Card payment fees in Ireland run from 0.8% to 3.4% of every sale, depending on who processes it, whether the customer is standing in front of you, and where their card was issued. On €100,000 a year, the gap between the cheapest and dearest option on this page is over €2,500. That’s a wage week, given away a few cent at a time.
This guide compares SumUp, Square, Stripe, Revolut Business and PayPal for an Irish business, in euro, with every rate taken from the provider’s own Irish pricing page on 20 September 2026. It covers what each charges in person and online, what the reader costs, when you get paid, the VAT catch most comparisons miss, and which one is cheapest for your kind of business.
Card payment fees in Ireland at a glance
| Provider | In person | Online | Monthly fee | Card reader | Money in your account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SumUp | 1.69% (0.95% on Payments Plus) | 1.69% | €0 (Payments Plus €19) | Solo Lite €25, Solo €79, both + VAT and often on offer | By 7am next day, weekends included, into a SumUp Business Account |
| Square | 1.75% + VAT | 1.4% + 25c + VAT | €0 | Reader €19 + VAT, Terminal €169 + VAT | As soon as the next working day |
| Stripe | Via Stripe Terminal, rate on request | 1.5% + €0.25 | €0 | WisePad 3 €59, Reader S700 €259, both excl. VAT | First payout 7 to 14 days, then on a schedule |
| Revolut Business | 0.8% + €0.02 | 1% + €0.20 | Needs a Revolut Business account | Revolut Reader | Within 24 hours, weekends included |
| PayPal | Not sold in Ireland | 3.40% + €0.35 | €0 | None | Withdraw to your bank |
Those are the headline rates for Irish and other European consumer cards. Every provider charges more for cards from outside Europe, and since Brexit that includes the UK. Details under each name below.
How much does SumUp charge per transaction?
1.69% on every card payment through its readers, Tap to Pay and payment links, with no monthly fee and, in SumUp’s words, “No VAT is applied on any of our transaction fees.” Declined and cash transactions cost nothing. When a customer pays with a SumUp personal card the fee is 0%.
The cheaper rate is Payments Plus: €19 a month brings in-person payments down to 0.95% for standard consumer cards. SumUp’s own break-even is “€3,300 or more a month”. The arithmetic on the two rates alone puts it nearer €2,600, but non-EU, corporate and premium cards including American Express stay at 1.69% on both plans, which is why SumUp says €3,300.
Online payments stay at 1.69% on Payments Plus too. Businesses taking €10,000 a month or more can ask for a custom rate.
The readers are cheap. The Solo Lite, which pairs with your phone, lists at €25 and the standalone Solo with its own SIM at €79, both before VAT, and SumUp’s Irish site had them on offer at €15 and €49 in September 2026. Tap to Pay on your phone is free. Money reaches your free SumUp Business Account “by 7am the next day, even on weekends and public holidays”. SumUp Limited is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
Square fees in Ireland
1.75% + VAT for any contactless, chip and PIN or Tap to Pay payment in person, on every card type. Square says “Visa, Mastercard and American Express are all charged at the same rate.” Online it’s 1.4% + 25c + VAT for EU and EEA cards and 2.9% + 25c + VAT for UK and other non-EEA cards. Keyed-in payments are 2% + VAT, invoices and card-on-file 2.5% + VAT, and any card issued outside the EEA carries an extra 1.5%.
The “+ VAT” matters. If your business isn’t VAT registered, Square’s 1.75% is really 2.15%, which is dearer than SumUp’s 1.69%. If you are registered, you reclaim it. Square is then a shade dearer on the headline but comes with a free point-of-sale app that’s better than SumUp’s basic one.
The Square Reader is €19 + VAT, the Terminal €169 + VAT, the Handheld €199, the Stand €119 and the Register €699, all plus VAT. Transfers land “as soon as the next working day”. There are no chargeback fees, and businesses over €200,000 in card sales can negotiate.
Stripe fees in Ireland
Stripe is what sits behind a website’s checkout rather than a counter. Its Irish standard pricing is 1.5% + €0.25 “for standard European Economic Area cards”, 2.8% + €0.25 for premium European cards, 2.5% + €0.25 for UK cards and 3.15% + €0.25 for other international cards, with a further 2% “if currency conversion is required”. SEPA Direct Debit is €0.35 a payment and Klarna starts at 4.99% + €0.40.
The fee people forget is the dispute fee. €20 for every chargeback you receive, and another €20 if you contest it, refunded only if you win.
Card readers for in-person use through Stripe Terminal are €59 for the BBPOS WisePad 3 and €259 for the Stripe Reader S700 or S710, excluding VAT. Stripe’s Irish pricing page doesn’t publish a separate in-person rate, so ask before you buy one. On payouts, Stripe’s documentation says a first payout typically completes within 7 to 14 days; after that they follow a schedule, with a 3-business-day default listed for Ireland.
Revolut Business card payment fees
The lowest in-person rate on this page: 0.8% + €0.02 for European consumer cards through the Revolut Reader or Terminal, and 1% + €0.20 online. The catch is the other rate. Commercial cards, and any card issued outside Europe, are 2.6% + €0.02 in person and 2.8% + €0.20 online. Revolut is explicit that “Cards issued in the United Kingdom don’t count as European cards.”
You need a Revolut Business account to use it. Settlement is “within 24 hours, even on weekends”.
For a café taking Irish debit cards all day, 0.8% is hard to beat. For a B2B business paid on company cards, or a shop with UK tourists, the blended rate can end up higher than SumUp’s flat 1.69%.
PayPal fees in Ireland
PayPal’s Irish merchant fee for a standard commercial transaction is 3.40% + a fixed €0.35. A card payment from a customer who checks out as a guest without a PayPal account is 1.20% + €0.35. QR code payments are 0.90% + €0.35 over €10 and 1.40% + €0.35 under.
International payments add 1.29% from the UK and 1.99% from anywhere else outside the EEA. Convert currency and PayPal takes 3.00% above its base exchange rate. Disputes cost €14. PayPal’s Zettle card readers aren’t sold on its Irish site, so PayPal is an online option only here.
Keep PayPal where your customers insist on it, typically marketplaces and international buyers, and route everyone else through a cheaper gateway.
Is SumUp cheaper than Square?
On an Irish consumer card, here’s what each provider keeps from a €20 tap at the counter and a €100 order online. VAT is shown where the provider charges it, because a business that can’t reclaim it pays it.
| Provider | €20 in person | €100 in person | €100 online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revolut Business | €0.18 | €0.82 | €1.20 |
| SumUp | €0.34 (€0.19 on Payments Plus) | €1.69 (€0.95) | €1.69 |
| Square | €0.35, €0.43 with VAT | €1.75, €2.15 with VAT | €1.65, €2.03 with VAT |
| Stripe | Not published | Not published | €1.75 |
| PayPal | Not available | Not available | €3.75 (€1.55 for a guest card payment) |
So SumUp is cheaper than Square for a business that isn’t VAT registered, and almost level for one that is. Both are beaten in person by Revolut, if your customers pay with European consumer cards and you’re happy to bank with Revolut. Online, Revolut and Stripe lead, and PayPal is more than double.
What about AIB Merchant Services and BOI Payment Acceptance?
Neither publishes its rates. Both work on a quote, usually a monthly terminal rental plus a percentage per card type, and both are worth a call once you’re past €15,000 or €20,000 a month, because the flat rates above include a lot of margin.
Here’s why. The EU’s Interchange Fee Regulation caps what the card schemes can charge on consumer cards: “not more than 0,2 % of the value of the transaction for any debit card transaction” and “not more than 0,3 %” for credit cards. A 1.69% flat fee on an Irish debit card therefore carries about 1.5 points of processor margin. At volume, an interchange-plus quote from a bank-backed acquirer can be a good deal lower. Ask for it by name.
That regulation is also why every provider has a “European card” rate and a dearer everything-else rate. UK cards left the capped zone with Brexit, which is why Stripe charges 2.5% for them, Square adds 1.5% and Revolut treats them as non-European.
How Irish customers actually pay
The Central Bank of Ireland’s card statistics for July 2026 put Irish card spending at €9.98 billion across 271.01 million transactions in the month. The BPFI Payments Monitor for the first half of 2026 counted over 1.2 billion domestic card payments worth almost €50 billion. Three quarters were at the point of sale, almost 90% of those contactless, with mobile wallets now “almost two thirds of contactless payments”.
The averages are the useful bit. Mobile wallet payment €20.96. Contactless card €15.36. Online card purchase €78.49.
That’s the number to price your fees against. On a €15 contactless coffee-and-sandwich, a 25 cent fixed fee is 1.7% on its own. Flat-percentage providers like SumUp, Square and Revolut win on small tickets; Stripe’s fixed 25 cent is built for the €78 online basket.
Which card reader is cheapest for a small Irish business?
- Market stall, mobile trade, taxi, once-a-week seller: SumUp Solo Lite, or Tap to Pay on your phone for nothing. 1.69%, no VAT on fees, no monthly cost, nothing to cancel.
- Café, salon or shop with a till: Square Reader or Terminal with the free Square POS app if you’re VAT registered; SumUp with Payments Plus if you take more than €3,300 a month and want the 0.95%.
- Already banking with Revolut Business: the Revolut Reader at 0.8% + €0.02, provided most of your customers pay on Irish or EU consumer cards.
- A website or booking system: Stripe at 1.5% + €0.25, or Square Online if you also sell in person and want one set of reports. If the site is on Shopify, use Shopify Payments; our Shopify pricing guide shows why.
- Invoices and payment links: SumUp at 1.69% beats Square’s 2.5%; Revolut’s 1% + €0.20 beats both.
- Selling on TikTok Shop or a marketplace: the platform processes the payment; its commission is the fee to watch, not the card rate.
Questions people ask about card payment fees
What are the disadvantages of SumUp?
A basic point-of-sale app compared with Square, the same 1.69% online as in person when Stripe and Revolut are cheaper for websites, and premium and non-EU cards excluded from the Payments Plus rate. For a simple counter it’s still the easiest and cheapest start.
Are card payment fees subject to VAT in Ireland?
It depends on the provider. SumUp charges none. Square, Stripe’s hardware and Shopify Payments quote their prices “+ VAT” or “excl. VAT”. If you’re VAT registered it comes back in your return; if you’re not, it’s a real 23% on the fee.
Can I charge customers extra for paying by card?
Not on ordinary consumer debit and credit cards. EU payment rules (the second Payment Services Directive, article 62) ban surcharges on cards covered by the interchange caps, which is nearly every personal card in Ireland. Build the fee into your prices instead.
What is the cheapest card reader in Ireland?
To buy, Square’s Reader at €19 + VAT and SumUp’s Solo Lite at €25 + VAT (€15 on offer as we write) are the cheapest, and SumUp’s Tap to Pay costs nothing at all. The cheapest to run depends on your cards and your volume: Revolut at 0.8% for European consumer cards, SumUp’s Payments Plus at 0.95% for €19 a month, or SumUp’s 1.69% with no commitment.
How quickly do I get my money?
Square transfers as soon as the next working day, Revolut settles within 24 hours including weekends, SumUp pays into its Business Account by 7am the next day including weekends, and Stripe’s first payout takes 7 to 14 days before settling into a regular schedule.
Do I need a merchant account to take card payments?
Not with any of the providers above. Each is a payment facilitator that opens an account in minutes. A traditional merchant account from AIB Merchant Services or BOIPA comes with a quote, paperwork and usually a terminal rental, and starts to make sense above €15,000 to €20,000 a month.
Sources
SumUp Ireland pricing, Payments Plus and its pricing and fees help page; Square Ireland pricing and fees help page; Stripe Ireland pricing and payouts documentation; Revolut Business fees; PayPal Ireland merchant fees (updated 7 September 2026); Regulation (EU) 2015/751 on interchange fees; the Central Bank of Ireland’s monthly card payment statistics (July 2026); the BPFI Payments Monitor (11 September 2026). All read from Ireland on 20 September 2026. Rates change; check the provider’s page before you sign up.
