Adfin, Stripe, GoCardless, Mollie, Square and SumUp all let a UK business get invoices paid without PayPal. The biggest differences are what a payment costs when a client pays from their PayPal account (2.9% + 30p on PayPal) and whether regular clients can pay by direct debit, which PayPal doesn't offer in the UK.
In this article
The short version
- A client paying from their PayPal account costs 2.9% + 30p, so £58.30 on a £2,000 invoice.
- PayPal doesn't offer Bacs Direct Debit in the UK, so recurring invoices rely on cards or manual payment.
- On Adfin the same £2,000 invoice paid by bank costs £4.20, and regular clients can pay by direct debit.
- Stripe adds 0.4% or 0.5% per paid invoice; Square and SumUp charge 2.5% on invoices paid by card.
- Adfin also chases unpaid invoices and matches payments in Xero or QuickBooks.
Why businesses move invoicing off PayPal
PayPal is easy to start with: you send an invoice, the client clicks, and the money lands in your PayPal balance. What you pay depends on how the client pays. A client paying from their PayPal account costs 2.9% + 30p, and a card payment from someone without a PayPal account costs 1.2% + 30p. If your client's abroad, add 1.29% for the EEA or 1.99% for elsewhere.
On a £2,000 invoice paid from a PayPal account, that's £58.30. On Adfin, the same invoice paid by bank costs £4.20, because the percentage on bank payments is capped at £4.
Two other things tend to push you elsewhere as you grow. PayPal doesn't offer Bacs Direct Debit in the UK, so monthly retainers and recurring fees rely on the client remembering to pay, or on a stored card. And you're charged separately for disputes, at £14 per chargeback and £12 per dispute.
Six alternatives at a glance
| Provider | UK card rate | Direct debit | Extra charge for invoicing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adfin | 1% + 20p; business cards 2% + 20p | 1% + 20p, percentage capped at £4 | None |
| Stripe | 1.5% + 20p; business cards 2.8% + 20p | 1%, capped at £4 | 0.4% or 0.5% per paid invoice |
| GoCardless | No card payments | 1% + 20p, capped at £4 | Doesn't send invoices |
| Mollie | 1.2% + 20p; business cards 2.9% + 20p | 0.9% + 20p, no cap published | Included |
| Square | 2.5% on invoices | Not part of its invoicing | None |
| SumUp | 2.5% on online invoice payments | Not part of its invoicing | Optional £7 a month plan |
The six alternatives
1. Adfin
Adfin sends invoices and payment links in your branding, takes the payment and chases anything unpaid. You can create invoices in Adfin, upload them as PDFs or spreadsheets, or pull them from Xero or QuickBooks.
- Clients can pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, pay by bank, bank transfer or direct debit, from a link sent by email, SMS or WhatsApp.
- Pricing: 1% + 20p per successful payment. Business cards, Amex and EEA cards are 2% + 20p. On direct debit and bank payments the percentage is capped at £4, so the £2,000 invoice above costs £4.20 by bank. No monthly fee, no contract.
- Regular clients can move to direct debit, with the amount allowed to change from invoice to invoice under one mandate and advance notice before each collection.
- Unpaid invoices are chased over email, SMS and WhatsApp from your own email domain, and Adfin's AI Customer Agents can add statutory late fees for business clients, offer instalment plans and send statements, within rules you set.
- Money reaches your account every weekday at the full invoice value, with the fee invoiced separately, and each payment is matched in Xero or QuickBooks.
- Limitation: sterling only.
2. Stripe
Stripe Invoicing sends invoices and takes card, wallet and direct debit payments through Stripe's payments platform.
- Pricing: 0.4% per paid invoice on Starter or 0.5% on Plus, on top of the payment fee. Standard UK cards are 1.5% + 20p and business cards 2.8% + 20p. Bacs Direct Debit is 1% with a 20p minimum, capped at £4.
- Stripe takes its fees before paying you, so you'll get a net total to break back down into invoices.
3. GoCardless
A direct debit provider that collects against invoices you raise in your accounting software.
- Pricing: 1% + 20p per payment on its Standard plan, capped at £4, plus 0.3% on direct debits over £2,000. Showing your business name on clients' bank statements costs £50 a month.
- GoCardless charges its fee on every payment submitted, including ones that fail, and deducts fees before paying out.
- Limitation: it doesn't take card payments or chase invoices, so you'll need another way to get paid by clients who won't set up a mandate.
4. Mollie
An online payments provider with invoicing and payment links included in its pricing.
- Pricing: UK consumer Visa and Mastercard cards 1.2% + 20p; UK business and European cards 2.9% + 20p. Pay by bank and Bacs Direct Debit are both 0.9% + 20p, with no cap published, so a large payment keeps costing more as the invoice grows.
- There's no monthly fee for online payments.
5. Square
Square's invoicing sits alongside its card readers and online checkout.
- Pricing: 2.5% on invoices paid by UK card, and 1.5% more on non-UK cards. There's no monthly fee on the free plan.
- Worth checking: on a £2,000 invoice paid by card, 2.5% is £50, close to what PayPal charges for an account payment.
6. SumUp
SumUp Invoices lets you send unlimited invoices and quotes on its free plan.
- Pricing: 2.5% on online invoice payments. An optional Plus plan costs £7 a month plus VAT, billed annually.
- Worth checking: the 2.5% applies to every online invoice payment with no cap, so it's more of a fit for smaller one-off invoices than large recurring ones.
How to choose
Look at your last three months of invoices: how many are repeat clients, how large the typical invoice is, and how clients paid.
If you bill the same clients every month, direct debit is likely to remove most of the chasing. Adfin, Stripe, GoCardless and Mollie all offer it. Adfin adds cards, pay by bank and chasing in the same place, so clients who won't sign a mandate still get a link they can pay by card or bank, and the ones who don't pay get reminders without you having to send them.
If your invoices are large, a capped bank payment or direct debit is likely to cost much less than any percentage card rate. If they're small and one-off, the gap between providers narrows, and how easily the client can pay matters more.
If many of your clients are overseas and pay in other currencies, PayPal or Stripe may remain the better fit for that work, because Adfin collects in sterling only.
Common questions
Can a UK business collect direct debit through PayPal? No. PayPal doesn't offer Bacs Direct Debit in the UK, so recurring invoices are paid by card, from a PayPal balance or by the client sending the money themselves.
How much does PayPal charge on an invoice? 2.9% + 30p when the client pays from a PayPal account, and 1.2% + 30p for a card payment from someone without one. International payments cost more.
Which PayPal alternative is cheapest for large invoices? A capped bank payment or direct debit. On Adfin the percentage is capped at £4, so a bank payment never costs more than £4.20, and a direct debit over £2,000 carries an extra 0.3%.
Can I send invoices from Xero or QuickBooks and still use one of these? Yes. Adfin imports invoices from Xero and QuickBooks and syncs payments back both ways, so the invoice is marked paid when the money arrives.
How quickly do I get paid? Adfin pays out every weekday: pay by bank the same day, cards and bank transfers in two working days, and direct debits within three working days of the collection date.
Do I need a separate tool to chase unpaid invoices? Not with Adfin, which chases over email, SMS and WhatsApp on your schedule as part of the same platform.
Sources
- PayPal - Business fees (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.paypal.com/uk/business/paypal-business-fees
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
- Stripe - Invoicing pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://stripe.com/gb/invoicing/pricing
- GoCardless - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://gocardless.com/pricing/
- Mollie - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.mollie.com/gb/pricing
- SumUp - Invoices pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.sumup.com/en-gb/invoices/pricing/
