Methodology · last reviewed 12 May 2026
How we rank providers.
We list every UK card payment provider that matters for hospitality. We earn from many of them, and we're transparent about which ones — but listing is editorial, not commercial. Coverage is the product; impartial ranking is the moat.
Inputs
- · Venue type
- · Approximate monthly card volume
- · Current provider, if any
- · Hospitality features you need
Filters
- · Providers whose suitable venues don't include yours
- · Providers missing a feature you marked required
- · Quote-only providers shown separately
Sort order
The ranking is just these four things, in order.
01
Total monthly cost ascending
Processing fees at your volume + monthly service fee + terminal rental + amortised hardware (over 24 months).
02
Faster settlement wins
Instant beats next-day beats 2–3 day beats weekly. Cash flow matters.
03
Shorter contract wins
Month-to-month beats 18-month beats 36-month.
04
Seamless partner, only at genuine ties
If cost, settlement, and contract are all equal, our partner provider wins. Disclosed here because it's the only place a partnership affects the displayed rank.
What does NOT influence the ranking
- · The bounty or residual we earn from any provider.
- · Whether a provider is a Seamless partner — except as the final tiebreak above.
- · Which CTA we show you. CTAs vary by lead-routing rules; the ranking does not.
Source-controlled
The ranking algorithm lives in source control under src/lib/comparison/rank.ts, with full Vitest coverage of the boundaries and tiebreaks. Every released change is reviewable in the public git history.
Rate freshness
We re-verify each provider's pricing quarterly. Each provider's review page shows when its rates were last verified. If a provider's rates haven't been re-verified in over six months you'll see a warning.
Why we list providers we don't earn from
Coverage is the product.
We list every UK card payment provider that hospitality businesses realistically consider — not just the ones that pay us. That includes Worldpay, takepayments, the bank acquirers, and others where we have no commercial relationship at all.
We do this because a comparison that omits half the market isn't a comparison — it's an advert. If you're currently on Worldpay or considering them, we want to give you an accurate picture of what you'd actually pay, alongside the providers that do pay us. The maths is honest either way: we earn enough from the providers we partner with that we don't need to hide the ones we don't.
What the asterisk means
The little * tells you the source.
A rate marked with an asterisk (e.g. 1.69%*) is taken from the provider's publicly advertised pricing on their own website. We've verified it manually on the date shown, and we re-check quarterly. These are the same rates the provider would quote a new customer through their own sign-up process — we're just collecting them in one place so you can compare.
For providers we do have a commercial relationship with, we've confirmed pricing directly with them. Both kinds of rate are accurate, but the asterisk tells you which is which.
Small print
CardRate displays rates from third-party payment providers either under commercial partnership (where the provider's pricing is shared with us directly) or from each provider's publicly advertised pricing on their own marketing surfaces. Where rates are displayed from public sources, they reflect the headline rate offered to new customers as of the verification date shown. Individual merchant pricing may vary based on volume, business type, contract terms, and other factors negotiated directly with the provider. CardRate is not a payment processor and does not directly offer card processing services. CardRate is operated by Seamless Hospitalty Technology Ltd; see About for company information.