Dojo Review: Fast Transfers But Is It Worth It?

While Dojo didn’t quite crack our list of the best merchant accounts on the UK market, it has plenty of appealing qualities.

Namely, Dojo offers competitive transaction fees, fast fund transfers within 24 hours every day of the week and extensive EPOS integration options for its modern hardware. However, that hardware doesn’t support offline payments and you’ll potentially face more ongoing fees than you would with other providers.

Read on for an in-depth look at its pricing, hardware, features and customer support compared to other top options on the market. Equally, if you’re short on time and want to compare providers for your exact business needs now, you can use our free quote tool to get no-obligation, custom quotes. After all, many providers have custom pricing options – including Dojo.

Dojo Review: Summary

If we were to recommend Dojo to anyone, it would be for merchants already using a POS system. That’s because it’s able to sync and integrate with over 600 different POS software –  which is why you see it so often in pubs, restaurants, and bars in UK cities. With Dojo, your business won’t have to worry about getting an entirely new POS system along with a new payment device.

Businesses that like to hunt around to find the best deal will be further enticed by Dojo’s unique commitment to covering switching fees. Dojo states it would cover up to £3,000 worth of exit fees in some cases, making any potential move a painless one.

And with Dojo offering next-day payouts as standard, which many suppliers make you pay a premium price for, you’ll be able to feel the effects of changing merchant accounts instantly. No matter what day it is, or if it is a bank holiday, you’ll get your funds the next day. 

Dojo Costs and Transaction Fees

In 2025, Dojo changed its pricing structure to a new, more flexible model that allows businesses to choose how they pay, their rate option and their contract terms.

However, it also states the base rates for most businesses on its website, which are similar to what they were before but with a few tweaks to the figures.

These two base pathways for Dojo’s pricing are: businesses processing more than £180,000 in card payments per year and those processing less than £180,000 in card payments per year. These thresholds have changed from above and below £150,000 which was in place in 2024.

Each option continues to have a 12-month minimum contract, which is then followed by a rolling per-month contract. However, Dojo now notes that businesses taking in over £1m in annual card turnover could negotiate different contract lengths, which is a new addition.

Businesses eligible for Dojo’s custom pathway can negotiate custom prices with Dojo (or use our quote-finding tool to compare with other providers’ custom prices), while those relevant to the latter pathway have a flat pricing model for platform, transaction and hardware fees. Let’s summarise what you can expect before we dive into the specifics.

Dojo’s hardware costs

There is now a choice for either paying monthly or paying upfront for Dojo’s hardware (although, validity for the former depends on business turnover):

• Pay monthly, ongoing
  • From £15 per month (usually £20 per month).
  • Only available for businesses with an annual card turnover of £100,000 or more.
• Pay once, upfront
  • From £179 (with no ongoing hardware costs).
  • Available to any business.

After confirming with Dojo customer support, it appears that may only be offered the £15 per month card machine rental rate if you are on a bespoke rate plan, otherwise, it would be £20 per month. It’s also stated that if your business has an annual card turnover of less than £100,000 then you’ll not be eligible for monthly payments at all.

In both cases, this cheapest device is the Dojo Go model, according to our research (there is no public pricing for any other hardware devices Dojo offers, such as the Dojo Pocket, as these require you to get a pricing quote from the supplier). Alternatively, you can also purchase this hardware outright for £179 and not have any more ongoing costs to consider.

By comparison, you can purchase hardware outright for around one month of Dojo’s monthly via providers like Square (£19 + VAT). In other words, there are cheaper options than Dojo for hardware on the UK market. However, that low-cost hardware is much less capable than the Dojo Go, as we’ll detail in our hardware section further down this page.

Dojo’s platform fees

With Dojo, you’ll also have a base rate of £10 per month for the use of its cloud-native payments platform. That rate used to be £24.95 per month but it was reduced in 2024. This lower price brought it in line with providers like Worldpay’s £9.95 per month costs.

Although Dojo has dropped its fees, it’s worth mentioning that many other providers don’t have monthly fees at all. That includes the likes of Zettle, Tide, Square and SumUp. However, with platform fees stated as ‘negotiable’ for businesses processing over £180k per annum of card payments, the rates might be lower for larger businesses.

Does Dojo have any hidden fees?

Besides the aforementioned custom transaction fees for American Express credit cards, one big point to note is that processing refunds costs 50p. Many other providers offer this free of charge.

If you have a store with multiple locations, it is also worth reiterating that you’ll have a £10 per month charge per location to access its cloud-native payments platform.

Dojo Review: Hardware

A key area where Dojo stood out from other UK merchant account providers was its card reader’s compatibility, which can connect to up to 600 third-party POS devices that Dojo doesn’t supply. This means you don’t have to worry about getting an entirely new POS system along with your payment device.

1. Dojo Go: Portable Card Machine

Price: £15 to £20 per month

The Dojo Go is essentially a must-have if you opt for a Dojo merchant account.

That’s not just because it is Dojo’s most feature-rich card machine, but down to it being the only option you have. Dojo doesn’t support third-party card reader hardware and the Dojo Pocket – a slimmer card machine accessory– is only available to be yours after you’ve purchased the Dojo Go for your business first.

Those limitations aside, let’s detail the key features of the Dojo Go and what we think about it compared to other top card readers.

Dojo Go key features

• Connectivity: Equipped with both Wi-Fi and a built-in 4G SIM card to ensure reliable connectivity anywhere.
• Touchscreen interface: Features a high-resolution touchscreen for intuitive navigation and ease of use.
• Battery life: Long-lasting battery designed to last a full trading day on a single charge.
• Security: Fully PCI DSS compliant with point-to-point encryption (P2PE) for secure transactions.
• Built-in receipt printer: Allows for immediate printing of customer receipts after transactions.
• Weight: 458g

What do we think about the Dojo Go?

Dojo states the Go card machine can take payments 58% faster than the market average, according to an independent study by Savanta (2023), which is an impressive claim that seems to bear out in reality according to our additional research.

We believe the Dojo Go is very user-friendly, with a speedy touchscreen interface that allows staff to navigate and process transactions efficiently. At 458g, it’s not the lightest card reader in the world (that role is saved for the Dojo Pocket) but it’s still eminently portable, with a sleek design that looks professional, too.

The dual connectivity options of WiFi and 4G provide reliable performance which means you can accept payments even if one connection type is unavailable. On the other hand, that’s not useful if you are selling outdoors in a remote region without either, nor is it an apt table-top option given it forgoes ethernet connectivity. But for most businesses, it should still work well.

Likewise, the built-in receipt printer saves you from purchasing one separately and improves convenience for both staff and customers when taking payment. Not all card machines offer a built-in receipt printer, for instance, Zettle’s Card Reader 2, so it shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Battery performance appears solid, promising 10 hours of use from a single charge which is above the industry standard of eight hours. The SumUp Air can better this and be used for 12 consecutive hours, though it doesn’t have a screen and instead connects to a smartphone.

2. Dojo Pocket: Compact Card Reader

Price: Custom

Only available after purchasing the Dojo Go, the Dojo Pocket is a more slimline alternative that offers much of the same features minus the ability to print physical receipts.

Dojo Pocket key features

• Ultra-portable design: Small and lightweight, it is designed to fit comfortably in your pocket for ultimate mobility.
• Same connectivity as Dojo Go: Both WiFi and 4G are supported on the Dojo Pocket.
• Smartphone connectivity: Pairs with smartphones via Bluetooth to use it with the Dojo app (available on iOS and Android).
• Digital receipts: You can send receipts directly to customers via email or text message through the app (there’s no in-built receipt printer).
• Battery life: Built to last through a full day of transactions on a single charge.

What do we think about the Dojo Pocket?

We think the Dojo Pocket is ideal for businesses on the move, such as market traders, food trucks, or mobile service providers, due to its compact size.

Customers can simply tap their card/smart device for any sale or refund amount. If the payment is over £100, the device will display a virtual PIN pad to use without the need to insert a card. There’s also the ability to pay via a QR code if a customer has a smartphone.

Speaking of which, pairing the device with a smartphone is pretty seamless by all accounts, and the Dojo app itself offers an intuitive interface, making it easy to manage transactions and send digital receipts to relevant email addresses or phone numbers.

Our main annoyance about the Dojo Pocket is that you can’t opt to purchase it without the Dojo Go. If Dojo allowed it to be purchased individually, the Pocket could take centre stage rather than be a sideshow to the Go model.

Of course, it is also not the best choice for printing physical receipts regularly, since it doesn’t have this built-in. But since you would need the Dojo Go to purchase it anyway, which has this functionality, it is something of a moot point.

Dojo Review: Software Features

Now you know what the prices are, and the sorts of top card machines you can get with Dojo, you next need to consider the features you are getting for your investment. Here’s a run through the areas we considered as part of our extensive, impartial research and the results we found with Dojo.

You can filter reports by date, time and transaction type.

However, should you want to track employee sales performance or generate detailed reports on sales, customer behaviour, and inventory, you’ll need to integrate Dojo with a compatible third-party EPOS system. That’s because it doesn’t provide these more advanced reporting tools as part of its software. If you want more detailed reporting built-in, takepayments is a better fit with a similar monthly fee and contract commitment.

Offline functionality

As discussed in our hardware section, Dojo’s card machines utilise WiFi and are supported by a 4G SIM card should they be out of range of a WiFi connection.

However, if you are in a remote region where you can’t get reliable connectivity via either of those options, Dojo’s hardware can’t function. It has no offline mode and requires some kind of connection to work, meaning it’s not a great choice for on-the-go businesses in areas without strong 4G service.

Dojo Mobile App

A modern merchant account, Dojo does have applications for both iOS and Android devices titled “Dojo for Business”. After you pair your card readers with the app, you can see live updates on transactions and sales performance over time as part of an intuitive and attractive user interface.

You can also manage refunds and voids on the app, as well as access customer support should you need quick assistance.

Security 

Dojo is PCI DSS compliant and the process to become compliant is fairly straightforward. You’ll just need to read two documents and answer two questions. After this, you’ll be compliant via the app or your Dojo account online.

We’d say Dojo’s compliance process is the easiest and cheapest out of all the providers in our research. For instance, takepayments, our highest-rated provider, has a self-assessment questionnaire of up to 300 questions. In other words, Dojo is a good choice for businesses that want to ensure PCI compliance without paying extra or dealing with lengthy processes.

Dojo also offers Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) of card data at the point of interaction to ensure secure transactions. Plus, it offers assistance with handling and/or disputing chargeback claims, should you need it.

Dojo Review: Help & Support

Dojo offers fairly extensive help and support options including phone and live chat lines. Customers get tech support every day of the week between the hours of 8am and 11pm. The support team is UK-based, so you’ll be getting agents who understand your queries from a UK-based business standpoint.

Impressively, if you need immediate card machine support, Dojo technicians can log into your device remotely to assist with any problems. And it also offers 24-hour card machine replacement if a device is unrepairable, too.

Dojo’s online help centre means you’ve got a lot of additional documentation to help you find answers quickly yourself, too. As part of our testing, we tried looking for answers to five common business problems, across all of the top merchant account providers. With Dojo we were able to easily find answers to all five of our test queries within Dojo’s help centre, in one click.

The only thing missing from Dojo’s help and support armoury is a user forum and perhaps more importantly, an email line.

How Does Dojo Compare to Its Competitors?

We’ve tried to offer comparison throughout this Dojo review to other big names, but sometimes it is easier to compare key attributes of each provider side-by-side. Here’s a table to do just that.

Dojo’s monthly fees versus competitors

Dojo sits in the middle of the market with monthly platform fees, charging £10 per location. While it betters the fees our research tells us to be true for the likes of takepayments or Worldpay (reaching as high as £20 and £40 respectively), it is more expensive than the likes of Square, Zettle, and SumUp which remove ongoing monthly costs entirely. Still, Dojo’s modest fee may be justified by its extra features.

Dojo’s hardware costs versus competitors

Dojo’s hardware cost is competitive but not brilliant, with a monthly rental fee for hardware that is lower than takepayments, similar to or slightly lower than Worldpay. Still, its outright cost of £179 + VAT is far higher than the outright purchase prices for Square, Zettle, and SumUp (£19 to £39 + VAT).

Dojo’s transaction fees versus competitors

Dojo’s fee range between 0.8% + 5p up to 2.49% + 5p is flexible and can be negotiated to be even more competitive if your business has a higher turnover (where custom rates come into play).

However, for many very small businesses that process low volumes, the simplicity of the flat rates offered by Square (1.4% + 25p to 1.75%), Zettle (1.75% to 2.5%) or SumUp may be more attractive (1.69% to 2.5%). Still, Dojo does say it could offer 1.2% flat rates for all transactions, which is worth enquiring about.

Dojo’s integration capabilities versus competitors

Dojo is known for its strong integration capabilities and can integrate with over 600 major EPOS systems. This native compatibility means that Dojo can form the backbone of an integrated retail solution with advanced reporting and real‑time transaction tracking. This compares very favourably with providers like Clover and Square which also emphasise full‑system integration.

Dojo’s fund transfer time versus competitors

Dojo’s 24‑hour turnaround is solid, beating out the likes of Zettle, SumUp and Clover which could take as long as two or three days. Worldpay’s ultra‑fast transfers of under 30 minutes are also noteworthy (but may come at a premium).

Dojo’s contract lengths versus competitors

Dojo’s 12‑month contract may be seen as a downside for very small or start‑up businesses when compared with the no-contract options offered by Square, Zettle, and SumUp. However, many businesses with higher transaction volumes may be willing to trade contract commitment for lower negotiated fees that Dojo offers.

How We Reviewed Dojo