Lopay

Lopay provides payment tools for businesses, including in-person payments, payment links, and point-of-sale features. Its listed payment methods include chip and PIN, contactless and wallet payments, NFC and wearables, Tap to Pay, subscriptions, donations, QR codes, invoicing, and refunds. Merchants can use the point-of-sale feature on a smartphone or tablet to organize products, manage stock, and check out. Payment links can collect deposits or payment for remote services as one-time or recurring charges. Lopay documents integrations with Xero and QuickBooks, and its payment page describes adding Lopay links to Intuit invoices. The Xero connection supports one organization per Lopay account; daily syncing requires a supported Xero plan and excludes Ignite and lower or free plans. Tap to Pay requires an iPhone XS or later running iOS 16.4 or later, or Android 10 or later with NFC enabled. Lopay lists in-app, email, and phone support, guided onboarding, and more than 60 help articles. The Essential, Standard, and Instant to bank plans have no monthly fee. Its US site lists a card reader for $35 upfront plus shipping and a business terminal for $299 plus shipping.

Lopay covers in-person and remote business payments, with POS tools, payment links, and integrations. Check device requirements for Tap to Pay and Xero plan limits before relying on those options.

Lopay suits business owners, sole traders, entrepreneurs, and businesses such as taxi drivers, barbers, builders, market traders, or dry cleaners. It supports in-person sales as well as remote and recurring payments.

Lopay combines in-person card acceptance, remote payment links and point-of-sale tools for small businesses. It is a strong fit for sole traders and other operators who need flexible payouts without a monthly software charge. The choice becomes less straightforward when a business depends on a particular Xero plan, older hardware, or a dedicated terminal.

Overview

Lopay serves business owners, entrepreneurs and side hustlers across trades and local services, including taxi drivers, barbers, pet groomers, builders, market traders and dry cleaners. Its three named plans have no monthly fee and unlimited team members, so a business can add staff without a per-seat software bill. A reader is not required, although dedicated hardware costs extra.

The service launched in January 2022 and is offered on Android, iOS and the web. Lopay says payment data is encrypted and tokenized, and that its PCI DSS compliance is independently verified by an accredited third-party assessor. Support includes in-app, email and phone channels, guided onboarding and more than 60 help articles.

Key features

Merchants can take chip-and-PIN, contactless, wallet, NFC and wearable payments, as well as Tap to Pay. The wider payment toolkit includes QR codes, invoicing, refunds, subscriptions and donations. That makes Lopay practical for a business that alternates between counter sales, appointments and remote work rather than needing a single checkout route.

Payment links can request a deposit or payment for a remote service. They can be one-time or recurring, which is useful for repeat billing without requiring the customer to visit the business. Lopay also describes adding links to Intuit invoices.

The POS tools organize products, manage stock and process checkout on a smartphone or tablet. This covers a basic product-and-stock workflow for a small operator, but businesses needing a more specialized inventory system should assess whether this scope is enough.

Integrations are documented for Xero and QuickBooks. Xero permits one organization per Lopay account, and daily synchronization requires a supported Xero plan; Ignite and lower or free plans do not support daily syncing. That restriction matters to businesses expecting automated bookkeeping on an entry-level Xero subscription.

Tap to Pay can remove the need for a separate reader, but it requires an iPhone XS or later with iOS 16.4 or later, or an Android device running Android 10 or later with NFC enabled.

Pricing

Essential costs nothing, with no monthly fee, unlimited team members and Thursday bank payouts. It waives $10 in processing fees per $100 spent on card. This is the basic-cost option for businesses that can plan around a weekly Thursday payout and do not need faster settlement.

Standard also costs nothing and keeps unlimited team members. It offers next-day, weekly or monthly payouts, waives $50 in processing fees per $100 spent on card and includes 2x rewards. It is the more flexible choice when payout scheduling matters, while the monthly option may suit businesses that prefer a predictable cycle.

Instant to bank is free, with unlimited team members, instant bank payouts 24/7, weekend and bank-holiday payouts and 2x rewards. Choose it when access to takings outside banking days is central to cash flow. All plans include Tap to Pay and recurring payments, and the listed payout timing for the service is instant, but each plan describes a different payout schedule, so confirm the plan behavior before relying on it.

Hardware is optional. The US site lists a card reader at $35 upfront plus shipping and a business terminal at $299 plus shipping. Buying hardware adds a meaningful initial cost to an otherwise no-monthly-fee setup.

Platforms

Lopay runs on Android, iOS and the web. Tap to Pay has stricter device and operating-system requirements than the general platform support, so check the phone model, iOS or Android version and NFC capability before choosing a reader-free setup.

Who it's for

Lopay is best for sole traders, small teams and local businesses that need both face-to-face payments and links for deposits or remote jobs. The unlimited-member plans also suit businesses sharing checkout duties. It is a weaker fit for a multi-entity operation that needs several Xero organizations in one account, or for a business whose bookkeeping depends on daily Xero syncing through Ignite or a free plan.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Three plans have no monthly fee and unlimited team members, avoiding seat-based software costs.
• Pro: One service covers in-person methods, recurring links, invoices, refunds and a smartphone/tablet POS.
• Pro: Instant-to-bank includes 24/7, weekend and bank-holiday payouts.
• Con: Dedicated hardware costs $35 or $299 upfront, plus shipping.
• Con: Tap to Pay excludes devices below the stated iPhone XS/iOS 16.4 or Android 10/NFC requirements.
• Con: Xero is limited to one organization per Lopay account, with daily syncing unavailable on Ignite and lower or free plans.

Alternatives

Mobile Payment Processing Software is the broader starting point when you want to compare payment apps rather than commit to Lopay's payout structure.

Choose PayAnywhere instead if you prefer a pay-as-you-go model with stated rates of 2.69% for swipe, dip or tap transactions and 3.49% plus $0.19 for keyed transactions.

PayPal Invoicing is the better alternative when creating and sending invoices without setup or subscription fees is the priority, with transaction fees applying when customers pay.

Pick Zeller if a free POS software plan tied to a Zeller Terminal suits your operation.

Paid for Stripe fits businesses already using Stripe that want no monthly or setup fees and a 0.99% application fee per transaction on top of Stripe's standard fees.

Paymi is an iOS alternative with a free tier charging a 1.2% application fee per transaction plus Stripe fees.

QuickBooks GoPayment is for businesses prepared to use a QuickBooks Payments account subject to eligibility and approval.

SwipeSimple offers a $0 Connect Zero option for eligible businesses, with card-paying customers covering a 3.5% card fee.

Helcim is an alternative with no account monthly fees and interchange-plus rates that vary by volume and payment type.

Verdict

Choose Lopay if you are a small operator that wants payment links, basic POS and multiple payout choices under a no-monthly-fee plan. Its strongest advantage is the combination of remote and in-person payments with unlimited team members. Look elsewhere if your workflow requires unrestricted Xero organization support, daily syncing on an entry-level Xero plan, or hardware-free Tap to Pay on an unsupported device.