Trustly vs GoCardless (US)

Overview

We compare the two for a US business collecting US dollars from US bank accounts, using each company's own US pages and terms as of 24 October 2026. Both take money straight from a customer's bank account instead of a card, but they are built for different jobs. Trustly sells pay by bank at checkout: the customer logs in to their bank, and Trustly can guarantee the payment against bank returns. It publishes no US prices and signs merchants through its sales team. GoCardless is built for recurring billing by ACH debit. It publishes its US prices (0.5% + $0.05 a payment, capped at $5, on its Standard plan), lets you sign up yourself and has no fixed contract term. It also has a bank-login Pay by Bank product, but its help centre says that only covers customers in the UK paying in pounds, so a US business collecting dollars uses ACH debit. GoCardless has belonged to Mollie since 1 September 2026. Trustly's principal shareholder is Nordic Capital, and on 2 October 2026 Trustly announced more than $40 million in binding commitments for a capital raise it expects to complete in November.

Key Takeaways

• ✓It depends on how you get paid. GoCardless suits recurring and invoice billing where you want a published, capped price and no contract. Trustly suits high-value checkout payments where the customer logs in to their bank, and you want a guarantee against bank returns that you agree on with its sales team.
• ✓Only GoCardless publishes US prices: 0.5% + $0.05 a payment, capped at $5, on Standard; 0.75% + $0.05, capped at $6.25, on Advanced; 0.9% + $0.05, capped at $7, on Pro. Trustly's rates, guarantee fees and settlement terms are all agreed in a quote.
• ✓Return risk is handled differently. Under its terms, GoCardless leaves bank returns and customer claims with you, and charges $5 per chargeback only after 15 in a month. Trustly sells guarantees: a Full Guarantee covers every return code, and cheaper Partial Guarantees cover only insufficient funds and administrative returns.
• ✓GoCardless publishes how long payouts take: about three business days after the customer is charged on Standard, and normally two on Advanced and Pro (Faster ACH, for US-dollar payouts under $1 million). Trustly publishes no merchant settlement timetable.
• ✓Ownership: Mollie completed its purchase of GoCardless on 1 September 2026. Trustly's principal shareholder is Nordic Capital, which with Alfvén & Didrikson has committed more than $40 million to a Trustly capital raise expected to complete in November 2026.