Zettle – now PayPal Point of Sale – and SumUp have many similarities, but over the last few years, they’ve been branching out their products in different directions.
In the UK, they’re well-known for their mobile card readers. These pocket-sized terminals cost less than £40 each and work with a smartphone or tablet app, making them super-accessible for any small business.
But businesses are now looking for much more than just a card reader. Standalone terminals can be more attractive, as is fast access to funds in a business account. So how do SumUp and PayPal Point of Sale (POS) compare on these and other important factors?
Card machines: different looks, similar types
You’ve probably seen PayPal Reader (new version of Zettle Reader) in cafés, small shops or at the hairdressers – if not that, then the old SumUp Air, now replaced by the smaller SumUp Solo Lite.
Both pair with an iPad, iPhone or Android tablet or smartphone via Bluetooth and the associated payment app. Transactions happen online, using the mobile device’s 4G or WiFi. What’s more, the app works like a till with a product library and other features to form a complete point of sale (POS) system.
Emmanuel Charpentier (EC), Mobile Transaction
SumUp Solo Lite is very small and unique.
Emily Sorensen (ES), Mobile Transaction
PayPal Reader is compact even though it has push-buttons.
SumUp has a choice of independent terminals
In addition, SumUp offers a pocket-sized terminal called SumUp Solo. This works with WiFi or a 4G connection through a SIM card with unlimited, free data. Solo is completely independent, so a linked mobile device is not required.
The Solo and Printer package includes the same SumUp Solo reader as mentioned, plus a printing-and-charging cradle that’s portable.
EC, Mobile Transaction
SumUp Solo comes with a charging cradle.
EC, Mobile Transaction
SumUp Solo and Printer with an open receipt roll compartment.
If that’s not advanced enough, the latest SumUp Terminal contains a point of sale (POS) app on its large touchscreen and is of a similar quality as market-leading, high-end card machines like PAX A920.
“I was thrilled when SumUp Terminal was launched, because I know Solo is too simple for many mobile merchants. On Terminal, you can manage all your sales (cash included), business account, products, invoices and more, and the glass screen is luxurious to the touch.”
– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, Mobile Transaction
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
We used SumUp Terminal outside to accept tips during transactions.
PayPal Terminal – looks like a smartphone, works independently
PayPal has its own standalone card machine: PayPal Terminal. It looks a lot like a smartphone with its touchscreen and same shape and size as a small iPhone, but it can be purchased with a receipt printer-and-charging dock and/or a version with a barcode scanner built in.
It has PayPal POS’s app installed and accepts chip and PIN or contactless payments with WiFi or a mobile connection (SIM card included).
Photo: EC, Mobile Transaction
Our Zettle Terminal and dock. The latest PayPal Terminal has blue instead of purple details.
Tap to Pay for when there’s no card reader
An interesting feature from both companies is Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android. It allows merchants with an NFC-enabled smartphone to accept contactless card or mobile wallet transactions directly on their phone – without any of the above card readers.
Still, I and many others prefer to accept card payments through a dedicated card reader, because it allows chip and PIN payments, and it’s not such a big deal to have a card reader stolen compared with a smartphone. The Tap to Pay option is mostly used as a backup solution.
Pay-as-you-go pricing, small differences
PayPal’s and SumUp’s transaction fees are very similar.
PayPal Point of Sale charges a fixed rate of 1.75% and SumUp 1.69% of all card transaction totals regardless of the card brand or whether it’s a premium, non-UK debit or credit card.
The first PayPal Reader costs £29, with a steep rise to £69 + VAT for subsequent ones. SumUp Solo Lite costs £22.50 with our discount, exclusive of VAT.
SumUp Solo is more expensive due to its ability to work on its own, costing £71 + VAT. If you get it with the printer, you pay £98 + VAT. The more advanced SumUp Terminal costs most at £121.50 + VAT.
PayPal Terminal, including the SIM card with unlimited data, costs £149 + VAT without barcode scanning or £199 + VAT if bundled with the Printer and Dock. PayPal Terminal with an inbuilt barcode scanner costs £199 + VAT on its own or £249 + VAT if bundled with the printing dock.
| SumUp | PayPal | |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal price* | SumUp Solo Lite: £22.50 SumUp Solo: £71 SumUp Solo & Printer: £98 SumUp Terminal: £121.50 |
PayPal Reader: £29 PayPal Terminal: £149 £199 w/scanner Terminal + Printer & Dock: £199 £249 w/scanner |
| Delivery | Free | Free |
| Transaction fee (chip, tap) | 1.69% (any card) | 1.75% (any card) |
| Monthly fee | None | None |
| Payouts | Free | Free |
| Sales minimum | None | None |
| Refunds | Free within 1-3 days, 1.69% fee after | Transaction fee is retained |
| Chargebacks | £10 each | Free cover <£250 chargebacks /mo |
* Excl. VAT
Transaction fees
Low-volume merchants with card transactions of £2,000 per month will see no significant difference in fees – SumUp would charge £33.80 and PayPal £35.
PayPal POS’s and SumUp’s rates are really competitive for premium cards like UnionPay and Amex, which normally cost much more in processing fees through other providers.
Neither SumUp nor PayPal POS have monthly fees or other charges on top of the transaction fee. You could argue that SumUp’s marginally lower card fee is paid for by the chargeback fee.
Payouts in bank account or online account
The platforms deposit payments directly into your bank account, minus the transaction fee.
PayPal’s 1-2 working days’ settlement is slightly faster than SumUp’s 1-3 working days’ bank account transfers. It depends in part on your bank how fast the deposits take.
Of course, PayPal allows you to accept transactions into its online business account “fast” but not instantly – maybe within a few hours. Some online merchants prefer this, particularly if they have the PayPal Debit Mastercard so they can withdraw or spend the funds immediately.
Settlement time for SumUp depends on whether the transaction was by debit or credit card. Debit card payments are credited within a day, while credit card payments may take up to three days to show in the bank account.
Alternatively, you can access payouts the next day in a SumUp Business Account regardless of what day it is. If you accept transactions on a Saturday, for example, you can spend this money with the SumUp Mastercard (prepaid debit card) the day after, on a Sunday. There are no monthly fees for the card or transactions, or charges for transferring money from SumUp to your bank account.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
Our SumUp debit card arrived promptly in the post.
To benefit from this, you need to sign up for the free SumUp Business Account, which is an e-money (online) account, not a bank account. It allows you to transfer money to UK bank accounts, take out cash at ATMs and manage your business expenses from the SumUp Business app.
Both accept impressive range of cards
PayPal and SumUp accept the same impressive range of cards including Visa, V Pay, Mastercard and Maestro, as well as the most common mobile wallets.
They allow you to take American Express, UnionPay, Diners Club, JCB and Discover at no extra cost; a bargain compared with the cost a small business would pay at a traditional merchant service provider.
| PayPal POS |
SumUp | |
|---|---|---|
| Accepted cards |          |
|
| Contactless |    |
|
POS system apps
PayPal Reader and SumUp Solo Lite (optionally for Solo) have to connect with their respective POS apps on a Bluetooth-paired mobile device. This software works particularly well from a tablet as a touchscreen register, but doesn’t work on a computer.
With both providers, the apps are user-friendly, modern and updated regularly. But there’s a telltale sign of a difference here: SumUp updates the app 2-3 times as frequently, meaning they invest a lot in the software performance, which I cannot emphasise enough is a good thing for it to run smoothly.
Since Zettle became PayPal POS, I’ve seen features removed from their app, such as payment links, email invoices and recurring payments for buskers. The experience of it has also gone downhill, with users complaining of convoluted user flows and annoying prompts to add Tap to Pay when they don’t want it.
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Product library | ||
| Staff logins | ||
| Receipts | Print, text or email | Print, text or email |
| Reporting | Core reports and analytics Excel and CSV reports Xero, QuickBooks, Tenzo, ANNA integrations |
Core and specialised reports and analytics Excel and CSV reports Xero, QuickBooks, Sage integrations |
| POS upgrades | None (integrations possible) | SumUp POS subscriptions |
Still, both app are perfectly fine for selling and tracking simple products or services. But SumUp has taken the lead with more POS features than PayPal (or the old Zettle) ever had. For example, it has options to park orders, record transactions for eat-in or takeaway and print bills before a customer even pays.
SumUp also offers the option to add more features with a tiered POS subscription. You can’t upgrade PayPal’s own POS app, in contrast, but you can integrate its card readers with compatible EPOS.
Both systems can be expanded with accessories like a cash drawer, receipt printers and barcode scanners, suitable as a complete till system for a small brick-and-mortar shop.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
As a compact POS system, PayPal works well in dark bars and retail shops alike.
Receipt printing: not a constraint
You’ll need a receipt printer to produce paper receipts, if sending digital receipts doesn’t quite cut it.
The easiest and best-looking solution for that is to purchase SumUp Terminal, SumUp’s Solo and printer bundle or PayPal Terminal with the printing dock.
SumUp Solo and Printer is the cheapest card terminal with a receipt printer in the UK. This is basically a SumUp Solo card reader attached to a printing and charging cradle. Together, they form a very affordable, standalone card terminal that print receipts.
SumUp Terminal has a receipt printer built in, like most high-end terminals. It prints fast, but the itemised receipts could be more detailed.
Photo: EC, Mobile Transaction
Go for the Solo and Printer set (left) instead of the Solo-only package (right) for paper receipts.
Although the PayPal Terminal and printer dock package is more expensive, it also connect with Bluetooth receipt printers of other brands too for more flexibility. The same applies to SumUp Solo which is often synced with a register using a separate receipt printer of another brand.
Both platforms can link the card readers with mobile or stationary receipt printers from Star Micronics and others, though sometimes only through a POS integration.
Distinct options for remote payments
SumUp gives you several remote payment options: Virtual Terminal for over-the-phone payments, Payment Links, email invoices and a basic online store. All but the virtual terminal cost 2.5% per transaction and can be managed through SumUp Business app. QR codes can also be printed or displayed for contactless payments.
You have to apply for SumUp’s virtual terminal, as it has stricter eligibility requirements. It accepts Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, American Express, Diners Club and Discover from a browser or app for 2.95% + 25p per transaction.
PayPal also offers invoicing, QR codes and payment links, but not through the Point of Sale app, only the PayPal app or online dashboard, even though they were previously in the old Zettle app. Merchants can subscribe to a full virtual terminal in their web browser for over-the-phone payments, but PayPal charges a lot for transactions and the monthly fee.
With both SumUp and PayPal invoicing, payees can receive reminders if they haven’t paid the bill yet. Payment links do not contain customer-specific information, but are instead one-time links sent by text, email or a social media platform.
Although PayPal does not have an ecommerce store option, it integrates with popular website platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce. SumUp is reliant on its own, simple online store, mostly geared towards merchants who just need a basic website to share on social media.
SumUp has improved their small-business reporting
Both PayPal and SumUp give an overview of transactions in the online dashboard. There are enough reporting features to cover accounting requirements, including the ability to create reports and export sales to Excel.
PayPal POS has business analytics with stock levels, most profitable days and times for certain products, discounts given, gift card tracking and more.
However, SumUp’s reports have exceeded PayPal’s over the past few years. SumUp can analyse card versus cash transactions, sales by employee and graphs of sales within a chosen period of time. You can separate analytics for the booking system, online store, discounts, products and expenses (if using the Business Account and Card). More complex reports are even available if you upgrade the SumUp POS system.
The biggest improvement for sole traders with the SumUp Business Account is the Making Tax Digital compliance. Powered by Sage, the account is HMRC-approved to submit quarterly tax returns and record all business earnings and expenses. PayPal doesn’t have those tools.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
SumUp Terminal is the company’s most advanced smart POS terminal.
Accounting intergrations
Still, more and more small businesses benefit from affordable, cloud-based accounting software because it saves time. Xero’s features are hard to beat: inventory, payroll, workplace pensions, VAT computation, purchase orders, and so on.
Both platforms integrate with Xero and QuickBooks, which, arguably, pleases most people. PayPal also integrates with more niche Tenzo and ANNA, whereas SumUp connects with Sage.
I should point out SumUp only integrates with accounting software, if on a POS subscription. And a caveat to the PayPal-Xero integration: while the financial side syncs perfectly, the product levels do not. This means that if you sell an item with PayPal, the inventory in Xero will not be updated accordingly.
Neither SumUp nor PayPal has payroll functionality, but QuickBooks and Xero have payroll features. With the SumUp Business Account, you can also schedule bulk payments (like wages) if you’re on the upgraded account plan.
Our opinion: PayPal for familiarity, SumUp for best value
Both systems are attractive for budget-conscious entrepreneurs in each their ways. Their card machines are cheap, there are no fixed monthly costs, no minimum revenue requirements and the rates are competitive for small businesses.
SumUp and PayPal Point of Sale are both suitable for occasional and regular use, but SumUp has more of its own features. That includes advanced POS plans for retail and food and drink, business banking, expense and card management, a complimentary booking system and various online payments.
SumUp’s slightly lower transaction fee might save you a bit of money in the long run, but some merchants prefer PayPal for its familiar brand that appeals to customers. Or if you have an online store or invoice via PayPal already, you might want to keep funds in one place with PayPal POS.
“Commonalities and feature differences aside, I trust SumUp more as a long-term solution, as PayPal has lagged behind with new features since they rebranded the old Zettle. It’s a shame, because I used to like Zettle’s card terminals more.”
– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, Mobile Transaction
For user-friendliness, wide-ranging features and the cheapest – but tried and tested – hardware, SumUp is the better choice. But if you want to integrate with external software or just want a very basic POS checkout with a push-button card reader, it might be best to opt for PayPal.
