Adfin and GoCardless Standard publish the same headline price for a direct debit, 1% + 20p with a £4 cap, so the costs differ in what comes with it. GoCardless charges on failed submissions and leaves you to pay separately for card payments and chasing, while Adfin takes cards on the same account, retries failed payments for free and includes essential credit control, so compare Adfin with GoCardless plus everything you'd add around it.
In this article
The short version
- Adfin charges 1% + 20p per successful payment with the percentage capped at £4, so an £800 retainer or a £2,000 project invoice costs £4.20 to collect.
- An extra 0.3% applies to direct debits above £2,000 on both Adfin and GoCardless, so budget for it in months when annual renewals go out.
- GoCardless charges its fee on every submitted payment, so a bounced £800 collection that you resubmit costs you twice.
- GoCardless doesn't take cards or chase unpaid invoices, so many MSPs pay for a card processor and a chasing tool on top; Adfin's essential credit control is free.
- To compare, price last month's collections on Adfin, then add what you spend on failed submissions, branding, cards and chasing around GoCardless.
What a direct debit costs on Adfin
Adfin charges 1% + 20p per successful payment, with the percentage capped at £4 for direct debit and bank payments. Direct debits over £2,000 carry an extra 0.3% on amounts above £2,000, and GoCardless adds 0.3% to its high-value collections too, so budget for it in months when annual renewals go out.
For four typical MSP invoices up to £2,000:
| Invoice | Adfin fee |
|---|---|
| £150 monthly add-on | £1.70 |
| £800 managed services retainer | £4.20 |
| £1,500 larger retainer | £4.20 |
| £2,000 project invoice | £4.20 |
There's no monthly platform fee, no minimum term and no charge for failed payments.
What the GoCardless price leaves out
GoCardless charges its transaction fee on every payment you submit, whether or not it succeeds, so a bounced £800 collection that you resubmit costs you twice. Adfin only charges when a payment succeeds, and a retry after a failed direct debit costs nothing.
GoCardless doesn't take card payments, so taking cards for project work or hardware means adding Stripe or another processor, with its own fees, dashboard and payouts to reconcile. MSP clients tend to pay on business cards, which are priced at a premium: Stripe charges 2.8% + 20p on them, and Adfin 2% + 20p. For business clients, Adfin can also add the card fee to the payment so the client covers it.
You'll pay for chasing separately too. GoCardless collects payments, but it doesn't chase the clients who haven't set up a mandate or who pay by bank transfer, so you may end up paying for a chasing tool on top or giving the job to someone in the office. Adfin's essential credit control is free: unlimited reminders over email, SMS and WhatsApp, from your own email domain, on the schedule you set. Enhanced credit control costs 0.3% per paid invoice, only when you use it, and covers extras such as AI agents adding statutory late fees within rules you approve.
Putting your business name on clients' bank statements is £50 a month on GoCardless and £36 a month on Adfin.
How the fees are taken
GoCardless deducts its fees before paying you, so each payout arrives as a lump sum that's smaller than the invoices it covers, and someone has to book the difference as an expense before the bank reconciles.
Adfin pays out every weekday, in full, and invoices its fee separately. Nobody has to work out which fees came off which lump sum, and your payment costs arrive on an invoice you can check against your collections.
How to work out your own monthly cost
Take last month's collections and price them on Adfin: 20p plus 1% of each payment, with the 1% capped at £4 on direct debit and bank payments, plus 0.3% of anything above £2,000 on direct debits. Then add up what you currently pay around GoCardless: the fees on failed submissions, the branding add-on, your card processor and any chasing tool. Compare that total with your Adfin figure.
If you do move, you don't need to ask clients to sign again. With 10 or more mandates, Adfin moves them across through the Bacs bulk change process and collections carry on as before.
Common questions
Is Adfin more expensive than GoCardless? Not on the headline price, which is 1% + 20p with a £4 cap on both. Adfin's price also covers card payments, free retries and essential credit control.
What does Adfin charge on a direct debit over £2,000? The standard 1% + 20p, with the percentage capped at £4, plus 0.3% on amounts above £2,000. GoCardless also adds 0.3% to collections over £2,000.
Does Adfin charge for failed direct debits? No. Adfin charges only on successful payments and retries failed direct debits for free. GoCardless charges its fee on every submitted payment, including ones that fail.
What does a card payment cost on Adfin? 1% + 20p on standard cards, with no cap. Business Visa and Mastercard, Amex and EEA-issued cards are 2% + 20p, and super premium cards 3% + 20p.
Does Adfin charge a monthly fee? No. There's no monthly minimum, no contract and no limit on users. Optional extras include £36 a month to show your own business name on direct debit statements and 0.3% per paid invoice for enhanced credit control when you use it.
Can I move my GoCardless mandates to Adfin without clients re-signing? Yes, if you have 10 or more. They move through the Bacs bulk change process and clients don't need to sign anything; with fewer than 10, clients sign a new Adfin mandate.
Sources
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
- Adfin - Next-generation direct debit (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/direct-debit-payments
- 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
- Stripe - Pricing & fees (UK) (accurate as of October 2026) https://stripe.com/gb/pricing
