Mobile & In-Person Payments arenaMobile & In-Person Payments
Platforms for accepting in-person and mobile card payments — Tap to Pay on off-the-shelf phones, dedicated readers and smart terminals, and the APIs behind them — judged on how fast a merchant can start taking payments, checkout and fleet-management depth, offline resilience, payouts and reconciliation, and how well agents can drive the whole stack.
52 user stories · 208 judged cells · updated 2026-09-16 · Evidence as of 2026-09-16
Leaderboard — every product ranked by evidenceLeaderboard
Rank by
| 1 |  Stripe Terminalusage-based vs Square ↗ | 59/100 | 9/100 | 33/100 | 17/100 | 18/100 | ★ 40▲ 6/yrnpm 83k/wk | 16/34 verified | 52/100 integrity | ||
| 2 |  Squareusage-based vs Stripe Terminal ↗ | 58/100 | 9/100 | 29/100 | 21/100 | 18/100 | ★ 116▲ 16/yrnpm 281.7k/wk | 12/34 verified | 19/100 integrity | ||
| 3 |  SumUpusage-based vs Stripe Terminal ↗ | 58/100 | 12/100 | 11/100 | 9/100 | 7/100 | npm 6.4k/wk | 7/22 verified | 6/100 integrity | ||
| 4 |  Adyen In-Person Paymentsinterchange vs Stripe Terminal ↗ | 47/100 | 7/100 | 20/100 | 10/100 | 11/100 | ★ 79▲ 9/yrnpm 215.5k/wk | 8/28 verified · 2 disputed | 0/100 integrity |
Best by user type — persona-weighted winnersBest by user type
Per persona, the product with the highest persona-weighted coverage over just that persona's stories — not the same ranking as the overall PA Score leaderboard above.
Story matrix — every product × every judged storyStory matrix
52/52 stories shown · legend
Accept payments — stories about accept payments in this arenaAccept payments
Onboarding
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accept payments — stories about accept payments in this arenaSign up, get approved, and order hardware from the dashboard so I am taking in-person payments the same week | founder | partialC 5/10 | partialX 4/10 | none 0/10 | disputedD 5/10 |
Payment methods
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accept payments — stories about accept payments in this arenaAccept chip, contactless, and mobile-wallet (Apple Pay / Google Pay) payments in person | merchant-ops | fullX 9/10 | fullX 8/10 | fullC 8/10 | fullC 8/10 |
| Accept payments — stories about accept payments in this arenaSplit a single sale across multiple payment methods or payers | merchant-ops | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
Tap to pay
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accept payments — stories about accept payments in this arenaAccept contactless card payments on an off-the-shelf phone (Tap to Pay) without buying a reader | founder | fullC 9/10 | fullC 8/10 | fullC 8/10 | fullC 8/10 |
Tipping
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accept payments — stories about accept payments in this arenaConfigure tipping prompts (percentages, smart amounts, custom tips) collected on the reader or terminal | merchant-ops | fullC 8/10 | partialC 6/10 | none 0/10 | partialC 6/10 |
Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness
Agent access
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productPoint an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docs | ai-native | fullT 9/10 | fullT 9/10 | fullT 9/10 | fullT 9/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productRun the product headlessly / in CI for automation | ai-native | partialC 4/10 | partialC 6/10 | partialC 5/10 | partialC 4/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productPlug MCP servers into this product so it can use their tools | ai-native | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productConnect an agent via an official MCP server | ai-native | partialT 6/10 | fullT 8/10 | fullT 8/10 | fullT 8/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productUse an official CLI | ai-native | fullT 8/10 | none 0/10 | n/a | none 0/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productDrive the product through a documented public API | ai-native | fullT 9/10 | fullT 8/10 | fullT 8/10 | fullT 8/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productIssue scoped/least-privilege API credentials for an agent | ai-native | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productBuild against official SDKs | ai-native | fullT 8/10 | fullC 8/10 | fullT 8/10 | none 0/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productSubscribe to events via webhooks | ai-native | fullC 7/10 | fullC 8/10 | partialC 4/10 | fullC 7/10 |
Agentic features
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productGet AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the product | ai-native | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | n/a | none 0/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productSet up automations that run autonomously in the background | ai-native | partialC 4/10 | partialT 3/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productDelegate tasks to a built-in AI assistant inside the product | ai-native | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productOperate the product with natural-language commands | ai-native | partialT 3/10 | partialT 4/10 | partialT 7/10 | partialT 5/10 |
Api quality
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productExplore an interactive API reference with runnable examples | ai-native | none 0/10 | partialT 4/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productDownload a machine-readable API spec (OpenAPI or equivalent) | ai-native | fullT 8/10 | partialT 6/10 | none 0/10 | partialT 6/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productTest against a sandbox environment without touching production data | ai-native | fullC 7/10 | fullC 8/10 | fullC 8/10 | fullC 7/10 |
| Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productRely on versioned APIs with a documented deprecation policy | ai-native | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedPerform bulk operations across many items at once | ai-native | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | partialC 3/10 | none 0/10 |
| Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedDefine rules that trigger actions automatically on events | ai-native | partialC 5/10 | partialC 5/10 | none 0/10 | partialC 3/10 |
| Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedSchedule recurring jobs or workflows | ai-native | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedVersion, review, and roll back my automations | ai-native | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Catalog receipts — stories about catalog receipts in this arenaCatalog receipts
Catalog
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catalog receipts — stories about catalog receipts in this arenaManage an item catalog with inventory counts that stay in sync across registers and channels | merchant-ops | n/a | fullC 8/10 | none 0/10 | n/a |
Receipts
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catalog receipts — stories about catalog receipts in this arenaIssue digital (email/SMS) or printed receipts that meet card-network requirements | merchant-ops | fullC 8/10 | partialC 6/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
Checkout integration — stories about checkout integration in this arenaCheckout integration
Custom checkout
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Checkout integration — stories about checkout integration in this arenaEmbed in-person payments into my own iOS or Android app with official mobile SDKs | developer | fullX 8/10 | fullC 8/10 | fullC 7/10 | partialC 5/10 |
| Checkout integration — stories about checkout integration in this arenaBuild a custom point-of-sale checkout that drives the terminal from my backend through a documented server-driven API | developer | fullX 9/10 | fullT 8/10 | fullT 8/10 | disputedD 6/10 |
Payment events
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Checkout integration — stories about checkout integration in this arenaSubscribe to payment lifecycle events (authorized, captured, refunded, disputed) via webhooks to drive downstream automations | developer | partialC 6/10 | partialC 6/10 | partialC 4/10 | partialC 6/10 |
Testing
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Checkout integration — stories about checkout integration in this arenaTest my in-person integration end-to-end with a simulated reader or test card environment before going live | developer | fullT 8/10 | partialC 5/10 | fullC 8/10 | fullC 8/10 |
Disputes refunds — stories about disputes refunds in this arenaDisputes refunds
Disputes
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disputes refunds — stories about disputes refunds in this arenaHave an agent monitor dispute deadlines via API or webhooks and draft evidence responses for my review | ai-native | partialC 4/10 | partialC 6/10 | none 0/10 | partialC 5/10 |
| Disputes refunds — stories about disputes refunds in this arenaGet notified of chargebacks and submit dispute evidence before the deadline | merchant-ops | partialC 5/10 | partialC 6/10 | none 0/10 | partialC 6/10 |
Refunds
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disputes refunds — stories about disputes refunds in this arenaIssue full or partial refunds back to the original card from the point of sale, dashboard, or API | merchant-ops | fullC 8/10 | none 0/10 | partialC 6/10 | fullC 8/10 |
Hardware fleet — stories about hardware fleet in this arenaHardware fleet
Ai fleet ops
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware fleet — stories about hardware fleet in this arenaHave an agent provision a new location end-to-end via API — creating the location and registering its readers | ai-native | fullT 7/10 | partialC 4/10 | none 0/10 | partialC 4/10 |
Fleet api
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware fleet — stories about hardware fleet in this arenaManage a fleet of readers and terminals via API — register devices, monitor status, and update configuration remotely | developer | fullX 8/10 | none 0/10 | partialC 3/10 | partialC 3/10 |
Multi location
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware fleet — stories about hardware fleet in this arenaRun multiple locations with per-location devices, settings, and reporting | merchant-ops | partialC 6/10 | partialC 6/10 | none 0/10 | partialC 6/10 |
Readers
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware fleet — stories about hardware fleet in this arenaPair a card reader with the POS app or register it to my account and take a payment within minutes | merchant-ops | fullX 8/10 | partialX 6/10 | partialC 6/10 | partialX 4/10 |
Offline reliability — stories about offline reliability in this arenaOffline reliability
Offline
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offline reliability — stories about offline reliability in this arenaKeep taking card payments when the internet drops, with transactions stored and forwarded when connectivity returns | merchant-ops | fullC 8/10 | partialC 5/10 | fullC 8/10 | partialC 6/10 |
Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesDo everything through the API that I can do in the UI | ai-native | partialX 7/10 | partialC 6/10 | partialT 5/10 | partialX 6/10 |
| Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesExport all of my data in open formats and leave | ai-native | none 0/10 | partialC 4/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
| Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesRead the product's source under an open license | ai-native | partialC 3/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
| Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesSelf-host the core product | ai-native | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Payouts reconciliation — stories about payouts reconciliation in this arenaPayouts reconciliation
Payouts
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payouts reconciliation — stories about payouts reconciliation in this arenaSee when each payout lands and speed it up (next-day or instant) when I need the cash | founder | partialC 4/10 | partialC 4/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
Reconciliation
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payouts reconciliation — stories about payouts reconciliation in this arenaHave an agent pull transactions and payouts via API and reconcile daily takings into my ledger | ai-native | partialT 6/10 | fullT 7/10 | partialC 4/10 | partialT 4/10 |
| Payouts reconciliation — stories about payouts reconciliation in this arenaReconcile daily takings against payouts with itemized transaction and fee reports | merchant-ops | partialC 4/10 | partialC 5/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
Pci compliance — stories about pci compliance in this arenaPci compliance
Pci
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pci compliance — stories about pci compliance in this arenaKeep my PCI scope minimal because card data is captured end-to-end by certified readers and vendor systems, with vendor guidance on my remaining obligations | developer | none 0/10 | partialC 5/10 | partialC 5/10 | partialC 6/10 |
Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture
| Story | Persona | Stripe Terminal | Square | SumUp | Adyen In-Person Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesChoose where my data is stored (region/residency) | ai-native | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
| Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrevent my data from being used to train AI models | ai-native | n/a | none 0/10 | n/a | none 0/10 |
| Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesControl data retention and deletion | ai-native | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | none 0/10 |
| Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesOpt out of telemetry and usage tracking | ai-native | none 0/10 | none 0/10 | n/a | none 0/10 |
Verdict✓ fullclear evidence~ partialwith caveats! disputedevidence conflicts— noneno evidence foundn/aquestion doesn't apply to this kind of product
ProofT probedtested by usX communityusers back itC claimedvendor claim onlyD contradictedevidence disagrees⚿ auth-gatedprobe hit a live sign-in wall — verified reachable, untestable keylessly
quality 0–10 · PA Score /100 · A–D = evidence confidence · full guideAdjacent arenas — categories often shopped togetherAdjacent arenas
Shopping this category often means shopping these too.