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Synapto vs GoCardless, when you need more than Direct Debit
GoCardless does one thing: bank-to-bank Direct Debit. This page is for businesses that also take cards, and want one place to do both.
How GoCardless and Synapto compare
| Synapto | GoCardless | |
|---|---|---|
| Payment methods | Cards and Direct Debit with one partner | Direct Debit only, no cards, wallets or in-person |
| First payout | No first-payout hold. Timing agreed with you up front | Around seven working days on a new account |
| When funds get checked | At onboarding, before you go live | Accounts have been paused after customers have already paid |
| Failed payment recovery | Included | On higher-priced Advanced and Pro tiers |
| Support | A named person you can phone | Email-led, with no phone escalation during account holds |
| Pricing | One agreed price, protections in the box | Add-ons and tiers priced on top of the base rate |
GoCardless pricing checked against their public pricing page on 24 July 2026. Tell us if it's changed.
Pick GoCardless if Direct Debit is all you need
If Direct Debit is genuinely all you need and you never take cards, GoCardless is a mature, well-built option that helped define the category in the UK. Its integration list is longer than ours, so if your billing runs through a specific tool it connects to and you want that path off the shelf, it may be the quicker fit. We take cards and Direct Debit on one platform. If you only want the second half of that, you may not need us.
How to compare Direct Debit costs
We have not put GoCardless figures on this page, so there is no worked example here: we would rather you compared your own invoice than a number we picked. The fair measure is cost per collection.
Take a recent GoCardless invoice and add every charge: the transaction fees, any monthly charge for an Advanced or Pro tier, and any add-ons such as failed payment recovery. Divide by the number of collections that month. That is what each collection really costs you.
On our side, Direct Debit is always capped at £4 a collection, whatever the amount collected, and failed payment recovery is included rather than sold as a tier. If you also take cards, our standard rate is 1% + 10p on UK consumer cards and 2.5% + 10p on business and premium cards, on the same statement as your Direct Debit.
What switching from GoCardless involves
Count collections and charges
Bring a recent GoCardless invoice. We add up every charge, including any tier and add-ons, and price the same collections with Synapto, capped at £4 a collection.
Transfer the mandates
Bacs mandates can usually move to a new provider in bulk, without your customers signing again. We confirm what your mandates allow before you commit.
Add cards alongside
GoCardless takes no cards, so this part is new: online card payments, card machines or both, set up on the same account as your Direct Debit.
Keep collections running
Collection dates stay as they are. Where a mandate cannot transfer, your account manager tells you which ones and why before anything moves.
Asked before switching
In most cases yes, without your customers signing up again. Tell us who you collect with today and we will confirm what the transfer looks like before you commit to anything.
Yes. Many businesses take cards at the point of sale or online and collect the recurring side by Direct Debit. Both are set up with Synapto, with one person to call. That is the main reason businesses move to us from a Direct Debit-only provider.
We do our checks at the start, before you go live, not once you are up and running and relying on the cash flow. If something needs a closer look, you speak to an account manager about it, not an email queue.
Never more than £4 a collection, however large the amount, with failed payment recovery included. Card payments, if you take them, are 1% + 10p on UK consumer cards and 2.5% + 10p on business and premium cards, on one statement.
No. Keep your GoCardless account open until the mandates have transferred and the first collections have run with us, so nothing is missed. Check your GoCardless terms for any notice they ask for, and set the date from there.
There is no first-payout hold, and the timing for both Direct Debit collections and card payments is agreed with you in writing before you go live. The table above notes around seven working days on a new GoCardless account, for comparison.
Maybe not off the shelf; GoCardless has a longer integration list than ours, as the section above says. Tell us which tool runs your billing and we will say plainly whether it connects or needs your developer to build against our SDK.
Both halves with one partner
One call, one day, a straight answer on cards and Direct Debit together.