If you need to issue cards to staff with per-card spend limits, Soldo is a prepaid Mastercard expense platform for incorporated UK businesses. You issue cards to each employee, set individual spend limits, and see every transaction in real time from the web dashboard.
The Standard plan at £21/month includes 3 users. Additional users cost £7/user/month, and that fee applies to every account role for more than two days, including admin logins without a card. If your finance director needs dashboard access, that’s £7/month before a single card is issued.
We verified Soldo’s fees, terms, integrations, and FCA register entry against soldo.com and Soldo’s published Fee Summary PDF in April 2026, so what you read below matches the live product.
Our Verdict on the Soldo Business Bank Account
Soldo is a prepaid Mastercard, you load funds, issue cards to employees, set per-card spend limits, and track every transaction. No credit. No overdraft. No FSCS protection. Funds are safeguarded in segregated Tier 1 bank accounts under FCA e-money regulations.
We confirmed in April 2026 that you’re dealing with an FCA-authorised EMI: Soldo Financial Services Ltd, FRN 900459, active authorisation. We also verified the 1.5% FX fee from Soldo’s published Fee Summary PDF, many sources still quote 1%.
The £7/user/month charge applies to everyone on the account for more than two days, not just cardholders. That’s the detail most comparisons miss.
A finance manager who only logs in to review budgets still triggers the fee after day two on the platform. Count your total account users, not your cardholders, when building your cost.
Key Pros and Cons
- FCA-authorised EMI (FRN 900459), funds safeguarded in segregated Tier 1 accounts
- Native API integrations: Xero, QuickBooks Online and NetSuite
- Per-card spend limits and real-time controls via web dashboard
- Standard and temporary virtual cards for subscriptions and one-off payments
- Trustpilot 4.89/5 from 1,761 reviews (April 2026), 75% five-star
- £7/user/month applies to all account roles, not just cardholders
- 1.5% FX fee on all international spend, not 1% as widely reported
- Sole traders explicitly excluded, incorporated entities only
- Pre-purchase approval workflows only on Plus and Enterprise plans
- No FSCS protection, funds safeguarded as e-money only
Who Soldo Is Best For
Soldo works best for a UK limited company with 5–20 employees that needs per-card spend controls. A marketing team tracking spend by campaign, a construction firm issuing cards to site managers, these are the use cases where Soldo’s per-card limit model earns its monthly fee.
If you’re a sole trader, Soldo won’t take your application. That’s Soldo’s stated policy, not a grey area. Tide gives you a free account with built-in expense tools and FSCS protection. Equals Money also accepts sole traders.
If your team is 1–3 people, start with Pleo’s free Starter plan. Soldo’s £21/month base only makes sense once you have enough cardholders to justify the controls.
Soldo Account Eligibility and Application
Who Can Open a Soldo Account
Soldo is for incorporated UK entities only. From Soldo’s own FAQ (April 2026): “Soldo only offers services to businesses that are incorporated entities. At the moment, we are unfortunately unable to help sole traders.”
Your eligibility narrows to Private Limited Companies, PLCs, LLPs, and recognised non-profit organisations registered with Companies House. No minimum turnover is published. No credit check for prepaid usage, KYB/KYC identity verification is standard under FCA e-money regulations.
What You Need to Apply
Standard plan (£21/month): 3 users included; £7/user/month additional. Physical card issuance: £5. Virtual card: £1. Confirmed from soldo.com, April 2026.
Plus plan (£33/month): same 3-user base, £11/user/month additional. Plus adds pre-purchase approval workflows: your employee requests spend, a manager approves it, and Soldo generates a temporary virtual card for that specific transaction. Standard does not include this.
If your finance director needs dashboard access without a card, the £7/user/month fee still applies, it covers every account role active for more than two days, including admin and finance roles.
If your finance director and bookkeeper both need dashboard access, that’s £14/month before your first card is issued.
Build your full account user count before choosing a plan. The real cost is usually higher than the cardholder number suggests.
Soldo Account Fees and Pricing
Monthly Fees and Plan Options
Standard: £21/month, 3 users included, £7/user/month additional. Plus: £33/month, 3 users included, £11/user/month additional. Enterprise: custom. Confirmed from soldo.com, April 2026.
At 10 users on Standard: £21 + 7 × £7 = £70/month. Pleo Essential at 10: £39 base + 7 × £10–15 = £109–144/month. Soldo beats Pleo on price at that headcount.
Equals Money Business Plus: £35/month flat for up to 50 physical cards. Cheaper than both, but no per-card spend controls and Xero only. The right choice depends on whether you need controls or just cards.
Before you choose a plan: add your finance director, bookkeeper, and department heads to your user count. That’s four people at £7/month each before a single card is issued. The real cost is often 20–30% higher than the cardholder count suggests.
Transaction Fees and Charges
ATM withdrawals: 1% of the amount, minimum £2. UK and international. Physical card issuance: £5. Virtual card: £1. Confirmed from soldo.com, April 2026.
The £2 minimum means any withdrawal under £200 costs £2 flat. If your site managers pull £50 in cash three times a week, that’s £24/month in ATM fees alone. Tide gives you one free ATM withdrawal per month, then £1 flat. Soldo is not designed for regular cash.
Soldo Features and Business Banking Tools
Invoicing and Expense Management
After a purchase, your cardholder photographs the receipt in the Soldo app, attaches it to the transaction, and adds a spend category. That data flows into the accounting integration automatically, no re-keying.
If you run Xero, QuickBooks Online or NetSuite, you get native API integrations (confirmed from soldo.com, April 2026): Xero (automatic daily bank feed), QuickBooks Online (one-click reconciliation), NetSuite (direct ERP integration).
These push enriched data without your team touching a spreadsheet.
Sage and FreeAgent: CSV/manual export only. We found no native Sage API integration at soldo.com (April 2026). At month-end, your accountant downloads the Soldo export and imports it into Sage manually. That’s one extra step. Pleo covers Sage natively.
Soldo Card Usage and Payments
Spending, Transfers and Limits
You get two virtual card types: standard (persistent, for recurring SaaS or supplier payments) and temporary (single-use, for one-off contractor payments). Use a temporary card when you want the transaction to clear once and the card to die.
Your core control is per-card spend limits: set a maximum per card, by time period or per transaction. Wallet-level budgeting allocates GBP budgets to teams or projects as a separate layer. Real-time alerts fire when a card nears its limit.
Pre-purchase approval workflows, where a manager signs off before the card processes a transaction, are Plus and Enterprise only. Standard has spend limits, not pre-approvals. That’s the distinction.
If your finance team needs to approve spend before it clears, upgrade to Plus or look at Pleo Essential, which includes approval workflows at £39/month base.
Overseas Payments and FX Fees
Soldo charges 1.5% above the Mastercard exchange rate on all international spend. This is confirmed in Soldo’s published Fee Summary PDF (April 2026). Many comparisons still cite 1%, that figure is incorrect. The fee applies at point of transaction on every foreign currency charge.
All balances are held in GBP, EUR, or USD at account level. The FX conversion happens automatically when the card processes a foreign currency transaction. There is no pre-loading mechanism to avoid the fee.
Soldo: 1.5% above Mastercard rate. Pleo Starter: 2.49%. Pleo Essential: 1.99%. Equals Money: 0% (pre-loaded wallet) / 1.5% (not pre-loaded). Tide: FX via Wise partnership, rates vary. We verified these from each provider’s published fee schedule, April 2026.
If your team spends £10,000/month internationally, Soldo costs £150 in FX vs Pleo Starter’s £249, a £1,188 annual difference. View Soldo plans
Soldo Customer Reviews and Ratings
Soldo holds a Trustpilot score of 4.89 out of 5 from 1,761 reviews, approximately 75% five-star. We verified this from trustpilot.com in April 2026.
If you read positive reviews, the consistent themes are simplicity, receipt capture, and customer support responsiveness.
If your team is switching from manual expense claims, you’ll see why the Xero integration gets called out specifically: it removes a reconciliation step that used to take your finance team an afternoon.
Critical reviews (roughly 12% one-star) focus on mobile app bugs vs the desktop console, isolated fund access issues during technical incidents, and per-user cost at 15+ employees. If you’re planning to scale beyond 20 people, model out the per-user cost before you commit.
For a full comparison, see our best business credit cards guide.
FAQs
How much does Soldo cost per month?
Standard: £21/month for 3 users, £7/user/month beyond that. Plus: £33/month, £11/user/month additional. The per-user fee applies to everyone on your account for more than two days, including admin roles without cards. Count your full user base, not just cardholders, before you commit.
Can sole traders get a Soldo account?
No. If you’re a sole trader, Soldo won’t take your application. Soldo’s own FAQ: “we are unfortunately unable to help sole traders.” Eligible: Ltd companies, LLPs, PLCs, recognised charities. If you need an expense card as a sole trader, Tide or Equals Money both accept you.
What is the FX fee on Soldo?
1.5% above the Mastercard rate on all international spend. Confirmed from Soldo’s Fee Summary PDF, April 2026. Many comparison sites still quote 1%, that’s wrong. If your team spends abroad regularly, that 0.5% difference compounds quickly.
Does Soldo integrate with Xero?
Yes, native API with automatic daily bank feed. QuickBooks Online and NetSuite are also native API integrations. If your accountant uses Sage or FreeAgent, you’ll need to export CSV manually. That’s one extra step at month-end that QuickBooks users don’t have.
Does Soldo Standard include approval workflows?
No. If you need pre-purchase approval, where your team requests spend and a manager approves it before the card processes the transaction, you need Plus or Enterprise. Standard has per-card spend limits only. Approval workflows are on Plus. That’s the deciding factor for many buyers.
Is Soldo FCA-regulated?
Yes. Soldo Financial Services Ltd is an FCA-authorised EMI (FRN 900459), confirmed active, April 2026. Your funds are safeguarded in segregated Tier 1 accounts under the UK Electronic Money Regulations 2011. Not FSCS-protected, not the same as a bank deposit.
How does Soldo compare to Pleo?
If your team is 1–3 people, use Pleo Starter, it’s free with AI receipt capture. If you need per-card spend controls for 5–20 employees, Soldo wins on that. FX: Soldo 1.5% vs Pleo Starter 2.49%. Approval workflows: Pleo Essential includes them; you need Soldo Plus.
Does Soldo charge for admin users without cards?
Yes. The £7/user/month fee applies to every role on your account for more than two days, including your bookkeeper, finance director, or any manager who only needs dashboard access. Your real monthly cost includes every person logged in, not just cardholders.
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Methodology and Disclosure
How we reviewed Soldo
What we assessed. We evaluated Soldo on pricing, contract terms, features, and eligibility. These are the factors that matter most to UK small businesses considering this provider.
Data sources. Soldo’s pricing page, terms, and product docs were checked directly in April 2026. No comparison sites, no press releases, no affiliate material. FCA register cross-checked for regulatory status.
Update cadence. We re-verify this page at least monthly, and whenever a provider changes pricing, eligibility, or terms. The verification date on the page reflects the most recent full review. We have no affiliate relationship with Soldo, see our editorial policy.