Lopay review UK
Lopay has the lowest published in-person card rate we checked for UK personal cards: 0.79% if you can wait a week for your money, or 0.99% with next-day payouts. The catch is the card mix: Amex, business and overseas cards each cost 1% more, so the saving shrinks as your customers’ cards change.
Verdict
Worth it for cafés, salons, market traders and mobile trades whose customers mostly pay with UK personal debit cards. Skip it if a big share of your takings is on Amex or company cards, or if you need a countertop terminal without a long contract.
Low and mid volume businesses, mostly UK personal cards, happy with a phone-paired reader
You take lots of business or tourist cards, or want a regulated acquirer and a phone line
Every Lopay figure checked 1 November 2026 against Lopay’s UK fee schedule, pricing page and terminal terms. No rating: we have not used Lopay ourselves.
What Lopay is
Lopay is a payments app with a Bluetooth card reader and an optional countertop terminal. Lopay Ltd (company number 13384279) runs the app and the account. The card payments themselves go through Stripe Payments UK Limited, which holds the FCA authorisation (FRN 900461); Lopay’s fee schedule says you form a separate contract with that processor. That matters if something goes wrong with a payout: the regulated firm is Stripe, not Lopay.
Lopay fees
Three accounts, no monthly fee on any of them. You choose how fast you want your money, and the rate follows. The headline rates apply only to UK personal (consumer) Visa and Mastercard cards.
| Account | Rate (UK personal cards) | Payouts |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | 0.79% | settled once a week (the pricing page says free Thursday payouts) |
| Standard | 0.99% | settled up to 1 business day after the sale (next-day, weekly or monthly payouts, Monday to Friday) |
| Instant to Bank | 1.79% | settled the same day, including weekends and bank holidays, with a minimum £0.50 fee per instant payout |
| Amex, international, corporate | +1% each, on top | The surcharges stack: an international corporate card pays both |
| Tap to Pay on your phone | +£0.08 per transaction | On top of the account rate |
| Chargeback | £20 dispute admin fee, plus the disputed amount | |
| Foreign currency | 2% of the transaction value when the card currency differs from your payout currency | |
Source: Lopay UK fee schedule, checked 1 November 2026. The pricing page says its figures were "accurate as of 30 May 2024"; the fee schedule shows the same rates.
Lopay card reader and terminal
The WisePad 3 card reader costs £35 plus £6.95 postage when it is your first order in the app, and £49 plus postage for later readers. You own it, there is no contract, and it pairs with your phone.
The Lopay Business Terminal is a different deal: £15 a month per device plus £8.95 secure delivery, on a 12-month minimum, renewing for further 12-month periods. To stop it renewing you must give at least 30 days’ written notice before a renewal period starts. Lopay "may charge you early cancellation charges" if you cancel early; the amount is not published. Return the terminal within 14 days of cancelling, or Lopay may charge the full cost of the equipment (Lopay puts that at approximately £250).
Compare that with the PSR’s rule for terminals supplied to customers of the 14 largest acquirers, Stripe Payments UK Limited among them: terminal lease and rental contracts must have an initial minimum term of no more than 18 months, then move to rolling renewal terms of no more than 31 calendar days. Lopay’s published terminal terms (dated 7 February 2024) describe 12-month renewals, so ask Lopay in writing which terms apply to your terminal before you order one. The reader avoids the question entirely.
Worked example: the £5,000 a month shop
Lopay prices per card type, so the answer depends on what your customers pay with. Here is the house example, a shop taking £5,000 a month on cards.
- Lopay Essential, all UK personal cards: £5,000 × 0.79% = £39.50 (paid out weekly)
- Lopay Standard, all UK personal cards: £5,000 × 0.99% = £49.50
- Lopay Standard, with one pound in five on Amex, business or overseas cards: £4,000.00 × 0.99% + £1,000.00 × 1.99% = £59.50
- Lopay Instant to Bank, all UK personal cards: £5,000 × 1.79% = £89.50
- SumUp pay as you go (1.69%): £5,000 × 1.69% = £84.50
- Dojo (1.2% blended, Dojo Wired rented): £5,000 × 1.2% = £60.00, plus £15.00 for the Dojo Wired = £75.00
That card mix is our assumption for illustration, not a Lopay figure. If you took every sale by Tap to Pay on your phone instead of the reader, 250 sales (an assumed £20 average) would add 250 × 8p = £20.00. Instant to Bank costs more than SumUp here, so only pick it if same-day cash genuinely matters to you.
Lopay Standard beats SumUp by £25.00 a month at this card mix. The gap narrows by £5 for every extra tenth of takings that moves onto a surcharged card, so a hotel bar full of overseas visitors should run its own numbers. If you are not sure of your card mix, your current statement shows it: send it to our free statement review and we will cost it on Lopay’s published rates.
Payouts, limits and holds
Instant payouts are capped at £1,000 a day unless Lopay agrees more; the rest pays out the next business day. Where fraud is suspected, payouts can be frozen for 120 days and a 5% review fee applies to funds released after that. No separate refund fee, but the original transaction fee is not returned. None of this is unusual for an app-based provider, but a freeze of up to 120 days is longer than most businesses expect, so keep some cash buffer if you are new and taking large one-off payments.
Lopay also runs a rewards scheme. Lopay pays fee-free transaction allowances ("rewards") for spending on its Expense card, partner offers and referrals; the pricing page does not set out how the card-spend percentages convert into fee-free volume. Treat rewards as a bonus, not as part of the price.
Pros and cons
Pros
- 0.79% on UK personal cards, the lowest published in-person rate we checked
- No monthly fee and no contract on the reader accounts
- Reader from £35 plus postage
- Choice of payout speed, priced openly
Cons
- +1% per surcharged card type, and they stack
- Business Terminal: 12-month minimum, renewing for further 12-month periods, early cancellation charge not published
- Lopay is not the regulated firm; Stripe processes the payments
- Fraud holds of up to 120 days with a 5% review fee
Lopay alternatives
If your customers pay with a wide mix of cards, a flat rate removes the guesswork: see our SumUp review and the SumUp vs Square vs Zettle comparison. If you want a terminal with next-day settlement and a published blended rate, read our Dojo review. For a phone-only setup, the Revolut card reader review covers the other low-rate app. Every provider’s headline rate sits in our card machine rates table.
Should you switch to Lopay?
If you are on SumUp, Square or Zettle and most of your customers pay with UK personal debit cards, yes: at £5,000 of takings the £41.95 reader and postage pay for themselves within 2 months. If you are on a terminal contract with time left on it, check the exit cost first; switching to save £25.00 a month makes no sense if leaving costs a year of rental. And if Amex and company cards are a big slice of your sales, stay on a flat rate.
Want Lopay’s rates costed against your own statement?
Leave your details and we will call back with the numbers for your card mix. Free, no obligation.
Not sure what your card mix costs?
Send us a recent statement and we will show you what each provider would charge on it.
Lopay questions
What are Lopay’s fees?
Lopay charges 0.79% on Essential (weekly payouts), 0.99% on Standard (next business day) or 1.79% on Instant to Bank (same day, seven days a week), on UK personal (consumer) Visa and Mastercard cards. American Express, international and corporate cards each add 1%, Tap to Pay adds +£0.08 per transaction, and a chargeback costs a £20 dispute admin fee, plus the disputed amount. There is no monthly fee on the three accounts.
How much is the Lopay card reader?
£35 plus £6.95 postage for the first reader ordered in the Lopay app, then £49 plus postage for later readers. The reader has no contract. The Lopay Business Terminal is different: £15 a month per device on a 12-month minimum, renewing for further 12-month periods.
What is the catch with Lopay?
The low rates only cover UK personal (consumer) Visa and Mastercard cards. Every Amex, international or corporate card costs 1% more, and the surcharges stack. The cheapest account (0.79%) pays out once a week. Lopay is not itself the regulated payment firm: payments are processed by Stripe Payments UK Limited under its FCA authorisation (FRN 900461), and the fee schedule says you form a separate contract with the payment processor.
Is Lopay cheaper than SumUp?
On UK consumer cards, yes. At £5,000 a month with one pound in five on Amex, business or overseas cards, Lopay Standard costs £59.50 against £84.50 on SumUp’s 1.69% flat rate, a saving of £25.00 a month.
Who processes Lopay payments?
Stripe Payments UK Limited. Lopay Ltd (company number 13384279) runs the app; Stripe holds the FCA authorisation (FRN 900461) and Lopay’s fee schedule says you form a separate contract with the payment processor.