What Are Best Card Machines For Small Businesses?

When you need a mobile card payment machine (aka a card reader) you have two choices:

Buy a mobile card reader from a payment facilitator (PayFac) such as Square or SumUp.
Sign a contract with merchant services provider and pay a monthly fee for each card payment machine they supply.

The best choice is normally determined by your business type, average card turnover and typical transaction size.

As a rough guide, mobile card readers from PayFacs only make commercial sense for SMEs with a relatively low card turnover and/or a low average transaction value.

Before we get into which option may be right for your business, let’s cut to the chase and just list which are the best card readers if you are willing to join the thousands of UK businesses happy to accept the relatively high transaction fees in exchange for no monthly contracts, quick approvals and ease of use.

Best No Contract (Pay As You Go) Mobile Card Readers

Square: Best overall mobile card reader for small businesses
Zettle 2: Best device design and software speed
SumUp 3G: Best 3G card reader working with no wifi required

The table below lists the most popular pay as you go card readers for SMEs and you can see the cost of the devices are low and pretty similar thanks to perpetual special offers and competitor price matching.

So, it’s best to pay little attention on the cost of the device and focus on their transaction fees, functionality, speed and customer support when comparing them.

Device Cost (excl VAT)	Transaction Fee	Card Not Present
£19 Zettle Card Reader 2	1.75%	2.50%	To Site >
£19 Square Card Reader	1.75%	2.50%	To Site >
£19 SumUp Air	1.69%	2.50%	To Site >
£29 Barclaycard Anywhere	1.60%	1.60%	To Site >
£19 MyPos Go	1.10% + 7p	1.30% + 10p	To Site >

Device	Device Cost (excl VAT)	Transaction Fee
Zettle Card Reader 2	£19	1.75%
Square Card Reader	£19	1.75%
SumUp Air	£19	1.69%
Barclaycard Anywhere	£29	1.60%
MyPos Go	£19	1.10% + 7p

Prices correct as of April 2021

Processing More than £2,000 per month in card payments?
Click here to find the best payment processor for your business that will have significantly cheaper transaction fees than the card readers above.

If you are processing more than £2,000 a month on average in card payments you're likely to be better off with a signing up with a merchant acquirer or Independent Sales Organisation (ISO) and getting a more traditional card payment machine. The savings you’ll make on card transactions fees will more than offset the hassle of getting this set up.

Now you’ve seen a summary of the best card read readers let’s look at them in a bit more detail starting with the minimalist square that continues to be a firm favourite with small businesses.

Square Card Reader

The Square Reader connects wirelessly to Android and iOS devices, allowing you to accept A decent range of cards are accepted, including Visa, V Pay, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express as well as Google Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

The Square dashboard provides you with sales reports, based on real-time data, so you can see all your transactions and deposits easily in one place. Payments are received in your bank account within 3-5 business days or only 20 minutes if you pay to upgrade to instant deposits.

Read our comprehensive Square Card Reader review here.

Verdict: Square provides one of the most feature-rich mobile card readers and payment systems available without having to pay a monthly fee. It also integrates seamlessly with the Square ecosystem of ePOS software and hardware.

Zettle Reader 2

The Zettle 2 is the Square Reader’s biggest competitor with with each reacting to each other’s price reductions and tech improvements. Since Paypal bought out iZettle in 2018 (breaking competition rules as a result) they have retired their Paypal Here card reader and focused on the recently rebranded Zettle range of card readers (previously iZettle).

Zettle’s mobile card reader supports contactless and Chip & PIN payments at same fixed rate of 1.75% even for foreign and premium cards. Visa, V Pay, Mastercard, Maestro, American Express, JCB, Diners Club, UnionPay, Discover, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay are all accepted.

A key selling point with Zettle’s reader is speed. It quickly boots up within 2 seconds, processes payments in as little as 5 seconds and you get roughly 8 hours of active use from a single charge. This makes Zettle 25% faster than most mobile card readers currently on the market when it comes to accepting payments and your money will be deposited in your bank within 1-2 business days – also faster than most of the competition.

Read our comprehensive Zettle review here.

Verdict: Zettle’s card reader offers some of the fastest payment processing in the industry right now, along with extensive support for credit cards and mobile payment platforms. The company also offers a wider range of online payment solutions, making Zettle a good option for SMEs that sell to customers face-to-face and over the internet.

SumUp Air

SumUp have responded to the price drop of their main competitors and currently matching their device cost. Their transaction fees are also slightly less than charged by Square & Zettle.

This tiny card reader needs to connect to the Sumup App on a smartphone or tablet via bluetooth to work and supports payments by contactless (NFC) and Chip & PIN, as well as Apple Pay and Android Pay. All major credit cards are accepted and payouts to your bank account should be completed within 2-3 days.

They also offer the Sumup 3G for £89+VAT or £119+VAT if bundled with the printer which can work where there is a WiFi, 3G or GPRS connection, since it has a built in SIM. This is a fully standalone reader and does not need to be paired with a smartphone or tablet.

They also offer payment links that can be emailed or included within their invoice template but payments via this method have an increased transaction fee of 2.5% (they are higher risk as the card holder is not present).

Read our comprehensive Sumup review here.

Verdict: A solid choice but the Sum Air and associated app is not quite at the level with the 2 card readers above.

MyPOS Go

MyPOS Go is another no contract card reader that is targeted at those who don’t need all the bells and whistles of some payment solutions and are looking for simplicity at a low price.

The card reader is not going to win any design awards but it’s sturdy and those considering buying it are likely to do so because of its competitive transaction fees.

It includes an unlimited data plan, valid across Europe and charges a commission of about 1.75% 0.99% on Mastercard and Visa transactions. It offers a free e-money merchant account with dedicated IBANs in 14 currencies, instant access to accepted funds and free access to the iOS and Android myPOS mobile app.

In terms of functionality, it can accept contactless payments via most debit / credit cards or mobile wallets but this Go version can not print receipts and does not have a touchscreen. Therefore a customer’s email address or mobile number will need to be typed in on the key pad if they want it sent by text or email.

If you are looking for more advanced functionality they also have myPOS Mini (£119+VAT) and the myPOS Smart N5 (£299+VAT).

Verdict: Overall, this would suit a small business or sole trader who is looking for a cheap no contact card reader that has lower than average transaction fees. However, the £3 per transfer to UK bank accounts may put off some.

Credit Card Machines With Low Transaction Fees & Monthly Contracts

If you are transacting more than about £2,000 per month on card, it is often cheaper to sign up to a merchant acquirer or Independent Sales Organisation (ISO) and then select the card machines they have available. When your card turnover exceeds a certain level the payment processor you work with will make far more of a difference to your bottom line and stress levels than the card machine you use.

If you are processing above this £2K per month level, or expect to, then we can help find you the best payment processor for your specific business.

Fill in our short form below and we’ll recommend who we think would be best for your business and get better rates than you’d get if you went direct.

When you sign up with an merchant acquirer or ISO and want to take face to face payments you’ll need to select a PDQ (process data quickly) machine that will fall into one of the following categories (we are discounting POS systems as they fall into a different subset):

Countertop Card Machines

Countertop card machines are ideal for retail merchants selling products in-store and accepting payment in fixed locations – normally a till or checkout of some kind. They’re generally the cheapest range of card machines on the market and they’re also the fastest, thanks to connecting directly to your phone or broadband line – so payments are processed in seconds. They’re also hooked up to your main power supply, which means countertop card machines are always on when you need them, without having to worry about charging your devices.

The only real downside to countertop card machines is they’re not very portable due to their wired connections. Whether this is a problem for you or not depends on how your business operates.

Popular countertop machine: Ingenico iCT250

This versatile card reader supports contactless, NFC and Apple Pay. You can process payments, print receipts and run reports all from the terminal and automatic updates means it’s always up to the latest industry standards.

Portable Card Machines

As the same suggests, portable card machines give you a little more room to work with when it comes to accepting payments. These are your best option if you want to accept payments from customers at their table so they can continue enjoying the end of their evening with minimal interruption. Portable PDQ machines aren’t all that more expensive than countertops either, which means they’re still an affordable option for relatively small and midsize establishments.

However, there’s a limit to how much portability you get from their Bluetooth connections and you need to stay within range to accept payments. You also need to keep an eye on batteries to make sure you don’t fall short of power at the crucial moment.

Popular portable card machine: Ingenico iWL252

The Ingenico iWL252 is a wireless card machine that combines portability with durability for merchants that need to accept payments in demanding conditions.

Aside from accepting all major credit cards and supporting contactless payments, it’s a light but rugged unit with anti-shock and water resistance built in. It also comes with “store and forward” functionality, which allows you to continue taking a payment even after there’s an interruption with your connection – an important feature for portable PDQs.

Fully Mobile Card Machines

Fully mobile PDQs give you the freedom to accept payments anywhere without worrying about cables or connections getting in your way. For sales reps travelling the country, delivery services or sole traders who need to visit customers in their homes, these are the machines you want. As long as there’s a 3G mobile signal, you can collect payment from customers in any location and these are widely used at events where traditional connection methods can be a little tricky.

Flexibility is the obvious benefit but you’ll have to pay significantly more to buy or rent fully mobile PDQs compared to countertops and portable machines. You also have to accept a slight drop in performance, too, as accepting payments over a mobile connection will obviosuly take a little longer than those using cables or wireless broadband.

Popular choice: Ingenico iWL251

The Ingenico iWL251 supports NFC/contactless payments across a highly secure GPRS connection and its printer is one of the fastest on the market right now.

The battery is designed to last all day and even the most active mobile merchants will find it should go the distance.