Zettle
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy it if you're a solo or very small seller wanting the cheapest simple card payments with free software.
New check
Comparison
Zettle vs Helcim
Zettle and Helcim both land on Depends.
Helcim
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you process steady card volume and want transparent interchange-plus pricing with no monthly fees.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Solopreneurs and market traders | Businesses with steady card volume |
| Who it's not for | Businesses that can't tolerate slow support | Very low-volume sellers . flat-rate rivals beat interchange-plus math |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.13 | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed. |
| Support quality | Trustpilot and Reddit complain heavily about support | Praised in reviews, but Reddit complaints exist |
| Public sentiment | Users like the low flat fee and simple app, but Trustpilot and Reddit carry loud complaints about support, trust, and devices.¹ | Major review sites rate Helcim highly for transparent pricing, while Reddit threads split between strong praise and complaints about hardware and service. |
| Biggest gotcha | Low fee is the hook; post-signup complaints center on support and trust, not pricing⁷ | Interchange-plus rates shift with your card mix . statements won't be flat; budget for variance. |
Pick Zettle when
- Solopreneurs and market traders
- Small cafés and pop-up shops
- PayPal sellers adding in-person payments
- Anyone avoiding monthly POS fees
When Zettle is not a fit
- Businesses that can't tolerate slow support
- Teams needing ERP or Odoo integrations
- Merchants burned before by locked card readers
- Guess: high-volume chains needing advanced inventory
Pick Helcim when
- Businesses with steady card volume
- Clinics and service shops with invoices
- Online sellers needing payment APIs
When Helcim is not a fit
- Very low-volume sellers . flat-rate rivals beat interchange-plus math
- Pop-up or seasonal sellers wanting Square-style simplicity
- Anyone depending on card-reader hardware . Gen 3 user complaints
- Buyers who need identical, predictable monthly statements
Sources
- Trustpilot . Read Customer Service Reviews of zettle.comtrustpilot.comreview
review
review
- TechRadar . Zettle POS reviewtechradar.comreview
- BusinessExpert . Zettle Review 2026: 1.75% Flat, No Monthly Feebusinessexpert.co.ukreview
review
review
- Reddit . Odoo and PayPal POS integrationreddit.comreview
- MerchantSavvy . Is The Zettle 2 Card Reader The Right Choice?merchantsavvy.co.ukreview
- Zettle . Pricing and fees (official)zettle.comofficial
official
- Zettle . Payments security (official)zettle.comsecurity
- PayPal . Bug Bounty Program on HackerOnehackerone.comsecurity
- Wikipedia . Zettleen.wikipedia.orgnews
- PayPal Newsroom . PayPal Zettle US launch, June 2021newsroom.paypal-corp.comnews