GoCardless API
GoCardless runs a modern REST API for bank-debit payments with date-pinned versioning, idempotency keys, and signed webhooks. Direct merchant access is self-serve with a full sandbox; platforms acting for merchants need partner programme approval for OAuth. First-party SDKs span the major languages.
Frequently asked questions
GoCardless scores A on the API Report Card. GoCardless runs a modern REST API for bank-debit payments with date-pinned versioning, idempotency keys, and signed webhooks. Direct merchant access is self-serve with a full sandbox; platforms acting for merchants need partner programme approval for OAuth. First-party SDKs span the major languages.
GoCardless has a workable official integration path. Most engineering teams can build against it directly. Open API: self-serve, documented, with SDKs
GoCardless is a global bank-payments platform that lets businesses pull money directly from customers' bank accounts via local direct-debit schemes (BACS in the UK, SEPA in the eurozone, ACH in the US, BECS in Australia/New Zealand, PAD in Canada, Autogiro in Sweden, Betalingsservice in Denmark) and via open-banking instant bank payments.
Vertical: Financial Services (specifically: bank-debit / account-to-account payments and open-banking data). Recurring subscription billing: Pull monthly/annual SaaS, membership, utility, insurance and gym fees via Direct Debit / ACH / SEPA / BECS / PAD..
High within bank-debit / non-card rails, meaningful but not Stripe-level in overall payments footprint. GoCardless is the dominant API-first direct-debit provider in the UK and a leading provider in Australia, Germany, France and the Netherlands.
GoCardless handles highly sensitive financial and PII data on behalf of merchants.
Founded 2011.
The bank-debit lifecycle is genuinely complex, payments transition through `pending_submission` → `submitted` → `confirmed` → `paid_out`, then can be reversed via scheme-specific return codes days later; reconciliation logic must handle the full state machine. Webhook event types are many and scheme-specific (BACS ARUDD/ADDACS/AUDDIS, SEPA R-messages, ACH R-codes surfaced as `cause` strings); handlers must encode rail-specific knowledge. Full sourced list under Sources below.
Common alternatives include Stripe (ACH Direct Debit, Bacs Debit, SEPA Debit), Adyen (SEPA/ACH/BACS), Plaid, Dwolla, Modern Treasury, Moov. Graded alternatives appear under "More from the report card" below.
Grades measure one thing: can a customer's engineering team get their own data out programmatically? We check six things (whether a real API exists, how access is gated, data coverage, auth quality, docs and developer experience, and stability) and roll them into a letter grade. Grades get re-verified, and they only move on evidence.