The UK direct debit providers worth comparing in 2026 are Adfin, GoCardless, Stripe, London & Zurich, Access PaySuite and Bottomline. They differ on whether you need your own Service User Number, whether the fee on a large collection is capped, what a failed collection costs you and whether anything happens to the invoices direct debit doesn't collect. Adfin needs no SUN, caps the percentage at £4, charges nothing for a failed payment and chases unpaid invoices, with essential credit control included free.
In this article
The short version
- Adfin, GoCardless, Stripe, London & Zurich, Access PaySuite and Bottomline are the UK direct debit providers to compare.
- The differences are the SUN, the fee cap, what a failed collection costs and whether unpaid invoices get chased.
- Adfin needs no SUN, caps the percentage at £4 and charges nothing for a failed payment.
- London & Zurich publishes no cap, so a £1,500 collection on its entry tier costs around £15.
- Moving 10 or more mandates to Adfin means customers don't sign again.
What separates one direct debit provider from another
Every provider collects through the same Bacs scheme, so your customers are covered by the same Direct Debit Guarantee whoever you pick. The differences show up in four places.
- Your own SUN: a Service User Number is the identifier Bacs gives each organisation that collects direct debits. Getting your own means bank sponsorship, which can be slow and hard for a small business, so most providers let you collect under theirs. The trade-off is whose name your customers see on their bank statements.
- The fee on large collections: a percentage with a cap keeps a £1,500 invoice cheap to collect, while an uncapped percentage keeps rising with the invoice.
- Failed collections: payments fail for ordinary reasons, like an account being short on the day. Check whether the provider charges for the attempt, whether it retries for free, and what happens after that.
- Customers who aren't on a mandate: direct debit only collects from people who've signed one. Customers who haven't, or who'd rather pay by card or transfer, still need chasing, and many direct debit providers leave that with you.
Six providers compared
| Provider | Own SUN needed | Published price | Cap on the fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adfin | No | 1% + 20p | Percentage capped at £4; extra 0.3% above £2,000 |
| GoCardless | No, on Standard | 1% + 20p on Standard | £4 on Standard; extra 0.3% over £2,000 |
| Stripe | No | 1%, with a 20p minimum | £4 |
| London & Zurich | No, shared SUN on its entry tier | Around 1% on Foundation | None published |
| Access PaySuite | No, or use your own | From 8p per transaction, then quoted | Not applicable |
| Bottomline | No, or use your own | Not published | Not published |
Adfin
Adfin collects by direct debit without you needing your own SUN, and takes card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, pay by bank and bank transfer from the same payment link, so a customer who won't set up a mandate can still pay. It charges 1% + 20p per successful payment with the percentage capped at £4, which keeps any collection up to £2,000 at £4.20 or less, and a further 0.3% applies to direct debit amounts above £2,000. There's no monthly fee and no contract. Customers see Adfin's name on their statements by default, or your business name for £36 a month (Adfin Custom), chosen when you set up.
Customers are told at least three working days before each collection, and the amount can change from one collection to the next under the same mandate, with advance notice. Adfin charges nothing for a failed payment: a failed collection is retried for free before the customer is invited to pay by card or another method. You're paid every weekday, in full, within three working days of the collection date, with Adfin's fee invoiced separately. Adfin's Customer Agents chase unpaid invoices over email, SMS and WhatsApp from your own email domain, within rules you approve, and every payment reconciles to Xero or QuickBooks. Adfin collects in sterling only.
GoCardless
GoCardless is a dedicated bank debit provider. Standard costs 1% + 20p capped at £4, with 0.3% added to direct debits over £2,000; Advanced is 1.25% + 20p capped at £5 and Pro 1.4% + 20p capped at £5.60. On Standard you collect under GoCardless's SUN and your customers see its name, unless you pay £50 a month for your own. It charges its transaction fee on each payment submitted and deducts its fees before paying you out, and its Success+ automatic retries come with the Advanced and Pro plans. It doesn't take cards or chase unpaid invoices. It collects internationally, which can suit businesses with customers paying in other currencies.
Stripe
Stripe offers Bacs direct debit as one of many payment methods, at 1% with a 20p minimum, capped at £4, and £5 for each disputed payment. Customers set up the mandate through Stripe's checkout or a payment page your developers build, and Stripe takes its fees out of your payouts. Billing customers through Stripe Invoicing adds 0.4% of each paid invoice on the Starter plan. It's designed for businesses with developers who want direct debit as one building block of their own payment flow.
London & Zurich
London & Zurich is an FCA-authorised UK direct debit bureau. Its Foundation tier, aimed at one and two person businesses, is priced at around 1% on a shared SUN, with pre-built sign-up forms and advance notices sent for you. The Business tier is priced from 0.5% or 20p, with a branded SUN and API access, and Enterprise is on banded pricing. No tier publishes a cap, so on the entry tier a £1,500 collection would cost in the region of £15, against £4.20 at Adfin. It collects payments and leaves chasing with you.
Access PaySuite
Access PaySuite is part of The Access Group and the home of the former SmartDebit. It can run collections for you on a facilities-managed basis or submit them under your own SUN. Pricing for small and medium businesses starts from 8p per transaction, with the final rate quoted on your volumes and transaction values, and there's no setup fee. It's built for businesses that want a managed bureau service from a large software group, and there's no self-serve sign-up, so every route starts with a quote.
Bottomline
Bottomline is a Bacs-approved software vendor and bureau aimed at larger receivables teams. It offers a facilities-managed service for businesses without a SUN and connects to ERP and CRM systems through APIs. There's no published pricing, so it starts with a demo and a sales process.
How to choose
If you invoice customers or clients and want direct debit, card and bank payments, and chasing in one place, look at Adfin first. You won't need a SUN, a contract or a separate chasing tool, and a failed collection costs you nothing.
If your customers pay in other currencies, GoCardless or Stripe is likely to fit better, because Adfin collects in sterling only. If you already hold your own SUN and submit large Bacs files from an ERP, a bureau such as Bottomline is built for that kind of operation.
When you compare prices, put your own invoices through each rate card. A capped percentage and an uncapped one look the same on a £200 invoice and very different on £1,500. Then add what sits around the rate: a charge for showing your own name, a second provider for card payments, a chasing tool, and the time spent matching payouts that arrive with fees taken off.
If you're moving 10 or more mandates from another provider, your customers don't have to sign again: Adfin moves them across through the Bacs bulk change process. With fewer than 10, customers sign a new Adfin mandate.
Common questions
Do I need my own Service User Number to collect direct debit? No. Adfin, Stripe, GoCardless on its Standard plan and the bureaus let you collect under their SUN. Your own SUN needs bank sponsorship, and tends to suit businesses with large collection volumes.
How much does direct debit cost per transaction? Published rates cluster around 1% plus a fixed fee, with or without a cap. On Adfin it's 1% + 20p with the percentage capped at £4, so no collection up to £2,000 costs more than £4.20.
Do direct debit providers charge for failed payments? Adfin doesn't charge for a failed payment and retries for free. GoCardless charges its transaction fee on each payment submitted, so ask any provider how it treats a collection that fails.
How quickly does direct debit money reach my account? On Adfin, within three working days of the collection date, paid in full with the fee invoiced separately. Some providers deduct their fees before paying out.
Can I change the amount I collect without a new mandate? Yes. A direct debit mandate allows the amount to vary from one collection to the next, as long as the customer gets advance notice; Adfin notifies customers at least three working days before each collection.
Can I switch direct debit provider without customers re-signing? Yes. If you move 10 or more mandates to Adfin, they transfer through the Bacs bulk change process and customers don't sign anything new.
Sources
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
- GoCardless - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://gocardless.com/pricing/
- Stripe - Local payment method pricing (UK) (accurate as of October 2026) https://stripe.com/gb/pricing/local-payment-methods
- London & Zurich - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.londonandzurich.co.uk/pricing/
- Access PaySuite - Direct debit pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.accesspaysuite.com/payments/direct-debit/pricing/
- Bottomline - Direct Debit (UK) (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.bottomline.com/uk/payments-automation-businesses/receivables-automation/direct-debit
