Best Virtual Terminals in the UK: Our Business Guide

Based on our testing and research, takepayments offers the best virtual terminal. It has a tailored and flexible pricing structure that’s designed to match the business’s needs and budget, instead of imposing one-size-fits-all fees, making it great value for small businesses.

That flexibility is important since payments made through a virtual terminal typically have higher processing fees due to the risky nature of the transaction. So, when assessing virtual terminals, we’ve made sure to prioritise providers who offer cheap ways to take card payments over the phone or by mail order, while making sure sensitive data is securely handled.

takepayments might offer cheap fees, but its entirely quote-based pricing and minimum 12-month contract won’t appeal to every business, which is why we’ve included five great alternatives in our review.

The Best Virtual Terminals: Overview

Before we get into our in-depth reviews, here’s a quick overview of each provider that made the top five:

 1. takepayments: Best for Businesses Looking for a Flexible Pricing Structure

takepayments specialises in payment processing solutions for small businesses, offering an entirely customised pricing structure, designed to match business needs and budgets.

Why we recommend takepayments

With takepayments, everything from transaction fees to monthly fees is designed to fit your budget and transaction volume, making takepayments an affordable solution for small businesses.

This is particularly great when using a virtual terminal since it’s used for processing keyed-in payments, which typically have much higher transaction fees than in-person and even online payments. With takepayments, you can get access to fees under 1% per transaction (depending on your sales volume), a bargain compared to competitor Square’s 2.5% equivalent for keyed-in transactions.

Low fees aren’t the only benefit of using takepayments. It also comes with some great reporting tools, allowing you to view and filter sales reports by item, card type, and employee. This can help you understand your fees (certain card types have higher transaction fees), and see which items are your best sellers.

takepayments’s dashboard is also generally easy to navigate, so you won’t struggle processing payments. It can look a little dated at times, but we found the system layout to be highly intuitive and appreciated the use of colour, which made it easy to locate key functions.

Where takepayments could improve

takepayments isn’t perfect. One example is that it doesn’t have a mobile app you can access its virtual terminal from, which can make accepting keyed-in transactions while you’re away from your desktop a pain. You can technically log into the virtual terminal using your phone’s browser, but we don’t recommend this since the text will be very small, making it tricky to use.

The fact that takepayments requires a 12-month contract and only offers quote-based pricing can also understandably put off some businesses. Besides Clover, takepayments is the least transparent about its pricing, increasing the chance that you’ll be met with hidden fees. A 12-month contract also isn’t great for occasional or seasonal sellers, who require flexibility. If that’s you, a zero-contract option like Square is a better fit, and it also has the most transparent pricing of all providers on this list.

takepayments’ fee structure explained

All takepayments fees are custom and quote-based. You can expect to pay transaction fees, a fee for using the virtual terminal, and a monthly account fee.

There’s no mandatory fee for PCI compliance, unlike with Clover, Worldpay, and Barclaycard. But, if you choose to get support with PCI compliance from takepayments, you’ll be charged a one-time fee, instead of a recurring monthly fee, as is the case with competitors.

If you choose to get a card machine through takepayments, you’ll also pay a recurring monthly rental fee, which starts at £25 per month for its proprietary takepaymentsplus card machine.

2. Worldpay: Best for High-volume Sellers

Worldpay is a leading payment processing services provider. Its expertise, 24/7 customer support, and competitive custom fees make it a good choice for businesses with a high transaction volume.

Why we recommend Worldpay

Worldpay offers plans with fixed fees for businesses with a low annual card turnover, and plans with custom fees for businesses that have an annual card turnover above £75,000.

On a fixed fee contract, its keyed-in transaction fees start at 1.3% + 20p on the Worldpay eCommerce package, and 1.5% with its Simplicity payment gateway package, which is lower than competitors Square’s 2.5% fees. However, the truly best deals are for businesses on a custom contract, since transaction fees can go as low as 0.75%.

This makes Worldpay a better fit for businesses that process over £75,000 a year in card payments, especially if they have a high transaction average value since these low fees will eat into profits less.

Worldpay also typically bundles its virtual terminal with an online payment gateway and pay links service, instead of charging separately for each service. If you need a full suite of remote payment tools, these can work out cheaper than if you were using a provider that charges for them separately, such as Clover or takepayments.

Lastly, a highlight of using Worldpay as your virtual terminal provider is that it offers excellent fraud protection, which is especially vital for businesses that handle high-value payments over the phone or by mail order. Worldpay’s proprietary FraudSight software analyzes a transaction in milliseconds and gives them a score between 0 – 1000 to determine whether a transaction is fraud, quickly flagging suspicious activity.

Where Worldpay could improve

Unfortunately, Worldpay’s best offers are reserved for businesses with a high annual transaction volume, who can get access to very low transaction fees.

Although Worldpay’s 1.3% + 20p and 1.5% fixed fees for low-volume sellers are attractive, they’re paired with monthly account fees that start at £19.95, and a £5 PCI compliance fee. In the long run, occasional sellers will get a better deal with Square, since it charges transaction fees, and nothing else.

Worldpay also has one of the longest contract lengths in the industry, requiring a minimum length of 18 months, compared to the 12-month standard. This makes it a poor choice for new businesses looking to test the waters. For new businesses, a zero-contract option like Square is a better choice.

Worldpay’s fee structure explained

Worldpay’s fee and pricing structure can be a little confusing since it offers a plethora of fixed-fee contracts and custom options.

If you’re interested in a virtual terminal, you have three options:

• Simplicity payment gateway (1.5%, and a monthly £19.95 fee): bundles virtual terminal with online payment gateway and pay-by-link, plus uses 3DS Flex software to authenticate payments
• Worldpay eCommerce (1.3% + 20p, and a monthly fee): bundles virtual terminal with online payment gateway and pay-by-link, plus uses 3DS Flex and FraudSight software to authenticate payments
• Custom plan (custom fees): the merchant chooses desired features and tools

Whichever contract you go for, you can expect to pay a monthly account fee and transaction fee, plus a PCI compliance fee starting at £5 per month.

3. Clover: Best for Businesses Looking to Integrate Payment Processing and EPOS

As well as payment processing, Clover offers some of the best EPOS software and hardware on the market, making it a great choice for businesses that want to stick with one provider for all their sales-related needs.

Why we recommend Clover

Like takepayments, Clover’s virtual terminal can only be accessed via desktop, with no app available, and can look a little dated. That being said, it works well, and Clover systems use EMV 3DS to authenticate customers and safeguard against fraud.

When it comes to pricing, Clover offers competitively low custom transaction fees, which can reach as low as 0.2% for in-person transactions (lower than Worldpay), so you’re likely to get a good rate for keyed-in transactions as well. As with all providers that offer custom transaction fees, businesses with a high sales volume will get a better deal with Clover than with providers like Square who offer fixed fees.

Clover also offers businesses a significant incentive to switch to them, guaranteeing up to £1,000 cashback to cover the costs of cancelling your old contract, an offer only beaten by Barclaycard who covers up to £3,000.

Clover is a particularly good option for businesses that need to take physical payments with a card machine or EPOS system, as well as over-the-phone payments since Clover offers some of the best hardware on the market. Even Clover’s competitors, including Tyl by Natwest, offer Clover card machines to rent.

Where Clover could improve

Along with takepayments, Clover has the least transparent pricing of any provider on this list, with all its pricing being quote-based. For businesses that don’t want to waste time requesting a quote, and want to avoid hidden fees, Square is a good alternative, and also offers great EPOS software and card machines.

Clover’s virtual terminal is also only accessible via an online portal, not an app, which isn’t great for taking phone payments when you’re away from your desktop. If you’d like both app and desktop access to your virtual terminal, Square or Worldpay are great alternatives.

Clover’s fee structure explained

Since all of Clover’s pricing is quote-based, it can be hard to predict how much you’ll pay, but we can tell you what you can expect to pay for. On top of transaction fees, you’ll likely be charged a monthly account fee, and virtual terminal use fee, and PCI compliance.

If you choose to also use Clover’s EPOS system and card machines, you’ll be charged a monthly rental fee.

4. Barclaycard: Best for Businesses Who Want to Bank With Barclays

Since Barclaycard is a payment processing service offered by Barclays Bank, businesses must open an account with them to use Barclaycard. This makes it a good choice for businesses who already use the bank for business banking and want to simplify their admin, or are interested in using a trusted bank as their payment provider.

Why we recommend Barclaycard

The main advantage of using Barclaycard’s virtual terminal if you already bank with Barclays is that it avoids you having to use separate providers for business banking and payment processing.

Like takepayments and Clover, it offers a traditional virtual terminal that can be accessed online via desktop, although it’s also possible to key in transactions using some Barclaycard card machines.

It’s a highly trusted provider that provides excellent fraud protections, with 24/7 fraud monitoring to quickly flag suspicious transactions. This is a crucial feature for businesses that take payments over the phone with a virtual terminal since they’re the most risky type of transaction.

Barclaycard doesn’t disclose its transaction fees for keyed-in payments, but it does offer competitive fees and pricing for businesses with a high annual turnover. So, if that’s you, you’re likely to get a good deal.

Lastly, Barclaycard is one of the only providers, besides Worldpay, to offer 24/7 customer support, making it a good choice for businesses that operate outside of regular working hours.

Where Barclaycard could improve

Naturally, if you don’t already bank with Barclays, and don’t plan to, then Barclaycard isn’t the right provider for you, since it requires you to open a Barclays account to use its services.

It’s also not a great option for businesses looking to combine a virtual terminal solution with an EPOS system, since Barclaycard doesn’t offer a native EPOS system. For that, you’re better off with Square or Clover.

Barclaycard’s fee structure explained

With Barclaycard, you’ll be charged a minimum monthly fee of £15 per month, a fee for using the virtual terminal, transaction fees, and a £4.80 per month PCI compliance fee.

If you choose to rent a card machine from Barclaycard, you’ll pay between £15 and £29 per month, depending on the card machine, with in-person transaction fees starting at 1.6% for businesses with under £100,000 in annual card payment turnover. Businesses with over that amount get access to customer fees.

5. Square: Best Zero-contract Virtual Terminal Solution

Square operates on a zero-contract model for all its services, including its virtual terminal, ordering simple pricing with zero monthly fees and fixed transaction fees. Beside payment processing, Square also has an EPOS system and website builder, making it a one-stop shop for businesses.

Why we recommend Square

Square is one of the few virtual terminal providers that doesn’t rope its customers into a contract, and doesn’t charge monthly fees. Instead, it charges fixed-rate transaction fees of 2.5% for all keyed-in transactions. This makes it a great option for businesses that want clear pricing and the flexibility to stop and start using Square at a moment’s notice, such as new businesses, or occasional and seasonal sellers.

Square’s virtual terminal can be accessed online via desktop, or via its free Square POS app, which is available on both iOS and Android. We found the terminal extremely easy to find on the app since the option to key in a transaction appears at checkout.

The main appeal of Square is the fact that it’s an all-in-one solution for businesses, since besides its virtual terminal, it offers an EPOS system (software and hardware), website builder, online payment gateway, invoicing tool, and pay links. This gives it the biggest toolkit of any provider on this list.

Another positive is that businesses access all of these tools for free, since Square bases its pricing on transaction fees. It does have paid versions of certain tools, such as its EPOS software and website builder, for businesses that want access to more advanced features, but the free versions are quite functional.

Where Square could improve

The main disadvantage to using Square is that it doesn’t offer custom transaction fees, even to businesses with a high transaction volume. If that’s you, the money you lose paying Square’s 2.5% transaction fees will probably be more than the money you save not paying monthly fees. We recommend you look into Worldpay or takepayments instead, who offer some of the best custom rates.

If you want to take in-person payments as well as over-the-phone ones, you should also know that Square’s card machine range is limited to just two card machines, with no countertop machines on offer. If that’s something you need, you’ll find a good selection with Tyl by Natwest or Barclaycard.

Square’s fee structure explained

Square’s pricing is much more straightforward than its competitors’ pricing. For using the virtual terminal, you’ll pay 2.5% per transaction, and that’s it. There are no monthly account fees, or extra fees for using the virtual terminal, and PCI compliance is included at no extra cost.

If you’re interested in how much Square’s other products and services cost, you can find a full breakdown in our guide to Square pricing.

6. Tyl by Natwest: Best for Businesses Who Bank With Natwest

As with Barclaycard, Tyl by Natwest is a good option for businesses that already bank with Natwest. However, that’s not the only advantage. Tyl by Natwest offers attractively low fixed transaction fees of 1.39% +5p for businesses with a low annual turnover, making it an affordable option.

Why we recommend Tyl by Natwest

Tyl by Natwest caters to businesses large and small, offering fixed-rate transaction fees to businesses with under £50,000 in annual card turnover, and custom fees for businesses who earn over.

Its fixed fee rates of 1.39% +5p are some of the lowest on the market, less than Square’s 2.5%, making it an affordable option for businesses with a low transaction volume. Plus, Tyl by Natwest charges the same rate for in-person transactions as it does for card-not-present ones, including keyed-in transactions made with a virtual terminal, a rarity in the industry.

Tyl’s virtual terminal is included as part of its £14.95 per month online payments package, giving you access to an online payment gateway and pay links, on top of the virtual terminal. The online payment package is also contract-free since Tyl’s 12-month contract only applies to card machine rentals, making it a flexible option for businesses that only sell remotely.

The virtual terminal can be accessed online. The interface is quite modern looking, unlike the ones offered by takepayments and Worldpay, and adapts well to mobile, so you’ll be able to process payments easily even if you’re away from your desktop.

Where Tyl by Natwest could improve

Since taking payments with Tyl by Natwest requires businesses to open a Natwest account, it’s not a suitable choice for businesses that don’t already bank with Natwest and aren’t willing to switch. If you want to keep your current bank, we recommend going for Worldpay, Clover, or Square.

Tyl’s reporting tools are also a little more limited than its competitors. It’s missing discounts and employee-based reporting, although it does allow you to filter sales by location.

Tyl by Natwest’s fee structure explained

Tyl’s pricing is refreshingly straightforward. All businesses who sign up for a virtual terminal via its online payments package will pay a monthly use fee of £14.95, with no additional monthly account fees.

Businesses with an annual card turnover under £50,000 will pay a 1.39% +5p transaction fee on all payments made with UK and European personal cards, while commercial and non-UK or European cards are subject to a 1.99% +5p transaction fee. This applies to both in-person and card-not-present payments.

If your business’s annual card turnover is over £50,000, you’ll get access to custom transaction fee rates.

Tyl by Natwest doesn’t charge a PCI compliance fee for most businesses. However, certain businesses will be subject to a PCI compliance fee if Tyl deems them eligible.

If you’re also interested in taking in-person payments and choose to rent one of Tyl’s card machines, you’ll pay a monthly rental fee between £9.99 and £19.99.

Do I Need a Merchant Account to Use a Virtual Terminal?

To start using a virtual terminal to take over the phone or by mail payments, you’ll need a merchant account. Conveniently, virtual terminals usually come as part of a package offered by a merchant account provider.

So what does a merchant account actually do? Well, it essentially serves as a kind of holding pen for the funds you receive before they’re sent to your business bank account. Every UK business needs a merchant account in order to accept contactless and chip and pin transactions.

Buying Guide: How to Choose a Virtual Terminal

When choosing a virtual terminal provider, you should consider pricing and fees, features, contract lengths, security, and customer support.

Pricing and fees

The most expensive part of using a virtual terminal is the high transaction fees, which can range from 1% to 3% per transaction. For reference, the range for standard in-person transaction fees is 0.5% to 2%.

If your business takes the bulk of its payments over the phone or by mail order, we recommend choosing a contract-based provider that offers custom transaction fees to avoid having them eat into your profits. Providers that offer custom transaction fees also tend to charge set monthly fees, however, the lower transaction fees you’ll get from working with them should cover this cost.

If you only take occasional over-the-phone payments, it might be more worth it for you to go with a pay-as-you-go, zero-contract provider. Although they tend to charge higher fees, they usually don’t charge monthly fees, and it’s no use paying monthly for a service you only use occasionally.

Features and services

Although some businesses exclusively take over-the-phone payments, most don’t, so it’s worth looking at the other services and features your virtual terminal provider offers.

For example, if you take over-the-phone payments and payments via invoice, choose a provider that offers both. If you sell products in-store and online, but also take phone or mail orders, you’ll need a provider that offers card machines, an online payment gateway, and a virtual terminal.

Choosing a provider that can meet more than one of your needs will save you money and time over using multiple providers.

Contract lengths

Some merchant account providers are contract-based, with one-year contracts being the standard while others operate on a zero-contract, pay-as-you-go model. Which is best for you depends on your business.

If your business has a relatively high transaction volume (over £6,000 per month) that remains steady throughout the year, we recommend going with a contract-based provider. Although they tend to charge monthly fees, they usually also offer low, custom transaction fees, so will be cheaper in the long run.

If your business is seasonal, or you have a low transaction volume, we recommend opting for a zero-contract provider. They offer more flexibility, and you won’t get stuck paying high monthly fees in periods when sales are low.

Security

Payments made with a virtual terminal are keyed-in payments, the most risky kind, so you want to make sure you choose a provider with strong security measures in place.

At the bare minimum, all payment processing service providers should be PCI compliant, but you should also look at the provider’s fraud prevention measures. Some providers have specialised fraud monitoring software in place to detect suspicious transactions.

Customer support

It’s important to choose a merchant account provider with an available and easily reachable customer service team.

We recommend you look for providers that offer phone support and at least two other support channels, whether that be live chat or email. Also, look at how well customer service opening hours match your business’s opening hours.

While some providers offer 24/7 support, most don’t, so you want to at least make sure they’re not closed at crucial periods for your business, such as the weekends.

How We Test Virtual Terminals