SumUp vs Zettle: Battle of the Mobile Merchants in 2024

SumUp and Zettle are two major merchant accounts and card reader providers available to UK businesses  – and according to our in-depth research, SumUp is the winner by the smallest of margins.

SumUp has lower transaction fees overall (especially if you subscribe to SumUp One) and lower hardware prices than Zettle, plus faster payouts including on weekends for business account holders. That said, Zettle has more impressive hardware and cheaper online transaction fees when comparing the two providers’ standard accounts.

With SumUp offering multiple types of accounts, it can get a little confusing, but we’ve broken down what you can expect and how each SumUp plan compares to Zettle’s merchant account, below.

SumUp vs Zettle: Overview

Here’s a quick overview of whether SumUp or Zettle is the superior choice based on our five areas of consideration in our extensive research.

If you’d like to know more about SumUp, feel free to take a look at our SumUp review.

For more information about Zettle’s offerings, just head to our Zettle review.

SumUp vs Zettle: Best for Pricing

SumUp and Zettle both offer zero-cost and no-contract ‘pay-as-you-go’ plans, however, SumUp also has two other account options for potential customers.

Here’s an overview of what monthly fees, transaction fees, and hardware costs you can expect with each option.

Lowest transaction fees: SumUp

When it comes to transaction fees on both merchant account providers’ regular plans, there’s not much in it. However, SumUp edges out Zettle with a slightly cheaper rate of 1.69% compared to Zettle’s lowest rate of 1.75% for card transactions and PayPal QR Codes.

However, SumUp takes a clear lead when you opt for its business account with 1.49% rates as its lowest transaction rate.

Better yet, while SumUp business account rates for online payments stay at 2.5%, you’ll get 0.99% transaction fees for both in-person and online payments with SumUp One. Of course, SumUp One does cost £19/month for the pleasure of these lower fees.

Cheapest hardware: SumUp

SumUp also edges out Zettle in terms of hardware costs. The regular price of the SumUp Air, SumUp’s cheapest hardware option, is £39 + VAT compared to Zettle’s £59 + VAT Reader 2 device.

Still, there’s really not much in it, as we’ve previously seen the Zettle Card Reader 2 sell for £29 + VAT, as well as the SumUp Air retail for £25 + VAT. It should also be noted that SumUp One subscribers will get hardware at half price.

SumUp vs Zettle: Which has the best free plan?

Zettle has the best free plan. Both SumUp and Zettle offer their merchant account functionalities as free services, but Zettle ups the ante by also including a more capable EPOS system in its free offering that can be used on its hardware devices, as we’ll detail shortly.

SumUp vs Zettle: Best for Hardware

Verdict: SumUp for low cost, Zettle for on-device item selection
If price is a priority, SumUp’s Air Reader is the cheapest option and functions just as well as Zettle’s Card Reader 2 for a jot less investment. Zettle’s Terminal is the most advanced hardware option, offering on-device catalogue item selection with imagery, unlike the SumUp Solo. But it is almost double the cost of the Solo, too.

SumUp and Zettle each offer two hardware options in similar formats. Likewise, both forgo countertop hardware options, so you’ll be using portable products with either merchant account provider. Here’s a rundown of each product and their respective features.

How do Zettle and SumUp’s cheapest hardware options compare?

Zettle and SumUp’s hardware options are relatively similar, especially their cheapest options.

Both the SumUp Air Reader and the Zettle Card Reader 2 require you to connect to a smartphone or tablet to be used, with the hardware itself acting as a processing point for contactless, swipe or chip-and-pin payment. You input costs on the respective applications, with both functioning fairly similarly according to our research.

A downside we found is that Zettle’s Card Reader 2 can’t be used offline despite being targeted to smaller mobile sellers.

However, as noted in the pricing section, SumUp does undercut Zettle quite substantially. The SumUp Air is almost half the price of Zettle’s Card Reader 2. Still, we’ve seen the Zettle Card Reader 2 discounted to £29 earlier this year, while the SumUp is also regularly listed for £25, so your mileage may vary in terms of price.

How do SumUp and Zettle’s most expensive hardware options compare?

We found there is a greater difference between SumUp and Zettle’s most expensive options. The Zettle Terminal and the SumUp Solo both have built-in software that allows them to function as standalone devices. They each have large touchscreen displays, although the Zettle Terminal’s screen is longer and more akin to a smartphone than the square-shaped SumUp device.

Our research has found the key difference between the two is around on-device functionality. While the SumUp Solo allows you to input a price with VAT and tipping options on the hardware itself, the Zettle Terminal has a full POS library of items you can access directly with the touchscreen and add to a cart (having already set your catalogue up on the app).

In this way, Zettle’s terminal takes the mental maths out of taking payment and is arguably a lot easier for most business operations. With SumUp, you can connect a smartphone or iPad and add items to your POS catalogue on its app, but you won’t be able to access them on the Solo device. If you want this item selection functionality with SumUp, it’s a cheaper option to pair an iPad (or other smart device) with the SumUp Air as it would function in the same way.

SumUp Air vs Zettle Reader 2: Best for Usability

Verdict: Zettle Reader 2 is slightly better for usability
Another category seperated by a hair’s breadth, Zettle’s cheapest card machine edges out the SumUp Air in user testing. While both have a lightweight and small size ideal for table service, users preferred its bevelled buttons and simple software to SumUp’s clunkier menu with limited visual feedback.

During our research of SumUp and Zettle, we also managed to get hands-on with our own user testing of both the SumUp Air Reader and the Zettle Card Reader 2.

Here’s a run through the benefits and drawbacks we encountered when using both hardware options, to give you a taste of the user experience with either merchant providers’ card machines.

SumUp vs Zettle: Best for Features

Verdict: SumUp for faster payouts, offline functionality (till only) and richer reporting
SumUp has a clear victory for businesses requiring fast access to funds by offering next-day payouts, every day including weekends, with its free business accounts (valid for any operations including sole traders). Zettle offers between one and three business day payouts without weekend funding options. SumUp also has slightly more detailed reporting and can offer offline functionality with its tills, unlike Zettle.

There are a lot of software features and payment functionality to consider when comparing SumUp and Zettle. We’ll go through them one-by-one below.

Payment options

Both SumUp and Zettle support all major credit and debit card payments, including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. You’ll also be able to accept contactless payments like Apple Pay and Google Pay across all their hardware devices.

Both providers also offer Tap to Pay functionality on iPhone and Android devices. This means you can use your smartphone to take payments without the need for additional hardware.

Payout timeframe

When it comes to receiving your funds, Zettle typically pays out within 1 to 2 business days. While it doesn’t offer weekend payouts, you can customise your deposit schedule to suit your financial needs—for instance, setting payouts to occur on a specific day of the month.

SumUp, on the other hand, processes payouts within 1 to 3 business days. However, things change if you get a free SumUp Business Account instead. This allows you to receive next-day payouts even on weekends, unlike standard SumUp accounts. If you subscribe to the SumUp One plan, you’ll also guarantee next-day payouts. This could be a significant advantage if your business requires quicker access to funds.

Reporting

Both SumUp and Zettle provide a free dashboard and mobile application for accessing various reports, including item, discount, and employee-specific reports.

However, SumUp offers a slight edge here as it allows you to filter reports by card type as well. This added granularity can help you gain deeper insights into your sales patterns and customer preferences.

POS integration

Both providers offer a full, native point-of-sale (POS) platform to help you manage your inventory efficiently.

Both providers integrate with a range of third-party POS systems too, including Lightspeed, Goodtill, AirPOS, Hike, and more. This flexibility is beneficial if you’re already using a specific POS system or plan to scale your operations. To find out if the specific POS software your business uses is covered, you’ll need to contact each provider directly.

Offline functionality

A significant difference between the two merchant accounts lies in their offline capabilities. SumUp offers an offline mode that automatically activates if you lose internet connectivity when using its till hardware. After connecting to Wi-Fi when you first open your till, you can continue to process transactions without an internet connection.

Unfortunately, this feature isn’t possible without its POS till, so when using just the SumUp Air or Solo card readers you’ll still need an internet connection.

Still, Zettle does not offer an offline mode at all so if you find your businesses regularly lose WiFi connection and 3G/4G service is also patchy in your region, SumUp’s till might be a better option.

Provider app

Both SumUp and Zettle have aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly mobile applications, which are essential for managing your POS inventory, accessing analytics, and utilising other tools on the go. The apps are designed to be intuitive, making it easier for merchants to handle day-to-day operations directly from smartphones or tablets.

Security

Security is paramount when handling financial transactions. Both SumUp and Zettle are PCI compliant and hold an ISO 27001 certification, ensuring they meet international standards for information security management systems.

Zettle offers live transaction monitoring as part of its fraud prevention measures, providing real-time oversight of your transactions. SumUp emphasises data security by ensuring that no sensitive data is ever stored on mobile devices like your smartphone, tablet, or card reader. This means that even if someone gains access to your hardware, they won’t be able to retrieve any critical financial information.

SumUp vs Zettle: Best for Customer Support

Verdict: Varied, near-identical support unless you pay for SumUp One
Zettle edges SumUp’s Pay-As-You-Go customer support due to slightly longer availability. Though, if you plump for a paid SumUp One subscription, your business will benefit from weekend support that Zettle doesn’t offer at all.

When considering customer support, there’s very little between SumUp and Zettle. Here’s a quick overview before we compare them with our research in detail.

Customer support options and quality

As the table above shows, both have the same four support lines: live chat, email and phone support, and a dedicated knowledge centre of articles to help yourself. There is no user forum to discuss issues with other business owners on either platform.

After testing whether we could find five identical queries via both SumUp and Zettle’s knowledge centres, we found pretty similar performance here, too. SumUp slightly edged things, as we found we could find answers to all queries within the first page of results.

Zettle performed even better with most queries, giving us the answer on the first search result, however on one occasion we couldn’t find any helpful content at all (namely, for the query “card reader offline”).

Customer support availability

You’ll also have roughly the same support availability with either option, too. SumUp has Monday to Friday coverage between 9am and 5pm while Zettle has the same support days but with half an hour extra at the start and end of each working day (in other words, 8:30am to 5:30pm).

Where SumUp could become a winner is if you opt for the SumUp One plan. This extends SumUp’s support availability by an extra three hours each weekday (Mon-Fri: 8am to 7pm).

Even better, it extends support across weekends too, between 7am and 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays. That’s a real clincher for businesses operating on weekends, as otherwise, you’ll be without any help options if your card reader stops working during operating hours, for instance. It’s worth reiterating that SumUp One will cost a fee of £19 per month, however.

Alternatives to SumUp and Zettle

There are several top-rated merchant accounts that we’ve researched to rival SumUp and Zettle. Here’s an overview of what those competitors could offer your business.

Revolut and Square are competitors with similar mobile hardware that are worth a mention. Revolut has very economical plans and overall cost-benefit might come out on top versus SumUp and Zettle given its low transaction fees of 0.8%.

Like SumUp and Zettle, Square also offers an EPOS system. It has more integrations than any of its competitors we looked at, and it also has the cheapest card reader (it costs £19 + VAT).

Our Methodology

To find out the best between SumUp and Zettle, we researched them and 17 other merchant accounts across five main areas of investigation and 23 subcategories.

Here’s what we looked at:

• Hardware: we looked at each card machine’s 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 completed.
• Help and support: we assessed card machine providers based on how many different support types 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.