For a UK business that sends invoices, the payment providers worth comparing in 2026 are Adfin, Stripe, GoCardless, PayPal and Modulr. They differ on which payment methods they take, whether the fee on a large payment is capped, whether fees come out of your payouts, and whether anything chases the invoices that go unpaid. Adfin takes cards, pay by bank and direct debit in one place, caps the fee on bank payments and includes chasing in the same price.
In this article
The short version
- Adfin, Stripe, GoCardless, PayPal and Modulr are the payment providers worth comparing for a UK business that invoices.
- Adfin takes card, pay by bank and direct debit, and caps the percentage at £4 on bank payments.
- GoCardless takes no cards and doesn't chase, and PayPal can't collect Bacs direct debit in the UK.
- Stripe and GoCardless take fees out of payouts; Adfin pays in full and invoices its fee separately.
- A £1,000 invoice costs £4.20 by bank on Adfin and £29.30 by card through PayPal.
What to compare before you choose
Every provider leads with a headline rate, but four other things tend to decide what taking payments costs you and how much work it leaves behind.
- Payment methods: a customer paying a one-off invoice often wants to use a card or pay straight from their banking app, while regular customers are easier on direct debit. If your provider only does some of these, you'll end up running two.
- How the fee is built: a percentage plus a fixed fee is standard, but a cap on bank payments makes a large difference to the cost of bigger invoices, and business cards usually cost more to accept than personal ones.
- Payouts: some providers take their fees out before paying you, so each payout lands short of what you invoiced and has to be picked apart before it matches your books.
- Unpaid invoices: a payment provider takes the money when a customer pays. Many don't do anything about the customers who haven't, so chasing becomes a separate tool or a job for someone in the office.
The five providers at a glance
| Provider | Payment methods | Headline price | Chasing unpaid invoices |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adfin | Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, pay by bank, bank transfer, direct debit | 1% + 20p, percentage capped at £4 on bank payments and direct debit | Included, by email, SMS and WhatsApp |
| Stripe | Cards, wallets, pay by bank, Bacs direct debit and more | 1.5% + 20p on standard UK cards | Reminder emails through Stripe Invoicing |
| GoCardless | Direct debit and bank payments only | 1% + 20p on Standard, capped at £4 | Not offered |
| PayPal | PayPal balance, cards, wallets | 2.9% + 30p | Email reminders on PayPal invoices |
| Modulr | Bacs direct debit and open banking collections | Quoted | Not offered |
Adfin
Adfin takes card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, pay by bank, bank transfer and direct debit from one payment link you can send by email, SMS or WhatsApp. It charges 1% + 20p per successful payment. On direct debit and bank payments the percentage is capped at £4, so a bank payment of up to £2,000 costs no more than £4.20, and direct debits over £2,000 carry an extra 0.3% on amounts above £2,000. Premium cards, which include business Visa and Mastercard, Amex and cards issued in the EEA, cost 2% + 20p. There's no monthly fee, no contract and no charge for a failed payment.
You're paid every weekday, in full, with Adfin's fee invoiced separately: pay by bank arrives the same day, cards and bank transfers two working days later, and direct debits within three working days of the collection date. Essential credit control is free, and enhanced credit control costs 0.3% per paid invoice, only when you use it. Adfin's Customer Agents send reminders over email, SMS and WhatsApp from your own email domain on a schedule you set, and can add statutory late fees to overdue business invoices or offer an instalment plan, within rules you approve. Payments match back to invoices in Xero or QuickBooks automatically. Adfin collects in sterling only.
Stripe
Stripe is a developer-first platform that prices each product separately. Standard UK cards cost 1.5% + 20p, premium cards (which Stripe defines to include business cards) 2.8% + 20p, cards issued in the EEA 2.5% + 20p and other international cards 3.15% + 20p. Bacs direct debit is 1% with a 20p minimum, capped at £4. If you send invoices through Stripe Invoicing, the Starter plan adds 0.4% per paid invoice on top of the payment fee. Stripe takes its fees out of your payouts, and each card dispute costs £20. It's built for businesses with developers who want to design their own checkout, and for those taking payments in several currencies.
GoCardless
GoCardless takes money from bank accounts, by direct debit or bank payment, and doesn't take cards. Its Standard plan charges 1% + 20p capped at £4, with an extra 0.3% on direct debits over £2,000. It charges its transaction fee on each payment submitted, deducts its fees before paying you, and charges £50 a month to put your own name on customers' bank statements. It doesn't chase unpaid invoices, so customers who pay another way, or never set up a mandate, need a separate process. It also collects from customers abroad, so it can help if you bill in other currencies.
PayPal
PayPal is a card and wallet provider most of your customers will recognise. Its standard UK commercial rate is 2.9% + 30p, or 1.2% + 30p when a customer pays by card without a PayPal account, and PayPal invoices add no fee beyond that. Chargebacks cost £14 and disputes £12. A UK business can't collect Bacs direct debit from its customers through PayPal, so it won't help with regular clients, and invoices are sent from PayPal's address, not your own email domain. It's aimed at selling to consumers online, where shoppers expect to see a PayPal button.
Modulr
Modulr is an FCA-authorised payments business with direct access to Bacs, offering business accounts, outbound payments and collections. Its collections cover direct debit and open banking, with direct debits run under your own Service User Number (SUN, the identifier Bacs gives each organisation that collects direct debits). It doesn't chase unpaid invoices. Modulr's published plans price outbound payments, so you'll need a quote for collections. It's aimed at businesses and software platforms building payments into their own systems.
What a £1,000 invoice costs
The same invoice can cost very different amounts depending on how your customer pays and who processes it. Here's a £1,000 invoice on each provider's published pricing:
- By direct debit or pay by bank on Adfin: £4.20, because the percentage is capped at £4.
- By standard UK card: £10.20 on Adfin, £19.20 through Stripe Invoicing (£15.20 for the card payment plus £4 for the invoice) and £29.30 through PayPal.
- By business card: £20.20 on Adfin and £32.20 through Stripe Invoicing.
If most of your customers are other businesses, a fair share are likely to pay on business cards. Adfin can add the card fee to the payment for business customers, so they cover it, or you can steer them towards paying by bank, where your cost stops at £4.20.
How to choose
If you invoice other businesses or clients and want cards, bank payments, direct debit and chasing in one place, start with Adfin. You'll have one payment page for customers, one payout each weekday with nothing taken off, and no separate subscription for chasing.
If your customers pay you in other currencies, look at GoCardless or Stripe, because Adfin collects in sterling only. If you're building a custom checkout with your own developers, Stripe's tools are designed for that.
Whichever you compare, add up the costs around the headline rate: a second provider for cards if yours doesn't take them, a chasing tool, a monthly fee for your name on statements, and the time spent reconciling payouts that arrive with fees already taken off.
Switching from another direct debit provider involves no new paperwork for your customers once you have 10 or more mandates, because Adfin brings them over through the Bacs bulk change process. A smaller book of under 10 moves by customers signing a new Adfin mandate.
Common questions
What's the cheapest way to take an invoice payment in the UK? Usually a bank payment. On Adfin, direct debit and pay by bank cost 1% + 20p with the percentage capped at £4, while card payments cost more, especially on business cards.
Can I collect direct debit through PayPal in the UK? No. PayPal doesn't offer Bacs direct debit to UK businesses collecting from their customers, so you'd need a direct debit provider alongside it.
Does Stripe charge extra for invoicing? Yes. Stripe Invoicing adds 0.4% per paid invoice on its Starter plan, on top of the payment fee.
Which providers take their fees out of my payouts? GoCardless and Stripe deduct their fees before paying you. Adfin pays the full amount every weekday and invoices its fee separately, so nothing is taken off what your customers paid.
Does GoCardless take card payments? No. It collects by direct debit and bank payment only, so card payments need a second provider. Adfin takes cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, pay by bank and direct debit in one place.
What happens if a customer's payment fails? On Adfin there's no charge for a failed payment. It retries a failed direct debit for free and then asks the customer to pay another way, such as by card.
Sources
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
- Stripe - Pricing (UK) (accurate as of October 2026) https://stripe.com/gb/pricing
- GoCardless - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://gocardless.com/pricing/
- GoCardless Support Centre - Pricing & Fees (accurate as of October 2026) https://support.gocardless.com/hc/en-gb/articles/21721571804188-Pricing-Fees
- PayPal - Business fees (UK) (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.paypal.com/uk/business/paypal-business-fees
- Modulr - Collections hub (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.modulrfinance.com/collections-hub
