Worldpay Review: Is it Right for your Business?

We recently tested 18 different merchant account providers that serve customers in the UK – and Worldpay came in second place, thanks to the sheer number of services it provides (including cross platform reporting and advanced fraud prevention), its competitive transaction fees, and wide range of integrations.

While this makes Worldpay a great option for businesses that process high volumes of transactions, compared to other merchant service providers, it has pretty pricey hardware rental costs. This makes it an expensive option for small businesses processing lower volumes.

In this review, we’ll explain how much Worldpay will cost your business, and discuss some of the platform’s hidden fees and key features. Alternatively, if you’d like a personalised recommendation, try our free quote-finding tool. We’ll match you with the most suitable providers, and they’ll reach out to you with offers for you to compare.

How Much Does Worldpay Cost?

Worldpay has become much more transparent with its costs in recent years, but its fee structure can still be quite confusing.

It has pricing plans with fixed fees for small low-volume businesses, but businesses with a card turnover of over £75,000 a year get access to custom prices. It also has a separate offering for large global enterprises, but since this only applies to a minority of UK businesses, we won’t be focusing on it.

Here’s what you can expect to pay for Worldpay’s different services (bear in mind that some of these figures are exemplary, and you’ll need to get a quote for exact prices):

Transaction fees

From 0.75%

Worldpay charges fixed transaction fees for businesses with under £75,000 of annual card turnover, and custom transaction fees for businesses with over £75,000 a year in card turnover.

In-person transaction fees

For businesses with low transaction volume in-person fees are set at 1.5% per transaction. However, this only applies to personal UK Visa and Mastercard cards. This means fees will be higher for cards from other issuers, like Amex and Diners Club, or for business and international cards, but Worldpay doesn’t specify how much higher.

For businesses with a high transaction volume, in-person fees are bespoke, and start at 0.75% + 4.5p per transaction. Once again, this only applies to Visa and Mastercard cards, so the percentage will increase for other types of cards. The 4.5p authorisation fee remains the same, regardless of the card.

Online and over-the- phone transactions

Worldpay charges the same fees for all remote payments, including those from online stores, over the phone, and by links. It has two options for accepting remote payments, Simplicity Payment Gateway, and Worldpay eCommerce.

With Simplicity Payment Gateway, businesses with low turnover will pay transaction fees of 1.5%, which once again, only applies to personal Visa and Mastercard. Businesses with a high transaction volume can get access to custom transaction fees.

With Worldpay eCommerce, transaction fees for low-volume businesses are 1.3% +20p for personal Visa and Mastercard cards, and high-volume businesses get access to custom transaction rates.

Custom transaction fees for both Simplicity Payment Gateway and Worldpay eCommerce can range from 1% to 2.9% + 4.5p for UK Visa and Mastercard cards, according to Worldpay’s own quote estimate tool, which you can find here.

Card machines

From £17.50 per month

Worldpay offers two card machines, a countertop model and a portable model, and charges a monthly rental fee for both. The monthly fee is the same regardless of your business’s transaction volume. Here are the options:

• Desk 5000 countertop card machine (£17.50/month): Ethernet connectivity. Suits a retail business with over-the-counter and till payments and is fixed to a location with a cable.
• DX8000 mobile card machine (22.50/month): Wifi and 4G connectivity. Suits hospitality businesses doing table or bar service, or ones operating on the go.

The transaction fees charged will depend on your transaction volume and the type of card.

Online payment gateways and virtual terminals

From £0 per month

Worldpay bundles its online payment gateways and virtual terminals into one package.

It has two options for businesses, Worldpay eCommerce, which comes with no monthly fee, and Simplicity Payment Gateway, which costs £19.95 per month. Worldpay also offers custom pricing for its Simplicity Payment Gateway for businesses with a high transaction volume.

Overall, Worldpay’s eCommerce gateway is a better deal than its Simplicity gateway. Transaction fees on eCommerce start at 1.3% + 20p, and there’s no monthly fee, whereas with Simplicity transaction fees are 1.5%, and you have to pay a monthly fee.

Hidden fees

Worldpay has a few “hidden fees” that aren’t always made obvious on its website, and can raise monthly costs:

• Monthly service charge (£0-£15/month): Businesses with under £75,000 in annual card turnover won’t pay a monthly service fee, in exchange for slightly higher transaction fees. However, businesses with over £75,000 in annual card turnover pay a minimum of £15 per month to maintain their account.
• PCI compliance fee (from £5/month): All Worldpay customers are subject to a £5 per month fee for basic PCI compliant, but they may end up paying more for full PCI compliance assistance.
• Early termination fee: Worldpay’s contract length is 18 months, one of the longest on the market, and it charges a fee for ending the contract early. How much you pay exactly will depend on your contract.

Worldpay’s £15 per month account fee isn’t the most expensive we’ve seen, and it only applies to high-volume merchants. Its also quite standard for contract-based payment providers to charge this type of fee to high-volume sellers. That said, Tyl by Natwest doesn’t charge a monthly account fee, regardless of sales volume, and its transaction fees are quite low, at 1.39% + 5p.

When it comes to PCI compliance, Worldpay is not alone in charging customers. Competitors takepayments also charges for this service, also it’s an optional payment, and businesses can choose to complete PCI compliance themselves. However, most zero-contract providers take care of PCI compliance for you, at no extra cost.

The early termination policy at Worldpay is quite standard. Most merchant services providers will charge a fee for breaking a contract early, and this is usually the equivalent of paying out the rest of your contract.

Worldpay: Pros and Cons

Like all merchant services providers, Worldpay comes with its pros and cons. Here’s what we like and don’t like about Worldpay:

✔ Pro: Offers the most integrations of any provider

Worldpay is the best merchant account for integrations, offering over 100 across 26 categories. It has ready-made plugins, and can also be integrated with most software platforms through API.

This gives you the flexibility to bolster your business in different areas, whether you want to connect your online store, integrate accountancy software, or link your Worldpay card machine to your EPOS system.

Popular software Worldpay integrates includes Shopify, Salesforce, and Lightspeed POS.

✔ Pro: Excellent customer support services

Worldpay offers excellent customer support, offering guidance across four channels: an online help forum and knowledge base, phone, email, and live chat.

It’s also the only provider out of the 18 we investigated that offers 24/7 phone support. This level of support is vital if you want to ensure minimum downtime for your business, and is especially important if you operate outside of standard business hours, as is the case for most hospitality and retail businesses.

✔ Pro: Offers advanced functionalities and a wide array of services

From your Worldpay dashboard, you’ll get access to advanced functionalities. Beyond simple sales reports, you’ll be able to visualise your data in charts and graphs, and access customer spending patterns analyses. You’ll also be able to manage invoices and chargeback disputes directly from your dashboard.

Worldpay is also far reaching in the services it offers. Besides facilitating in-person and online payments, it offers additional services and software. This includes a cross-provider reporting tool called Pazien, and a digital bill payment platform for private companies and government entities.

X Con: Not the cheapest provider

Worldpay is an excellent merchant services provider, but with that quality comes a relatively high cost. If you have a high transaction volume, you’ll pay a minimum £17.50 per month card machine rental fee, plus a £20 per month account fee (account services + PCI compliance), for a monthly total of 37.50 per month. That’s not even factoring in other potential fees for an online gateway, or EPOS system.

This also isn’t helped by the fact that Worldpay isn’t fully transparent with its fees. Even when navigating its website, they make it difficult to find pages that contain any information on fees and charges. There’s no tab in the main menu for pricing, for example, which is the norm for many competitors.

However, you will get access to low transaction fees (from 0.75%), which should offset some of these costs. And, many businesses feel that paying more for one of the biggest and most trusted brands in payment processing is worth it.

X Con: Longer contract than its competitors

Worldpay’s contracts are 18 months, which is longer than all its contract-based competitors like takepayments and Barclaycard, with 12 month contracts now the standard. Worldpay’s contract length used to be three years, so there’s been some improvement, but it’s still longer than the average.

This could be an issue if you want to leave Worldpay, because you’ll need to pay out your existing contract. If you want the flexibility to change merchant service providers whenever, we suggest opting for a zero-contract provider, like Square or Stripe.

Worldpay’s Key Features Explained

Let’s take a look at Worldpay’s best features in more detail.

Payments

Worldpay is both a payment services provider and a merchant account provider, which means you won’t be dealing with separate bills for your transactions and monthly fees.

This isn’t the case for all merchant services providers – takepayments, for example, works with separate acquiring banks that handle your merchant accounts. Having all your services handled by the same provider can reduce admin time, and help you focus on your business.

Worldpay also accepts over 120 currencies, which is perfect for businesses trading in different territories. And in terms of payment options for your business, Worldpay offers several products:

• Card machines: You can choose between a countertop and mobile card machine, depending on the type of business you run.
• Online payment gateways: Worldpay offers two different online payment gateway packages, eCommerce and Simplicity.
• Virtual terminal: bundled with the payment gateway package, at no extra cost, this terminal enables you to take payments over the phone.
• Invoicing: bundled with Worldpay’s payment gateway, you can create invoices for customers via your dashboard and send pay links to their email.
• Bill payments: Worldpay has a separate platform where businesses can generate ebills for their customers, and where customers can enrol in a payment portal to manage, view, and pay their bills.

EPOS Systems

Worldpay now also offers proprietary EPOS software and hardware, although its card machines can also be integrated with third-party EPOS systems.

It offers three EPOS set-ups:

• Lite: A handheld EPOS device/card machine, from which Worldpay’s EPOS software can be accessed.
• Standard: A countertop EPOS terminal with a standard portable card machine.
• Pro: A countertop EPOS terminal with a handheld EPOS device/card machine.

Pricing for Worldpay’s EPOS solutions is quote-based.

Its EPOS software can be tailored to three types of businesses: hospitality, retail, and salons. It comes with features that suit each business type, such as table and menu management, inventory management, and bookings management.

Integrations and reporting

All Worldpay customers now have free access to the Worldpay Dashboard, which provides reports on card sales, and can be used to manage invoices, settlements, and disputes. Before mid 2023, it was £4.99 per month to access this feature, but it’s now included as standard.

When it comes to integrations, Worldpay is the best there is, offering over 100 across 26 categories.

For example, to make invoicing even easier, you can integrate your Worldpay account with accounting software, such as QuickBooks Online or Sage Accounting, or even Invoice Payments by Bolt, to help you send personalised invoices quickly and easily. Worldpay also integrates with a host of online stores, like Opencart, Woocommerce, and Shopify.

Security

Worldpay charges all its customers £5 per month for basic PCI compliance.

It also has several additional software tools to increase security and reduce fraud:

• Omnitoken: For businesses doing omnichannel selling. It’s a credit card tokenization service that replaces customers’ card data with a token, reducing the risk of theft.
• Fraudsight: For in-store and/or online sellers. An advanced fraud prevention solution designed to predict fraudulent transactions before they occur. A basic version of the software is included with the Worldpay eCommerce online gateway.
• SaferPayments: a managed cybersecurity service for all business types. Merchants are guided through steps to ensure they are PCI compliant and maintain robust cybersecurity measures.

These tools typically come at an added cost, which Worldpay doesn’t disclose.

Additionally, Worldpay will cover loss of funds arising from third-party fraud on guaranteed transactions, under the Worldpay Merchant Guarantee Service. It also provides credit checks to give you added peace of mind.

Help and support

Worldpay offers the most comprehensive customer support of any provider we tested. It offers a knowledge centre, and support via phone, email support, and live chat. It’s also the only provider to offer 24/7 phone support.

What Businesses is Worldpay Best For?

Worldpay is best for businesses looking for an all-in-one solution to taking payments. It provides both merchant account services and payment processing services through a variety of channels (in-person, online, via invoices), and has additional business management solutions, like EPOS systems.

It offers competitive transaction fees for businesses that process over £75,000 in card transactions a year, making it great value for money for those with high sales volumes, or who sell expensive goods. The more items you sell, or the higher their cost, the more high transaction fees will eat into your profits, since they’re taken as a percentage cut of your item’s total cost.

However, Worldpay isn’t the cheapest option out there. Despite its low transaction fees, it comes with a lot of additional charges, such as service fees, card machine licenses, and PCI compliance fees. Plus, businesses with a low transaction volume won’t get access to competitive rates. For this reason, we don’t recommend Worldpay to small businesses with a low volume of card transactions.

Worldpay also has the longest contract of any provider, at 18 months. New businesses who are testing the waters might prefer the flexibility of a zero-contract provider, like SumUp, Square, or Stripe, until they figure out what they need.

If you’re a small business looking to grow, have a look at our best credit card readers for small businesses.

What Do Customers Think of Worldpay?

Worldpay has a rating of 4.4 out of five stars on TrustPilot, with over 7,000 reviews. That’s not bad for a company of its size, although its still lower than rival takepayments, which has an unbeaten rating of 4.9, with close to 50,000 reviews.

Around 67% of Worldpay’s reviews on TrustPilot are five-star reviews, with the second biggest group being one-star reviews, accounting for 27% of the total.

Most positive reviews are praising Worldpay’s customer service, noting that staff were attentive, and quick to get hold of. Others are happy with the rates they received, stating they Worldpay was cheaper than competitors, and appreciated that they could easily integrate Worldpay with their existing software.

Negative reviews are, unsurprisingly, complaining about not being able to contact customer service. Many complaints also mention perceived Worldpay invoice errors, high cancellation fees, and hidden fees not contained in the initial quote.

Our Methodology: How We Reviewed Worldpay