Card Fee Calculator UK: What Will Card Payments Cost You In 2026?
Most card machine providers show you a percentage and leave the maths to you. That's fine until you try to compare a flat 1.69% with 1.10% plus 7p, a monthly plan and a rented terminal. The cheapest headline rate isn't always the cheapest bill.
This calculator does the sums for you. Pop in what you take on cards each month and your typical sale, and it works out a monthly and yearly cost for each provider using their published UK prices.
The interactive calculator is loading. If it doesn't appear, the worked examples further down show the same sums.
How to use the calculator
You'll need five numbers. Rough figures are fine, and your last three bank statements or your till reports will give you most of them.
- Monthly card turnover. The total value of card payments you take in a typical month.
- Average transaction. Turnover divided by the number of card payments. A coffee shop might sit around £6, a furniture shop nearer £300.
- Debit and credit split. Most UK small businesses take far more debit than credit. If you're not sure, start with 80% debit.
- Business card share. Corporate and business cards cost more to accept. Trades and B2B suppliers see plenty of these.
- Number of terminals. This matters for rental contracts, where each machine has its own monthly fee.
The calculator then shows each provider's monthly cost, yearly cost and effective rate, which is your total bill as a percentage of turnover. That last figure is the one to compare.
How card fees work
Every card payment you take gets split a few ways before the money reaches you:
- Interchange goes to the customer's bank. UK rules cap it at 0.2% for consumer debit cards and 0.3% for consumer credit cards.
- Scheme fees go to Visa or Mastercard. They're small but they add up.
- The provider's margin covers the acquirer, the app, support and their profit.
Flat rate providers bundle all three into one number, so you pay the same on a debit card as on a premium credit card. Contract providers often quote interchange plus a margin, or a set of rates by card type, and add a monthly rental. We go deeper on this in our guide to card machine fees and our explainer on interchange fees.
The formula we use
For each provider:
Monthly cost = turnover x percentage rate + number of transactions x fixed fee + monthly plan fee + terminal rental x terminals
Number of transactions is turnover divided by average sale. Effective rate is monthly cost divided by turnover. Hardware bought outright is shown separately, because it's a one off cost and not part of the monthly bill.
Published rates we use (checked October 2026)
These are standard published rates for UK consumer cards taken in person. Monthly fees are shown before VAT, where VAT applies. Card transaction fees themselves are generally VAT exempt.
| Provider | In person rate | Monthly fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| SumUp (pay as you go) | 1.69% | £0 | Reader bought outright |
| SumUp Payments Plus | 0.99% | £19 | Amex and premium cards 1.69% |
| Square | 1.75% | £0 | Non UK cards cost an extra 1.5% |
| PayPal Point of Sale (Zettle) | 1.75% | £0 | Reader bought outright |
| Tide (pay as you go) | 1.5% + 5p | £0 | Domestic consumer debit; Tide says fees rise on 1 December 2026 |
| Tide Sell In-Person Essential | 0.89% + 3p | £17.99 | Domestic consumer debit |
| Tide Sell In-Person Premium | 0.69% + 3p | £19.99 | 12 month contract |
| myPOS | 1.10% + 7p | £0 | Domestic consumer cards, under £10,000 a month |
| Viva.com | 1.69% | From £3.99 plan | Minimum fee per transaction applies |
| Tyl by NatWest | 1.39% + 5p | £13.99 to £19.99 machine hire | Personal cards, up to £50,000 a year |
| Lloyds Cardnet mPOS | 1.75% | £0 | £49 for the first reader |
| Stripe Terminal | 1.4% + 10p | £0 | Standard UK cards |
| Revolut Business | 0.8% + 2p | Plan from £10 | UK consumer cards |
Teya, Dojo, Barclaycard, Worldpay and most contract providers quote rates individually, so they're in the calculator as "quote" with a box for you to enter the rate you've been offered.
Worked examples
Here's what the sums look like for two typical businesses. We've assumed all payments are on UK consumer debit cards, which flatters the providers whose rates vary by card type.
A small café taking £3,000 a month
That's 150 sales at an average of £20.
| Provider | Monthly cost | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| Revolut Business | £27.00 + £10 plan = £37.00 | 1.23% |
| myPOS | £43.50 | 1.45% |
| SumUp Payments Plus | £48.70 | 1.62% |
| Tide Essential | £49.19 | 1.64% |
| SumUp pay as you go | £50.70 | 1.69% |
| Square | £52.50 | 1.75% |
| Tide pay as you go | £52.50 | 1.75% |
| Viva.com | £54.69 | 1.82% |
| Stripe Terminal | £57.00 | 1.90% |
| Tyl by NatWest with a PAX A80 | £63.19 | 2.11% |
At this size, monthly fees eat most of the saving from a lower rate. Tyl's lower percentage gets swallowed by the £13.99 machine hire.
A busy shop taking £10,000 a month
That's 400 sales at an average of £25.
| Provider | Monthly cost | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| Revolut Business | £98.00 | 0.98% |
| Tide Premium | £100.99 | 1.01% |
| SumUp Payments Plus | £118.00 | 1.18% |
| Tide Essential | £118.99 | 1.19% |
| myPOS | £138.00 | 1.38% |
| SumUp pay as you go | £169.00 | 1.69% |
| Tide pay as you go | £170.00 | 1.70% |
| Tyl by NatWest with a PAX A80 | £172.99 | 1.73% |
| Viva.com | £172.99 | 1.73% |
| Square | £175.00 | 1.75% |
| Stripe Terminal | £180.00 | 1.80% |
Now the subscription plans pull ahead. Paying £19 a month to save 0.7% is a good deal once you're past roughly £2,700 a month on SumUp.
Cheapest by turnover
Patterns from running the calculator across different sizes:
- Under £1,000 a month: stick with no monthly fee. A flat rate around 1.69% to 1.75% is normal. myPOS is cheaper on bigger tickets but the 7p fixed fee hurts on £3 coffees.
- £1,000 to £5,000 a month: it's close. Low fixed fees and no plan charges tend to win.
- £5,000 to £20,000 a month: subscription plans and banking bundles usually come out ahead. This is also where it's worth getting a quote from a contract provider.
- Over £20,000 a month: ask for interchange plus pricing. Our merchant account providers guide covers who offers it.
Fee types to watch
The headline rate is only part of the bill. Before you sign, check for:
- Authorisation fees, a few pence per transaction, often hidden in contract pricing.
- PCI compliance fees, charged monthly by some contract providers. See our PCI compliance fee guide.
- Minimum monthly service charges, where you pay a set amount even in a quiet month.
- Higher rates for business, Amex and overseas cards.
- Faster payout fees for same day settlement.
- Exit fees if you leave a contract early.
Pros of using a fee calculator
- Turns different pricing models into one comparable number
- Shows when a monthly plan starts paying for itself
- Makes it easier to challenge a quote
Cons
- It can't predict your exact card mix
- Promotional rates change, sometimes monthly
- Contract quotes vary by business, so you'll need your own figures
Who this calculator is for
It's built for UK small businesses taking card payments in person: cafés, shops, salons, trades and market traders. If most of your sales are online, use it as a rough guide but check gateway and payment link rates separately in our payment gateway guide.
Calculator details
The calculator uses the published rates in the table above, checked October 2026. We update the data when providers change their pricing pages. It doesn't store anything you enter.
FAQs
What's a good effective rate for card payments in the UK?
For a small business on standard pricing, somewhere between 1% and 1.75% is typical. Below 1% usually means you're on a subscription plan, a bank bundle or interchange plus pricing with decent volume.
Why does my bill come out higher than the headline rate?
Fixed fees per transaction, monthly charges and higher rates on business or overseas cards all push it up. Low average sales make fixed fees count for more.
Does the calculator include VAT?
Monthly plan and rental fees are shown before VAT, matching how most providers publish them. Card transaction fees are generally exempt from VAT.
How often are the rates updated?
We check providers' published pricing pages and update the data when something changes. The rates shown were checked October 2026.
Should I always pick the cheapest result?
Not always. Payout speed, contract length, support and features like tipping or stock control matter too. Use the cost as your starting point, then check our cheapest card machine guide for the trade offs.
Can I pass card fees on to customers?
Not for most consumer card payments in the UK, where surcharging has been banned since 2018. Our card surcharge rules guide explains the exceptions.