Which Is Better for Small UK Businesses?
The answer turns on payment type. A SaaS business pulling 300 UK subscriptions at £50/month pays £210 with GoCardless and £240 on Mollie cards, a £30 monthly saving. Mollie’s own Bacs Direct Debit would cost £195 for the same collections, so at this payment size GoCardless only wins against card checkout.
A London print shop selling via WooCommerce faces the opposite situation: most customers tap Visa or use Apple Pay, and GoCardless cannot accept either. Mollie’s hosted checkout handles cards, wallets, and Klarna with a single integration.
For businesses that need both recurring billing and card acceptance, we find the cleanest split is GoCardless for Direct Debit collection and Mollie or another card processor for one-off checkout payments.
GoCardless vs Mollie Fees and Charges
Card Transaction Fees
GoCardless Standard plan: 1% + 20p per UK Bacs transaction, capped at £4. A £500 invoice costs £4 flat, not £5.20. Direct Debits over £2,000 carry an extra 0.3%. We sourced these rates from gocardless.com, verified 5 October 2026.
Mollie UK consumer cards (Visa/Mastercard): 1.20% + 20p per transaction, no cap. UK commercial cards and European cards cost 2.90% + 20p. All other cards cost 3.25% + 20p. American Express costs 2.50% + 20p on UK cards and 2.60% + 20p on others. We sourced these rates from mollie.com, verified 5 October 2026.
GoCardless doesn’t accept cards. So for any transaction where the customer pays by Visa or Mastercard, Mollie isn’t competing with GoCardless on rate; it’s the only option of the two.
Monthly, Setup and Contract Costs
Both providers are pay-as-you-go on their standard plans. No setup fees, no minimum volumes, no minimum contract on Standard for GoCardless or the base plan for Mollie.
GoCardless Advanced (1.25% + 20p, capped at £5) and Pro (1.4% + 20p, capped at £5.60) charge a higher per-transaction rate for access to Success+ intelligent retry. Both prices are published, with no monthly fee.
Mollie has no paid tiers for online payments: online merchants pay the published per-transaction rate, which simplifies cost modelling, and larger merchants can ask for custom volume pricing. Its in-person plans add a £20-a-month Pro tier.
Other Fees to Watch
Failure and dispute fees differ. GoCardless says its failure fees apply only in the US, Germany and Austria, so a failed UK Bacs payment carries no failure fee; its chargeback fees follow the same three-country rule, with different rules elsewhere. Mollie’s UK pricing page lists no chargeback fee.
Refunds: GoCardless charges a separate fee on every refund. Mollie’s UK pricing page lists no refund fee.
SEPA Direct Debit: Mollie charges £0.30 per SEPA transaction. GoCardless SEPA pricing applies on its international plan. Both are competitive for European recurring billing versus card rates.
Fee Verdict: Who Costs Less
GoCardless wins on cost against Mollie Bacs Direct Debit above about £422, where its £4 fee cap applies. Below that, Mollie’s 0.90% + 20p Bacs fee is up to about 40p a payment cheaper than GoCardless’s 1% + 20p.
Mollie wins when you need card acceptance, Apple Pay, or Klarna. GoCardless cannot take those payments at any price.
The worst-case Mollie scenario: a merchant with a high share of European or commercial cards sees effective rates reach 2.90% + 20p on European and UK commercial cards, and 3.25% + 20p on cards from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), before FX. We modelled the same UK subscriber base on GoCardless Bacs; it stays under 1.5% once the fee cap applies.
GoCardless vs Mollie Payment Methods and Checkout
Cards, Wallets and Alternative Payment Methods
Mollie covers the full consumer-facing stack for UK and European markets: Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Klarna, and SEPA Direct Debit. If a customer wants to pay electronically at checkout, Mollie handles it.
GoCardless covers bank-to-bank only: Bacs Direct Debit (UK), SEPA (Europe), ACH (US), and Instant Bank Pay (Open Banking). No credit cards, no debit cards, no wallets.
For subscription businesses with mandates in place, that narrow focus is not a problem. For any checkout where customers expect to enter a card number, GoCardless is not an option.
Checkout Experience
Mollie’s hosted payment page adapts to mobile, shows the relevant payment methods for the customer’s location, and converts without requiring developer work to get a first integration live.
GoCardless uses a mandate authorisation flow: customers set up once, and you pull payments on schedule. Instant Bank Pay adds an Open Banking redirect for one-off transactions, requiring bank-app authentication rather than card entry.
If your product sells via an online store, Mollie’s checkout is what your customers expect. If your model is recurring collection from consenting customers, GoCardless removes the per-payment friction after setup.
Methods Verdict
Mollie wins on payment method breadth. If you serve consumer buyers expecting card checkout, GoCardless is not a viable standalone option.
GoCardless wins on recurring-revenue simplicity. Your customer authorises once; every subsequent collection is automatic. For B2B subscription billing where customers accept Direct Debit, that single setup moment is all the friction there is.
GoCardless vs Mollie Hardware, POS and In-Person
Card Readers and Terminals
GoCardless offers no card reader or physical terminal; it is online-only. Mollie sells a Tap terminal for £95 and Mobile and Fixed terminals for £350.
If you use GoCardless and need to take face-to-face payments, you need a separate provider. Tide Card Reader charges 0.69% + 3p on its Premium plan, which costs £19.99 a month. SumUp Solo Lite costs £25 upfront with 1.69% per transaction and no contract.
POS Software and Hardware Add-ons
Mollie integrates with Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento for e-commerce. GoCardless has 350+ integrations focused on accounting software: Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Zuora.
GoCardless has no in-person option. Mollie does: it sells a Tap terminal for £95 and Mobile and Fixed terminals for £350, with in-person card fees from 1.20% on UK consumer cards. If you run a hybrid of online and face-to-face sales, Mollie can cover both; with GoCardless, add a dedicated card reader for in-person.
In-Person Verdict
Only Mollie takes face-to-face payments, through its own terminals. If you use GoCardless and sell at markets, in a shop, or at client sites, look at Mollie, Tide Card Reader, SumUp Solo Lite, or Square Reader as well.
For a business that only sells online, the in-person question doesn’t change the conclusion. We recommend choosing based on whether your online revenue flows from mandates or card checkout.
GoCardless vs Mollie Online Payments and Integrations
Hosted Checkout, Payment Links and APIs
Mollie’s API and hosted payment page are the integration options for e-commerce developers. Payment Links generate a checkout URL without custom code. The dashboard covers no-code invoicing for one-off payments.
GoCardless’s API centres on mandate management and payment schedules. On Advanced and Pro plans, Success+ uses machine learning to predict the best time to retry a failed payment, reducing involuntary churn without external tooling.
Mollie does not replicate that retry intelligence. For subscription businesses with meaningful failed-payment rates, GoCardless’s dunning capability is a real operational advantage.
Platform Integrations
Mollie integrates natively with Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento. If you are building a consumer-facing store, Mollie is available in most platform app stores and installs without custom code.
GoCardless has over 350 native integrations: Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Zuora, Chargebee, and Kashflow are among the highlights. Both providers support Zapier for custom automation.
For a B2B business whose finance team runs on Xero, GoCardless connects as cleanly as Mollie does to Shopify. The integration depth just points in different directions.
Online Verdict
If you sell to customers who browse and pay by card, Mollie wins. If you charge existing customers on a recurring schedule, GoCardless wins.
GoCardless is purpose-built for low-cost automated collection from customers who have authorised a mandate. Mollie is purpose-built for frictionless card checkout with broad payment method coverage.
GoCardless vs Mollie Payouts, Contracts and Risk
Settlement Speed and Payout Schedule
Mollie lets you choose the payout schedule: every business day, once a week on a day you pick, or once a month. It charges no extra fee for daily payouts.
GoCardless runs on the Bacs cycle. With a mandate in place, the payment is collected 2 working days after you submit it, and GoCardless then holds the money for 2 working days before paying it to your bank. Submit on Monday; the money reaches you on Friday at best.
If your payroll or supplier payments depend on tight timing, Mollie’s daily payout option gives you more control over card revenue. For businesses billing monthly with predictable dates, we find the GoCardless cycle is workable without cash-flow risk.
Contract Length and Exit Terms
Both providers are rolling monthly with no minimum contract. Cancel either account without penalty.
That no-penalty exit distinguishes both from legacy merchant service contracts, which still lock businesses in for 12-36 months. The ability to walk away is worth naming when comparing providers.
Reserves, Holds and Account Stability
Mollie holds a 4.3/5 Trustpilot score, and its reviewers praise rapid onboarding and support response times.
GoCardless scores 2.3/5. Complaints cluster around slow support during account reviews and delayed fund releases. Neither provider guarantees against holds, but delayed fund releases feature far more in GoCardless’s reviews than in Mollie’s.
If account stability is critical to your payroll or supplier commitments, keep a backup account active before either provider flags your account. We treat registering a contingency account before you need it as standard practice.
GoCardless vs Mollie Customer Reviews and Reputation
Trustpilot and Independent Review Themes
Mollie: 4.3/5 on Trustpilot across nearly 13,000 reviews (October 2026). Merchants praise the clean dashboard, rapid onboarding, and responsive customer service. That is a high score.
GoCardless: 2.3/5 across 2,489 reviews (checked October 2026) on Trustpilot. Complaints cluster around poor communication during account reviews and fund holds that can run 5+ days, leaving businesses short at payroll or supplier payment time. Positive reviews highlight mandate billing simplicity and accounting integrations.
Mollie’s score is two stars higher than GoCardless’s, which is a wide gap on customer satisfaction.
Support Channels and Response Times
Mollie points merchants to its Help Centre first, with a merchant support contact route for anything the knowledge base does not answer.
GoCardless advertises 24/7 customer support and takes queries through support requests. Response times aren’t publicly guaranteed. The Help Centre covers most Direct Debit and mandate queries in self-serve format, but Trustpilot reviewers report that complex account issues can take days to resolve.
Reputation Verdict
Mollie wins on reputation. A 4.3/5 score across nearly 13,000 reviews, against 2.3/5 for GoCardless, points to a real difference in how the two handle merchant queries.
If you anticipate needing support, we consider Mollie’s track record the safer starting point.
GoCardless vs Mollie for International Payments
Mollie handles international card payments automatically. UK consumer cards cost 1.20% + 20p; UK commercial cards and European cards cost 2.90% + 20p; cards issued outside the EEA cost 3.25% + 20p. A payment in a currency you have not added to your account is converted to your primary currency before payout, and a payout in a currency other than your primary balance costs 1% of the payout.
GoCardless takes a bank-pull approach: SEPA Direct Debit for the Eurozone, ACH for US accounts, Instant Bank Pay for UK Open Banking. For UK businesses with European B2B customers on recurring contracts, GoCardless SEPA avoids Mollie’s 2.90% + 20p European card rate entirely.
If your European revenue is recurring and your customers will accept a bank mandate, GoCardless SEPA is the lower-cost route.
For one-off consumer sales to international buyers, Mollie wins: it accepts the card or wallet the customer already has, which GoCardless cannot process at all.
Downsides of GoCardless and Mollie
Downsides of GoCardless
GoCardless cannot accept cards or digital wallets. If any of your customers want to pay by Visa or Apple Pay, you need a different provider. For consumer-facing businesses, that restriction rules out GoCardless as a standalone option.
Money reaches your bank about 4 working days after you submit a payment. If cash flow is tight around payroll or supplier payment dates, that Bacs lag is an operational constraint, not a minor inconvenience.
Success+ intelligent retry costs more per transaction. It sits on the Advanced plan (1.25% + 20p, capped at £5) and the Pro plan (1.4% + 20p, capped at £5.60), against 1% + 20p capped at £4 on Standard.
Downsides of Mollie
Mollie’s in-person hardware costs extra: a Tap terminal is £95 and Mobile and Fixed terminals are £350, on top of in-person card fees from 1.20% on UK consumer cards.
Mollie charges 0.90% + 20p per Bacs Direct Debit payment, with no cap. Above about £422 that costs more than GoCardless’s £4 capped fee.
European and commercial card rates can climb quickly. A merchant with a mixed UK/European card customer base will pay 2.90% + 20p on European and UK commercial cards and 3.25% + 20p on cards issued outside the EEA, materially higher than GoCardless Bacs for the same revenue.
Alternatives to GoCardless and Mollie
GoCardless has no in-person option, and neither provider covers multi-currency accounts well. Airwallex fills the international gap: multi-currency accounts, FX at near-interbank rates, and no transaction fee on international payouts in many corridors.
Tide Card Reader charges 0.69% + 3p on its Premium plan (£19.99 a month), well below Mollie’s in-person 1.20% and SumUp’s 1.69%. SumUp Solo Lite is the simplest no-contract card entry point: £25 hardware, 1.69% per transaction, no monthly fee and no lock-in.
Final Verdict: GoCardless or Mollie?
Choose GoCardless if your revenue model is recurring payments via Direct Debit and you want its accounting integrations or Success+ retry. Its £4 fee cap makes it cheaper than Mollie Bacs Direct Debit above about £422 per payment; below that, Mollie’s own Bacs fee is up to about 40p a payment lower.
Choose Mollie if you run an e-commerce store and need a single hosted checkout covering cards, Apple Pay, PayPal, and Klarna.
Mollie’s 4.3/5 Trustpilot score and its daily payout option also count in its favour, especially if you have been stung by the fund holds GoCardless is known for.
Running both together suits businesses with mixed revenue streams. Route monthly subscriber billing through GoCardless for its integrations and the £4 fee cap on larger payments; send card-paying customers to Mollie checkout.
Both integrate with Xero and QuickBooks, so your accounts team sees two reconcilable payout streams rather than one opaque provider handling everything at a higher rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GoCardless cheaper than Mollie for subscription businesses?
Against Mollie’s card rate, yes. Against Mollie’s own Bacs Direct Debit, only above about £422 per transaction. GoCardless charges 1% + 20p capped at £4; Mollie charges 0.90% + 20p uncapped for Bacs Direct Debit and 1.20% + 20p uncapped for UK consumer cards. On 300 subscriptions at £50/month, GoCardless costs £210 against £240 on Mollie cards and £195 on Mollie Bacs Direct Debit. The picture changes with transaction value: a £500 invoice costs £4 with GoCardless, £4.70 with Mollie Bacs Direct Debit and £6.20 on a Mollie UK consumer card.
Can GoCardless accept card payments?
No, and there’s no workaround within GoCardless. It processes bank-to-bank payments only: Bacs Direct Debit, SEPA, ACH, and Instant Bank Pay (Open Banking). If you need cards alongside Direct Debit, you need a second provider. Mollie covers both card checkout and Bacs mandates; GoCardless’s Instant Bank Pay handles one-off payments but makes the customer authenticate in their banking app.
How long do GoCardless and Mollie payouts take?
Mollie pays out on a schedule you choose: every business day, weekly or monthly. GoCardless collects a Bacs payment 2 working days after you submit it, then holds the money for 2 working days before paying it out. Neither offers an instant payout on these products, so if same-day access to funds matters, neither meets it without a separate financing arrangement.
Can you use GoCardless and Mollie together?
Yes, and for mixed payment needs it’s a common split. GoCardless handles recurring Direct Debit at lower cost; Mollie handles card-paying customers, one-off sales, and international checkout. Both integrate with Xero and QuickBooks, so reconciliation stays manageable. You run two accounts and two payout streams. The split saves money against Mollie’s card rate at any payment size, but against Mollie’s own Bacs fee only above about £422 a payment.
How we reviewed this
We compiled this comparison by researching GoCardless and Mollie on their primary UK websites, cross-referenced against Trustpilot review themes and FCA registration where applicable. Transaction rates and features verified 5 October 2026.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you sign up through one of these links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See our editorial policy for details.