Yoco vs a bank card machine

You pay for four things when you use a card machine, and most quotes name only one. The machine itself, monthly fees, the transaction rate and payout fees all add up.

1. The machine, which is either free while you stay, rented every month, or bought once.

2. The monthly fee, which might be machine rental, a service fee, a connectivity fee or the business account you have to open to get the deal in the first place.

3. The rate, the percentage that comes off every sale, and it's priced differently for debit cards, credit cards and international cards.

4. The payout fee, which is a fixed rand amount charged every time your takings move into your bank account. Most businesses take their money out at the end of every trading day, so around 260 payouts a year. On average, card machine companies charge around R2.50, which comes to about R650 a year to get paid your own money. Yoco's standard payout is free.

If a provider will only give you their rate, you don't have enough to make a decision on. The same four questions work on anyone selling you a machine.

Add the machine cost, monthly fee, transaction rate and payout fee. Divide the total by your monthly card sales. That gives you your real cost as a percentage of turnover.

Then compare that number against the next quote you see. A practical example, using Yoco’s rates, at R50,000 a month on the free (Core) plan, 60% debit and 40% credit, using a Khumo 2 device.

Above is illustrative - always use your own figures and your own card mix. Debit and credit are priced differently, so a calculation on debit alone will come out lower than your actual bill.

The rate you're quoted from a card machine or payment provider company covers one line of the bill. Debit, credit and international cards are priced differently, so your card mix moves the number.

Every rate you're quoted excludes VAT. Payout fees and any monthly account fee sit outside the rate and never appear in the percentage you were shown.

As soon as you adopt a Plan from Yoco, or when card sales go over R50,000 for 3 consecutive months even if you don’t adopt a Plan. There's nothing to apply for and nobody to call.

The whole month gets priced at one rate, which works in your favour. Take R50,000 or less and you're on the starting rate. Go over R50,000 and the entire month drops to the lower rate, including everything below the line. 

On the Core Plan, R50,000 of debit sales costs you 2.30%, so R1,150. R55,000 of debit sales costs 1.35% across the whole month, so R742.50. You sold R5,000 more and your bill came down by R407.50.

Your branches count too. For instance, two locations doing R40,000 each is one account doing R80,000, so both of them get the lower rate. Monthly plan fees are the other way around and get charged per location - with a bulk discount for more than 5 locations.

Most banks and providers review your rate on a three-month average, so a good month doesn't reach your bill until a quarter later, if it gets there at all.

The machine might be, but taking cards isn't. Transaction fees are still charged based on your debit or credit card mix, and instant settlement or payout fees may be charged on top of your transaction fees.

In some cases, the machine may be free upfront, but a monthly rental fee is charged, that can run over R500 a month on standard terms. Always ask whether the machine is rented, bought, or just loaned to you while you keep the account. Ask what it costs a month, how long you're tied in for, and what it costs to get out early. Then ask the specifications of what you're renting, because the machines aren't the same. Battery life, connectivity, durability and functionality differ significantly between devices.

You may also need a separate POS system to track products, stock and staff if that software is not provided as part of your card machine, which may attract additional costs. Yoco card machines include this software for free by default.

Learn how Yoco compares to point of sale alternatives.

Not with Yoco, and you don't need a business bank account either. Your money lands in any South African bank account you already have, at a bank that you choose, and there's nothing new to open.

With a bank it's usually part of the deal, so ask what that account costs you a month, whether the rate is tied to keeping the account, and what happens to it if you move. If your rate is tied to where you bank, changing banks a year from now changes what you earn on every sale you make.

Most card machine or payment provider companies negotiate rates above a threshold they determine, and rate reductions are seldomly automatic. They differ vastly between providers.

With Yoco as an example, your rate comes down automatically the day you adopt a Plan, and it comes down again as your monthly card turnover rises, and it further comes down again after three months of trading. There's nothing to apply for and nobody to call - rate reductions are applied automatically.

The turnover half works in bands, and the whole month gets priced at one rate. Take R50,000 or less and you're on the starting rate. Go over R50,000 and the entire month drops to the lower rate, including everything below the line. On Core, R50,000 of debit sales costs you 2.30%, so R1,150. R55,000 of debit sales costs 1.35% across the whole month, so R742.50. You sold R5,000 more and your bill came down by R407.50.

Your shops count together, too. Two locations doing R40,000 each is one account doing R80,000, so both of them get the lower rate. Monthly plan fees are the other way round and get charged per location, with a bulk discount for more than 5 locations.

Core is free every month. Plus is R249 and Pro is R499, per location, with a discount for more than 5 locations. Rates exclude VAT and machine prices include it. The rate you pay depends on your plan, the card your customer uses and how much you take in a month, and every rate below is published on the Yoco pricing page.

Over R200,000 a month Yoco works a rate out with you.

The point of sale software is free on every machine and on every plan, and each plan adds to it as follows.

At R60,000 a month on Core with a Khumo 2, the all-in bill is R1,067, which is 1.78% of what you took. That figure assumes your customers split roughly 60/40 between debit and credit cards, so it uses the blended published rates.

Yoco vs. non-bank alternatives

Yoco vs. banks

* Averaged across all providers in South Africa who publish their pricing, as at September 2026.

Two costs sit outside the rate: machine rental, and whether you can keep your own bank.

At the top of this range, rental fees on their own add R500 to the R1,214 above before a single percent of rate is applied, so the monthly bill becomes R1,714. The whole Yoco bill in the example above was R1,067 - there are no rental fees.

If you use a Yoco machine, standard payouts land in one to two business days, into any South African bank account, and they cost you nothing. Standard and weekly payouts are free on every plan.

Fast Payout puts the money in your account by 8am the next day, seven days a week, weekends and public holidays included. It costs 0.75% excluding VAT on Core with a minimum of R7.50 excluding VAT, 0.50% on Plus with a minimum of R5 excluding VAT, and it's free on Pro.

Instant Payout gets the money there in minutes and costs 1.50% excluding VAT on Core, 1.25% on Plus and 1.00% on Pro. On a request under R1,000 you pay a minimum flat fee instead: R15 including VAT on Core, R12.50 on Plus and R10 on Pro. The smallest request is R50. You get one Instant Payout a day up to R10,000, and that rises to two a day up to R30,000 once you have taken 10 or more Standard or Fast Payouts in 90 days, at supported banks.

Payout fees between banks vary greatly, with a blended average payout fee of R10 across South African banks that publish rates. A bank paying into an account it already holds can genuinely be quicker, so ask, and confirm whether that speed only applies if the money lands with them, and whether it holds over weekends and public holidays.

With Yoco, there is no connectivity fee, no SIM fee and no data fee on any Yoco plan or any Yoco device. Every machine carries its own SIM with the data included. Connectivity fees vary from R0 to R75 a month across non-bank and bank providers in South Africa.

Yoco handhelds run up to 18 hours on a charge compared to 6 hours for the average machine sold in South Africa. 18 hours covers a trading day, a market Saturday or an evening service without hunting for a plug. The Counter is a fixed setup on a weighted stand with a power adapter in the box, so it stays plugged in rather than running off a battery through the day.

Every Yoco machine has its own SIM alongside Wi-Fi, with the data included, so it doesn't need your router, and the handhelds move to another network when the one they're on drops. In comparison, a rented terminal wired into a shop router stops when the router does.

The battery and the mobile data keep you trading when the power goes, so load shedding on its own doesn't stop you selling.

Ask about the screen too. You can't run a menu, split a bill or hold a table on a number keypad, and a lot of rented terminals are still keypads. The smallest Yoco screen is 5.5 inches and the Counter has 12 inches.

A card machine takes the payment. A POS system runs the sale around it - your products, prices, stock and staff. Yoco card machines do both on the same device, at no extra cost. Most bank terminals take payment only, and using a bank terminal with another POS doesn't reconcile automatically.

On a Yoco machine, your products, stock, staff logins and sales reports run on the same device that takes the payment. You can log in to your dashboard on any computer with an internet connection. If you're running a spreadsheet or notebook alongside your terminal right now, that's a hidden cost that doesn't appear on the quote.

Yoco integrates with accounting tools, so your daily sales reconcile into your books without manual entry. Advanced accounting connections are included in the Pro plan. See the current Yoco integration partners.

You can buy a Yoco machine from R699 outright, with the point of sale software already on it. It gives you a 5.5 inch touchscreen, an 18-hour battery and a SIM that moves between Wi-Fi and mobile networks with the data included. It's spill, steam and dust resistant, with IP54 and ATEX certifications. It takes tap, chip or swipe on debit, credit, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Amex and SASSA, and it comes with a 1 year warranty and a 30 day money back guarantee.

The Khumo is handheld; the Counter is fixed. The Khumo 2 covers essentials: 5.5 inch screen, 18-hour battery, digital receipts. The Khumo Print 2 adds a bigger screen and built-in printer for bills and kitchen slips. The Yoco Counter ships with a Neo Touch card machine, cradle and power adapter. All three run the same free software.

If you need a card machine and nothing else, all of these devices are still card machines. The software sits on it unused and unpaid for until the week you want to know which of your products makes money. If you take a terminal that only does cards, adding the software later means buying different hardware.

Yoco machines come with a standard warranty. When considering alternatives, always ask any provider who replaces a broken machine, how long it takes, and how you keep trading in the meantime.

A Yoco machine is bought once and owned, with no contract and no business bank account. A bank machine is usually bought or rented against an account with that bank.

You can also run both at once for a month and decide on your own sales. There's no contract and no minimum, so a Khumo 2 costs you R699 once and shows you what landed and what it cost.

*Rates exclude VAT. Machine prices include VAT. Blended rates assume 60% local debit and 40% local credit. Published standard in-person local-card rates only, online and Amex differ. Bank ranges are published standard terms, custom and negotiated deals excluded. Machine prices shown are current promotional prices.