GoCardless alternatives: where to go and how to take your mandates with you
Five options, one for each reason to leave, and a seven-step exit plan.
The short answer: Stripe if you want cards and Direct Debit in one account and an importer that keeps your mandates, Adyen if you collect at volume across the US, the UK and Europe, Mollie if your customers are in the eurozone, Chargebee if your real problem is subscription billing, and staying on GoCardless if price is your only complaint and you sell in the US. That last one surprises people: on a $100 ACH payment, GoCardless Standard charges $0.55 and Stripe $0.80. On Bacs, a £50 collection costs £0.70 at GoCardless and £0.50 at Stripe. We compared every option on the official 2026 price lists.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why businesses leave GoCardless, and why some stay
GoCardless does one job well: it pulls recurring Direct Debit payments without you touching bank files. About half of its reviews say exactly that. People leave for other reasons: frozen accounts, percentage fees on large tickets, and a product that only does bank debits. Six reasons, each checked against the official pricing pages or public reviews.
Accounts closed with no explanation
It's the complaint that dominates recent reviews. On Trustpilot UK, where GoCardless sits at 2.3 out of 5 across about 2,500 reviews, one merchant writes: "Closed our account for no reason and provides no info". Another says the company "closed our merchant account without warning or explanation" and never paid out the funds. GoCardless's standard reply points to anti-money-laundering checks it must run as an FCA-authorised firm.
Percentage fees on big tickets
In the UK, Standard is 1% + 20p capped at £4, and an extra 0.3% applies to payments above £2,000. In Europe it's 1% + €0.20 capped at €2, while Stripe and Mollie charge a flat €0.35 for SEPA. International payments jump to 2% + 20p in the UK and 1.5% + $0.05 in the US. If your average ticket is high, the cap is what you pay on every single collection.
The useful features sit one tier up
Success+ (automatic retries on the day most likely to succeed) and verified mandates need Advanced: 0.75% + $0.05 capped at $6.25 in the US, 1.25% + 20p capped at £5 in the UK. Protect+ fraud tools need Pro. Your own name on customers' bank statements costs £50 a month, a branded checkout £150 a month. GoCardless says Success+ recovers 70% of failed payments on average, but doesn't publish its standalone price.
Bank debits only, no cards
GoCardless doesn't take card payments. If some customers refuse Direct Debit, or pay once, you need a second provider: two dashboards, two reconciliations, two contracts. One reviewer describes moving small payments to Stripe for that reason, while others find GoCardless fees "very low" next to PayPal.
Payouts stuck in pending
Normally, SEPA payouts land 3 business days after the debit, with no reserve. Recent reviews tell a different story when something goes wrong: "Payouts still in 'pending' days after they were meant to be paid", plus slow support. On the positive side, plenty of users call it an "Excellent Debtor Payment Collection System - easy to set up and use".
Leaving takes a formal process
You can't export mandates with one click. You request a bulk change, GoCardless replies within 2 business days, and the customer file comes in a fixed format. For Bacs, the switch runs 3 to 5 weeks through the sponsor banks. If your new provider re-creates mandates instead of taking them over, you stay liable to GoCardless for chargebacks on old payments. That's not a reason to stay, it's a reason to plan the exit (steps below).
You're leaving because… go to…
The right GoCardless alternative depends on what's pushing you out. Usually one line fits. Each card jumps to the full profile below.
ACH, Bacs, SEPA and cards, with a mandate importer.
Your Bacs collections are smallStripeBacs at 1% (min 20p), no fixed 20p on top: £0.50 on a £50 payment.
You collect at volume in several countriesAdyenACH, Bacs and SEPA under one contract, no monthly fee.
Your customers are in the eurozoneMollie€0.35 per SEPA debit, €0 a month, no commitment.
Subscriptions are the mess, not collectionChargebeeA billing layer that plugs into GoCardless or Stripe.
You collect ACH in the US and price is the issueStay on GoCardless0.5% + $0.05 beats Stripe's 0.8% on any payment above about $17.
GoCardless alternatives, one by one
For each option: why switch to it, who it's for, its limit, how to move your mandates, and what it costs. Prices exclude tax and come from the official US, UK and European price lists for 2026. Each tool's score is the one used across our other Labs pages.
Stripe: one account for cards and debits, mandates imported as they are
Best default pickWhy switch to Stripe. Stripe covers ACH in the US, Bacs in the UK and SEPA in Europe, plus cards, invoices and payment links, in one account. Its importer is the strongest argument: for SEPA, Stripe doesn't cancel imported mandates and keeps the same mandate references as long as you provide them. For ACH, if you import with customer emails, Stripe sends the required Nacha confirmation emails automatically. Your customers sign nothing.
Who it's for. SaaS companies, gyms, agencies and subscription businesses that want one provider for card and bank payments, and UK merchants with small Bacs tickets.
Who it's not for. A US business moving purely for price. Stripe ACH is 0.8% capped at $5 (1.2% for two-day settlement), against 0.5% + $0.05 at GoCardless. On a $300 payment, that's $2.40 against $1.55.
Its limit. Disputes cost more: $15 per ACH dispute, against $5 at GoCardless and only beyond 15 a month, and £5 per Bacs dispute. A failed ACH payment is $4, a dollar less than GoCardless. In Europe, Stripe only supports SEPA Core (not B2B), new accounts are capped at €10,000 per week, and funds arrive 6 business days after the debit. Customers can dispute a SEPA debit for 8 weeks without a reason, 13 months if unauthorised, with no appeal.
How to migrate. Request the import through Stripe's data migration form, attaching the file GoCardless sends you. Set the cut-over date with both teams, then rebuild your subscriptions in Stripe Billing (0.7% of billing volume). Get Stripe's identity verification done before the date. Our switch from Stripe guide shows the other side, useful if you ever leave again.
- ACH
- 0.8%, capped at $5
- Bacs
- 1% (min 20p), capped at £4
- Score
- 4.0/5
- Limit
- $4 per failed ACH payment
Adyen: one contract for ACH, Bacs and SEPA at volume
High volumeWhy switch to Adyen. Adyen handles ACH, Bacs and SEPA in the same account with a flat structure: a €0.11 processing fee plus $0.27 per ACH debit, £0.55 per Bacs debit, or €0.27 per SEPA debit. No monthly fee. A $500 ACH payment costs about the same as a $5 one, which no percentage model can match on big tickets.
Who it's for. Companies already collecting large volumes, often with an engineering team, that want several countries and payment methods under one provider.
Who it's not for. Small businesses. Adyen applies a minimum invoice amount that depends on your industry, and it doesn't publish the figure.
Its limit. That minimum. Ask for it before anything else, then compare it with your current monthly GoCardless bill.
How to migrate. We found no public mandate import procedure at Adyen. Get written confirmation that your mandates move with their references before you set an exit date with GoCardless.
- ACH
- €0.11 + $0.27
- Bacs
- €0.11 + £0.55
- Score
- 3.3/5
- Limit
- minimum invoice by industry
Mollie: the flat-fee option for eurozone customers
EuropeWhy switch to Mollie. If your customers pay in euros, Mollie charges €0.35 per SEPA debit, €0 a month, no commitment, and recurring payments are included at no extra cost. On a €120 collection, that's €0.35 against €1.40 at GoCardless Standard.
Who it's for. Businesses selling into the eurozone, and European SMBs with a developer on hand.
Who it's not for. ACH or Bacs collections, and anyone with hundreds of mandates to move and nobody to write code.
Its limit. Mollie only documents a migration path for card mandates. For SEPA, each customer and mandate is created through its Customers & Mandates API. Its failure and dispute fees for SEPA aren't on the price list: get them in writing.
How to migrate. Take the GoCardless customer export and have a developer create one Mollie customer and mandate per row, reusing the existing reference. Run five customers first. Our ranking of payment gateways for SaaS puts Mollie next to the others.
- SEPA
- €0.35 per debit
- Monthly fee
- €0
- Score
- 3.9/5
- Limit
- no documented SEPA bulk import
Chargebee: fix billing without moving a single mandate
Billing layerWhy switch to Chargebee. A lot of teams think they need to leave GoCardless when they actually need better subscription logic: plan changes, proration, credit notes, dunning. Chargebee doesn't collect money itself. It's a billing layer that sits on top of a gateway such as GoCardless or Stripe, and supports ACH, Bacs and SEPA "with select gateways".
Who it's for. SaaS and subscription businesses with several plans, add-ons and mid-cycle changes.
Who it's not for. A business that pulls the same amount every month.
Its limit. You keep a gateway next to it, so two bills. Starter is $0, but the labeling of the next plan (Flow) is ambiguous on the official page: get the percentage confirmed in writing.
How to migrate. Connect Chargebee to your existing GoCardless account. Your mandates stay put, and you can change gateway later if the numbers say so. Our switch from Chargebee page covers its own limits.
- Price
- Starter $0
- Role
- billing, not collection
- Limit
- a gateway to pay on top
Stay on GoCardless: change plan instead of leaving
US ACHWhy stay. In the US, GoCardless Standard is 0.5% + $0.05 capped at $5. Stripe ACH is 0.8% capped at $5. Above roughly $17 per payment, GoCardless is cheaper, until both hit the $5 cap near $1,000. Chargebacks cost $5 and only beyond 15 a month, against $15 per dispute at Stripe.
Who it's for. US businesses collecting mid-size ACH payments, and anyone whose real issue is price rather than account risk.
Who it's not for. A business that also needs cards, or a UK merchant with small Bacs tickets, where the fixed 20p makes GoCardless dearer than Stripe.
Its limit. The account-closure risk described above, and bank debits only. A failed US payment costs $5, a refund $0.50.
What you can do. At volume, ask for the Custom plan before you leave: it's built for that. If failures hurt, price Advanced for Success+ against your own failure rate.
- ACH
- 0.5% + $0.05, capped at $5
- Bacs
- 1% + 20p, capped at £4
- Score
- 3.6/5
- Limit
- no card payments
What each option really costs
Our default pick: Stripe if you need cards too or collect small Bacs payments, GoCardless if you collect mid-size ACH payments in the US. Here's a concrete case: 300 ACH payments of $100 a month. GoCardless Standard takes $0.55 each, so $165. Stripe takes $0.80, so $240. Adyen takes €0.11 + $0.27 each, so $81 plus €33. Add ten failed payments and GoCardless adds $50, Stripe $40. One row per option: debit fees on the left, failures and mandate moves on the right.
| Debit fee (US / UK) | Failures and moving mandates | |
|---|---|---|
| GoCardless StandardStarting point | 0.5% + $0.05 (cap $5) ; 1% + 20p (cap £4) | $5 per failed payment ; chargeback $5 beyond 15 a month |
| GoCardless AdvancedSuccess+ included | 0.75% + $0.05 (cap $6.25) ; 1.25% + 20p (cap £5) | Smart retries, verified mandates |
| StripeCards and debits | ACH 0.8% (cap $5) ; Bacs 1%, min 20p (cap £4) | $4 per failed ACH, $15 dispute ; importer keeps mandates |
| AdyenHigh volume | €0.11 + $0.27 ; €0.11 + £0.55 | No monthly fee ; minimum invoice by industry |
| MollieEurozone only | SEPA €0.35, €0 a month | SEPA mandates re-created one by one via API |
| ChargebeeBilling layer | Starter $0, plus your gateway | Plugs into GoCardless: mandates don't move |
Prices exclude tax, from official price lists, subject to change. Always run the numbers on your own average ticket and failure rate.
Leave GoCardless in seven steps
Order matters. Each step protects something: your mandates, this month's collections, your customers' trust and your cash flow. GoCardless quotes 3 to 5 weeks for a Bacs bulk change and publishes no SEPA timeline, so plan wide.
Check the target can import your mandates
Before anythingAsk the new provider one question: do you import existing mandates, with their references? Stripe says yes for SEPA, and for ACH it sends the Nacha confirmation emails itself if you include customer emails. Mollie only documents card mandate imports. If the answer is no, customers sign again, and that's where a migration loses customers.
- Time
- one written exchange
- Risk if rushed
- mandates to re-sign
Export your own history
Week 1GoCardless sends the customer and mandate file, not your history. Export payments, subscriptions and payment plans from the dashboard yourself. Subscriptions don't carry over: this file is how you rebuild them with the right amounts and dates. Keep a copy outside GoCardless for your books and for answering disputes.
- Time
- an hour
- Risk if rushed
- subscriptions rebuilt at the wrong amount
Request the bulk change
Week 1Fill in GoCardless's bulk change form (Bacs has its own option, SEPA sits under the other schemes), or email help@gocardless.com from the account admin's address. GoCardless replies within 2 business days and sends the customer data in one fixed format only. You can move part of your base by listing the mandate IDs: handy for a first batch.
- Reply time
- 2 business days
- Bacs switch
- 3 to 5 weeks
Stop creating payments before the date
Day -7Stop creating payments and cancel GoCardless subscriptions 5 to 7 business days before the cut-over. On the agreed date, GoCardless cancels the mandates in bulk, and any payment not yet submitted to the bank is cancelled with them. Pick a date right after your big monthly run, not right before it.
- Lead time
- 5 to 7 business days
- Risk if rushed
- a cancelled collection run
Tell every customer, without asking them to sign
Before the first debitFor SEPA, the rules let you amend a mandate: new creditor name, new creditor identifier, possibly a new reference. Customers must be told before the next debit, but they don't consent again or sign a new mandate. For ACH imported into Stripe with emails, the confirmation email goes out automatically. Keep the message short: who is collecting now, when, and how much.
- Signature
- none
- ACH at Stripe
- confirmation sent for you
Rebuild subscriptions and watch the first run
Day 0Re-create each subscription at the new provider from your export, and start with a small batch. Watch failures and cancellations on the first cycle: a customer who revokes a SEPA mandate makes every debit linked to it fail.
- Watch
- first-cycle failures
Keep the GoCardless account open
After cut-overDon't close the account on day one. SEPA customers can dispute an old debit for 8 weeks without a reason, 13 months if unauthorised. On mandates that were re-created rather than transferred, GoCardless states that you remain liable to it for chargebacks. Keep the account and your export until those windows close.
- How long
- up to 13 months
- Risk if rushed
- disputes with no history
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
What makes a GoCardless exit go wrong
The same mistakes come up again and again. None is technical: they're calendar or math slips, and each costs more than the time it would have taken to avoid it.
Comparing fees at the wrong ticket size
In the US, GoCardless wins above about $17. In the UK, Stripe Bacs wins on small payments because there's no fixed 20p. In Europe, Stripe and Mollie win above €15. Run your own average ticket, not a vendor example.
Making every customer re-sign
A new mandate to sign is an email half your customers ignore, so subscriptions stop. Mandate transfers exist: pick a provider that imports them.
Forgetting dispute costs
Stripe charges $15 per ACH dispute, GoCardless $5 and only beyond 15 a month. On SEPA, Stripe bills €3.50 per failed debit where GoCardless lists no failure fee. If your customers dispute or bounce often, the cheaper debit fee can vanish. Pull your last three months of failures and disputes first.
Hitting a new-account limit
A new Stripe account is capped at €10,000 of SEPA debits per week. A €40,000 monthly run won't go through at once. Open the account weeks ahead, or spread your collection dates.
Ignoring the cash-flow gap
SEPA funds land 3 business days after the debit at GoCardless, 6 at Stripe. The month you switch, you get paid later. Plan for it if payroll follows your collection date.
Leaving when billing is the real problem
If plan changes and credit notes are the pain, a billing layer on top of your current account fixes that without moving a mandate. For the wider picture, see our payment gateway ranking and our guide to switching from PayPal if card payments are part of the move.
- Average ticket and three-month failure rate calculated
- Mandate import with references confirmed in writing
- Payments, subscriptions and payment plans exported
- Bulk change requested from the admin email address
- Payment creation stopped 5 to 7 business days ahead
- Customers told about the new creditor
- Subscriptions rebuilt and first run watched
- GoCardless account kept open through the dispute window
- Identity verification done at the new provider
GoCardless alternatives: frequently asked questions
Is Stripe cheaper than GoCardless?
It depends on the scheme. For US ACH, no: GoCardless is 0.5% + $0.05 against Stripe's 0.8%, so GoCardless is cheaper above about $17. For UK Bacs, Stripe is cheaper on small payments (1% with a 20p minimum, no fixed 20p on top), and both cap at £4. For SEPA, Stripe's flat €0.35 beats GoCardless above €15.
Can I move Direct Debit mandates without customers re-signing?
Yes. GoCardless runs a bulk change: it provides your customer data in a fixed format, and the new provider takes the mandates over. For Bacs, the switch runs 3 to 5 weeks through the sponsor banks. For SEPA, customers are notified of the new creditor but don't sign again.
What's the best ACH alternative to GoCardless in the US?
Stripe if you also want cards and invoices in one place, accepting 0.8% per ACH payment capped at $5. Adyen if your volume is large enough for its industry minimum, at €0.11 + $0.27 per debit. If price is your only reason to leave, GoCardless Standard is usually the cheaper ACH option.
Why does GoCardless close accounts?
GoCardless cites the anti-money-laundering checks it must run as an FCA-authorised firm. Reviews describe closures without notice and funds held. Stripe does it too: a user forum thread describes a Stripe account blocked after a first SEPA payment. Always keep an up-to-date export of your mandates.
How long does it take to leave GoCardless?
For Bacs, GoCardless quotes 3 to 5 weeks. For SEPA there's no published timeline: add 2 business days for the reply, 5 to 7 business days of payment freeze before the date, then notice to customers before their next debit.
Do I have to leave GoCardless to get better subscription billing?
No. Chargebee plugs into your GoCardless account and handles plans, proration and credit notes while your mandates stay put. Our switch from Chargebee guide covers what that layer costs in practice.
Is GoCardless Success+ worth paying for?
It depends on your failure rate. Success+ needs Advanced (0.75% + $0.05 capped at $6.25 in the US, against 0.5% on Standard), and GoCardless claims it recovers 70% of failed payments on average. With few failures, the extra 0.25% costs more than it saves.
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One tool to leave, one destination, one exit plan. Nothing else.
