Most-Used Payments by UK Companies (2026)
Detected Payments market share across 17,781 UK companies, with PayU holding the largest share at 33.2%.
Among 2,066,481 trading UK companies, 17,781 have a detectable Payments system. PayU accounts for 33.2% of detected companies (5,905), ahead of Stripe at 29.7% (5,285) and PayPal at 26.8% (4,770).
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Size band changes the order. PayU leads among companies with under 10 employees, taking 35.9% of 11,945 detected companies, while Stripe leads in the 10–50 employee band with 32.0% of 5,373 and in the over 50 employee band with 38.7% of 463.
After the three largest systems, the market thins out: Square and Klarna each have 3.3% of detected companies, at 588 and 586 respectively, followed by Codeweavers at 2.3% (402), GoCardless at 2.2% (395) and Worldpay at 1.9% (329). A further 11 systems cover 1,146 companies between them.
17,781
Companies with detected Payments
Of 2,066,481 UK companies
0.9%
Detection rate
2026
19
Systems detected
In this category
33.2%
Leader share
PayU
UK companies Payments market share
Share of the 17,781 UK companies with a detectable system. As of June 2026.
Payments compared
| System | UK companies | Share | Median headcount | London share | Typical profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PayU | 5,917 | 33.3% | 6 | 11.1% | Median 6 employees, 33.2% share |
| Stripe | 5,319 | 29.9% | 7 | 20.3% | Median 7 employees, 29.7% share |
| PayPal | 4,774 | 26.8% | 7 | 18.9% | Median 7 employees, 26.8% share |
| Square | 587 | 3.3% | 9 | 17.5% | Median 9 employees, 3.3% share |
| Klarna | 597 | 3.4% | 7 | 14.8% | Median 7 employees, 3.3% share |
| Codeweavers | 402 | 2.3% | 4 | 7.5% | Median 4 employees, 2.3% share |
| GoCardless | 400 | 2.2% | 8 | 18.5% | Median 8 employees, 2.2% share |
| Worldpay | 325 | 1.8% | 8 | 18.2% | Median 8 employees, 1.9% share |
| Authorize.net | 336 | 1.9% | 7 | 23.7% | Median 7 employees, 1.9% share |
| Ideal4Finance | 196 | 1.1% | — | — | View these companies in Firmbase → |
| Tabeo | 160 | 0.9% | — | — | View these companies in Firmbase → |
| Plaid | 137 | 0.8% | — | — | View these companies in Firmbase → |
| Opayo | 120 | 0.7% | — | — | View these companies in Firmbase → |
| Recharge | 106 | 0.6% | — | — | View these companies in Firmbase → |
| Afterpay | 94 | 0.5% | — | — | View these companies in Firmbase → |
| Denplan | 91 | 0.5% | — | — | View these companies in Firmbase → |
| Chrysalis Finance | 87 | 0.5% | — | — | View these companies in Firmbase → |
| Google Pay | 82 | 0.5% | — | — | View these companies in Firmbase → |
| PFP | 62 | 0.3% | — | — | View these companies in Firmbase → |
Systems detected below the page threshold appear with counts only; their full lists are available in the Firmbase app.
Market leader by size
The leading Payments system shifts with company size: among UK companies with under 10 employees, PayU leads at 35.9% of the 11,945 with a detectable system; among UK companies with 10–50 employees, Stripe leads at 32% of the 5,373 with a detectable system; and among UK companies with over 50 employees, Stripe leads at 38.7% of the 463 with a detectable system.
Under 10 employees
35.9% of band
This is the largest detected band, with 11,945 companies. PayU leads at 35.9%, with Stripe and PayPal forming part of the wider three-system split seen across the full market.
10–50 employees
32% of band
The 10–50 employee band contains 5,373 detected companies. Stripe leads here with 32.0%, reversing the under-10 pattern where PayU is ahead.
Over 50 employees
38.7% of band
Only 463 detected companies sit in the over-50 employee band. Stripe has the clearest position in this segment, leading with 38.7%.
How Payments usage is detected
Company data
Detected companies are joined to UK Companies House records and XBRL accounts data. Revenue and headcount figures come from the most recent filed accounts; where the company has not filed, values are estimated using a model trained on filed history and peer benchmarks and are labelled as estimates.
Detection
Firmbase crawls the public website of actively-trading UK companies and fingerprints the technologies present: tracking scripts, embedded forms, chat widgets, CMS markers and similar signatures. A company is included in this list when one or more of the technology's signatures are found on its site; closely-related variants of the same product are grouped under one name. Detection covers what is visible on the public web — a company using the technology purely internally, with no website footprint, will not appear. Counts are therefore a conservative floor, not a ceiling.
Freshness
Websites are re-crawled on a rolling basis and the underlying company data is refreshed from Companies House continuously; filings appear within days of submission. The list and its statistics are regenerated when the detected cohort moves meaningfully. You can see the last-updated timestamp near the top of the page.
All product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Firmbase is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any trademark owner.
UK companies by Payments
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Frequently asked questions
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