/Dojo vs Square vs Teya for Restaurant Card Payments (UK 2026)

Teya has established a strong position with independent UK hospitality operators since entering the market. It offers a direct hospitality focus, published plan tiers and a settlement timing message that resonates with restaurant operators who care about cash flow.

Teya's UK hardware range covers the Teya Go (portable handset) and Teya Pro (countertop with optional printer), alongside a Tap to Pay on iPhone option for operators who want phone-based acceptance. The hardware range suits both counter-service and table-service environments without requiring a separate middleware project to get running.

Teya's commercial messaging centres on four claims it publishes on its UK pricing page:

• No lock-ins on its plan structure
• Next-day settlements including weekends — via Teya's standard settlement, with an instant-settlement option through the free Teya Business Account
• 50+ EPOS integrations — giving restaurant operators a route to use Teya alongside an existing till rather than replacing their entire setup
• 24/7 UK-based support — a practical consideration for restaurants dealing with payment issues during service

The plan tiers — Start, Boost, Thrive and Custom — allow operators to scale their plan structure with their card volume. Unlike Square, Teya does not publish a single flat transaction percentage for all merchants; rates are plan- and application-dependent, and Teya invites operators to share a recent processing statement for a direct comparison.

One condition is worth understanding before choosing Teya. On applicable plans, operators whose monthly card turnover falls below £2,500 are charged a £29.99 monthly fee. This is a real consideration for seasonal venues, small satellite sites or any location that might dip below that threshold in quieter trading months.

Above the threshold, Teya's structure is competitive. Using a non-Teya settlement bank adds 0.10% to transaction fees per Teya's published FAQ — worth checking if you want to settle into an existing business account rather than opening a Teya account.

Not ideal for: Seasonal or lower-volume sites that may trigger the monthly fee; operators who want POS and payments from a single vendor (where Square or Flipdish is a cleaner answer).

Teya leads this comparison for most independent UK hospitality operators. Its combination of portable and countertop hardware, EPOS integration breadth, next-day settlement (including weekends) and no-lock-in plan positioning is well matched to how independent restaurants actually trade. Confirm the £29.99 monthly fee applies to your plan and model the impact across any quieter trading months before signing.

Dojo is one of the most widely recognised payment brands in UK hospitality. Its differentiation goes beyond hardware: the Pay at Table and Pay at Counter integration modes are genuinely useful for table-service venues, and the built-in connectivity resilience is a practical advantage in busy environments.

Dojo's main hospitality hardware includes the Dojo Pocket (a portable handset built for tableside payments) and the Dojo Go Max (a countertop device). Both connect over Wi-Fi with built-in 4G fallback — a meaningful detail when a busy Friday-night service cannot afford a dropped connection.

The headline differentiator is Pay at Table and Pay at Counter integration. When Dojo connects to a compatible EPOS, the bill total pushes directly from the till to the Dojo device. This removes the need for staff to manually key amounts, reduces human error during busy service, and supports tipping configuration within the integrated payment flow. Dojo claims over 450 EPOS integrations on its support documentation — a wide net that covers most mainstream UK hospitality till systems.

Dojo also offers a Bookings add-on for reservations and a Tap to Pay on iPhone option, extending the use cases beyond just counter and table.

Dojo's pricing is quote-based. There is no published rate card on the Dojo website that lets you model cost without starting a sales conversation or sharing a recent processing statement. Dojo positions its rates as bespoke blended-rate plans, and operators are encouraged to compare using their actual card mix rather than a headline percentage.

Contracts deserve careful attention. Earlier Dojo commercial offers included 36-month per-site terms — a significant commitment for a growing restaurant. More recently, Dojo has marketed no fixed contracts on its UK consumer-facing site. The practical advice is to confirm the specific contract terms in writing for your quote, as commercial conditions may differ between inbound web enquiries and outbound sales conversations.

Dojo also markets an exit-fee reimbursement offer of up to £3,000 for operators switching from an existing payment provider, subject to minimum turnover conditions.

Not ideal for: Operators who want published flat-rate pricing they can model without a sales call; businesses with very low card volumes where a minimum turnover condition might apply; operators running an EPOS that is not on Dojo's integration catalogue.

Dojo is the right answer for table-service restaurants that want the EPOS and card terminal to work together rather than in parallel. Go in prepared to evaluate the contract terms in writing and to model effective cost using your actual card statement rather than a headline rate.

Square is the US-founded, globally recognised brand in this comparison. In the UK, Square for Restaurants offers a clear published software and payment pricing structure that is rare in the card machine market — and it is the right choice for a specific operator profile.

Square's hospitality-specific offering covers two software tiers:

• Square for Restaurants Free — core POS with card acceptance, unlimited devices on the free plan
• Square for Restaurants Plus — advanced floor plans, 24/7 support, unlimited Square KDS devices, and more at £69 per location per month after a 30-day free trial

In-person processing is published at 1.75% per UK card transaction on standard pricing. Custom pricing is available above £200,000 annual card volume per Square's UK pricing page. UK online orders through Square Online are processed at 1.4% + 25p per transaction.

Square also includes tipping prompts, offline mode for core POS functions, and QR ordering capability on Plus — giving operators an upgrade path that adds capability without changing payment provider.

Square's published pricing is a genuine practical advantage. You can model cost at any card volume without a sales call.

The trade-off is that Square works best as a complete platform, not a neutral payment rail for an existing EPOS. Its card acceptance is deeply integrated into Square POS. Operators who already have a different till they want to keep — Lightspeed, Epos Now, a specialist hospitality system — will find Square less compelling as a standalone card machine than Teya or Dojo.

For operators starting from scratch, or replacing both POS and payment provider at once, the economics are strong: one vendor for EPOS, card acceptance, online ordering, kitchen display and basic loyalty, with no integration project to manage.

Not ideal for: Operators already committed to a specialist EPOS who only want to add a card machine; large multi-site groups with complex tronc or staff-tip distribution requirements.

Square wins the pricing-clarity category outright. Published rates at 1.75% in-person and a genuinely usable free POS tier give operators a starting point they can model without a sales call. For operators starting from scratch — or replacing both POS and payment provider at once — Square is a compelling option. For operators who only need a card machine to add to an existing EPOS, Teya or Dojo are better suited.