# SumUp — Payment SumUp by SumUp Group (SumUp Payments Ltd) holds a panel rating of 1.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 2/5), as of 2026-10-15. Provenance: provenance unknown; sovereignty: not determined. - Vendor: SumUp Group (SumUp Payments Ltd) (https://sumup.com) - Category: [Payment](https://whats-best.ai/software/payment.md) - Provenance (editorial classification): provenance unknown - Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/payment/sumup - Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/payment/sumup/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/payment/sumup/alternatives.md)) - Data as of: 2026-10-21 · evaluated 2026-10-15 · oldest source captured 2026-10-13 **AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology ## At a glance - Vendor: SumUp Group (SumUp Payments Ltd) - Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026 - Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026 - Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026 ## The panel's verdict SumUp's captured pages describe a card-first payments provider for in-person and online acceptance. Its strongest area is checkout and SCA, scored 6 to 6 — the highest mark on the table — with documented EMV 3DS frictionless and challenge flows, exemption categories including the €30 EEA low-value rule, liability shift, and sandbox test cards. Settlement and reconciliation clusters at 5, reaching 6 once, on a documented payouts API (dates, fees, references, statuses; JSON or CSV) and stated next-day availability. Sovereignty scores 0 to 1: legal entity jurisdiction, ownership, data residency and subprocessor exposure are unconfirmed on the captured pages, and the only legal document captured is a United States sub-merchant agreement. Pricing transparency scores 1: we found no published per-transaction rate, only that customers pay nothing and merchants carry no monthly fixed costs or minimum revenue. Licence and account terms scores 1 to 2 on that agreement, which permits charged-back amounts to be debited from the merchant without stated limits. Recurring billing splits 3 to 4: lower scores saw customer-dependent renewals; higher scores credited recurring invoices and customer-approved recurring direct debits. **Speaks for it:** - Checkout and SCA scored 6 to 6, on documented EMV 3DS frictionless and challenge flows, exemption categories including the €30 EEA low-value rule, and an explained liability shift to the issuer. - A documented payouts API returns dates, fees, references and statuses with deduction records for refunds, chargebacks and direct debit returns, in JSON or CSV. - Next-day availability of earnings in the business account is stated, including weekends and holidays. - The pricing model states customers pay nothing, merchants pay only when accepting a card payment, with no monthly fixed costs and no minimum revenue. - A sandbox with test cards covering challenge, not-enrolled and technical-failure scenarios supports integration testing. **Held against it:** - Pricing transparency scored 1: we found no published per-transaction rate, nor chargeback, refund, payout or currency-conversion fees, so an effective fee cannot be computed from public pages. - Sovereignty scored 0 to 1: legal entity jurisdiction, ownership, data residency and subprocessor exposure are unconfirmed, and the only legal document captured is a United States sub-merchant agreement. - The captured sub-merchant agreement permits charged-back amounts to be debited from the merchant without stated limits, a published chargeback fee or a stated dispute process. - Recurring billing scored 3 to 4: recurring runs through invoices and customer-approved direct debits, and we found no public information on stored-card tokens, smart retries, dunning or taking payment credentials to another provider. - Payment methods scored 2 to 3: we found no public information on which countries and currencies each method covers, on SEPA Direct Debit at checkout, or on local methods such as iDEAL, Bancontact, BLIK and TWINT. **Best for:** - You accept card payments in person and online and want a documented hosted checkout with EMV 3DS and sandbox test cards to build against. - You want stated next-day availability of earnings, including weekends and holidays, and payout records exportable to accounting software. - You bill service customers through recurring invoices, payment links and reminders rather than card-on-file subscriptions. - You want no monthly fixed costs or minimum revenue while the card reader sits idle. **Avoid if:** - You must verify a provider's regulated entity, licence, data residency or subprocessor exposure before signing. - You need to know your effective per-transaction fee, including chargeback and cross-border fees, before committing. - Your subscription model depends on stored-card merchant-initiated charges, smart retries and dunning. - You sell across European markets and need local methods such as iDEAL, Bancontact, BLIK or TWINT. ## Scores by judge and criterion Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price. | Criterion | The Finance Lead | The E-Commerce Lead | The SaaS Founder | The Payments Engineer | The Compliance Officer | The Skeptic | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Payment methods & local coverage | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 | | Checkout, SCA & fraud | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | | Subscriptions & recurring payments | 2/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | | Settlement, reconciliation & API | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | 2.5/5 | | Licence, risk & account terms | 0.5/5 | 1/5 | 0.5/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | 1/5 | | European sovereignty | 0/5 | 0/5 | 0.5/5 | 0/5 | 0/5 | 0.5/5 | | Pricing transparency | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | 0.5/5 | | **Weighted verdict** | **1.5/5** | **2/5** | **1.5/5** | **2/5** | **1/5** | **1.5/5** | ### The judges - **The Finance Lead** (v1.0): Closes the month and owns the cash position. Wants payouts on a stated schedule, fees itemised per transaction rather than netted into a lump, reports that match the bank statement, and a rolling reserve written into the contract with a limit rather than discovered on a Tuesday. - **The E-Commerce Lead** (v1.0): Sells to customers in eight EU countries and is measured on conversion. Wants the local methods each market actually uses named per country, a checkout that stays on her domain, and 3-D Secure that challenges only when it must. Reads "100+ payment methods" as a count, not a list. - **The SaaS Founder** (v1.0): Runs a B2B subscription business where every failed renewal is churn nobody chose. Wants SEPA mandates as well as cards, dunning that recovers, proration that is correct, and the payment tokens exportable — because a provider that keeps the tokens keeps the customer base hostage. - **The Payments Engineer** (v1.0): Integrates the provider and gets paged when webhooks stop arriving. Wants a versioned API with idempotency keys, a test mode that behaves like production, the PCI scope of each integration stated, and a status page that admits incidents rather than a green dot. - **The Compliance Officer** (v1.0): Handles data protection and outsourcing risk, and wants the regulated entity named with its supervisor and register number, not "licensed in Europe". Asks where transaction and cardholder data are processed, who the subprocessors are, and where the provider acts as controller rather than processor. - **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Knows the headline rate covers the cheapest card in the cheapest country. Reads for the currency conversion markup, the chargeback fee, the payout delay and the clause that lets the provider freeze funds without a reason — and treats a missing licence number as an answer. ## European sovereignty — proven facts Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined. | Dimension | Finding | Points | Source | |---|---|---|---| | Legal entity | Not determined | — | — | | Ownership | Not determined | — | — | | Data residency | Not determined | — | — | | Subprocessors | Not determined | — | — | ## Key facts Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources). **Compliance** - Aml laws: Bank Secrecy Act · OFAC · Federal Trade Commission [S9] - Fca authorisation: SumUp Payments Limited · FCA · Electronic Money Regulations 2011 · 900700 [S2] - Fca authorisation: SumUp Payments Limited · Electronic Money Regulations 2011 · Financial Conduct Authority · 900700 [S6] - Operating regulations: PCI DSS · VISA Cardholder Information Security Program · MasterCard Site Data Protection Program [S9] **Integrations** - Card network regulation links: Visa · MasterCard · Discover [S9] - Checkout creation: Checkout created via API with unique checkout_reference and redirect_url [S5] - Payouts auth: Bearer token via API key [S7] - Payouts scopes: user.profile · user.profile_readonly · payouts.read [S7] **Legal** - Acquirer entity: WORLDPAY, LLC · 8500 Governors Hill Drive, Symmes Township, OH 45249-1384 [S9] - Amendment: yes [S9] - Assignment: yes [S9] - Breach notice period: 30 [S9] - Governing law: Ohio [S9] - Liability limitation: termination · none [S9] - Member bank: Fifth Third Bank · Cincinnati, OH 45263 · Ohio · yes [S9] - Regulator: SumUp Limited · Central Bank of Ireland [S3] - Sumup entity: SumUp Inc. · 1209 Orange Street Wilmington DE 19801-0801 [S9] - Sumup registration: Airwallex · Fifth Third Bank [S9] - Term coterminous: coterminous with Provider agreement [S9] - Termination notice: 8 · yes [S9] **Pricing** - Cashback promotion: hardware cashback · yes · 100 [S3] - Fixed fee model: one_off_hardware_purchase_plus_fixed_per_transaction_fee · yes [S2] - Hardware solo lite price: 34 · Solo Lite [S3] - Hardware solo price: 79 · Solo [S3] - Hardware tappay free: 0 · Tap to Pay [S3] - Hardware terminal price: 169 · Terminal [S3] - No monthly fees: no [S2] - Payg model: no · no · yes [S3] - Payments plus: 0.79 · 17 [S3] - Rates stable: yes [S2] - Revenue based rate: 0 · 1.39 [S3] - Settlement accounts: yes · yes · yes [S9] - Solo lite price: 25 · Solo Lite · GBP [S2] - Solo price: 79 · Solo · GBP [S2] - Sumup card zero fee: payment via personal SumUp Card · 0 [S3] - Terminal price: 135 · Terminal · GBP [S2] **Product** - 3ds flows: frictionless · challenge [S5] - 3ds support: yes [S5] - Accepted methods: visa · mastercard · amex · maestro · vpay [S2] - Accepted payment methods: yes · yes · yes · yes [S3] - Branding config: Business logo and icon configurable via Branding page in SumUp Dashboard [S4] - Business account next day: SumUp Geschäftskonto · next day, including weekends and holidays [S3] - Card storage prohibition: no [S9] - Challenge control: Challenge decisions issuer-controlled, cannot be disabled by client [S5] - Chargebacks: yes [S9] - Currency example: EUR [S4] - Customer fee: merchant · yes [S3] - Customer payment options: direct debit · credit card · bank transfer [S6] - Digital payments: invoices · online_payments · payment_links · booking [S2] - Digital payments tools: payment links · invoices · online shop [S3] - Ecosystem business account: yes · next_day [S2] - Enable flag: hosted_checkout.enabled [S4] - Exemption categories: low-value payment · transaction risk analysis · recurring payment · trusted beneficiary [S5] - Exemption low value: EEA · low-value · 30 [S5] - Free mastercard: yes [S2] - Free mastercard: 0 · physical · virtual [S3] - Fulfillment rule: Fulfill only after backend retrieves checkout with status PAID [S5] - Hosted checkout responsibility: Hosted Checkout: SumUp presents payment and auth flow; merchant backend verifies final status [S5] - Hosted checkout summary: Hosted Checkout lets merchants accept online payments via a payment page hosted by SumUp with minimal integration effort [S4] - Integration flow: create checkout via API, receive hosted_checkout_url, redirect customer [S4] - Invoices management: create · send · manage [S6] - Invoices receipts and reminders: yes · yes [S6] - Liability shift: Successful 3DS can shift fraud chargeback liability from merchant to issuer; not guaranteed [S5] - Limited acceptance: yes · yes [S9] - Market share claim: Card payments represent more than half of UK transactions [S2] - Minimum transaction: 10 [S9] - Mobile acceptance: table · markets · deliveries · on the go [S3] - No fixed costs: no · no [S3] - Outcome pages: success · failure · expired · not_found [S4] - Payment links on invoices: payment links can be added to recurring invoices [S6] - Payment widget responsibility: Payment Widget presents auth flow, onResponse emits auth-screen; backend verifies final status [S5] - Payouts fields: dates · fees · references · statuses [S7] - Payouts format CSV: json · yes [S7] - Payouts limit: 9999 · 1 [S7] - Payouts list endpoint: /v1.0/merchants/{merchant_code}/payouts · GET [S7] - Payouts record types: refunds · chargebacks · direct debit returns · balance adjustments · yes [S7] - Payouts sorting: asc · asc · desc [S7] - Payouts tracking: Payouts model lets merchants track funds received from SumUp [S7] - Pos system free tier: yes · accept card payments · manage sales · reports · basic employee and customer data [S3] - Pos system plus upgrade: Kassensystem Plus · team management · inventory management · cash book · reports · hospitality/retail tools [S3] - Prerequisites: SumUp API checkout creation · API key or access token auth · server-side integration [S4] - Recurring direct debits: recurring direct debits available with customer approval [S6] - Recurring invoice configuration: first invoice date · interval between invoices · end of recurrence [S6] - Recurring invoices: SumUp Business Account · Invoices tool · yes [S6] - Redirect URL option: redirect_url set at creation makes the success page show a button back to the merchant website [S4] - Sandbox testing: yes [S5] - Sca regions: EEA · United Kingdom [S5] - Scale: 36 · 4000000 [S2] - Session expiry: expired or not found page · 30 [S4] - Solo battery: 8 [S2] - Solo lite pairs phone: Pairs with smartphone or POS system; requires free SumUp app [S2] - Solo lite requires app: yes [S2] - Solo mobile data: yes [S2] - Solo printer version: yes [S2] - Solo standalone: yes [S2] - Sumup kasse displays: merchant display · customer display · 2 [S3] - Sumup kasse tse: electronic till · yes [S3] - Tap to pay: yes [S2] - Tap to pay supported: yes · yes · yes · yes [S3] - Terminal connectivity: yes · yes [S2] - Terminal orders: yes [S2] - Terminal pos: yes [S2] - Terminal printer: yes [S2] - Test card challenge: 4200 0000 0000 0042 · challenge required [S5] - Test card frictionless: 4200 0000 0000 0091 · frictionless success [S5] - Test card issuer not participating: 4532 4970 8877 1651 · issuer not participating [S5] - Test card not enrolled: 4012 0010 3714 1112 · cardholder not enrolled [S5] - Test card technical failure: 4012 0010 3746 1114 · authentication technical failure [S5] - Wallet support: Google Pay · Apple Pay · card [S4] - Wallets: apple_pay · google_pay [S2] - Webhook verification: API · webhooks [S4] ## Questions ### Is SumUp European? Not determined: the vendor’s pages as captured do not say where SumUp is based. ### Where does SumUp store data? Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026. ### Does SumUp have a free plan? Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026. ### What are the best alternatives to SumUp? As of 21 Oct 2026, the panel rates [Adyen (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/payment/adyen), [Mollie (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/payment/mollie) and [Checkout.com (3/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/payment/checkout-com) highest among the other 30 Payment products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [Adyen](https://whats-best.ai/software/payment/adyen) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [SumUp alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/payment/sumup/alternatives). ## What this page leaves out - 19 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. - 3 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. - 2 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. - 2 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material. - 1 compliance fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material. - 1 hosting fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material. - 1 support fact could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and was left out of this page and of the panel’s material. - 1 sovereignty dimension could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and is shown as unknown. - 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement. ## Sources - [S1] Vendor page: https://sumup.com (checked 2026-10-13) - [S2] Payment methods & local coverage — found from sitemap: https://www.sumup.com/en-gb/accept-card-payments/ (checked 2026-10-13) - [S3] Payment methods & local coverage — found from sitemap: https://www.sumup.com/de-de/kartenzahlung/ (checked 2026-10-13) - [S4] Checkout, SCA & fraud — found from sitemap: https://developer.sumup.com/online-payments/checkouts/hosted-checkout/ (checked 2026-10-13) - [S5] Checkout, SCA & fraud — found from sitemap: https://developer.sumup.com/online-payments/3ds/ (checked 2026-10-13) - [S6] Subscriptions & recurring payments — found from sitemap: https://www.sumup.com/en-gb/business-guide/setting-up-recurring-payments-for-service-based-businesses/ (checked 2026-10-13) - [S7] Settlement, reconciliation & API — found from sitemap: https://developer.sumup.com/api/payouts/ (checked 2026-10-13) - [S8] Settlement, reconciliation & API — found from sitemap: https://www.sumup.com/en-gb/business-guide/exporting-payment-data-to-your-accounting-software/ (checked 2026-10-13) - [S9] Licence, risk & account terms — found from sitemap: https://www.sumup.com/en-us/terms/submerchant-agreement/ (checked 2026-10-13) --- Cite as: whats-best.ai, "SumUp — Payment", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-10-21. https://whats-best.ai/software/payment/sumup Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/809?target=page