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Choosing the Best Online Payment ProviderA Remote Operations
Manager’s Review for UK Businesses
Intro
Which Online Payment Provider Is Best for Your Business?
Choosing how to collect online payments can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re a busy CEO, entrepreneur or small business owner who simply wants to get paid smoothly and get on with serving clients.
For one of my UK-based clients, I recently compared three popular online payment providers:
- SumUp
- Stripe
- Square
Below is a breakdown of the fees, key integrations, and my conclusion on which provider is
the best option for service-based businesses using tools like FreeAgent, HubSpot and online
booking systems.
1. Transaction Fees – What Will It Actually Cost You?
For online card payments in the UK, here’s how the three providers compare:
- SumUp – 2.5% per transaction
- Stripe – 1.5% + 20p per transaction
- Square – 1.4% + 25p per transaction
To make this more tangible, let’s look at a real example.
Example: Payment of £500
- SumUp
- o2.5% of £500 = £12.50 in fees
- Stripe
- 1.5% of £500 = £7.50
- Plus 20p fixed fee
- Total: £7.70
- Square
- 1.4% of £500 = £7.00
- Plus 25p fixed fee
- Total: £7.25
Summary:
- Cheapest per transaction: Square (by a very small margin)
- Very close second: Stripe
- Most expensive: SumUp
Over time and with higher-value payments, these small differences can really add up to a
noticeable cost for your business.
2. Integrations – How Well Do They Fit Into Your Systems?
Transaction fees are only part of the story. For many of my clients at Bee Assured Business
Solutions, the real value comes from how well a payment provider integrates with the
systems they already use.
Here’s how each one supports some common tools.
FreeAgent (Accounting Software)
- Stripe – ✅ Integrates
- Square – ❌ No direct integration
- SumUp – ❌ No direct integration
HubSpot (CRM)
- Stripe – ✅ Integrates
- Square – ✅ Integrates
- SumUp – ❌ Does not integrate
I am a registered HubSpot Solution Partner, so smooth integration with HubSpot is
especially important for many of the businesses I support.
SimplyBook.me (Online Booking System)
- Stripe – ✅ Integrates
- Square – ✅ Integrates
- SumUp – ❌ Does not integrate
Why integrations matter
Good integrations can:
- Reduce manual admin
- Improve reporting and visibility of income
- Create a smoother experience for your clients (especially when booking and paying online)
- Help you scale without having to constantly “work around” your tools
Example:
This client wanted payments made via her payment service to automatically sync with the
contact/company record within HubSpot, so she can see a clear record of the full sales
process in one place without having to switch systems to check if a customer has paid.
3. So… Which Provider Comes Out on Top?
Based on fees and integrations, here’s the simple conclusion from this comparison.
Best all-rounder: Stripe
- Excellent balance of cost and flexibility
- Integrates with FreeAgent, HubSpot, SimplyBook.me and many other platforms
- Ideal if you want your systems talking to each other with minimal manual admin
Cheapest on fees (by a fraction): Square
- Slightly lower cost per transaction than Stripe
- Integrates with HubSpot and SimplyBook.me
- A strong option if you are cost-sensitive and don’t need FreeAgent integration
Most limited & most expensive: SumUp
- Highest online card payment fees in this comparison
- No integrations with FreeAgent, HubSpot or SimplyBook.me in this example
- Better suited to simple, in-person payment needs rather than integrated online systems
My Recommendation as an Operations & Systems Specialist
For most service-based businesses that:
- Take online payments
- Use or plan to use tools like HubSpot, FreeAgent, and online booking systems
- Want to reduce manual admin and create a more professional client journey
👉 Stripe is usually the best overall choice.
Square is also a strong contender, particularly where cost per transaction is a key factor and
your tech stack fits its integrations.
SumUp can still be useful in certain scenarios (especially for very simple, in-person payment
needs), but for a client who wants everything connected and scalable, it’s the least attractive
option from this specific comparison.
How I Can Help You Choose and Integrate the Right Payment Provider
At Bee Assured Business Solutions, I specialise in:
- Setting up systems and processes
- Writing clear standard operating procedures (SOPs)
- Providing high-level operational support to CEOs and entrepreneurs
- Implementing and maintaining HubSpot CRM as a registered solution partner
If you’re not sure which online payment provider or software tools are the best fit for your
current tech stack – or you’d like support reviewing and integrating new systems into what
you already use – I can:
- Research the best options for your specific business model
- Review how they integrate with your existing systems
- Map out and document the end-to-end process
- Support you with implementation so you’re not left figuring it all out alone
Testimonial
“Her advice was amazing and helped me, and my client enormously. I would not hesitate to recommend Bee’s brilliant services. Thoroughly recommended!.”
Lisa Eden
Get In Touch
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WhatsApp +44 2922 642805
bee@beeassuredbusinesssolutions.com
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