GoCardless Review 2025: What Merchants Need to Know

Please note that the information about the companies in this article was sourced from their respective websites as of December 2025. This information may be subject to change.

Merchants know that choosing a payment provider isn’t just about ticking a box. It’s about how well that system actually works in practice. GoCardless has built its reputation on direct debit and recurring payments, but it leaves gaps when it comes to flexibility and customer choice. 

In this GoCardless review, we’ll unpack what the provider really offers, the pros and cons you need to weigh up, and why many businesses are looking at Noda as a broader alternative that covers open banking, cards, digital wallets, all in one.

GoCardless’s Pros and Cons

GoCardless Overview

What Is GoCardless?

GoCardless is a London-based payment processor that lets businesses collect one-off or recurring payments directly from customers’ bank accounts, both locally and abroad. GoCardless serves businesses of all sizes, with a focus on those running subscriptions, memberships, instalments, or regular service fees.

GoCardless Ownership

GoCardless was founded in 2011 by Hiroki Takeuchi, Matt Robinson, and Tom Blomfield. The company is privately held, with ownership split between its founders, employees, and major investors. Backers include Permira, BlackRock Private Equity Partners, Accel, Balderton Capital, Google Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, and Bain Capital Ventures.

GoCardless Revenue

GoCardless is not fully profitable yet, but it’s targeting full-year profitability by 2026. It posted a full-year net loss of £35.1 million in 2024. GoCardless revenue was  £126.8 million for the year ending June 2024, with a GoCardless valuation estimate of  $2.19 billion (£1.7 billion).

GoCardless Payments: Global Coverage

GoCardless’s Available Countries

GoCardless is available to merchants registered in more than 30 countries, including:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Canada
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Hungary
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Republic of Ireland
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• South Africa
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States

Merchants can collect in the following countries using the following payment rails - mostly direct debit schemes, however, Instant Bank Pay for one-off payments is available in the UK, Germany and Australia only:

• UK - Bacs Direct Debit, Faster Payments
• Eurozone - SEPA Direct Debit
• Germany - SEPA Direct Debit, SEPA Instant
• Sweden - Bg Autogiro
• Denmark - Betalingsservice
• Australia - BECS Direct Debit, PayTo
• New Zealand - BECS Direct Debit
• Canada - Pre-Authorized Debit
• United States - ACH Debit 

GoCardless’s Coverage of Currencies

GoCardless supports payments in several currencies, which include:

• GBP
• EUR
• SEK
• DKK
• AUD
• NZD
• CAD
• USD
   

GoCardless’s Language Support

The checkout pages are available in the following languages: 
 

• English
• French
• German
• Spanish
• Portuguese
• Italian
• Danish
• Norwegian
• Slovenian
• Swedish
   

GoCardless Business Clients

GoCardless mostly serves merchants that depend on recurring payments or subscriptions, covering sectors like fintech, software, media, retail, charities, and the public sector. Some of the notable clients include JustGiving, Moneybox, DocuSign, NHS, The Guardian. Some high-risk industries face onboarding restrictions.

GoCardless’s Payment Gateway & Features

GoCardless Payment Methods

GoCardless is built for bank-to-bank payments. It supports a wide range of regional direct debit schemes and also offers instant bank payments in some markets, but it does not support card payments or digital wallets. Supported payment methods include:

• Direct debit schemes: Bacs (UK), SEPA Direct Debit (Eurozone), ACH (US), BECS (Australia & New Zealand), PAD (Canada), Autogiro (Sweden), and Betalingsservice (Denmark)..
• Instant Bank Pay: one-off open banking payments. Available in the UK (Faster Payments), Germany (SEPA Instant) and Australia (PayTo).

Accept All Payment Methods: Switch to Noda

One of the biggest limitations of GoCardless is its narrow scope. It only supports bank-to-bank payments. That means no credit or debit cards, and no digital wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay – some of the most popular payment methods online. For merchants, this can mean lost sales when customers can’t pay the way they prefer.

Noda removes this friction. With Noda, you can accept every major payment method on one platform:

• Open banking payments: instant, secure, and with fees starting at just 0.01%. We support 2,000 banks in 28 countries. Explore full coverage here.
• Card payments: trusted by customers worldwide, supporting all major card schemes. We offer real-time fraud monitoring and smart routing.
• Digital wallets: Apple Pay, Google Pay for a fast, mobile-first checkout.

Additional benefits of Noda include:

• Flexible integration: payment links for online payments, and QR codes with real-time SMS alerts for offline payments, plus a fully customisable API and ready-to-use e-commerce plugins – check whether your plugin is supported.
• Dedicated onboarding support: every merchant gets a personal manager to guide setup.
• 90-day free trial: designed for small and mid-sized businesses to test Noda risk-free.

With Noda, you don’t have to compromise – you can offer customers every payment option they expect, while lowering costs and getting paid faster.

GoCardless Settlement & Withdrawals

GoCardless processes payouts based on the payment method and region. For domestic transactions, merchants typically receive funds within 1–3 business days after collection, depending on the direct debit scheme.

International payments involving currency conversion take longer, usually an extra 2–4 business days on top of the domestic timeframe, to account for FX processing and transfer.

For withdrawals, merchants can set payout schedules to run weekly, or monthly, or request manual payouts.

GoCardless Security & Compliance

GoCardless follows industry-standard security with GDPR-compliant data handling, SSL encryption, and ISO 27001 certification, audited annually. Funds are held in secure client accounts at major banks.

The company is regulated by the FCA in the UK, licensed across Europe, and registered as a Money Services Business in the US.

GoCardless is not PCI DSS certified, as it doesn’t handle card data directly, focusing only on bank-to-bank payments.

GoCardless Pricing & Fees

GoCardless offers different transaction fees, depending on the plan and the features used. There are three pre-determined plans, and a custom plan for larger enterprises. Here is the breakdown:

GoCardless Fees for Standard Plan Pricing

GoCardless Fees for Advanced Plan Pricing

GoCardless Fees for Pro Plan Pricing

Read: How to Reduce Processing Fees

GoCardless Customer Reviews

GoCardless gets mixed reviews. On Trustpilot, it scores about 2.4 out of 5 from over 2,100 users, while on G2 it performs much better with 4.6 out of 5 from 300+ reviews. 

• Merchants praise its reliable recurring payments, clear pricing, easy-to-use dashboard, and strong security.
• Merchants complain about: slow, email-only GoCardless support, sudden account restrictions, and occasional technical issues.