions to appear in your history.

SumUp Solo vs Square Terminal

Verdict: The Square Terminal offers better functionality

The SumUp Solo and Square Terminal are both standalone card machines, which means they don’t need to be paired with an app to operate. I think the Square Terminal is a better choice, since it gives you full access to Square’s EPOS system, while the SumUp Solo only gives you access to transaction reporting.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison:

The Square Terminal is more expensive than the SumUp Solo, at £149 compared to £79. However, it comes with a built-in receipt printer by default, and if you opt for a SumUp Solo with receipt printer, that bumps the price up to £139, only £10 less than the Square Terminal.

And, for £10 more, you’re basically getting an all-in-one solution for taking payments and running your business with the Squarer Terminal. You can access Square’s EPOS software directly from the terminal, making it a great tool for small businesses that don’t want to spend a lot on a physical terminal.

With the SumUp One, on the other hand, you’re restricted to sales and transaction reports. If you’re using SumUp’s EPOS software, your sales will still appear in your EPOS system when you log on to the app, but you won’t be able to manage your business directly from the SumUp Solo.

However, the SumUp Solo is better than the Square Terminal for connectivity. It connects to the internet via 4G and Wifi, whereas the Square Terminal relies on Wifi and Ethernet. This makes the SumUp Solo a better option for selling on-the-go, or in areas with unreliable internet.

Square has a work around for this weakness however. All Square card machines have an offline function, which means they’ll still log transactions even if you lose internet connection.

Processing Fees: It Depends How You’re Selling

SumUp and Square have pretty similar card processing fees overall, so which provider is best comes down to differences in how you sell.

SumUp’s 1.69% in-person transaction fee is cheaper than Square’s 1.75%, but SumUp has more expensive fees for online transactions than Square.

Here are the key differences:

SumUp is the cheaper option when it comes to selling in-person. It’s standard fee is 1.69%, which can easily be reduced to 1.49% by signing up to a free SumUp Business Bank Account. Square’s in-person fee, however, stays at 1.75% no matter what.

You can also get fees as low as 0.99% with SumUp, for both in-person and online payments if you sign up to a SumUp One account for £19 per month. This is an option worth considering if you have a high sales volume, or sell expensive items, as transaction fees can eat into your profits.

Square offers cheaper fees for selling online and over the phone through a virtual terminal, at 1.4% + 25p for online, and 2.5% for over the phone. Square’s online transaction fee is particularly cheap compared to most competitors, so its worth considering if you sell primarily online. SumUp, on the other hand, charges 2.5% for online payments (unless you have SumUp One), and 2.95% + 25p for over the phone.

Both providers have the same refund policy, keeping their transaction fee charge for refunds. However, Square is better for chargebacks, since it charges nothing for them, whereas SumUp takes £10. Square’s an option worth considering if you’re in an industry that’s more at risk of chargebacks, such as travel, or any subscription-based industry.

EPOS Systems: Square Offers Better Functionality

Payment processing and EPOS systems go hand-in-hand for a lot of businesses, which is why providers, including Square and SumUp, are increasingly offering both services.

However, Square’s EPOS system is a league above SumUp’s, on several levels, and holds the top spot in our ranking of the best EPOS systems.

Here’s a quick summary of what each system offers:

Square offers a wider array of EPOS functions, especially on its free EPOS plans. For example, on Square’s free restaurant EPOS plan, you get access to basic features like table management and scheduled changes to menus and discounts, which are noticeably absent from SumUp’s free EPOS plan.

Square also has a more extensive hardware offering than SumUp, allowing businesses to choose the equipment that suits them. For example, Square sells iPad stands, full-sized terminals, customer display screens, a variety of countertop kits, not to mention acessories. SumUp, on the other hand, only offers two card machines and one type of terminal (with no customer screens), and offers only one kit.

Square also has EPOS systems for three types of businesses – hospitality, retail, and appointments-based businesses – whereas SumUp only caters to hospitality and retail.

SumUp isn’t without its merits however. It’s got a hospitality EPOS system specially designed for takeaways, complete with a kiosk, and businesses can display allergens on their menu, a feature missing from Square. This earned it a spot on our best EPOS systems for takeaways ranking.

Ecommerce: Square Is More Scalable, But Still Basic

Both SumUp and Square offer businesses a free online store builder, but Square also has paid versions that offer more functionality, making it a more scalable option than SumUp.

SumUp’s free online store also isn’t completely free, since you’ll still have to pay for a domain name for your website (essentially its URL), which will cost you around £20 per year.

When it comes to Square’s online store plans, here are the prices and the target users:

• Free (for getting started): £0 per month
• Plus (for growing businesses): £20 per month
• Premium (for high volume online sellers): £64 per month

Which one has a better online store builder?

In all honesty, SumUp and Square aren’t a good option if you run an ecommerce business that you’re planning to grow significantly. Their website builder tools are better suited for creating an online ordering website for hospitality or running a small independent boutique.

Square has an advantage over SumUp, since it can also be used to create a bookings and reservations website, while SumUp is confined to online stores and online ordering.

However, SumUp’s free ecommerce plan will be a better choice if you want to start selling online for free. SumUp offers free website templates, and allows for modest customisation, making it easier to create an attractive website. Square’s free plan doesn’t have pre-made templates, and has limited customisation (you’ll have to upgrade to the £20 per month Plus plan for these features).

While Square’s £64 per month Premium plan claims to be suitable for high-volume sellers, you’ll get far more advanced functionality with a provider that’s dedicated to ecommerce.

If you’re an ambitious ecommerce business that’s focused on growth, and interested in a provider that can help you sell online and in-person, and process payments, my recommendation would be Shopify. It’s the best ecommerce platform for small businesses, and even though more expensive overall than Square, you’ll get more advanced ecommerce features on the £49 Shopify plan than you would on the £64 Square Premium one.

Alternatives to SumUp and Square

If you’re interested in alternatives to SumUp and Square that are also zero-contract and come with no monthly fees, here are the alternatives:

The most similar to SumUp and Square in terms of pricing structure and services offered is Zettle by PayPal. It’s zero-contract, has no monthly fees, and offers a native EPOS system. The only thing it doesn’t have is an online store builder, but it does integrate with popular online store builders like BigCommerce and Shopify.

Next is Tide, which, like SumUp, can provide businesses with a business bank account, which is useful if you want to limit the number of providers you use. It’s also zero-contract, with no monthly fees, but it doesn’t integrate with online stores, and I found its card machine more difficult to use than both SumUp’s and Square’s – particularly the refund process.

Clover is probably the furthest away in terms of similarities to SumUp and Square. Although it is zero contract, it’s primarily an EPOS system provider that also provides card processing. Its card processing services come with no monthly fee, but it charges for its EPOS system, and you’ll get very limited functionality on your card machine without it. But it does offer custom and competitive transaction fees, so is a better option than SumUp or Square for established sellers with high sales volumes.

How We Test Merchant Services Providers

We tested 18 merchant services providers, using our findings to create this side-by-side comparison of SumUp and Square. We assessed providers across five main areas of investigation, and 23 subcategories.

Here’s what we looked at:

• Hardware: we looked at each card machine size, weight, and portability, and assessed its connectivity, its interface, receipt printing, and battery life.
• Software: we tallied up how many payment types each card machine accepted, looked at payout times, reporting and security features, EPOS functionality, and what systems it integrated with.
• Pricing: we compared monthly fees, card machine costs, transaction fees and contract lengths against the features of each card reader, to determine the value for money of each.
• Ease of use: We had several different average users test each card machine to see how intuitive each one was to use, and how quickly everyday tasks could be complete.
• Help and support: we assessed card machines providers based on how many different support they offered, and how available and responsive the support team was.

We then gave each card machine an overall score based on how well they fared in the above assessment categories.

SumUp and Square both also offer EPOS systems and online store builders, and we use a slightly different testing methodology for those services. If you want to know more, head to the methodology section in our best EPOS systems page, and the methodology section in our best ecommerce platforms page.