GoCardless Pricing: Plans, Costs & What You Actually Pay
GoCardless charges a percentage plus a fixed fee per transaction, not a subscription: Standard is 1% + 20p, Advanced is 1.25% + 20p and Pro is 1.4% + 20p, with UK domestic fees capped at £4, £5 and £5.60.
Quick answer
GoCardless publishes its prices. Per transaction: a percentage of the payment plus a fixed 20p, charged in GBP and excluding VAT. Fees are deducted from submitted payments rather than invoiced, unless you are on a custom plan..
Free option: No monthly subscription is required on the Standard, Advanced or Pro plans — sign-up is free and you pay as you go.
Trial: No trial is needed because there is no subscription; the page states there are no setup or monthly costs for most users.
Plans at a glance
| Plan | Price | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 1% + 20p per transaction | One-off, recurring, membership and instalment payments, 350+ integrations, 24/7 support. UK domestic fee capped at £4. |
| Advanced | 1.25% + 20p per transaction | Adds Success+ automatic recovery of failed payments and Verified Mandates identity checks. UK domestic fee capped at £5. |
| Pro | 1.4% + 20p per transaction | Adds Protect+ fraud protection and chargeback challenging on top of Advanced. UK domestic fee capped at £5.60. |
| Custom | Contact Sales | For businesses with £1m+ annual revenue or bespoke needs, with volume-based discounts and dedicated support. |
How billing works
The billing metric is: Per transaction: a percentage of the payment plus a fixed 20p, charged in GBP and excluding VAT. Fees are deducted from submitted payments rather than invoiced, unless you are on a custom plan..
Fees that are easy to miss
- International transactions: 2% + 20p on Standard, 2.25% + 20p on Advanced and 2.4% + 20p on Pro.
- Transactions over £2,000: an additional 0.3% on top of the plan rate.
- Your name on bank statements: £50 per month.
- Fully custom checkout: £150 per month.
- VAT is added to fees and is not included in the published rates.
How the vendor frames its pricing
- GoCardless charges on collection, not on access, so the cost scales with money moved rather than seats or volume of records.
- The three tiers differ by failure and fraud tooling, not by payment capability: all plans collect one-off, recurring and instalment payments.
- The UK domestic cap means large transactions stop costing more after £4, £5 or £5.60, which makes high-value Direct Debit cheaper than the headline percentage suggests.
Before you sign: what actually moves the price
- Model your average transaction value. The 20p fixed fee dominates small payments and the percentage dominates large ones.
- The £2,000 threshold adds 0.3% to the whole transaction, so a few large payments can lift the effective rate above the headline figure.
- If your customers are outside the UK, use the international rate, which starts at double the domestic percentage.
- Eligible charities and nonprofits get a 25% discount on some transaction fees, but you have to check the terms rather than assume it applies.
- The cap is a real ceiling: at £4 on Standard, any single UK payment above £400 costs the cap rather than 1% + 20p.
Frequently asked questions
How much does GoCardless charge?
Standard is 1% + 20p per transaction, Advanced is 1.25% + 20p and Pro is 1.4% + 20p, excluding VAT, with UK domestic fees capped at £4, £5 and £5.60.
Is there a monthly fee?
Not on Standard, Advanced or Pro. There are no setup or monthly costs for most users; you pay per transaction. Custom plans are negotiated separately.
How much are international payments?
2% + 20p on Standard, 2.25% + 20p on Advanced and 2.4% + 20p on Pro.
Is there a charity discount?
Yes, a 25% discount on some transaction fees for eligible charities and nonprofits, subject to the published terms.
Why is VAT charged on fees?
HMRC confirmed in April 2020 that GoCardless provides a VATable service, so VAT applies to transaction fees invoiced to UK merchants regardless of the merchant's own VAT status.
Where this data comes from
Primary source: https://gocardless.com/pricing/ — retrieved 2026-10-22.
Prices change. Every figure here is a snapshot taken on the retrieval date shown on each page. Confirm with the vendor before signing.