# Does Germany still need SoftPOS? Cash, cards and the case for Tap to Pay in 2026 > For the first time, most in-store purchases in Germany are paid without cash, and the government plans to make at least one digital payment option mandatory. Here is what that means for small merchants, and where Tap to Pay on a phone fits. Germany has a reputation as the country that loves cash. For a long time, the numbers backed that up. They no longer do, at least not in the same way. According to the Bundesbank's latest study of how people in Germany pay, published in June 2026, **55% of recorded purchases in 2025 were paid without cash**. It is the first time cashless payments have been in the majority. Two years earlier, cash still accounted for 51% of payments. By 2025, that had fallen to 45%. So the question for a small German merchant is no longer "do my customers want to pay by card?" It is "what happens when they want to and I can't take it?" ## What the numbers say A few figures from the Bundesbank's *Zahlungsverhalten in Deutschland 2025* stand out for anyone running a shop, café or service business: - **Cash is still the single most used method, but no longer the majority.** 45% of payments were made in cash, 55% without it. - **The debit card is the main alternative.** It was used for 26% of payments and accounted for 28% of spending, more than any other method. - **Phone and watch payments are growing fast.** Mobile payments reached 10% of all payments, up four percentage points from 2023. - **Customers notice when they can't pay by card.** Cashless payment was possible in 86% of recorded in-store purchases. About a quarter of respondents said that, in the previous month, they had at least once been unable to pay cashless when they wanted to. None of this means cash is going away. In the same study, 80% of respondents said it was important that they can keep paying with cash, and cash was accepted in 94% of in-store purchases. Germany is not becoming a cashless country. It is becoming a country where customers expect both. ## A digital payment option may soon be required There is also a policy reason to pay attention. The current federal coalition agreed to work towards a rule that businesses should offer cash and at least one digital payment option. In September 2026, the Federal Ministry of Finance presented key points for such a rule. According to press reports, businesses selling in person, including shops, restaurants and service providers, would have to offer at least one digital payment method alongside cash, with a target start in 2027. Merchants would choose which method to offer, non-commercial organisations such as sports clubs would be exempt, and hardship rules are being considered. It is important to be precise about the status. As of October 2026, this is a plan, not a law. There is no obligation yet, the bill has not passed, and the details, including which methods count, how small businesses are treated and when it applies, may change. Merchants should follow the final rules rather than the headlines. But the direction is clear. Many merchants who take cash only today will need a card or mobile payment option soon. ## Why a traditional terminal is a hard sell for small merchants For a large retailer, adding a payment option is routine. Industry observers point out that most medium and large retailers already offer one. For a market trader, a hairdresser, a craftsperson or a small café, it is a different calculation. The traditional route usually means: - **Hardware to buy or rent**, often with a monthly fee whether you take ten payments that month or a thousand. - **A contract**, sometimes with a minimum term. - **A device that lives in one place.** That is fine at a counter, but less so at a market stall, at a table, on a delivery or at a customer's home. If you take relatively few card payments, the fixed costs can outweigh the benefit. That is one reason cash-only has survived as long as it has. ## Where SoftPOS fits SoftPOS, often called Tap to Pay, turns a phone or tablet into a contactless payment terminal. The customer taps their card, phone or watch against the merchant's device and the payment goes through. There is no separate terminal and no card reader to plug in. For the merchants most affected by a digital payment requirement, that changes the calculation: - **No hardware cost.** With Tapaya, a compatible Android phone is the terminal, so there is nothing to buy or rent. - **No fixed monthly fee.** Tapaya charges a percentage of each transaction, starting at 1.39% blended, with no monthly, setup or hardware fees. If you take few card payments, you pay little. - **It goes where you go.** Market stalls, tables, deliveries, house calls and pop-ups work the same as the counter. - **It covers how Germans increasingly pay.** Contactless cards and phone or watch payments are exactly the methods that are growing. There are limits worth knowing: - **Tapaya's Tap to Pay runs on Android.** iPhones and iPads cannot take payments with it. Many merchants use an inexpensive Android phone as their payment device. - **Tapaya accepts Visa and Mastercard.** Most German bank cards now carry Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard next to girocard, so most customers are covered, but cards and wallets that carry girocard alone are not. We explain the details in [which German debit cards a SoftPOS can accept](/en/blog/german-debit-cards-and-softpos). - **It is contactless only.** Customers tap their card, phone or watch. A card that has no contactless function cannot be inserted instead. ## So, does Germany need SoftPOS? Not every merchant needs it. A business with a busy counter and a terminal that works well can keep it. For some businesses, SoftPOS fits best alongside a dedicated terminal rather than instead of it. But for the large group of small German businesses that still take cash only, or that take cards at one counter and cash everywhere else, SoftPOS offers a low-cost way to meet what customers already expect, and what the law will probably soon require. ## How to get ready - **Ask how your customers want to pay.** If you take cash only, keep a tally for a couple of weeks of how often someone asks to pay by card. - **Work out what a payment option would really cost you.** Compare fixed monthly fees with a per-transaction model at your actual card volume. - **Check your devices.** If you already use an Android phone or tablet in your business, it may already be able to take payments. - **Watch the legislation.** Follow the Federal Ministry of Finance's draft as it develops, and check the final rules and dates before relying on any specific requirement. If you want to see what this would look like for your business, [take a look at Tapaya for merchants](/en/merchants), [see our pricing](/en/pricing), or [get in touch](/en/contact).