Best payment tools for Irish small businesses

The right payment tool for an Irish small business depends on how your customers pay and how often: direct debit suits regular bills, payment links with card and bank transfer suit one-off invoices, and accounting software can add a pay button to the invoices you already send. The options differ most on card fees, whether the price is capped on larger payments, and whether the tool chases unpaid invoices or leaves that to you.

In this article

The short version

• Payment tools differ most on card fees, capped pricing and whether they chase.
• GoCardless collects direct debit but does not take card payments.
• Stripe Invoicing adds 0.4% or 0.5% per paid invoice on top of card fees.
• A €600 invoice costs €2.20 to collect by direct debit through Adfin.
• Xero's pay button connects you to Stripe or GoCardless for payments.

What to compare before you choose

Payment tools in Ireland are easy to sign up for and harder to compare, because each one prices and packages things differently. Four questions cut through most of it.

• Which methods can your customers use? A tool that only takes direct debit won't help with a customer who wants to pay a one-off invoice by card, and a card-only tool can be an expensive way to collect a large monthly fee.
• What will you pay at your usual invoice size? A percentage fee that looks small on a €50 sale adds up on a €1,500 invoice, so work out the cost on your own typical amounts, not the provider's example.
• Who chases when an invoice goes unpaid? Some tools take the payment and stop there. Others send reminders on a schedule, and a few will add late payment interest to overdue business invoices.
• Does it update your accounts? If you use Xero or QuickBooks, a payment that marks the invoice paid on its own saves a reconciliation job every time.

The main options side by side

This table sets the tools in this guide side by side, with pricing and features as each company states them for Ireland.

Payment providers

A payment provider takes the money from your customer and passes it to you. You still need something to send the invoice and, unless the provider does it, something to chase.

Stripe takes cards and a range of other payment methods. Standard European cards cost 1.5% + €0.25, UK cards 2.5% + €0.25 and international cards 3.15% + €0.25. If you send invoices through Stripe Invoicing, it adds 0.4% per paid invoice on the Starter plan or 0.5% on Plus, on top of the payment fee. Stripe can send automatic reminder emails before, on or after the due date. On SEPA direct debit, it lists €3.50 for a failed payment and €15 for a dispute, and makes SEPA funds available six business days after the charge.

GoCardless specialises in direct debit and doesn't take card payments, so a customer who wants to pay by card has to go somewhere else. Its Advanced plan retries failed payments, but it doesn't send invoice reminders or chase unpaid invoices. Fees are taken out of your payouts, and if you want your own business name on customers' bank statements, that's an add-on at €50 a month.

Revolut Business combines a business account with invoicing. Plans start from €10, €35 and €125 a month, and invoices send reminders automatically 7 days before the due date, on it, and 3 days after. Without an active Merchant account, though, customers can only pay those invoices by bank transfer.

Payments built into accounting software

If you already invoice from accounting software, a pay button on those invoices is the shortest route to taking payment online. For Xero, Sage and Big Red Cloud, that means connecting a payment provider and paying its fees.

• Xero Ireland offers invoice payments through Stripe for cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and through GoCardless for direct debit. It can send automatic reminders before or after the due date, at a frequency you choose.
• QuickBooks Online Ireland can send up to three automatic reminders for unpaid invoices that have already been emailed, with templates you can edit.
• Sage Ireland names Stripe and PayPal for online invoice payments, and there's a GoCardless app on its Irish marketplace for direct debit.
• Big Red Cloud offers direct debit through GoCardless and invoice payment links through Square.

This route works well while your needs are simple. It gets harder once you want one set of reminders, one view of who owes what, and card and direct debit through the same provider. With Xero, for example, cards come through Stripe and direct debit through GoCardless, so if you want both, you're running two accounts with two sets of fees and terms.

Credit control tools and combined tools

Credit control tools focus on getting invoices paid once they're sent. Paidnice works with Xero, QuickBooks Online and Stripe, costs €59 a month on its Essentials plan for up to 150 invoices, with Pro from €85, and applies late fees and interest automatically.

Adfin brings payments and credit control together. Customers pay by SEPA direct debit, card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or bank transfer, from payment links sent by email, SMS or WhatsApp. Each successful payment costs 20c + 1%. The percentage stops at €2 on direct debit and bank transfer, though not on cards, so a direct debit or bank transfer of up to €2,000 costs €2.20 at most. There's no monthly fee, setup fee or contract. Essential credit control is free under a fair use policy and covers unlimited reminders by email, SMS and WhatsApp, statements, Xero or QuickBooks sync and an aged debtors view where you give each debtor an owner and next steps.

Enhanced credit control costs 0.3% per paid invoice, only when it's used. With it, Adfin's collection agents choose the timing, channel and tone of each reminder within rules you approve, statutory late payment interest is added automatically to overdue business invoices, and emails go out from your own address. It's a certified Xero app and a certified QuickBooks app, and payments taken through it are marked paid in your accounts automatically.

What a €600 invoice costs to collect

Here's one invoice of €600, paid three different ways, to show how the method changes the fee.

• Paid by a standard European card through Stripe, the payment fee is €9.25 (1.5% is €9, plus €0.25). If the invoice was sent through Stripe Invoicing Starter, add 0.4%, or €2.40, for a total of €11.65.
• Paid through Adfin, the fee is €6.20 by standard card (1% is €6, plus 20c) and €2.20 by direct debit or bank transfer, because the 1% part stops at €2 on those two methods.

If your customers prefer cards, the card fee is part of the cost of getting paid, but it helps to know what each method costs before you decide which ones to offer first.

Which kind of tool fits your business

Which kind of tool fits depends mostly on your customers and how they pay, so here are some common situations.

• If most of your income is regular, such as monthly fees, retainers or memberships, look at direct debit first. GoCardless collects SEPA direct debit but not cards, so a customer who won't sign a mandate needs another way to pay; Adfin takes both.
• If you mostly send one-off invoices, you want payment links that accept cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and bank transfer, and reminders that go out without you remembering. Check each tool against that list: GoCardless doesn't take cards or send reminders, and Revolut Business invoices take cards only with an active Merchant account.
• If you're happy in Xero or QuickBooks and only need a pay button, the built-in options are a reasonable start, and you can add a credit control tool later if chasing becomes a job in itself.
• If your customers are businesses and some pay late, look for a tool that handles statutory late payment interest. Between businesses in Ireland, the statutory late payment interest rate is 10.4% a year from 1 July 2026, reset every January and July, and applies without a reminder, though ISME's survey of SME owners for Q1 2026 found 82% of those surveyed don't charge it.
• If you take most payments face to face, you'll need a card terminal, which is a different decision from the invoice payments covered here.

Common questions

What is the cheapest way for a small business to take payments in Ireland? It depends on your typical payment size and the methods your customers will use. Percentage card fees grow with the amount, so on larger invoices a method with a capped fee, such as direct debit or bank transfer through a provider that caps it, usually costs less per payment.

Can I charge customers a fee for paying by card in Ireland? Charging consumers a surcharge for paying by debit or credit card is banned under Regulation 86 of S.I. 6 of 2018. Commercial cards are outside the ban, but any charge can't exceed your direct cost of accepting the card, and you must tell the payer before they pay.

Does GoCardless take card payments? GoCardless doesn't accept card payments, so customers who want to pay by card need another option alongside its direct debit collections.

Can Revolut Business invoices be paid by card? Revolut Business invoices can be paid by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay if you have an active Merchant account. Without one, customers can only pay them by bank transfer.

Do I need a separate payment tool if I use Xero? Xero Ireland lets customers pay invoices through Stripe or GoCardless and can send automatic reminders. A separate tool makes sense if you want card and direct debit through one provider, or more chasing than Xero's reminders offer.

What does Adfin cost in Ireland? Adfin charges 20c + 1% on each successful payment, with the percentage capped at €2 on direct debit and bank transfer but not on cards. Essential credit control is free, and Enhanced costs 0.3% per paid invoice when used.

Sources

• Stripe - Pricing, Ireland (accurate as of November 2026) https://stripe.com/ie/pricing
• Stripe - Invoicing pricing, Ireland (accurate as of November 2026) https://stripe.com/ie/invoicing/pricing
• GoCardless - Pricing, Ireland (accurate as of November 2026) https://gocardless.com/en-ie/pricing
• Revolut - Business invoices, Ireland (accurate as of November 2026) https://www.revolut.com/en-IE/business/invoices/
• Xero - Accept online payments, Ireland (accurate as of November 2026) https://www.xero.com/ie/accounting-software/accept-payments/
• Citizens Information - Payment Services Directive (accurate as of November 2026) https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money-and-tax/personal-finance/eu-payments/psd2/