Revolut vs Square UK 2026: Fees, Features & Which to Choose

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Revolut Business and Square both offer UK small businesses card machines and payment acceptance with no fixed contract, but they come from different starting points. Revolut is primarily a business banking and financial-services app that added card payments as one feature among many. Square is a dedicated payments and point-of-sale company built around card acceptance from the outset. This comparison covers fees, hardware and plans. Updated September 2026.

Who Is This Page For?

This comparison is for UK small business owners deciding between Revolut Business and Square for in-person and online card payments, particularly useful if you are also considering Revolut for wider business banking needs alongside payments.

Revolut vs Square: Fee Comparison

What Is Revolut Business?

Revolut Business is the business banking arm of Revolut Ltd, founded in 2015 and headquartered in London. Revolut Ltd is authorised by the FCA as an e-money institution under FRN 900562, not as a fully licensed UK bank, meaning customer funds are safeguarded under e-money rules rather than covered by the FSCS. Its in-person card payment rate is 0.8% plus 2p on paid plans (Grow, Scale, Enterprise), rising to 1% plus 2p on the free Basic plan. The Revolut Reader starts from £49 with no ongoing rental fee. Full detail is on the Revolut UK review page.

What Is Square?

Square is a payments and point-of-sale company founded in 2009 in San Francisco, part of Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), and launched in the UK in 2017. Squareup Europe Ltd is authorised by the FCA as an e-money institution under FRN 900846. Its standard in-person rate is 1.75% for UK cards, rising to 2.5% for manually keyed transactions, with a 1.4% plus 25p rate for online payments via Square Online. There is no minimum contract. Full detail is on the Square UK review page.

Revolut vs Square: Features Compared

Pricing Structure

Revolut's headline in-person rate (0.8% + 2p) is lower than Square's flat 1.75%, but that rate only applies on Revolut's paid plans, which cost £19 to £79 a month. Square has no monthly fee at all. For a lower-volume business, Square's flat rate with no monthly cost can work out cheaper overall; for a higher-volume business already paying for a Revolut plan, Revolut's per-transaction saving can outweigh the monthly cost.

Point of Sale and Retail Features

Square is built specifically around point-of-sale, with a mature till app covering inventory, staff management and sales reporting, plus a hardware range spanning a free basic reader up to the £649 Square Register. Revolut's payments feature is part of a broader business banking app; it covers the essentials but doesn't match Square's depth as a dedicated retail till system.

Business Banking

Revolut's core strength is banking: multi-currency accounts, expense cards, and integrated accounting tools sit alongside its payment acceptance feature. A business that wants payments and day-to-day banking under one login may find this bundling genuinely useful. Square doesn't offer equivalent banking functionality, focusing instead on payments and retail operations.

Hardware Cost

Square's entry point is free: one chip and magstripe reader per account, with a Bluetooth contactless reader available for £19 plus VAT. Revolut's reader starts from £49 with no rental fee attached. For a business wanting the lowest possible upfront hardware cost, Square's free first reader is hard to beat.

Pros and Cons

Revolut Business Pros and Cons

Pros

• Lower in-person rate (0.8% + 2p) than Square on paid plans
• Payments bundled with wider business banking features
• No minimum contract, annual billing discount available
• Directly FCA-authorised e-money institution, FRN 900562

Cons

• Lower rate only available on paid plans costing £19-£79 a month
• Not FSCS-protected, as an e-money institution rather than a bank
• Point-of-sale and retail features are less developed than Square's

Square Pros and Cons

Pros

• No monthly fee on the standard plan
• Free first card reader, with a mature retail till app
• Wide hardware range up to the full Square Register
• Directly FCA-authorised e-money institution, FRN 900846

Cons

• Higher flat in-person rate (1.75%) than Revolut's paid-plan rate
• Manually keyed transactions cost significantly more (2.5%)
• No integrated business banking features equivalent to Revolut
• Not FSCS-protected, as an e-money institution rather than a bank

Which Is Better For...?

Retailers Wanting a Dedicated Till System

Square is the stronger choice here, with its mature point-of-sale software, inventory tools and wider hardware range built specifically for retail and hospitality use.

Businesses Wanting Banking and Payments Together

Revolut Business is the more natural fit if you want multi-currency accounts, expense management and payment acceptance under one app, rather than juggling a separate bank and payments provider.

Lower-Volume or New Businesses

Square's no-monthly-fee, free-first-reader model is the lower-risk starting point for a new or low-volume business that doesn't want to commit to a paid plan before knowing its card volume.

Our Verdict

Square is the better choice for a business that wants a dedicated, full-featured point-of-sale system with no monthly commitment. Revolut Business makes more sense for a business that wants payments bundled with genuinely useful banking features and is willing to pay a monthly fee to access its lower in-person rate. Neither offers FSCS protection, since both operate as e-money institutions rather than banks, so keep that in mind when deciding how much of your balance to hold with either provider.