Card machine for business: what a countertop unit costs, provider by provider

What providers print for this type

How to buy one without the surprise

1. Separate the rate from the rental. A countertop deal usually has two prices: the percentage per transaction and the monthly terminal rental. Comparing rates alone across a rental deal and an outright-purchase deal compares two different things.
2. Ask for the total at your own turnover. Ask every provider for the total monthly cost at your actual card turnover, including rental, authorisation fees, PCI charges and any minimum. Written down. The spread between providers on that number is far larger than the spread between their headline rates.
3. Find the term and the renewal. Terminal rental agreements commonly run three or four years and roll over. The renewal price is the one you will pay for longest, and it is almost never on the page.
4. Check what the counter actually needs. A countertop unit needs a fixed connection and a place to sit. If your counter moves, or your staff take payment at a table, a portable unit is the product and a countertop one will be worked around from the day it arrives.
5. Treat an unpublished rate as a reason to ask harder. Two of the providers here print no rate at all. That is not automatically a bad deal, but it does mean the only number you will ever see is the one prepared for you, and it should be compared against the printed ones in this table.

Of the seven UK providers in this index, five print an in-person rate on their own page and two do not. The printed figures run 1.40% to 1.75%. The two that print none are the two most likely to be selling a countertop rental: Barclaycard's page has a heading called 'Transaction rate' that explains what a rate is and then says 'Customised pricing', and Worldpay's pricing page is a calculator whose figures fill in client-side. Neither is hiding anything unlawful; both mean you cannot compare them until you have been quoted.

A rented countertop terminal bundles the hardware, its replacement, the PCI programme and support into a monthly line. That line is where a deal is won or lost, and it is why two businesses on the same headline rate can pay very different amounts. It is also why the rental market has an aggressive broker layer: the introducer is paid out of the same monthly line, so a low rate quoted alongside a long rental is a normal shape rather than a contradiction.

Three questions change a countertop quote more than any comparison table can: what your monthly card turnover is, what proportion is UK consumer debit, and how long a term you will sign. Interchange on UK consumer debit is capped very low, so a debit-heavy business is genuinely cheaper to serve and can say so. Bring your last three statements to the conversation, not a screenshot of a rate.

Common questions

How much does a card machine cost per month in the UK?

There is no single answer and this index deliberately does not invent one. Pay-as-you-go providers print £0 a month and charge per transaction; Shopify prints £25 a month for its POS Lite plan and SumUp £19 for its lower-rate plan. Rented countertop terminals are quoted rather than published, which is why two providers here carry a recorded absence instead of a figure.

What is a PDQ machine?

PDQ is the old British trade name for a card machine, from 'Process Data Quickly'. It usually means the fixed countertop unit rather than a handheld reader. Nobody in this index uses the term on their own pricing pages any more, but plenty of buyers still search for it.

Should I rent or buy a card machine?

Buying suits a business that wants no term and a predictable cost, and is how every pay-as-you-go provider here sells. Renting suits a business that wants the hardware replaced and supported and is comfortable with a multi-year agreement. The trap is comparing a rate from one model with a rate from the other and treating them as the same number.

Can I switch card machine provider mid-contract?

Usually only by paying out the remaining rental term, which is why the term matters more than the rate. Check the notice period and the rollover clause before signing; both are in the agreement rather than on the pricing page.

Other machine types

• Compare Mobile card reader on printed rates
• Compare Countertop card machine on printed rates
• Compare Portable card machine on printed rates
• Compare EPOS till system on printed rates