Shift4 vs SumUp: the full cost comparison
SumUp publishes 1.69% in person. We charge 1.25% blended on all cards under £10,000 a month, with a free first terminal and no monthly rental. Here is every cost, side by side.
Shift4 blended rate
Monthly rental
Est. yearly saving at £5,000/mo
Settlement, incl. Saturdays
SumUp is where a great many UK businesses start, and for good reason: you buy a reader outright, there is no contract, and the pricing is a single published percentage. For a market stall doing a few hundred pounds a month that is hard to beat on simplicity.
The reason people look for an alternative is volume. A flat percentage that feels irrelevant at £500 a month becomes the largest controllable cost in the business at £15,000 a month. Our offer is a free terminal, no monthly rental and 1.25% blended, which is where the arithmetic starts to separate.
Shift4 against SumUp, line by line
SumUp figures are taken from published UK pricing, last verified August 2026.
Headline rate
Headline rate
1.25% blended
1.69% in person
Terminal cost
Terminal cost
Free first terminal
Air £39+VAT, Solo £79, Terminal £135. Range £29–£139.
Monthly rental
Monthly rental
£0
£0
Extra monthly fees
Extra monthly fees
None
Payments Plus £19/month if taken
Minimum monthly charge
Minimum monthly charge
None. No use, no bill
£0
Authorisation fee
Authorisation fee
None
None on the standard plan
Contract
Contract
18 months
None
Early exit
Early exit
No early exit fees
None, there is no term
Settlement
Settlement
Next working day incl. Saturdays
1–2 business days. Same-day available with a SumUp business account.
Support
Support
Named UK partner, direct mobile
UK support, business hours
Source: SumUp published pricing. Standard pay-as-you-go. The Payments Plus tier drops eligible transactions to 0.99% for £19/month, worth it above roughly £3,000/month.
See what your card machine really costs
Drag to your monthly card takings. The numbers update instantly.
Who are you with now?
Fine tune: average sale & rates
Average sale
SumUp now
£88per month
With Shift4
£63per month
Estimated annual saving
About £25 a month at £5,000 card turnover.
Every provider at £5,000 a month
- Shift4 Card Machine£750/yr
- SumUp£1,054/yr
- Square£1,060/yr
- Zettle by PayPal£1,065/yr
- Worldpay£1,170/yr
- Takepayments£1,208/yr
- Barclaycard£1,212/yr
- Dojo£1,310/yr
Effective blended rate with SumUp: 1.69% plus £0.00 a month in fixed fees.
What sits underneath the SumUp headline rate
Payments Plus
Billed monthly on top of the headline rate, so it never appears in a rate comparison.
Typical
£19/month if taken
When SumUp is the better choice
We are not right for everyone. These are the cases where we would tell you to stay put.
You take only a few hundred pounds a month on card, where a percentage point matters less than having no commitment at all.
You need a device today, with no application or underwriting to wait for.
Your trade is one-off or seasonal, such as a single event or a summer pitch.
SumUp does well
No contract, no monthly fee, lowest flat rate of the three pay-as-you-go providers. Solo and Terminal work without a phone.
Four questions worth asking any provider
The real rate
“Is that rate blended across every card type, or only consumer debit?”
Shift4
1.25% blended on all cards under £10,000 a month of card turnover. Above that we quote bespoke.
Worth knowing
A headline rate quoted on consumer debit only, with premium, corporate and non-European cards priced far higher.
The monthly bill
“What will I be billed in a month where I take nothing?”
Shift4
£0. No terminal rental, no minimum monthly service charge, no PCI fee.
Worth knowing
Terminal rental, platform fees, PCI charges and minimum monthly service charges that apply regardless of turnover.
The contract
“How long is the term, and what does it cost to leave early?”
Shift4
18 months with no early exit fees.
Worth knowing
Auto-renewing terms, 90-day notice windows, and exit fees equal to every remaining monthly rental payment.
The money
“When does the money actually land, and is that free?”
Shift4
Next working day incl. Saturdays
Worth knowing
Faster settlement offered as a paid add-on, or next-day settlement only in year one of the contract.
Getting your SumUp statement
One statement is all we need to work out your real blended rate.
- Step 1
Log in to the SumUp dashboard
- Step 2
Go to Reports
- Step 3
Open Payouts
- Step 4
Select the month and export
Coming from SumUp is usually the easiest switch there is, because there is normally no contract to unwind. You apply for a merchant account, the terminal arrives, and you keep the SumUp reader in a drawer as a spare if you want to.
The main practical difference is that a merchant account is underwritten, so you will be asked for ID, bank details and some trading information up front rather than signing up in five minutes. That is the trade-off for the lower rate.
SumUp questions, answered
Can I leave my SumUp contract early?
SumUp's standard pay-as-you-go terms have no fixed period, so in most cases there is nothing to exit. Check any add-on subscriptions you may have taken separately, then simply stop using the reader.
Will switching interrupt my card payments?
No. Keep the SumUp reader active until your new terminal has arrived and taken its first payment. Nothing has to be turned off before the replacement is working.
At what turnover does moving from SumUp start to pay off?
It is a straight percentage comparison with no rental on either side, so the saving begins immediately and grows with volume. Put your monthly card turnover into our calculator and it will show the figure for your business.
Send your statement, get a straight answer
We read your last full month with SumUp, work out what you are really paying, and tell you honestly whether we beat it.
Prefer to browse first? See all provider comparisons
SumUp pricing is taken from publicly published UK sources and was last verified in August 2026. Providers change pricing without notice and rates vary by plan, so treat every figure as indicative and confirm directly with SumUp. Calculator results are estimates, not quotes, and assume a 60% debit, 30% consumer credit and 10% business card mix. Our rate is confirmed on application, subject to status. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners; we are not affiliated with SumUp.
Explore more
Same free terminal, same rate — every trade, every postcode.