Mobile Transaction’s editors have tested and used SumUp’s products and services for nearly a decade to give our honest insights about them. This review reflects our experiences and opinions, and photographs are our own.
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You just sign up (takes 5-10 minutes), purchase a SumUp card reader and pay a fixed rate per transaction. There are no hidden fees or fixed monthly costs for most of the products, but an optional Payments Plus subscription is available to lower the rates.
Apart from using a card reader, you can accept payments remotely via payment links, an online store, email invoices and keyed transactions. QR codes can be generated for touch-free payments and restaurant ordering in person.
Transactions are processed through the cloud, allowing real-time access to sales figures from SumUp App or the web-based Dashboard.
The complimentary business account with a Mastercard allows you next-day access to funds, unless you prefer settlement in your bank account.
SumUp rivals Zettle and Square with its low costs, superb value and ease of getting started.
Our experience and opinion
Based on our research and testing over the years, we know that SumUp is generally great for low-volume merchants who just need to start accepting cards, for example in a shop, café, bar, market stall or on the go. We especially recommend it for cash-strapped merchants who need fast access to funds in a dedicated business account.
The pay-as-you-go transaction fee is competitive below a monthly turnover of £5k-£10k. The service has a low barrier of entry with the cheap, one-off cost of the card machine, no monthly fees and no contract lock-in. When your business makes more money, you can always ask SumUp for custom rates.
“SumUp is one of our go-to recommendations for the easiest, cheapest way to get your business started with payments – for a reason. It just works really well and has a convenient business account for next-day transfers.”
– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, Mobile Transaction
We found SumUp’s online payment options super-valuable for trading remotely. The click and collect features and online store are, however, quite basic, so eventually you might want to look elsewhere to expand these systems.
Additionally, the SumUp app and payment terminals have just the essentials you need without compromising on efficiency and build quality. If you do need more POS features, an upgrade to a paid POS system is possible.
Potential downsides include a slow or poor service, and the terminals have caused issues for some users. We had some teething issues with Solo, for example, but the latest terminal version has addressed some of that.
The latest SumUp Terminal takes the product offering up a notch. As the most ambitious card machine so far, Terminal will appeal to even more hospitality and mobile merchants who need portable point of sale features.
Bottom line: With its uncomplicated costs, easy sign-up and free extras, SumUp is a solid place to start for a wide variety of businesses.
Our SumUp ratings
| Criteria | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Product Payments: Good / Excellent Hardware: Good Software: Good |
Good |
| Cost and fees | Good / Excellent |
| Value-added services | Good |
| Contract | Good / Excellent |
| Sign-up and transparency | Good / Excellent |
| Customer service | Passable / Good |
| FINAL RATING | [4.3/5] |
They are all wireless and portable, ideal on the go or at a till point when stationed in their corresponding charging dock. It’s possible to link several SumUp terminals to your main account, but you cannot link any other brand of card machine to it.
| SumUp Air |
SumUp Solo |
SumUp Terminal |
|
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
|
| Price | £22.50 + VAT | £71–£125 + VAT | £169 + VAT |
| Works without phone/tablet | |||
| Connections | Uses phone network/WiFi | WiFi, GPRS, 4G (SIM included) | WiFi, 4G (SIM included) |
| Size | 8.4 x 8.4 x 2.3 cm | 8.3 x 8.3 x 1.7 cm | 192.5 x 8.0 x 4.94 cm |
| Battery life | 500 transactions | 100 transactions | 14 hours |
| POS integrations | SumUp App, SumUp POS | SumUp POS | SumUp App built in |
| Receipt printing | Via compatible mobile printers | SumUp Solo Printer only | Printer built in |
SumUp Air – cheapest, connects with app
The cheapest model, SumUp Air, costs only £22.50 + VAT because it does not work independently. Rather, this wireless reader connects with your mobile device (Android phone or tablet, iPhone or iPad) via Bluetooth, working in tandem with SumUp App to accept chip and contactless cards.
The card reader comes with a micro USB cable, which you can plug into a computer or power supply when it needs a charge (a wall plug is bought separately).
Photo: Emily Sorensen (ES), Mobile Transaction
Box contents of our SumUp Air delivery.
You’ll get about 500 transactions out of a full charge. Busy stores may want to opt for a charging station, which not only keeps the Air charged all day when a cable is plugged in, it also looks good and keeps the reader in place on a countertop.
“I’ve never had issues with SumUp Air when I’ve used it in shops and my own tests, but I can imagine it slipping out of my hand one day because of its smooth, rounded exterior.”
– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, Mobile Transaction
The card reader is smooth and stylish with a glass surface and plastic base that’s nice to hold in the hand. It’s tamper-proof, meaning any external effort to manipulate its technology will shut it down so it can’t be used any more. That’s great for security, but you need to make sure it’s not near highly magnetic fields, which could inadvertently deem it permanently unusable.
If you need to print paper receipts, Air works with compatible receipt printers available at an extra cost. SumUp’s listed options are all mobile Bluetooth printers that connect with the app on your mobile device. A cash drawer can be linked to it, but only via a receipt printer.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
Chip card slot and power button of Air.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
Charging socket of Air.
SumUp Solo – small, basic and independent
Then we have a card machine that doesn’t require a mobile app: SumUp Solo with (£125 + VAT) or without (£71 + VAT) a receipt printer (a replacement of the discontinued SumUp 3G and Printer). The Solo and Printer duo is the cheapest UK card machine that prints receipts.
Solo has a crisp-clear touchscreen that is visible enough in direct sunlight. On the display, you just enter an amount, transaction description (optional) and proceed to accept a chip or tap payment.
It has a few useful features like smart tipping, refunds and adjustment of screen brightness. Solo is not, however, connected to a product library and cannot accept special payment methods like gift cards.
Photo: Emmanuel Charpentier (EC), Mobile Transaction
Package contents of SumUp Solo with a desk charging stand (not receipt printer).
Solo has a SIM card with unlimited data, so you don’t need a connected mobile device to process card payments. This could be a handier solution for those who don’t need elaborate POS features, but instead prefer one portable device for card payments or just an extra terminal to use away from the point of sale.
It has a shorter battery life compared with Air: up to 100 transactions.
“We found that Solo’s touchscreen was more power-hungry when the screen brightness was on maximum, but the terminal’s battery performance has improved since we tested it. It should now be able to last up to 8 hours without the receipt printer.”
– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, Mobile Transaction
Photo: EC, Mobile Transaction
The SumUp Solo terminal and printer combo is the cheapest UK card machine with receipt printer.
Essentially, Solo is intended as a standalone solution for those who don’t need more than card payments. It only works with its SumUp Printer attachment (doubling as a power bank), not other receipt printers.
The power bank is actually an excellent backup for mobile merchants – most other card terminals don’t usually have this.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
Our SumUp Terminal arrived well-packaged with everything needed to take payments.
SumUp Terminal – standalone solution with more POS features
Merchants who need more than basic card payments on a standalone terminal can opt for the new SumUp Terminal which has SumUp App installed. The software includes a product library, sales analytics, discounting and more.
No external receipt printer is needed, as this is built in. The receipts are small, but itemised with the most essential information including your business address.
I really like that the device has many accessibility settings like font size, colour adjustments and TalkBack. Although user-friendly by default, SumUp’s other card machines don’t come close to this.
It also has a large, 6.5″ HD touchscreen that’s smash-resistant if dropped from a height of up to 1.2 metres, so it suits very active environments like busy restaurant floors.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
I found that the weight of SumUp Terminal’s top end pulls it down if I only hold onto the flat end.
Ironically, though, the top part containing the receipt roll is rather heavy compared with the much flatter body, so I had to keep a firm grip near the top end – or hold it upright – to avoid dropping it. Holding only the flat, lower end meant that the weight of the top end kept dragging it towards the floor.
Other than that, this is the first card terminal from SumUp that emulates market-leading terminals like PAX A920, though it’s made of cheaper-looking plastic similar to Revolut Reader. SumUp Terminal’s matte plastic feels a bit slippery and prone to marks, in contrast with the touchscreen that feels premium.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
Our SumUp Terminal prints small, but sufficient, receipts.
Its front and rear cameras pave the way for barcode scanning, but this requires a POS subscription to use.
Alternative: Tap to Pay on a smartphone
Like most leading payment companies, SumUp has now added a functionality to SumUp App: acceptance of contactless cards or mobile wallets on the merchant’s iPhone or Android phone.
As long as the merchant has a compatible, NFC-enabled smartphone, they can ask their customers to ‘Tap to Pay’ for a transaction directly on the phone instead of a dedicated card reader. The feature has to be enabled first, after you’ve bought a card reader.
Accepted payments and payouts
The card readers accept chip (PIN or sign) and contactless NFC payments from any credit or debit card with the Visa, V Pay, Mastercard, Maestro, JCB, UnionPay, Discover, Diners Club or American Express logo. The mobile wallets Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay are accepted too.
UnionPay is an exception for the Solo terminal – this is still not accepted on it.
Consumers may also pay with the e-wallet SumUp Pay containing a virtual Mastercard that collects loyalty points only to be redeemed at stores using SumUp.
Accepted cards
The minimum possible payment amount is £1. Customers can tap a contactless card or phone for amounts up to £100 without entering a PIN, but the card terminal will require authentication for amounts above. There’s no transaction limit on Apple Pay and Google Pay payments.
What about remote payments? Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Diners Club and Discover are accepted online, but not UnionPay or JCB.
By default, SumUp initiates payments – minus the transaction fee – to your bank account or SumUp Business Account daily. It takes 2-3 working days to clear in the bank account, whereas the SumUp account receives funds the following day. You can also choose to be paid weekly or monthly on a schedule.
You can get next-day payouts to your bank account on the Payments Plus subscription.
SumUp App lets you register cash payments, but not cheques.
Fees: low, fixed rate and no monthly charge
No ongoing or monthly fees apply to SumUp by default – you only pay a flat rate of 1.69% per card reader transaction, which is lower than PayPal’s (formerly Zettle) and Square’s fixed rate.
The payment terminals are purchased upfront and owned by you, but can be returned for a full refund within 30 days if you change your mind.
Given the lack of contractual commitment, termination fees or monthly minimum sales volume, you’re not charged anything if you don’t make sales for any length of time. This is great for fluctuating sales, seasonal businesses or anyone making £5,000 or less per month in card payments.
| SumUp general charges | |
|---|---|
| SumUp card machines | SumUp Air: £22.50 + VAT SumUp Solo: £71 + VAT SumUp Solo & Printer: £125 + VAT SumUp Terminal: £169 + VAT Free shipping and 30-day money-back guarantee included |
| Account creation | Free |
| Contract | No lock-in, no exit fee |
| Monthly cost | Free |
| Card reader transactions | 1.69% (any card) |
| Refunds | Free before payout, transaction fee after |
| Chargeback fee | £10 |
| Minimum monthly sales volume | No minimum, no fees |
| Invoice, online, QR code & link payments | 2.5% per transaction |
| Virtual terminal & keyed payments | 2.95% + 25p per transaction |
If your business takes enough card payments, you can ask for a custom quote with lower rates. In fact, SumUp has become more competitive with Dojo, Worldpay and the likes, so you don’t need to switch provider if you start with a fixed SumUp rate and want a better deal later on.
Keyed and virtual terminal payments are 2.95% + 25p per transaction, while online transactions, payment links, QR codes and email invoices cost 2.5% without a monthly subscription.
Chargebacks always have a processing cost of £10, applicable when a customer disputes a card transaction with their bank.
Refunds are free if processed before the money is settled in your bank account. After that, you can only process refunds with enough outstanding payouts (money not yet settled in your account), and SumUp will charge you the transaction fee originally paid.
Optional subscriptions
With an optional subscription, Payments Plus, you get the following reduced rates:
| Payments Plus fees | |
|---|---|
| Monthly cost | £19 per month (no VAT applies) |
| Contract | None; cancellable any time |
| Card reader transactions (UK cards) | 0.99% per transaction |
| Invoice, online & link payments (UK cards) | 0.99% per transaction |
| International card payments | 1.99% per transaction |
The Payments Plus plan is cancellable any time, so you can try it for a month or two to see if it saves money with the lower domestic rate of 0.99% for in-person and online transactions. If a card issued abroad is used for a transaction, it costs 1.99%. With many tourists and international customers, the plan might therefore not be worth it.
And consider how many invoices you need to send per month – more than 4 invoices requires the paid Invoices Pro plan (£7-£8 + VAT per month), but this is included in Payments Plus.
We also know you can get lower transaction rates with a SumUp Point of Sale subscription. This requires speaking to the sales team for a quote.
Business Account and Mastercard
Don’t have a bank account? Or need faster access to funds in a dedicated online account? The free SumUp Business Account and Card offer an alternative way to get paid the next day (including weekends) instead of clearing in your bank account.
SumUp Card (or SumUp Business Mastercard) is a prepaid debit card linked to your business transactions. It can be used in physical shops, online or for withdrawing cash up to three times a month free and without monthly fees.
Image: Mobile Transaction
The account is managed in SumUp App or the browser dashboard, where you can:
The account and card features are quite basic so far. You can, for instance, not use it for cross-border transfers or more than one account holder.
Business funding for merchants now available
If fast transfers aren’t enough, eligible merchants can request a SumUp Cash Advance. This is a business loan you repay within 12 months through a percentage of your card transaction takings.
Not all payment companies offer this. Zettle used to, but it has been withdrawn. Square does not do it either in the UK even though it does in other countries.
SumUp App: POS features (and more)
When SumUp first launched in the UK, the purpose of its app was to link with the card reader to accept payments in person. It has since matured into something much more than that, covering most payment and business management features.
Here, we focus on its point of sale features for face-to-face merchants. The app also lets you manage the SumUp Business Account and access the virtual terminal, invoicing, online store functions and customer orders.
Product library
Unless you prefer to enter a transaction amount with optional description, you can add products with an image, category, tax rate, variants and prices. Items are shown in a checkout menu so you can easily tap to add them to the bill.
Image: Mobile Transaction
The product menu is user-friendly on iPad.
You can create different category labels, e.g. “Hot Drinks” and “Food”, shown as separate tabs on the screen to switch between. However, SumUp does not track stock levels or allow you to add more than one level of variants per product.
Image: Mobile Transaction
Add products with item details.
Payment options
Accept cards (via SumUp Air), cash and tips. Only recently, SumUp also added discounts (percentage or fixed amount), if you want to reduce the price of items.
You also see options to send a payment link or text message, or generate a QR code that the customer can scan to proceed on their phone – a great way to take payments face to face without a card reader. Keyed card entry is displayed for users with a virtual terminal activated.
The app does not accept vouchers, cheques or other special payment types. You cannot accept partial payments, splitting between cash and card.
Image: Mobile Transaction
Payment method screen.
Image: Mobile Transaction
Cash transaction.
Image: Mobile Transaction
Payment link options.
You can, however, accept SumUp Gift Cards. Customers can purchase these online from a fixed link you share via social media, text, email or messaging app. The customer then receives the virtual gift card over email.
Receipts
Taxes can be shown on the receipt, as enabled in your settings. After each transaction, you can send a receipt via email or text or print it. Alternatively, you can share it to an app on your – or a nearby – device via the cloud or Bluetooth.
Image: Mobile Transaction
Staff accounts can have refunds and transaction overviews restricted.
Refunds
Refund complete or partial transaction amounts via the original payment method. If the customer paid by card, the refund is processed to that. A refund can only succeed if there is enough balance to fund it, i.e. outstanding payouts currently underway to your bank account.
Staff accounts
Create multiple staff logins with basic restrictions, including whether they can view all transactions, process refunds or use the virtual terminal (if activated).
Reports and analytics
View a list of transactions and payouts, and filter these according to a time period.
In the browser dashboard, you can sort transactions according to users to monitor sales activities.
POS integrations
Merchants can upgrade to a more extensive, but still easy, POS system called SumUp Point of Sale (previously Goodtill).
This is a modular POS system allowing you to add the features relevant to your industry, such as restaurant, customer loyalty and online ordering features. The basic POS software costs £49 per month, with additional modules added to the price.
A few external POS systems are also compatible with SumUp card readers, such as Loyverse. Consequently, you shouldn’t be afraid to start with the really simple SumUp App if all you want is to receive payments now, but later anticipate growth.
Those looking for an order-and-pay solution can get a SumUp Kiosk. This is a big self-order, touchscreen station you can place in store, where customers can add food or products to their bill, then pay on the attached SumUp card reader. You get a custom quote for this starting at £49 + VAT per month.
Online payments: plenty of simple options
SumUp has come a long way in terms of remote payments since before the Covid pandemic – and these tools are included free in your account.
Payment links
For a start, Payment Links allows you to create a transaction in the SumUp App, then choose one of the following:
Food and drink businesses will benefit from SumUp’s multi-use QR codes for individual items to print and display at tables, the counter or in the window. This allows customers to scan the code with their phone and place an order without staff interaction.
Online store
Click-and-collect and delivery orders can be placed online through the very basic SumUp Online Store. It lets you create a simple web page (through the app, no less!) with products, collection and delivery options. Order notifications are sent so you can prepare shipments or collections promptly.
It’s not a perfect system, but it does the minimum needed to manage orders from your phone.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
We could edit the online store on SumUp Terminal. Other card machines don’t let you edit an online store.
The website is, however, extremely basic. There are not many editing options and practically no style choices, so it’s nothing like ecommerce platforms such as Squarespace and Shopify. Instead, you can edit basics like terms and conditions and collection hours, and you get a free page to share on social media to keep sales afloat while you’re not trading in person.
Image: Mobile Transaction
Selecting an order status.
Image: Mobile Transaction
SumUp Invoices menu in Dashboard.
Invoicing
Alternatively, you can send and manage email invoices from the app or the Dashboard for more features. This includes sending quotes, credit notes and itemised invoices with customer details, and you can generate delivery notes. The recipient can pay through a SumUp payment link or by bank transfer.
The Free Invoices plan lets you send 4 invoices per month, with payouts going to your SumUp Business Account. Unlimited invoices, bank account settlement, 14 languages and a reduced fee on online transactions (1.25%) are included on the Invoices Pro plan (£7 + VAT/month on annual plan, £8 + VAT/month paid monthly).
Virtual terminal
What if you need to process a card payment on behalf of a customer? Eligible users can activate a Virtual Terminal, accessible in both the app and web dashboard. It allows you to enter a transaction and card details, then finalise the payment while talking to the customer over the phone.
SumUp is one of the only payment companies that allow you to use a virtual terminal from a mobile app. Other providers typically only have a web version to use on a computer.
Accounting
For reporting options, it’s best to log into the SumUp Dashboard in a web browser. Apart from its basic sales overview within a selected time period, you can export your sales history from a particular day, week or month to a CSV file for accounting.
Payout reports are sent via email when settlements are completed and are downloadable as a PDF file.
SumUp integrates with Xero, Sage and QuickBooks if you’re on a POS Plus subscription for £19 monthly. Though not free, having these integrations available is a step up for SumUp, who didn’t offer any integrations a few years ago.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
SumUp is convenient for beauty salons such as this, where we visited in Berlin a few years ago.
Who is SumUp best for?
SumUp suits sole traders, entrepreneurs and small businesses requiring an extremely user-friendly card machine and versatile features for remote selling too.
Market stalls, artists and makers, independent shops, taxi drivers, tradesmen, beauty salons, barbers and hairdressers like the straightforwardness of the platform. In my local area, I often see cafés, restaurants and bars use SumUp, sometimes with a more advanced POS system.
SumUp is designed to suit businesses that don’t need more than a few card readers – anything more, and you probably want a more complex POS system that tracks stock levels, staff movements and more.
You can use many SumUp readers in the same account, but the lack of location management can make it hard to monitor who did what.
Outside traders working a lot in the sun can go for SumUp Terminal, Air or Solo which all have a bright, adjustable screen viewable in the sun. In contrast, we found the display on the old SumUp 3G hard to read in strong sunlight.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
Here’s how visible our SumUp Solo screen was in strong sunlight.
Those travelling abroad for business – to trade shows, for example – can use SumUp on their travels if prior arrangements have been made with the customer service team. This arrangement is available for almost all of Europe.
Customer service and user reviews
SumUp’s online support section will answer the majority of questions. To contact customer support, you can phone them on weekdays between 8am and 7pm and weekends between 7am and 5pm. To put that into context, the closest competitors, Zettle and Square, only offer weekday support, not Saturdays or Sundays.
Alternatively, you can always email SumUp, but getting a reply can take days, sometimes weeks. We’ve experienced response times of over a month for non-urgent queries, but you can deal with pressing issues on the phone or through a contact form in your account during working hours.
Users tend to rate SumUp highly compared to several other mobile card readers, but it is not a perfect service.
For example, people have complained about lack of support when they needed it. There have also been card reader issues, e.g. some users have said their old card reader has stopped working for no reason, forcing them to buy a new terminal after the warranty is up.
Photo: ES, Mobile Transaction
The SumUp Air in its charging dock looks great at a till point – here seen in a restaurant.
Sign-up and eligibility
SumUp accepts registered sole traders and businesses with a bank account owned by the organisation, business or self-employed person. Not-for-profit organisations and private individuals may be accepted too, provided they meet certain criteria. SumUp can advise further on this if you get in touch.
As with all payment companies, there are certain high-risk business types SumUp will not support, e.g. multi-level marketing, any kind of adult entertainment, door-to-door sales and unlicensed counselling.
It’s very easy to get started: you sign up on SumUp’s website, submitting basic information about yourself and your business. Like any other payment provider, SumUp performs a check against the business details provided.
As long as you are not classed as a “restricted business”, and your bank account name matches your business name, they should accept it all pretty swiftly.
After sign-up, you can order a card terminal on the website, arriving within three working days. In the meantime, you can download SumUp App on an iOS or Android device and use the available features there.
It is also possible to buy a SumUp card reader from stores like Ryman, Toolstation, Amazon and WHSmith, but then you are likely to pay shipping charges too.
The virtual terminal can also be activated for qualifying merchants. You need to contact customer support for this and answer some questions about your business and payment usage. After reviewing your account, SumUp may add the virtual terminal to your dashboard and app.
