GoCardless review

GoCardless was founded in London in 2011 and has grown into the default way for subscription businesses, membership organisations and invoice-based firms to collect bank-to-bank payments. It processes no cards at all: collections run over Direct Debit schemes including Bacs in the UK, SEPA in the Eurozone, ACH in the US, PAD in Canada, BECS in Australia and New Zealand, Autogiro in Sweden and Betalingsservice in Denmark, plus PayTo in Australia and one-off open banking payments through Instant Bank Pay. In December 2025 the Dutch payment provider Mollie agreed to acquire GoCardless for 1.05 billion euros, with the deal expected to close in mid-2026.

Pricing and how it works

There are no setup or monthly fees on the Standard, Advanced and Pro tiers; the tiers differ by rate and bundled features rather than subscription cost. UK domestic collections cost 1% + 20p capped at 4 pounds on Standard, rising to 1.4% + 20p capped at 5.60 on Pro. US ACH costs 0.5% + 5 cents capped at 5 dollars on Standard. International collections roughly double the domestic rate, and UK Direct Debit adds 0.3% to the portion of a transaction above 2,000 pounds. The Advanced and Pro tiers bundle Success+, which automatically retries failed payments and recovers up to 70% of them, and Protect+ fraud screening. Bacs payouts land two working days after the charge date, and a first collection takes about five business days end to end.

Who it is for

GoCardless is built for businesses collecting recurring or invoiced revenue: SaaS with annual contracts, gyms and clubs, accountants, utilities and anyone tired of card fees and expiring cards. Its 350+ integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, Chargebee and similar platforms make reconciliation largely automatic. It is not a fit as a sole processor for ecommerce checkout, since it cannot take cards, and businesses needing instant settlement should look elsewhere: bank debit is deliberate, not fast.