ContactlessDojo Go contactless terminal
From 0.55%
per transaction
£15
monthly fee
Contactless limit: £100 per tap
Payout: Next day, 7 days a week
Weekend settlement included
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Contactless payments comparison
Compare providers for contactless card, Apple Pay and Google Pay acceptance — speed up your queue and cut the cost of every tap.
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Contactless
ContactlessSquare Reader contactless + chip
1.75%
per transaction
£19
one-off reader
Contactless limit: £100 per tap
Payout: Next working day
ContactlessWorldpay contactless countertop
0.75%
per transaction
£19.95
monthly fee
Contactless limit: £100 per tap
Payout: Next working day
Deal tables sorted by transaction rate (low to high)
Rates shown are indicative and depend on your card turnover, average transaction value and business type. Final pricing is confirmed by the provider after your quote.
What are contactless payments?
Contactless payments let a customer tap a card, phone or watch against your terminal instead of inserting a card and entering a PIN. The transaction is authorised in about a second.
UK contactless card taps are capped at £100, but payments made through Apple Pay, Google Pay and other authenticated wallets have no upper limit, because the device verifies the customer.
Why accept contactless payments?
Shorter queues
A contactless tap clears in around a second versus 15–20 for chip and PIN — a real difference at peak trading.
Higher average spend
Frictionless payment lifts add-on purchases, particularly in hospitality and convenience retail.
Fewer cash costs
Less cash means fewer banking trips, less float to manage and less shrinkage risk.
What to look for in contactless acceptance
Full wallet support
Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and wearables should all be accepted as standard, with no extra fee.
Rate on low-value taps
Fixed pence-per-transaction fees hurt if your average sale is small. Percentage-only pricing usually suits low-ticket businesses.
Authorisation speed
Ask about average authorisation time and offline tolerance — a slow terminal at a lunchtime rush costs sales.
Fraud protection
Tokenisation means the real card number is never shared, and wallet payments carry device-level authentication.
Tap to Pay on phone
Some providers let you take contactless straight on an iPhone or Android device, with no reader at all.
Digital receipts
Emailed or texted receipts cut paper costs and give you an opted-in customer contact list.
How do contactless payments work?
The customer holds their card, phone or watch near the terminal, and NFC transfers an encrypted, tokenised version of the card details.
Your provider routes the payment to the card scheme and the issuer for authorisation.
Approval comes back in around a second and the sale completes — no PIN for card taps under £100.
Funds settle into your business bank account on your provider's normal payout schedule, usually the next working day.
Is contactless right for my business?
If you have queues or a high volume of low-value sales — cafés, bakeries, bars, convenience stores — contactless pays for itself in throughput alone.
For higher-value sales, mobile wallets matter more than card taps because they aren't limited to £100.
There's rarely a reason to avoid it: every current UK terminal supports contactless at the same rate as chip and PIN.
How do I choose the best contactless deal?
Look at your average transaction value. Low-ticket businesses should avoid pricing with a fixed pence fee per sale and favour a clean percentage. High-volume businesses should push for interchange-plus pricing, where debit taps settle at a fraction of a blended rate. Then check settlement — weekend payouts matter if your busiest days are Saturday and Sunday.
How can I save money on contactless payments?
Encourage debit taps over commercial credit cards, since debit interchange is capped and far cheaper. Review your statement for PCI and minimum monthly fees, and if you only need contactless occasionally, consider Tap to Pay on your phone instead of renting a terminal you barely use.
Considering contactless payments:
These guides might help.
How card processing fees work
Interchange, scheme and acquirer fees explained — and how to spot the ones you can cut…
Choosing a merchant account
What UK providers check, how long approval takes and when an ISO beats a bank…
PCI DSS made simple for small firms
The compliance basics every business taking card payments has to meet…
FAQs
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Written by the Grow Your Business payments team · Updated on 21 March 2026