In short: rent if you’re starting out, if your volume is unpredictable, or if you’d rather someone else carried the risk of the device failing. Buy if you’re established, your volume is steady and you’ll keep the terminal well beyond the break-even point. That point usually falls somewhere between one and two years. Exactly where depends on what your rental includes, and what a purchase leaves you paying for separately.

Most comparisons stop at “renting is flexible, buying is cheaper.” That’s true, but not very useful. Below we do the maths, show what can change the outcome, and explain when the obvious choice is the wrong one.

What each option actually costs

Here’s how renting and buying compare at Axepta BNP Paribas:

The S1E2 sits at the bottom of both price ranges and the payment terminal duo at the top.

Note the last row. Renting ties you to a contract term; buying leaves you with a sunk cost. Both are the same risk wearing different clothes: the risk that your situation changes.

The break-even calculation

Two numbers decide this:

For both terminals, that’s about 12.5 months. After that, buying comes out ahead, if nothing else changes.

Three things usually do change it:

1. What the rental includes. Renting covers replacement, maintenance, support and updates. If buying means paying, say, €10 a month for a maintenance contract anyway, the real comparison for the S1E2 isn’t €24 against €0. It’s €24 against €10, and break-even moves from about 12 months to more than 21.
2. Device lifespan. A terminal typically lasts five to seven years. But security standards move, and a card scheme can retire hardware before it physically fails. If you’ve bought and that happens in year three, you buy again. If you rent, your provider replaces it.
3. Tax treatment. In Belgium, a purchased terminal is a business asset you depreciate, while rental payments are an operating expense you deduct in the year you pay them. Both are deductible; they just land differently in your accounts. We don’t give tax advice, so check with your accountant which option suits your business.

Rent if…

• You’re starting out. You don’t know your card volume yet, and cash you don’t spend on hardware stays in the business.
• Your volume is seasonal or uncertain. A terrace, a shop with a quiet January, a business still finding its shape.
• You want one bill and no surprises. Rental bundles hardware, support, updates and replacement into a single, predictable monthly cost.
• You don’t want to own a technology decision. Payment hardware has changed a lot in ten years and will keep changing: think of the move from contactless cards to mobile wallets, and now to tap to pay on a smartphone.
• You only need it briefly. For a festival, a fair or a summer season, short-term rental by the week or month is the right answer. It costs more per day, but far less per year than either alternative.

Buy if…

• You’re established and your volume is steady. The maths works in your favour and the risk is small.
• You’ll keep the device for three years or more. Past break-even, every month is money saved.
• You don’t want a contract tied to the hardware. You still need an acquiring contract, but the device itself is yours.
• You have several locations. The saving per device multiplies.
• A capital expense suits your accounts better than an operating one. Talk to your accountant: for some businesses this is the deciding factor rather than an afterthought.

Three situations where the obvious answer is wrong

“I’m established, so I should buy.” Not necessarily. When you buy, the device is your responsibility for its whole life. Once it reaches end-of-life, or a new security standard means it can no longer process payments, you have to buy a new one, often sooner than you planned. When you rent, your provider replaces it. If you’d rather not carry that risk, renting is the safer choice, even for an established business.

“Renting is throwing money away.” Only if the rental is bare. If it covers replacement, support, updates and compliance, you’re buying a service that happens to include hardware. Compare it with buying plus a maintenance contract, or the comparison is meaningless.

“I’ll buy the cheapest one and save.” The cheapest device is cheap for a reason: a slower connection, a weaker battery, a screen your staff will struggle with, or no support for the payment methods you’ll want next year. At a busy counter, a terminal that takes three extra seconds per customer costs more in queues than it saved on the purchase price.

The third option: no hardware at all

You don’t have to rent or buy. If your card volume is modest, or you’re often on the move, your smartphone already has the NFC chip a terminal uses. With Axepta BNP Paribas Soft, you turn your smartphone into a card reader: no rental, no purchase, no charging base, nothing to replace.

It suits market traders, deliveries, pop-ups, tradespeople and anyone testing whether card acceptance pays for itself. It’s the wrong answer for a busy counter, where you need battery life, printed receipts and a device that isn’t also your phone.

Discover Axepta BNP Pariba Soft and start accepting payments with your smartphone.

Questions to ask before you sign

Whichever you choose, these determine what you actually pay:

1. If renting: how long is the term, and what does it cost to leave early? A low monthly rate on a five-year contract is a five-year commitment.
2. Does the contract renew automatically, and what’s the notice period?
3. If buying: what’s covered after the warranty, and what does maintenance cost?
4. Does the terminal support C-TAP? If it does, you can switch provider later without replacing the device.
5. Who pays when the hardware has to be replaced for compliance reasons?
6. What are the transaction fees? They’re usually the biggest cost of all, and the question is the same either way.

Renting and buying with Axepta BNP Paribas

At Axepta BNP Paribas, you can rent or buy your terminal:

The contract runs for 12 months, then continues indefinitely with three months’ notice for the terminal and one month for the acquiring contract. Transaction fees are the same whether you rent or buy: from €0.035 to 1.09% per transaction.

For more information, discover our in-depth article on how much a payment terminal costs.

Frequently asked questions