Viva.com

What Viva.com does

Viva.com offers businesses payment acceptance and financial services across in-person, online, and marketplace transactions. Its products cover contactless phone payments, online checkout, payment requests by email, virtual terminals and Quick Pay links.

Supported Android and iOS devices can accept contactless payments through the Terminal app. Smart Checkout is an online gateway offering more than 40 payment methods, saved cards, multicurrency payments and decline recovery.

Fees and plans

On the UK pricing page, Zero is marked free, although a £3.99 minimum monthly charge is shown. It is billed monthly, charges terminal IDs and websites per item, includes unlimited digital cards and real-time settlement, and charges users per user.

The monthly price for both Omnichannel Default and Default is £3.99. Each allows up to 3 terminal IDs, 1 website, unlimited digital cards, 2 users and 4 free outgoing transfers. Default also lists real-time settlement.

Omnichannel Standard and Standard are priced at £10.99 per month. They allow up to 10 terminal IDs, 3 websites, unlimited digital cards, 3 users and 15 free outgoing transfers. Standard lists real-time settlement.

A monthly £15.99 price applies to Premium and Omnichannel Premium. They allow up to 20 terminal IDs, 5 websites, unlimited digital cards, 5 users and 30 free outgoing transfers. Premium lists real-time settlement.

No price is shown for Omnichannel Zero. Its billing is monthly, with a £3.99 minimum monthly charge; terminal IDs and websites are charged per item, digital cards are unlimited, real-time settlement is listed, and users are charged per user.

The pricing page adds £1.70 a month for each extra terminal ID or website and £0.85 a month for each extra user. The facts do not give card-processing rates, transfer charges beyond the listed free allowances, or exchange-rate margins. No free trial is listed.

Where it runs

Viva.com offers Android, iPhone, web and API access. The Terminal app works on Android 8.1 or later, while the mini card reader requires Android 12 or later. Tap to Pay on iPhone works with iPhone XS/XR or later and iOS 16.7 or later.

Supported phones, tablets, registers and kiosks can become contactless terminals through the phone-based Terminal app. Smart Checkout operates online, while Viva documents APIs, SDK coverage and plugins for Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, OpenCart, Magento and Shopware 6.

The WooCommerce integration requires PHP 7.4 or newer, WordPress 6.5 or newer, an SSL domain and cURL support. Viva says more than 1,215 payment devices work across 31 markets.

Protection and rules, as published

Viva.com states that Viva Wallet.com Limited, trading as Viva.com, is licensed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority as an electronic-money institution under FRN 989273.

Viva.com identifies itself as a PCI DSS Level 1 service provider and says it undergoes yearly third-party assessments. It says data is protected in transit and at rest in cloud infrastructure, and that Smart Checkout supports PCI DSS and SCA/3DS compliance with machine-learning fraud protection.

Its security pages describe tokenization, dynamic CVV, AI fraud detection, biometrics, encryption, hardware security modules and DDoS-protected cloud infrastructure. Viva says the platform is built entirely on Microsoft Azure. The published facts do not specify deposit protection or a dispute-handling process.

Use is governed by an end-user agreement under contractual license terms, not an open-source license.

Strengths

Businesses can take contactless payments on supported devices, request money remotely, or use an online gateway. For in-person use, Viva advertises more than 40 payment methods, including major cards and digital wallets.

Plans include real-time settlement on several tiers, digital cards and free outgoing transfers. Developer documentation covers payment APIs, testing environments, authentication, error debugging and support through chat, email, FAQs and GitHub Issues.

Official plugins cover six named commerce platforms, and Viva says it works with more than 100 certified software providers in 19 countries.

Catches to check

Plan allowances differ for terminal IDs, websites, users and outgoing transfers. Extra terminal IDs or websites cost £1.70 a month each, and extra users cost £0.85 a month each. Although Zero is marked free, it has a £3.99 minimum monthly charge.

Viva describes its services as business solutions and says payment acceptance is available in 30 countries. Check that the intended country, currencies and device meet the requirements before signing up; the facts list eight supported currencies.

The published review summaries include reports of delayed payouts, configuration difficulty for small businesses, weaker guidance and customer-service concerns. One review cites a €5 monthly fee introduced in 2024. These are reviewer reports, not provider terms.

Who should skip it

It may not fit a business outside the stated 30-country reach, one needing currencies beyond the eight listed, or one that cannot meet the Android, iPhone or WooCommerce requirements. A business needing clearly published processing or exchange-rate fees should note that those figures are not in the facts.

Verdict

Viva.com combines contactless acceptance, online checkout, remote payment requests and marketplace transactions under one business service, with APIs and named store plugins. Its plan ladder sets monthly prices and operating allowances, while the Zero label still carries a minimum monthly charge.

It is less suitable when a business needs published card-processing rates, exchange margins, deposit-protection details or a documented dispute route before choosing a provider. Device, country, currency and plan limits also need checking, especially for small teams adding terminals, websites or users.

Questions