Best Payment Link Providers in the UK (2026): 8 Options Compared

If you've ever tried to get paid by a customer who isn't standing in front of you with a card, you've probably reached for a payment link. Send a URL, the customer taps it, enters their card details on a secure hosted page, and the money lands in your account. No card machine, no website required.

The tricky part is that "payment link" now means eight different things depending on which provider you ask. Some are bolted onto a full card-processing platform. Some are a feature buried inside a banking app. Some charge a flat percentage, others stack a fixed fee on top, and a couple lock you into a contract you'll forget you signed.

We've gone through the UK's main options and compared them on the things that actually change your monthly bill: transaction fees, payout speed, branding, and how painful it is to send a link in the first place.

Quick comparison

Fees are quoted rates gathered from each provider's public pricing pages and are correct to the best of our research as of publication - always check the provider's site before you commit, since these change.

What a payment link actually needs to do well

Before the individual reviews, it's worth being clear about what separates a good payment link from a mediocre one, because the marketing pages tend to blur together:

• No markup on the processing fee. Some tools quietly add their own cut on top of whatever the underlying card network charges.
• Your branding, not theirs. A checkout page with your logo and business name converts better than one covered in someone else's.
• Fast, predictable payouts. Same-day or next-day beats a three-to-five-day wait, especially for trades and freelancers managing cash flow week to week.
• No lock-in. Rolling contracts and 12-month terms are common in this space and worth checking before you sign up.

PaymentLink.io — built specifically for sending payment links

PaymentLink.io sits on top of Stripe rather than replacing it, which is the main thing that separates it from the rest of this list. You keep Stripe's processing, Stripe's payout schedule and Stripe's fraud protection, but instead of wrestling with Stripe's dashboard to build a one-off link, you get a purpose-built tool for creating, branding and sending them in seconds.

Why it's a good fit for small businesses and trades:

• No extra transaction markup. You pay Stripe's standard rate; PaymentLink.io doesn't add a cut on top.
• Branded checkout pages. Your logo, colours and business name on the page your customer pays on, rather than a generic template.
• Built for how trades and freelancers actually get paid — quotes, deposits, invoices and one-off jobs, not just ecommerce carts.
• Fast to set up. If you already have a Stripe account, you can be sending links within minutes rather than configuring a new merchant account from scratch.
• QR codes and shareable links for in-person or remote payment requests, so you're not limited to email.

Worth knowing: you need (or need to open) a Stripe account, since PaymentLink.io runs on top of it rather than acting as its own acquirer. For most small UK businesses this is a non-issue — Stripe is free to open with no monthly fee — but if you specifically want to avoid Stripe altogether, one of the other options below will suit you better.

Stripe Payment Links (used directly)

Stripe's own no-code payment links are free to use and sit inside your existing Stripe dashboard. UK card transactions cost 1.5% + 20p, rising to around 3.25% + 20p for cards issued outside the UK, with no monthly fee on the standard plan.

The links work well and settle on Stripe's standard payout schedule, but the dashboard is built for developers first. Customising the page, tracking which link converted, or sending a link that looks like part of your brand takes more clicks than it should for a non-technical business owner — which is the gap tools like PaymentLink.io exist to close.

Square

Square charges 1.4% + 25p for online UK card payments, with no monthly fee on its free plan. It's a strong option if you already use Square's card reader or point-of-sale system in person, since everything — in-store sales, online links, invoicing — lives in one dashboard with next-business-day payouts.

The fixed 25p component makes it less economical for very small transaction amounts, and Square's payment links are really an extension of its retail/point-of-sale product rather than a dedicated tool for sending one-off requests by text or email.

SumUp

SumUp's online payment links cost around 2.5% per transaction with no monthly fee, dropping if you take the £19/month Payments Plus plan and process enough volume to offset it. Payouts land the next business day.

It's a natural choice if you already carry a SumUp card reader for in-person jobs and want the same account to handle online requests. The online rate is on the higher side compared with Square or Stripe directly, so it suits occasional online use more than a business doing most of its turnover through links.

PayPal

PayPal is still the most recognisable name on this list, and PayPal.Me links or invoice payment requests are free to set up with no monthly commitment. The trade-off is the fee: from around 2.9% + 30p for a standard transaction, which is meaningfully higher than most alternatives, particularly on smaller amounts.

Funds usually land in your PayPal balance almost immediately, which is genuinely useful for cash flow, but you'll want to weigh that against the fee if you're sending links regularly rather than occasionally.

GoCardless

GoCardless isn't a card payment link in the traditional sense — it collects by Direct Debit, at 1% + 20p per transaction capped at £4, with no monthly fee on the standard plan. That cap makes it very cheap for larger invoices: a £2,000 retainer costs £4 through GoCardless versus £30+ on a typical card rate.

The catch is that it can't take card payments at all, settlement takes three to five working days, and customers have to set up a mandate rather than simply tapping a link — more friction for a one-off sale, but a good fit for recurring billing or high-value invoices where speed matters less than cost.

Revolut Business

Revolut Business lets you send payment links from its app, with UK consumer card payments starting from around 1% + 20p — one of the lowest headline rates here — though the account itself costs from £10/month and other card types cost more. It's particularly strong if you deal with customers paying in different currencies, since Revolut can hold and settle in several.

Next-business-day payouts and a genuinely well-designed app make it a solid option, but the monthly account fee means it's better suited to businesses that will use Revolut as their day-to-day banking too, not just for the occasional link.

Worldpay and Takepayments

Both are traditional card processors that added web-based payment link tools onto older infrastructure. Pricing is quoted per business rather than published, typically landing around £10–£30 a month plus a negotiated transaction rate, often with a rolling or fixed-term contract attached.

They can work out competitively if your monthly card turnover is high and consistent enough to negotiate a good rate, but for a small business or sole trader sending the odd link a week, the monthly fee and contract terms are hard to justify next to the free options above.

How to actually choose

If you're already using Stripe, or don't mind opening a free Stripe account: PaymentLink.io gives you branded, purpose-built links without Stripe's raw dashboard, at Stripe's standard rate with no markup.

If you want to stay entirely inside one platform's dashboard and don't need branding: Stripe's own payment links work fine for developers, and Square is a solid all-in-one choice if you also take payments in person.

If most of your income is recurring invoices or retainers over roughly £200-£300: GoCardless's capped fee will usually beat any card-based option.

If you only send a handful of links a month: PayPal's zero setup and instant balance access might outweigh its higher percentage fee.

If you're a high-volume business with predictable turnover: it's worth getting quotes from Worldpay or Takepayments, since a negotiated rate can beat the flat-rate providers above a certain volume.

Frequently asked questions

What is a payment link? A payment link is a URL that opens a secure, hosted checkout page where a customer can pay by card (and often by digital wallet) without you needing a website or a card machine. You create it, send it by email, text or messaging app, and the payment settles into your account.

Are payment links safe? Yes, provided you use a regulated payment provider. The customer enters their card details on the provider's own secure page — you never see or handle the card number directly, which also keeps you out of most PCI compliance requirements.

Do payment links cost more than a card machine? Usually a little more, because the transaction is "card-not-present," which carries a higher risk (and fee) for the processor than a chip-and-PIN sale. The difference is typically a fraction of a percent, and for remote or online sales there's often no alternative anyway.

Can I use a payment link without a website? Yes — that's the main reason people use them. You can send a link by text, WhatsApp, email or social media, or display it as a QR code, without ever building a storefront.

What's the cheapest payment link option in the UK? For one-off card payments, providers running on Stripe's rate (1.5% + 20p for UK cards) tend to be cheapest, since several others add a markup on top. For recurring or larger invoices, GoCardless's capped Direct Debit fee is usually the lowest-cost route.

Ready to send your first branded payment link? Try PaymentLink.io free and start collecting payments through Stripe in minutes.