Cheapest Merchant Account Providers UK 2026: Compare Fees & Rates Quick Answer
There is no single cheapest merchant account for every UK business and your cheapest option depends on:
Monthly card turnover
Number of transactions
Average transaction value
Consumer vs commercial cards
UK vs international cards
Terminal and monthly fees
Current pricing worth comparing includes:
SumUp PAYG:SumUp Payments Plus: Square: Tyl by NatWest :Elavon :
Our view: don’t choose the provider displaying the smallest percentage.
Choose the provider offering the lowest total cost for your actual transactions.
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Key Takeaways
PAYG pricing can suit low or unpredictable card turnover.
Monthly plans can become more competitive as turnover increases.
SumUp Payments Plus currently reduces eligible in-person rates to 0.99% for £19/month.
Square charges 1.75% for standard UK in-person card payments.
Tyl publishes 1.39% + 5p for eligible personal cards for smaller businesses.
Elavon advertises eligible rates from 0.99% alongside monthly terminal costs.
Higher-volume businesses should investigate tailored pricing.
The cheapest headline transaction rate isn’t necessarily the cheapest merchant account.
Compare Today’s Merchant Account Deals
How do we work?
Our comparisons are researched and reviewed by the Compare Your Business Costs editorial team using provider information, official UK guidance and business buying criteria. See how Compare Your Business Costs works .
Authored by: Ally Cox (Business Technology & B2B Services Specialist, 10+ Years’ Experience)
Last Updated: October 2026
Contents
Cheapest Merchant Account Providers UK 2026 1. SumUp SumUp currently offers three useful pricing levels.
Pay As You Go
£0/month + 1.69% per standard in-person transaction.
Payments Plus
£19/month or £189/year + 0.99% on eligible domestic consumer cards and premium, international and American Express cards currently remain at 1.69%.
Tailored
Custom pricing is available for businesses processing £10,000+ per month.
What we think: SumUp is particularly interesting because businesses can now move from PAYG through subscription pricing and into bespoke rates as they grow.
SumUp itself suggests considering Payments Plus at around £3,000+ monthly card turnover.
Read our SumUp review
2. Square Square’s current standard pricing is 1.75% for UK in-person card payments with £0 monthly processing subscription.
Businesses processing more than £200,000 annually can enquire about custom pricing.
What we think: Square is a strong benchmark for any quote because the pricing is easy to understand.
If a merchant provider says its rate is cheaper calculate whether it’s still cheaper after terminal rental and other charges.
Read our Square review
3. Tyl by NatWest For eligible businesses processing up to £50,000 of annual card payments, Tyl currently charges 1.39% + 5p
for UK and European personal cards.
Other cards currently cost 1.99% + 5p.
Businesses above £50,000 receive custom pricing.
Terminal rental currently starts at £13.99 + VAT/month.
What we think: don’t compare Tyl’s 1.39% directly with Square’s 1.75%.
The extra 5p per transaction matters much more if you take lots of small payments.
Read our Tyl by NatWest review
4. Elavon Elavon’s current Business Booster proposition advertises £15 monthly terminal rental with transaction rates from 0.99%.
The exact rate depends on the card type and payment setup.
What we think: 0.99% looks extremely competitive, but it shouldn’t be treated as a universal rate so check how much of your turnover actually qualifies for the advertised rate.
Read our Elavon review
5. Worldpay Worldpay is worth including when comparing traditional merchant services, particularly for businesses with:
Regular card turnover
Multiple terminals
In-person and online payments
More complex processing requirements
Worldpay offers different pricing structures depending on the business and payment setup.
What we think: Worldpay becomes more interesting when you have enough transaction history to obtain and properly compare a tailored quote – don’t judge it solely on an introductory terminal offer.
Read our Worldpay review
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See how provider pricing compares for your turnover and payment requirements.
Which Merchant Account Could Be Cheapest for Your Business? Low or occasional card turnover
Start by comparing SumUp PAYG and Square.
Avoiding monthly fees can be valuable when sales are unpredictable.
£3,000+ regular monthly turnover
Start comparing subscription pricing + merchant-service quotes + PAYG.
SumUp itself positions Payments Plus towards businesses taking around £3,000 or more each month.
£10,000+ monthly turnover
This is where we’d become much more interested in custom pricing.
SumUp currently offers Tailored pricing from this level, while traditional merchant-service providers can also provide personalised quotes.
Established retail or hospitality
Compare Dojo + Tyl + Elavon + Worldpay + takepayments against a PAYG benchmark.
£200,000+ annual turnover
Square also offers custom pricing enquiries above this level.
Lots of low-value transactions
Pay particular attention to fixed per-transaction charges.
A 5p charge represents 1% of a £5 transaction before the percentage processing rate is even added.
How to Find the Cheapest Merchant Account Calculate your effective processing rate.
Use Total payment costs ÷ card turnover × 100
For example:
Monthly card turnover £20,000
Total transaction, terminal and account costs £270
Effective processing cost 1.35%
That’s much more useful than comparing an advertised 0.99% vs 1.39% vs 1.75%.
Use Our Merchant Account Fees Calculator
When Does a Monthly Plan Become Cheaper? A £0 monthly fee sounds attractive.
But £0/month doesn’t mean £0 cost.
For example, processing £30,000 × 1.75% would produce £525 of processing fees.
A hypothetical alternative charging £25/month + 1.1% would cost: £355.
That’s £170 less despite having a monthly charge.
Illustrative example only – not a provider quote.
This is why we’d never rank payment providers based purely on monthly fees.
Merchant Account Fees You Need to Compare Check:
Transaction percentage
Fixed authorisation charge
Terminal rental
Monthly service fee
Minimum monthly charge
Commercial-card rate
International-card rate
PCI-related charges
Gateway fees
Phone and online payment fees
Chargeback/refund charges
Contract and exit costs
Our take
Card mix is one of the easiest costs to overlook.
If your customers frequently use business, corporate or international cards a cheap advertised consumer-card rate may not represent much of your actual turnover.
How to Get Cheaper Merchant Account Fees If you already accept cards, get your latest merchant statement and then give competing providers the same:
Monthly card turnover
Number of transactions
Average transaction value
Consumer/commercial card split
UK/international card split
Current fees
Instead of asking “What’s your cheapest rate?” a sk “What would last month’s transactions have cost with you?”
We think that’s one of the most effective ways to compare merchant-service quotes.
It turns a vague headline-rate comparison into a real cost comparison.
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Our View: What Is the Cheapest Merchant Account? There isn’t one.
For a business processing very little PAYG can be extremely difficult to beat.
Once turnover becomes regular subscription pricing deserves comparison.
As turnover grows further tailored merchant-service pricing becomes increasingly important.
Our starting point would therefore be
Occasional seller: Regular SME: Established retail/hospitality: High turnover:
But the deciding number should always be your total effective processing cost.
The cheapest merchant account isn’t the provider with the smallest number on its homepage.
It’s the provider that charges the least to process your actual transactions.
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Cheapest Merchant Account FAQs What is the cheapest merchant account in the UK?
There is no universal cheapest provider. PAYG services can work well for lower or variable turnover, while subscription and tailored merchant-service pricing can become more competitive as turnover grows.
Which has lower standard fees: Square or SumUp?
SumUp currently charges 1.69% PAYG for standard in-person payments, compared with Square’s 1.75% for UK in-person cards. SumUp also offers Payments Plus and Tailored pricing.
How much is SumUp Payments Plus?
It currently costs £19/month or £189/year, with a 0.99% in-person rate on eligible domestic consumer cards.
How much does Tyl charge?
Eligible businesses processing up to £50,000 annually currently pay 1.39% + 5p on UK/European personal cards and 1.99% + 5p on other cards. Larger businesses receive custom pricing.
Does Square offer custom rates?
Yes. Square says businesses processing more than £200,000 in annual card sales can enquire about custom pricing.
Are no-monthly-fee providers cheaper?
Not necessarily. Avoiding fixed fees can help at low turnover, but a monthly plan with lower transaction rates can cost less as processing volume increases.
Can I negotiate merchant account fees?
Many providers offer custom or tailored pricing for qualifying businesses. Your transaction history and existing merchant statement can help you compare competing offers.
How should I compare merchant account quotes?
Calculate the complete cost of processing the same transactions with each provider, including transaction fees, fixed charges, hardware and account fees.
Compare Cheap Merchant Account Quotes Don’t just compare 0.99% vs 1.39% vs 1.69% vs 1.75%.
Compare what your business will actually pay.
Compare Merchant Account Quotes
Free quotes • No obligation • Compare UK merchant-service providers
Related Merchant Account Guides Hi, I’m Ally Cox , a senior copywriter and blogger at CompareYourBusinessCosts.co.uk, the UK’s trusted platform for comparing business services.over a decade of experience in the B2B sector, I specialise in simplifying complex topics like leased lines, VoIP, business energy, HR and payroll solutions, accounting software, and EPOS systems .HR, copywriting, and business operations- from clocking-in systems to card machines and office technology .informed, confident decisions when choosing products and services that improve efficiency and save money.
