Dojo Card Machine Review 2026: Fees, Pricing, Contract & Verdict

What is Dojo?

Dojo is the card machine brand of Paymentsense Limited, a UK payments company regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 738728). It supplies touchscreen card terminals and merchant services to more than 100,000 UK businesses: mostly restaurants, pubs, cafes, salons and shops. On Trustpilot it holds 4.3/5 from 5,542 reviews as of 27 August 2026, with support and onboarding the most-praised areas.

The pitch is a full-service package rather than a cheap gadget: proper terminals with receipt printers and 4G backup, next-day settlement as standard, pay-at-table, 450+ EPOS integrations and UK phone support. The pricing has changed more than once since 2025, and much of the coverage still describes the wrong version, so we will start there.

Dojo Pricing 2026: Three Tiers, Priced by Turnover

Dojo prices by annual card turnover, in three tiers. Only the first has a published rate.

• Under £100,000 annual card turnover: a 1.2% all-in blended rate for all card transactions. Dojo’s fees schedule also lists a secure transaction fee, a refund fee and a minimum monthly payment, each set by your agreed plan; the amounts are not published.
• Above £100,000: a custom rate quoted per business, on a 12-month fixed plan or 30-day rolling plan.
• Above £5 million: bespoke blended rates and card mix options, with flexible hardware payment plans.

Custom quotes are negotiable: we have seen quotes as low as 0.29% for high-turnover businesses. If you clear the £100,000 threshold, treat the quote as an opening position, not a price list.

Two things follow from that structure. First, the rate is the same at every volume, so on rate alone Dojo is cheaper than a flat-rate reader (SumUp 1.69%, Square and Zettle 1.75%) at any turnover: 0.49 points under SumUp. Second, the terminal decides small businesses: rent one direct and the £15/month to £25/month rental has to be earned back by that gap, which takes about £3,060 to £5,100 a month of card takings. Below that, if you would rent, you should not switch. We run the numbers below.

The Card Machines: Go Max, Pocket, Wired, Tap to Pay

Dojo sells four ways to take a payment, and every terminal option runs on WiFi with automatic 4G failover from a built-in SIM with free data. On price, Dojo lists each device: terminals are from £149 bought upfront, or from £15/month to rent, with the per-device prices in the table below. Through MerchantSwitch the terminal is free.

The Go Max is the default choice for most counters: touchscreen, thermal printer, all-day battery, and it moves around the shop or terrace with you. The Pocket is the hospitality specialist: a slimmer handheld your floor staff use to take the order and the payment in one visit to the table, with receipts sent by email or QR code. The Wired suits fixed tills and self-service kiosks. Tap to Pay on iPhone is the genuinely commitment-free option: no contract, no hardware, useful as an overflow device on busy days or a starter while you decide.

Software and Platform Fees

Dojo sells its software as two plans per location: the Essential plan is free and Plus is £11.99/month per location (the £11.99 price is for new customers and new locations from 24 August 2026; £25/month per location standard). Between them they cover the working kit: accept all major card types, POS integration, real-time transactions in the Sidekick app, easy PCI compliance, refunds on the machine, bill splitting, tip prompts, cashback and pre-authorisation for bar tabs and bookings. Payment links by email or SMS and phone payments are also supported.

Worked Cost Examples: £2,000, £5,000, £8,000 and £15,000 a Month

The honest way to cost Dojo is to run the 1.2% rate at your volume, with a rented terminal as its own line. Four scenarios against SumUp (1.69%) and Square (1.75%), with the readers' one-off hardware costs ignored for simplicity, and Dojo's unpublished fees (secure transaction fee, refund fee, minimum monthly payment) left out because we cannot price them. The first three sit under the £100,000 a year ceiling for the published rate; the fourth does not.

At £2,000/month card turnover

At £5,000/month card turnover

At £8,000/month card turnover (£96k/year, just under the ceiling)

At £15,000/month card turnover (£180k/year, custom-quote territory)

Features: Where Dojo Earns Its Money

Settlement. Next-day payouts as standard, and weekend and bank holiday payouts are available with Dojo's faster settlement upgrade. With the upgrade, a restaurant that takes half its weekly money on Friday and Saturday has it in the bank by Sunday, where a pay-as-you-go reader delivers it Tuesday. For cash-flow-tight hospitality that is worth pricing in.

Resilience. The built-in SIM means a broadband outage does not stop you trading; the terminal fails over to 4G on its own. Dojo publishes a 99.99% uptime figure for its network.

Hospitality tooling. Pay-at-table, bill splitting, configurable tip prompts, cashback and pre-authorisation for tabs and bookings are included, and the terminals integrate with 450+ EPOS systems, so Dojo slots into most existing till setups rather than replacing them.

Beyond the counter. Payment links by SMS or email, phone payments through the Sidekick app, an online checkout and Tap to Pay on iPhone cover remote and overflow selling without extra hardware.

Funding. Dojo offers business funding repaid from card takings. If that is part of why you are choosing a provider, read our guide on how card machine choice affects business funding before deciding.

Contract and Exit Terms: Read This Bit

This is where we have to correct something you will still read elsewhere (including, previously, on this site): Dojo is not a no-strings provider. Under its general terms any minimum term is set in your application documents, and custom-rate plans run 12-month fixed plan or 30-day rolling. Three clauses matter:

• The first month carries no exit fee. No early account closure fee if you tell Dojo you want to end the agreement within the first month (Dojo general terms v2.0). Treat it as a real trial: run at least one full weekend through the terminal before the month is up.
• Leaving before the minimum term ends can cost an early account closure fee. Ending the agreement before your minimum term ends can mean an early account closure fee (amount set by your agreed plan, not published), plus any fee for equipment not returned. Dojo does not publish the amount, so ask for it in writing before you sign.
• Notice is at least one month, in writing. Closing the account takes at least one month’s written notice, by email or through the customer portal. Large corporations (businesses that are not micro-enterprises or charities) can only give notice once the minimum term has ended.

If you are locked into a previous provider, Dojo pays up to £3,000 towards that provider's exit fees when you switch through MerchantSwitch (eligibility confirmed at quote); going direct, Dojo's own cover is up to £500 (annual card turnover under £180,000), or up to £3,000 (annual card turnover over £180,000). Full cancellation mechanics, including the courier collection and the final Direct Debit, are in our step-by-step guide to cancelling Dojo.

Pros and Cons

Dojo vs the Alternatives

Dojo vs SumUp

SumUp is the no-commitment option: 1.69% flat, a £19 reader you own, no contract at all. On rate Dojo is the better deal at any volume (£60.00 against £84.50 at £5,000 a month), its hardware is far more capable, and its settlement is faster, but you accept a minimum term. Rent the terminal direct and below about £3,060 to £5,100 a month, SumUp wins on pure cost. Full breakdown: Dojo vs SumUp.

Dojo vs Square

Square's strength is the free EPOS ecosystem: point of sale, inventory, invoicing and online store on one account at 1.75% flat. If you need serious software and sell online as much as in person, Square is hard to beat. If the job is taking in-person payments fast and getting paid at the weekend, Dojo does that job better and cheaper at volume. Full breakdown: Dojo vs Square.

Dojo vs Worldpay

Worldpay is the incumbent at scale: an enormous acquiring network, enterprise features, and quote-based pricing that rewards hard negotiation. Contracts typically run longer and exit fees are the classic complaint. For a single-site or small multi-site UK business, Dojo's first-month exit window and published entry rate make it the safer signature. Full breakdown: Worldpay vs Dojo.

Dojo vs takepayments

takepayments sells a similar terminal-led package with quote-based pricing and a personal sales approach. The comparison usually comes down to whose quote lands lower for your card mix, and under £100,000 a year Dojo's published 1.2% rate gives you a written benchmark to negotiate both sides against. Full breakdown: takepayments vs Dojo.

We also compare Dojo against Zettle, Barclaycard, Lloyds Cardnet, Teya, Tyl by NatWest, Handepay, Elavon, Clover, EVO Payments, Shift4 and Global Payments.

Who Should Use Dojo (and Who Should Not)

Choose Dojo if:

• You get the terminal free through us, or take over about £3,060 a month on cards if you rent: that is where 1.2% plus the rental overtakes the flat-rate readers
• Weekend trade matters: pubs, restaurants, cafes, salons and shops that want Saturday takings on Sunday can add the faster settlement upgrade
• You want pay-at-table or EPOS integration without replacing your till
• You are escaping a worse contract: Dojo pays up to £3,000 towards exit fees when you switch through MerchantSwitch, and that only helps if you use it

Look elsewhere if:

• You sell occasionally or seasonally: SumUp or Square readers cost nothing while idle, and Dojo's Tap to Pay on iPhone is the only Dojo product that works that way
• You will not commit to a minimum term: the early account closure fee is real once the first month passes
• Your business is mostly online: Square or a dedicated gateway serves e-commerce better
• You trade outside the UK

Verdict: Is Dojo Any Good in 2026?

Yes. The published rate makes the main cost knowable without a sales call for any business under £100,000 a year: 1.2% of card turnover, all-in, at every volume. That is 0.49 points under SumUp and 0.55 under Square, and the package it buys (next-day settlement, 4G failover, pay-at-table, real support) is the strongest terminal-led offer we track. It earns its 4.5/5.

The half point we hold back is for the fees and the term. Dojo does not publish its secure transaction fee, refund fee or minimum monthly payment; renting a terminal direct makes Dojo the wrong answer below about £3,060 to £5,100 a month, where a pay-as-you-go reader is cheaper and we would say don't switch; the minimum term carries an early account closure fee once the first month passes; and above £100,000 a year pricing goes behind a quote. The defence is simple: use the first month as a genuine trial, get the unpublished fees and any custom quote in writing, and treat 1% as the benchmark a custom quote has to beat before you sign.

For the terminal lineup in detail, the pricing mechanics and all fifteen Dojo head-to-heads in one place, start at our Dojo card machines hub.

Frequently Asked Questions