How Much Does a Card Machine Cost? A UK Buyer’s Guide

In this article

1. What can make up the cost of a card machine?
2. Purchase versus rental: put equipment on a comparable basis
3. How to calculate percentage and per-transaction fees
4. Card machine cost worksheet: inputs to collect
5. Worked example: a hypothetical café and leisure venue
6. Why your transaction mix can change the result
7. How to compare card machine costs fairly
8. Questions to ask before relying on your calculation
9. So, how much will your card machine cost?

A useful starting formula is:

Estimated monthly cost = fixed monthly charges + equipment cost allocated to the comparison period + transaction fees for your payment mix + any other applicable quoted charges

This guide shows how to make that calculation. All figures in the worked example below are invented purely to demonstrate the arithmetic. They are not EPOS Bookings prices, provider quotes or UK market averages.

If you are still deciding which type of terminal you need, start with our card machine comparison guide. This article starts at the next stage: understanding the costs in a quote.

What can make up the cost of a card machine?

Before calculating a monthly cost, identify every relevant component in the quote.

Depending on the provider and arrangement being considered, these could include:

• an upfront equipment purchase;

• equipment rental;

• fixed monthly or service charges;

• percentage-based transaction charges;

• fixed pence-per-transaction charges;

• setup or initial charges; and

• other charges or contractual costs stated in the quote.

Not every quote will contain every type of charge. The purpose of the list is to help you identify what actually applies to the offer in front of you, rather than assume that one pricing structure is universal.

This matters when comparing card machine costs because a headline transaction percentage tells you only part of the story. Equally, a low or zero upfront equipment cost does not by itself establish the ongoing cost of accepting payments.

Your provider’s quote and terms should be the source for the actual figures.

Purchase versus rental: put equipment on a comparable basis

Card-machine equipment may be offered under different commercial arrangements. Two broad possibilities are purchasing equipment and renting it.

If a terminal has an upfront purchase price, paying for it in one go can make the first month appear disproportionately expensive when you are trying to compare ongoing options.

For your own comparison spreadsheet, you can choose a reasonable period and spread that purchase price across it.

For example, if a hypothetical terminal costs £360 and you want to compare costs across 36 months:

£360 ÷ 36 = £10 per month for comparison purposes

That does not mean the provider is charging £10 each month, and it is not an accounting treatment. You have simply allocated an upfront purchase across your chosen comparison period to make your spreadsheet easier to use.

If equipment is rented, use the rental charge stated in the quote instead and check the relevant terms.

The important point is consistency. If you compare a purchased terminal with a rented one, do not put the entire purchase price into month one on one side while considering only one month’s rental on the other.

For information about the terminals EPOS Bookings currently offers, see payment terminals. Keep current product and commercial details there rather than relying on a general cost guide.

How to calculate percentage and per-transaction fees

Transaction pricing does not necessarily consist of a single percentage.

A hypothetical quote might, for example, state a percentage charge for a particular payment category plus a fixed number of pence for each transaction. Another quote could be structured differently.

Where your quote contains both elements, calculate them separately:

Transaction fees for a category = (transaction value × quoted percentage) + (number of transactions × quoted fixed fee)

If the quote gives different rates for different payment categories, repeat the calculation for each relevant category and add the results together.

This is why your payment mix matters.

A café taking £15,000 a month across 700 transactions does not have enough information to calculate its transaction fees from turnover alone if its quote applies different charges to different categories. It needs to know how that £15,000 and those 700 transactions are distributed across the categories specified by the provider.

Do not guess those categories. Use the definitions in the quote and your own payment data where available.

Card machine cost worksheet: inputs to collect

Before doing the calculation, copy the following table into a spreadsheet or working document and replace the blanks with information from your quote and business records.

Add further payment categories if the quote requires them.

For a new café, restaurant or leisure venue without historical payment data, the exercise can still be useful, but the transaction mix will necessarily be an assumption. Label it as such and test more than one scenario rather than treating a forecast as fact.

Worked example: a hypothetical café and leisure venue

Important: every price and rate in this example is invented solely to demonstrate the calculation. These are not EPOS Bookings prices, actual provider rates or UK market averages.

Imagine a café attached to a small leisure venue is examining a hypothetical provider quote.

For simplicity, suppose the quote and the venue’s payment data give us:

• fixed monthly charge: £20

• equipment purchase: £360

• chosen comparison period: 36 months

• payment category A: £12,000 across 600 transactions

• hypothetical category A fee: 1.20% + 5p per transaction

• payment category B: £3,000 across 100 transactions

• hypothetical category B fee: 1.80% + 10p per transaction

• no other charges included in this simplified example.

First, allocate the purchased equipment across the comparison period:

£360 ÷ 36 = £10 per month

Now calculate category A.

Percentage element:

£12,000 × 1.20% = £144

Fixed transaction element:

600 × £0.05 = £30

So category A costs:

£144 + £30 = £174

Now category B.

Percentage element:

£3,000 × 1.80% = £54

Fixed transaction element:

100 × £0.10 = £10

So category B costs:

£54 + £10 = £64

Finally, combine the inputs:

£20 fixed monthly charge + £10 equipment allocation + £174 category A fees + £64 category B fees = £268 estimated monthly cost

Under these invented assumptions, the spreadsheet produces an estimated monthly figure of £268.

The £268 is not a card-machine price or an indication of what a UK hospitality business should expect to pay. Its only purpose is to show how the formula works.

Why your transaction mix can change the result

Once the spreadsheet works, change one input at a time to understand which assumptions matter.

Suppose everything in our hypothetical example remains identical except the quoted percentage for category A changes from 1.20% to 1.30%.

The original percentage element was:

£12,000 × 1.20% = £144

At the alternative hypothetical rate:

£12,000 × 1.30% = £156

That single change adds £12 per month to the calculation, taking the example from £268 to £280, with every other input unchanged.

Again, neither percentage represents a market rate or EPOS Bookings price. The exercise simply demonstrates sensitivity: a small change to one input can have a measurable effect when applied across monthly payment value.

You can perform the same test with transaction counts, fixed charges, payment mix or equipment costs.

How to compare card machine costs fairly

Once you have a working calculation, use the same business assumptions when examining another quote.

Keep monthly payment value, transaction numbers, payment mix and your chosen equipment comparison period consistent. Change only the provider-quote inputs that genuinely differ.

Also check whether apparently similar charges mean the same thing. If one quote includes something that another lists separately, simply comparing headline figures may give a misleading result.

This cost exercise should not become a second terminal-selection exercise. Countertop, portable and mobile terminals solve different operational problems, which are covered in our card machine comparison guide.

Once you know the type of setup you need, cost analysis can help you examine the commercial options that meet those requirements.

Questions to ask before relying on your calculation

Before treating your spreadsheet as a useful comparison, check:

• Have I included every charge that applies to the quote?

• Have I used the provider’s actual percentage and per-transaction figures rather than an online average?

• Have I applied different quoted rates to the correct payment categories?

• Are my transaction values and transaction counts realistic for the business?

• If equipment is purchased, have I used the same comparison period across my options?

• If equipment is rented, have I checked the terms attached to that rental?

• Are there setup, contractual or other quoted charges that need separate consideration?

• Am I comparing like with like?

For a broader review of an EPOS proposal, use our EPOS quote comparison checklist.

So, how much will your card machine cost?

The answer should come from your quote and your payment data, not a generic market-average figure.

Start with fixed monthly charges. Add equipment costs on a consistent comparison basis. Then calculate percentage and fixed per-transaction fees using the payment categories specified in the quote and your own transaction mix. Finally, add any other charges that genuinely apply.

That gives you a transparent estimate you can interrogate rather than a headline number detached from the way your restaurant, café or leisure venue actually takes payments.

For current EPOS Bookings products, visit payment terminals. For current EPOS Bookings commercial information, use our pricing page.

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