Best Payment Gateways for UK E-commerce in 2026
Every payment gateway takes a cut, and that cut compounds over every single sale you'll ever process. A half-percent difference in transaction fees looks trivial on one order and adds up to real money by the time you're processing hundreds a month.
We compared three gateways UK online sellers actually use, and they differ mainly on the trade-off between fee, familiarity, and flexibility. Stripe is the developer-friendly default for custom checkouts. PayPal costs more per transaction but carries buyer trust that can measurably improve conversion for unfamiliar or new stores. SumUp undercuts both on fee once you’re doing consistent volume, at the cost of PayPal’s brand recognition and some of Stripe’s integration flexibility.
- Three payment gateways, ranked by who they actually suit
- A side-by-side comparison of UK transaction fees
- What matters most when choosing a payment gateway
- Answers to the questions UK online sellers ask most before choosing
The short version
- Best overall Stripe charges 1.5% + 20p on standard UK cards — the lowest fee of the three plus the most flexible developer tools for a custom checkout.
- Best for buyer trust PayPal costs more at 2.9% + £0.30 per transaction, but its widespread recognition can improve conversion, particularly for newer or less-established stores.
- Best for volume SumUp drops to 0.99% on its Payments Plus plan (£19/month) once you’re processing enough volume to justify the subscription, undercutting both alternatives at scale.
- The cheapest fee isn't always the cheapest choice A gateway customers trust and complete checkout with can outperform a marginally lower fee if the alternative loses sales at the cart.
Our Top Picks at a Glance
Best Overall: Stripe
Stripe's standard UK rate — 1.5% plus 20p per transaction on domestically issued cards — is already the lowest of the three on a typical sale, and it comes attached to what's generally regarded as the most developer-friendly payment infrastructure available. If your store needs a custom checkout flow, subscription billing, marketplace-style split payments, or integration with a specific e-commerce platform, Stripe's documentation and flexibility make it the default recommendation.
International cards and certain payment methods (some digital wallets, currency conversion) carry different, typically higher rates, so the 1.5% + 20p figure applies specifically to standard UK-issued cards rather than every transaction you'll process. For most UK-focused stores selling primarily to domestic customers, though, it's the number that matters most.
Current price: 1.5% + 20p per UK card transaction, per stripe.com/gb/pricing (correct at time of publication — always confirm live pricing before buying).
Best for Buyer Trust: PayPal
PayPal costs more per transaction — 2.9% plus a £0.30 fixed fee on standard commercial transactions — which is a meaningfully higher rate than either alternative here. What it buys is recognition: a huge proportion of UK online shoppers already have a PayPal account, and offering it at checkout alongside card payment can genuinely reduce cart abandonment, particularly for smaller or newer stores customers haven't heard of yet and might not fully trust with their card details directly.
The honest calculation is whether that conversion benefit outweighs the higher fee for your specific store — for an established brand with strong existing trust signals, it may not; for a new store building credibility, it often does. Most sensible approach for many stores is offering both PayPal and card payment (via Stripe or similar) side by side, letting customers pick what they trust.
Current price: 2.9% + £0.30 per transaction, per paypal.com/uk (correct at time of publication — always confirm live pricing before buying).
Best for Volume: SumUp
SumUp's pay-as-you-go rate, 1.69% with no fixed fee, is already competitive for a store with irregular or lower transaction volume. Where it becomes the clear cost winner is the Payments Plus plan — a £19 monthly subscription that drops the transaction fee to 0.99%, which beats Stripe's rate outright once your monthly sales volume is high enough that the subscription fee is a rounding error against the savings on each transaction.
The crossover point is worth actually calculating: at roughly £2,000+ in monthly card sales, the fee savings from Payments Plus start to outweigh the £19 subscription cost compared to pay-as-you-go pricing. Below that, pay-as-you-go or a fee-only gateway is likely cheaper overall. SumUp is UK-focused and well suited to businesses that also take in-person card payments, since its pricing and hardware span both.
Current price: 1.69% pay-as-you-go, or 0.99% + £19/month on Payments Plus, per sumup.com/en-gb/pricing (correct at time of publication — always confirm live pricing before buying).
|
Best Overall
Stripe
|
Best for Buyer Trust
PayPal
|
Best for Volume
SumUp
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard UK transaction fee | 1.5% + 20p | 2.9% + £0.30 | 1.69% (or 0.99% + £19/mo) |
| Monthly subscription required | No | No | – |
| Customisable checkout | – | – | – |
| Buyer brand recognition | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| In-person card reader option | – | No | Yes |
| Check Price | Check Price | Check Price |
How to choose a payment gateway
The lowest transaction fee isn’t automatically the cheapest choice if a less-trusted checkout costs you more in abandoned carts than the fee difference is worth.
A subscription business, a marketplace, or a store with complex checkout logic needs genuine developer flexibility that not every gateway provides equally.
Some gateways offer a lower percentage fee in exchange for a monthly subscription. Below a certain transaction volume, the pay-as-you-go rate is actually cheaper.
Standard domestic-card rates are usually the headline number, but international cards and currency conversion typically carry meaningfully higher fees on every gateway.
Common questions about choosing a UK payment gateway
Can I offer more than one payment gateway on my store at once?
Yes, and it’s common practice — many UK stores offer both a card gateway like Stripe and PayPal side by side, letting customers choose whichever they trust or find more convenient, at the cost of managing two integrations.
Do these fees include VAT?
Payment processing fees themselves aren’t typically subject to VAT in the UK, but always confirm the specific gateway’s current terms, since tax treatment of financial services fees can be more nuanced than standard goods and services.
Is a lower transaction fee always better for a small business?
Not automatically — for a small or new store, the conversion benefit from an already-trusted payment brand like PayPal can outweigh a percentage point or two in fees, especially early on when every completed sale matters more than fee optimisation.
Do I need a separate merchant account alongside a payment gateway?
With Stripe, PayPal and SumUp specifically, no — all three combine the payment gateway and merchant account functions into one service, which is part of why they’re popular with small businesses compared to traditional bank-provided merchant accounts.
How quickly does money from card payments actually reach my bank account?
It varies by gateway and account history — typically a few business days for established accounts, sometimes with an initial holding period for new accounts while the provider assesses fraud risk. Check the specific payout schedule before relying on it for cash flow.
Which payment gateway should you actually use?
- Stripe suits most UK stores as the lowest-fee, most flexible default
- PayPal is worth the higher fee for newer stores that benefit from its brand recognition
- SumUp's Payments Plus tier becomes the cheapest option once monthly volume is high enough
- Consider offering more than one gateway rather than optimising purely for the lowest fee
For most UK online stores, Stripe’s combination of the lowest standard fee and the most flexible checkout tooling makes it the sensible default. If you’re a newer store still building buyer trust, offering PayPal alongside your primary gateway is worth the extra fee for the conversion benefit. And once you’re processing consistent, meaningful monthly volume, SumUp’s Payments Plus tier is worth calculating against your actual numbers — the subscription can pay for itself many times over at real scale.
