Square (Our #1 Choice!)

Square has long been known as one of the leading point-of-sale software and hardware providers, so it comes as no surprise they’re looking to crack online payment processing as well. Being a little late to the party, Square has launched with some very tidy packages, including a completely free entry-level plan that only sees you pay when transactions are made. Just like Shopify, square is looking to become your complete online solution, including things like web hosting and website design. With Square’s free plan, you can use the online store builder to create, design and launch your site completely for free. The only cost you’ll encounter is when you make a sale at either 1.4% / 2.5% + 25p per transaction.

If you also opt for Square as your point-of-sale provider then integration across the two is seamless – allowing you to manage stock levels across both online and in-store orders, view sales history and manage buyer information.

Square Fees

Set-up Fees: None at all.

Transaction Fees: 1.4% + 25p for UK cards and 2.5% + 25p for non-UK cards

Subscription Fees: None at all.

The above fees are the standard pricing pan for SMEs. If your business processes a high volume of payments, you may be eligible for a custom pricing plan. Speak to the Square sales team to learn more. As you progress through the Square online plans you don’t actually receive any tangible benefits to your online payment gateway, except for premium which sees a lower fixed fee charged per transaction (15p instead of 25p). The additional features you can benefit from as you progress through the packages relate to other areas, such as a custom domain beginning on the Premium Plan and improved video uploading capabilities on the Professional Plan.

Square – Our Take

Square has drastically streamlined its pricing by removing different plans and scrapping monthly subscription fees on its payment gateway solution. Instead, it’s now a simple 1.4% +25p on UK cards and 2.5% +25p on non-UK cards. Even cheaper than the 1.9% and 2.9% they used to charge on UK and international cards respectively. With this in mind, we think these are very reasonable fees for accepted card payments from the UK, Europe and Rest of World. With a fixed 25p payment fee added to the percentage charged, the only instance the new fee structure will not work in your favour is if you sell low-value goods or services (roughly under £40).

If you’ve traditionally sold face-to-face and are looking for an online solution then Square proves a very solid bet. Managing your in-store POS with the same provider as your online payment gateway saves a lot of time and hassle.

The completely free package comes with unlimited bandwidth and a free SSL certificate. Having a secure SSL connection will help power your eCommerce sales by enabling customers to checkout directly on your domain.

Runner-Up: SagePay / Opayo

Opayo, formerly SagePay, is a payments processing service now owned by the Elavon Group. With around 300 employees, the UK payment service provider originally started its journey known as Protx before it was acquired by Sage. The company’s size is of a similar ilk to the top money transfer providers we recommend on money transfer comparison. Unlike the other multinational companies operating in the online payments processing industry, Opayo operates solely in the UK and Ireland.

With an office in Newcastle, Opayo’s UK-based team is available day and night. You can reach out to them on the phone, via email, or through social media. Customer Service is a core part of Opayo’s offering. The firm boasts an impressive 4.6 / 5 TrustScore on TrustPilot from over 5,000 customer reviews (as of September 2023), with customers regularly praising the excellent and helpful service. They are Trustpilot’s highest-rated payment provider, and whilst there’s been a recent name change, the service is identical.

The firm has been operating for almost two decades, providing the necessary payment tools to help businesses grow. Packages are well defined and the company is trusted by its 50,000+ customers. Every year, Opayo’s payment gateway processes around £40bn worth of card payments for over 50,000 merchants, across online and in-person.

Opayo Fees

Set-up Fees: None

Transaction Fees: It’s not clear on Opayo’s website what the exact transaction fees are for online payment processing, but they ‘start at 1.99%’ on the no-monthly fee account and ‘start at 0.99%’ on the paid monthly account, subject to card turnover.

Subscription Fees: In a bid to simplify their offering, there are now just two packages available through Opaya, including a newly added no-fee monthly account.

Opayo – Our Take

The firm may have moved from Sage to Elavon in 2019 but with hundreds of 5* customer reviews in 2022/23 it clearly hasn’t impacted the service offering at the heart of the business.

Opayo can work with any acquirer so if you have an existing merchant account there’s no need to switch. But if you’re new to taking payments, then equally Opayo can get you set up with your own merchant account from scratch.

The subscription plans are now clearly separated between a free monthly account and a paid £25 monthly fee account. One thing we don’t like is the 12p ‘gateway access fee’ – it’s not a particularly common charge and adds an unwelcome extra charge on the basic plan. One thing we really like is the 350 free transactions on the paid monthly account – if you process at least this volume of payments a month then the monthly fee will easily pay for itself. Shopify & Square both have monthly packages of greater value that still attract higher transaction fees.

With all that being said, we haven’t been able to identify the exact transaction fees involved with the plans from Opayo’s website – they simply mention the ‘starting at’ prices which we assume are only available to businesses processing a high volume/value of card turnover.. Looking at the overall solution, given the excellent 24/7 customer service and fast response times, customers appear unanimously happy with what they pay for Opayo’s payment processing services.

Stripe

Stripe has been one of the hottest fintechs to have launched in the 21st century. Companies from around the world, no matter the size, use Stripe to accept multiple payment methods for their online sales. As a payment juggernaut, Stripe is certified to the very highest industry standards, has obtained regulatory licences around the world and invests in securing their payment infrastructure with world-class security experts.

The sheer volume of online payment methods for small business that Stripe provides is impressive. They understand that payment behaviour is different in every country so if you have international customers then Stripe can be a very good option – allowing your customers to use their preferred payment method, and improve the conversion of your checkout experience. In total, Stripe supports over 135 currencies and offers a unified payment gateway for credit cards, online wallets, bank transfers, and more. 

Stripe recommends the most commonly used online payment methods by region so you can judge what suits you business best:

Source: www.stripe.com/gb/payments/payment-methods-guide

It’s not just one-off payment acceptance that Stripe offers either. For businesses who offer a subscription service – such as wine delivery for example – then Stripe can help you with this too.

Stripe’s competitive pricing is only slightly more expensive than Square for UK cards and works out a little cheaper for processing cards from the EU. They are substantially more expensive for processing non-EU international credit cards.

Stripe Fees

Set-up Fees: None

Transaction Fees: 

• 1.4% + £0.20 for UK cards
• 2.5% + £0.20 for cards in EEA
• 3.54% + £0.20 for non-EEA cards outside the UK

An additional 2% is charged if currency conversion is required, i.e. customers opts to pay in their own currency.

Subscription Fees: No setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden fees.

Stripe is unique as it actively separates the transaction fee between UK, European and non-European cards. Worldpay offers cheaper transaction fees on debit cards vs credit cards but you don’t know what your customer would prefer to pay with. If you’re a UK business only selling in your jurisdiction then you do know that you’ll be paying 1.5% + £0.20. A very reasonable fee – the only cheaper option on a free account is the 1.4% + £0.25 fee charged by Stripe. Custom plans are also possible for large scale enterprises.

Stripe – Our Take

If you already have an eCommerce website, perhaps built with WordPress or any of the other major web builders, then you’ll struggle to find a better solution than Stripe. Whilst Shopify and Square aim to cover you for all your eCommerce needs, Stripe focuses purely on online payment processing and it does this brilliantly.

In a recent study, conducted by an analyst firm that interviewed Stripe customers, businesses accounted for an increase in revenues of 6.7% with Stripe. Overall, firms saw on average a 24% reduction in the cost of operations and an 81% reduction in unplanned outages for their payment software.

Brexit has forced Stripe to increase its fees for processing cards from the EEA – 1.4% to 2.5% – but with a + £0.20 fixed charge this is still slightly cheaper than the 2.5% + £0.25 charged by Square. Where it really gets more expensive than square, however, is for processing international cards. As of September 2023 the stripe fee for processing international cards outside the EEA is 3.25% + £0.20, considerably more than Square who charge the same fees as they do for European cards. However, if you’re a UK only business that wants the cheapest online payment gateway in the UK, then look no further than Stripe.

Worldpay

Set-up Fees: None

Transaction Fees: Dependent on package but the FIS / Worldpay website is rather opaque when it comes to fees.

On the eCommerce-only plan, transactions are charged at a market-leading 1.3% + 20p for processing Visa & Mastercard personal cards from the UK. However, AMEX and corporate cards from the UK are charged at a considerably higher 2.9% + 20p. International cards aren’t referenced but we’d assume they’re charged at a similar level to UK AMEX cards.

Subscription Fees: Dependent on package. Free for the eCommerce plan and £19.95 for the Simplicity Payment Gateway plan, which is to process payments via a physical card machine.

Worldpay – Our Take

As far as sheer experience and magnitude of operation, you’ll struggle to beat Worldpay. As the number one global acquirer, the firm manages $1.7 trillion of payment volumes annually. If you opt for the Worldpay checkout experience, PCI compliance is completely handled for you, fraud checks are conducted, and payments are routed via only the fastest and most secure networks.

A transaction fee of 1.3%+ 20p is a market-leading proposition, but be aware this is only when the customer pays with a personal Visa or Mastercard. Other card networks are charged 2.9% +20p, as are all corporate cards, regardless of the network. So whether or not Worldpay works out cheaper is highly dependent on how your customers are paying. If you’re an established business, you should be able to review data from your existing card sales and make an informed decision as to the cheapest option for you.

If you’re selling outside of the UK then Worldpay has a global reach, operating in over 40 countries and handling over 120 currencies. What’s more Worldpay does not charge you to accept payments in foreign currencies. However, we don’t like the fact that Worldpay does not advertise its international processing fees.

Shopify

Shopify deserves a spot in our top 5 as, in addition to an online payment gateway, it provides a complete solution for all your online selling needs. Shopify payments are included as part of your overall Shopify plan which provides you with so much more than just the online payment gateway. Whatever plan you opt for you’ll receive an ecommerce website and blog that you can manage with Shopify. Meaning you can build your complete online store, including a smooth checkout experience and accepting payments online for your small business. The online payment processing element that is included in your Shopify plan is called Shopify payments and it’s actually powered by Stripe, so you’re safe in the knowledge it has a world-leading payment processor behind it.

If you’re an online-only business then Shopify is almost always a great fit. Shopify Payments not only allows credit and debit card payments but accelerated checkout payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shopify Pay (Shopify’s own one-click checkout for repeat customers). Over the last year, Shopify Payments has processed over $16.6 billion globally.

Source: www.shopify.co.uk/payments

Shopify Fees

The Shopify plan that you opt for not only influences your payment gateway fees but also the benefits you receive through Shopify overall, such as things like the number of locations you can manage stock.

Set-up Fees: None

Transaction Fees: Dependent on package but even the most expensive package only matches the pay as you go option from Square.

Subscription Fees: Monthly, varies depending on package.

Shopify – Our Take

Shopify has lowered the processing fee it charges as a % but has increased the per transaction fee from 20p to 25p. Businesses making high value sales will probably appreciate this, but those making frequent, low value sales may find better deals elsewhere. The international card fees on the Shopify basic account are higher with Shopify than they are with Stripe but do come in lower if you opt for the advanced package. Overall, despite lowering their payment fees, they are still above average. It’s the additional value that Shopify adds which is the winner here. One thing to watch out for is that if you run your online store through Shopify but use a different payment gateway, say Worldpay for example, then Shopify will levy additional fees.

On the basic Shopify plan, Shopify charges an extra 2% per transaction, on the usual Shopify plan it’s an extra 1% and on the Advanced Shopify plan it’s an additional 0.5%. It’s a clever tactic as it makes using an alternative payment gateway very expensive on a shopify hosted website. SMEs using the basic or normal shopify plan will almost certainly want to ensure they’re also using Shopify payments to get the cheapest online payment processing available to their situation, i.e. they’ve opted for Shopify as their website provider. And after all, why shouldn’t they, as it’s included as part of the Shopify plan anyway. To get cheaper payment processing fees, it’s better to use a different web host.