Dojo vs SumUp vs Square: which suits your venue?

How do they compare at a glance?

Prices below are each provider’s own published UK prices for in-person payments on UK cards, checked in October 2026. Offer prices are marked as offers.

	Dojo	SumUp	Square
Card rate	1.2% under £100k a year, plus 5p per authorisation	1.69%, or 0.99% on Payments Plus	1.75%
Monthly plan	Free, or Plus (£11.99 offer, usually £25)	Free, or £19 Payments Plus	Free, Plus from £29, or Premium
Card machine	£149 to £239 to buy, or £15 to £25 a month (VAT not stated)	£25 to £135 plus VAT	£19 to £699 plus VAT
Contract	12 months, then monthly	None	None
Payouts	Next business day	Next day to a SumUp account	As soon as the next working day

What does Dojo charge?

Dojo charges a 1.2% blended rate on all card payments for businesses taking under £100,000 a year by card. It also lists a 5p fee for each authorisation. SumUp and Square don’t list one. On a £10 sale, that makes Dojo’s total about 1.7%, and on a £20 sale about 1.45%. Above £100,000 Dojo offers a custom rate on a 12-month fixed plan or 30-day rolling, and above £5 million it’s bespoke.

Its Essential plan is free per location. Plus costs £11.99 a month per location, an offer for new customers and new locations since 24 August 2026, against a usual £25. To buy, Go Max costs £149, a launch offer until 31 December 2026 (usually £229). Wired costs £179 and Pocket £239. To rent, they’re £25, £15 and £20 a month. Dojo’s pricing page doesn’t say whether these prices include VAT. Tap to Pay on iPhone needs no extra hardware, but the fee schedule lists a Tap to Pay charge based on your agreed plan.

Dojo also charges 50p per refund, and £15 plus VAT a month if you don’t complete PCI compliance. Its minimum monthly payment, chargeback and early closure fees are set by your agreed plan rather than published, so ask for them in writing.

What does SumUp charge?

SumUp’s pay-as-you-go rate is 1.69% with no monthly fee. Payments Plus costs £19 a month (or £189 a year) and cuts UK debit and credit cards to 0.99%. Premium cards, Amex and international cards stay at 1.69%, and online payments are 2.5%. SumUp says there are no setup fees, hardware rentals or monthly minimums.

Card readers run from the Solo Lite at £25 to the Terminal at £135, plus VAT.

What does Square charge?

Square charges 1.75% for in-person payments on UK cards, with 1.5% more on non-UK cards. Online payments on UK cards are 1.4% plus 25p. Its Free plan costs nothing a month, and you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time.

Hardware runs from the Square Reader at £19 to the Square Register at £699, plus VAT, with interest-free instalments on some devices, subject to credit approval.

Which handles table service best?

Look at the plan, not just the rate, because some features bars and restaurants want, such as bill splitting, sit in paid plans:

• Dojo Plus (£11.99 a month on offer, usually £25) adds bill splitting between cards, itemised splitting, pre-authorised bar tabs and custom tipping. Essential has on-screen tip prompts. Dojo lists over 450 till integrations.
• SumUp Terminal handles tips, tableside orders you can park, and has a built-in printer. Split payments on the Terminal are marked “coming soon”. The Solo reader has an offline mode as a backup. SumUp’s POS Plus plan, at £39 a month plus VAT, adds hospitality features such as floor plan management.
• Square for Restaurants includes table management and open bills on every plan. Splitting by item or by seat needs Restaurants Plus, at £69 a month per location. Some devices take offline payments, with limits, and contactless doesn’t work offline.

Which should you choose?

It depends on your takings and how you serve:

• Seasonal or quiet trade: a no-contract, pay-as-you-go plan avoids monthly costs when it’s quiet.
• Steady card takings: compare the paid plans against the extra you’d pay at the pay-as-you-go rate. SumUp aims Payments Plus at businesses taking £3,000 or more a month.
• Table service and tabs: check which plan includes splitting and tabs before you compare rates.

Rates aren’t the whole bill, so read how card machine fees work first. One more difference: the Payment Systems Regulator directed a set list of providers to show summary boxes and limit terminal contracts. SumUp and Square are on that list and Dojo isn’t, so check Dojo’s contract terms directly. We can compare what you pay now with all three, and the other providers on our partners page. It’s one of the costs worth checking first.