SumUp vs Zettle vs Nets: which card terminal is cheapest in 2026?

SumUp, Zettle and Nets solve the same problem in three different ways. For most small businesses SumUp is cheapest: no monthly fee, no contract and 1.49% per payment. Zettle by PayPal is slightly higher at 1.75%. Nets supports BankAxept but usually comes on a contract with a monthly fee and a lock-in period.

Which is cheapest for you depends on how much you sell and how. Low, uneven or mobile sales favour SumUp. If you run a shop with very high card volume and lots of Norwegian debit cards, a BankAxept bank terminal from Nets or Verifone can work out cheaper over time. Below we go through the differences.

Quick overview

SumUp and Zettle share the same basic model: buy the hardware once, pay a fixed percentage per sale and skip the monthly fee. The gap between 1.49% and 1.75% sounds small, but on NOK 30,000 of card sales a month it is NOK 78 — around NOK 940 a year. In return, Zettle has a free POS in the app and accepts American Express, which can matter if you have many Amex customers.

When is SumUp cheapest?

SumUp is built for businesses that don’t want a fixed monthly cost. You pay 1.49% per payment, and the Betalinger Plus subscription (NOK 349/month) cuts the rate to 0.79%. That only pays off once card turnover passes about NOK 50,000 a month. SumUp is usually cheapest when:

• Volume is low or uneven. With no monthly fee, quiet months cost you nothing.
• You sell on the move or seasonally. At markets, festivals, food trucks and pop-ups it helps that the hardware works without fixed internet.
• You want to avoid a contract. You own the hardware and have no agreement to cancel.
• You have just started. Low upfront cost and little paperwork make it easy to take your first card.

SumUp is three products with the same fee: the Solo Lite card reader, the standalone Terminal with a printer, and the Register POS. Which one you need is covered in our comparison of Solo Lite, Terminal and Register.

When Nets or Verifone is the better fit

SumUp doesn’t always win. Two things point towards a traditional bank terminal: high card volume and BankAxept. SumUp and Zettle process Norwegian debit cards as Visa or Mastercard. BankAxept accounted for 49% of transactions on Norwegian cards in 2024 (Norges Bank), and its fees are often lower. If you take large sums every day, a BankAxept terminal from Nets or Verifone can be cheaper overall, even with a monthly fee and a two-to-three-year contract. Work out the total cost before choosing.

Vipps: replacement or add-on?

Vipps MobilePay is a payment method, not a rival to the card reader. SumUp accepts chip and PIN, contactless, Apple Pay and Google Pay on Visa and Mastercard, which covers most payments at a Norwegian small business. If you also want to take Vipps in store, use Vipps’ own solution alongside SumUp.