Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Adyen vs Cledara

Adyen logo

Adyen

Accounting

The payments platform built for growth

From
$0.13/per-transaction
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Cledara logo

Cledara

Accounting

Software subscription management with a virtual card per application, priced from £100 a month

From
£100/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Adyen there is a minimum monthly invoice, set by industry and business model and only disclosed through the sales team, so small volumes are not economic; Cledara control only extends to subscriptions paid on a Cledara card, so anything billed by invoice, bank transfer or a legacy company card is invisible to the system and undermines the inventory it promises.
  • They diverge on capability: Adyen covers Payment processing, Cledara covers Virtual card per subscription.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Adyen and Cledara actually diverge.

Attributes where Adyen and Cledara differ
AttributeAdyenCledara
Starting price$0.13/per-transaction£100/month
Pricing modelusage-basedPer month by number of applications
PlatformsWeb, Api, PosWeb
Founded2006Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Adyen

  • Payment processing
  • Risk management
  • Unified commerce
  • Issuing
  • Platform payments
  • SAP
  • Salesforce
  • Oracle

Only in Cledara

  • Virtual card per subscription
  • Cancel by card
  • Application inventory
  • Approval workflow
  • Invoice collection
  • Accounting export
  • Spend optimisation module
  • IT management and compliance modules

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Adyen

  • Card acquiring with interchange plus pricing for larger merchantsnot Cledara
  • Accepting local payment methods across multiple countriesnot Cledara
  • Settling in several currencies through linked bank accountsnot Cledara
  • Unified online and in-person paymentsnot Cledara

Cledara

  • A finance team that cannot say what software the company pays for because everything is on three people's company cardsnot Adyen
  • A company that keeps paying for tools nobody uses and cannot get the vendor to process a cancellationnot Adyen
  • A startup wanting approval on new software purchases before the first charge rather than at the auditnot Adyen
  • A finance function that spends days each month chasing SaaS invoices for the accountantnot Adyen

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Adyen

  • There is a minimum monthly invoice, set by industry and business model and only disclosed through the sales team, so small volumes are not economic
  • Published fees are indicative rather than a rate card, with real pricing negotiated
  • Interchange++ means the card cost varies per transaction rather than being a single predictable percentage
  • Alternative payment methods carry their own rates on top, such as 3.3 percent plus $0.10 for American Express in North America

Cledara

  • Control only extends to subscriptions paid on a Cledara card, so anything billed by invoice, bank transfer or a legacy company card is invisible to the system and undermines the inventory it promises.
  • Tier limits are set by number of applications rather than headcount, and twenty applications on the Basic plan is fewer than most companies of fifty actually run, so buyers often land on a higher tier than the entry price suggests.
  • The modules that turn it from a payment layer into a management platform, spend optimisation, IT management and compliance, are each priced at £150 to £200 a month, comparable to the base plan itself.
  • Usage data is inferred from payment and integration signals rather than deep application telemetry, so its judgement of whether a tool is underused is weaker than a discovery product built on single sign-on and API usage.
  • It is a card issuer as well as a software vendor, which adds financial counterparty considerations and means a change in its banking arrangements would affect how the company pays every one of its suppliers.

Pricing, plan by plan

Adyen

$0.13/per-transaction
  • Transaction-Based Pricing$undefined/mo
    • Fixed $0.13 USD per transaction
    • Variable fee determined by payment method
    • No setup fees

Cledara

£100/month
  • Basic$100/month
    • Up to 20 software applications
    • Virtual card per subscription
    • Application inventory and approvals
  • Premium$undefined/month
    • Up to 75 software applications
    • Typically 51 to 150 staff
    • 1% cashback in the first year, capped at the subscription cost
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • For organisations above roughly 150 staff
    • Scoped individually
    • 1% cashback in the first year, capped at plan cost
  • Add-on modules$200/month
    • Spend Optimization £200 a month or £1,500 a year
    • IT Management £150 a month or £1,500 a year
    • Software Compliance £150 a month or £1,500 a year

Which should you pick?

Choose Adyen if

  • You need payment processing.
  • You work on Web, Api, Pos.
  • You also want risk management.
Adyen review

Choose Cledara if

  • You need virtual card per subscription.
  • You also want cancel by card.
Cledara review

Questions people ask

Is Adyen or Cledara better?
Neither clearly leads. Adyen starts at $0.13/per-transaction and Cledara at £100/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Adyen or Cledara?
Adyen starts at $0.13/per-transaction and Cledara at £100/month.
Does Adyen or Cledara run on more platforms?
Adyen runs on Web, Api, Pos. Cledara runs on Web.
What is Adyen best used for?
Adyen is most often used for card acquiring with interchange plus pricing for larger merchants, accepting local payment methods across multiple countries, settling in several currencies through linked bank accounts, unified online and in-person payments. Of those, card acquiring with interchange plus pricing for larger merchants and accepting local payment methods across multiple countries are not what Cledara is typically brought in for.
What can Adyen do that Cledara cannot?
Adyen covers Payment processing, Risk management, Unified commerce, Issuing. Cledara covers Virtual card per subscription, Cancel by card, Application inventory, Approval workflow.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Adyen: How much does Adyen charge per transaction?

Adyen charges a fixed $0.13 USD per transaction plus a variable fee based on the payment method used. Credit cards typically cost $0.13 + 0.60% + interchange, while digital wallets and BNPL options cost between $0.13 + 0.99% to $0.13 + 4.99%+, depending on the specific method and region.

Source
Cledara: What does it cost?

Basic is £100 a month for up to 20 applications, with Premium covering up to 75 and Pro above that. Add-on modules are £150 to £200 a month each, and annual payment saves 16%.

Adyen: Does Adyen have monthly subscription or setup fees?

No, Adyen has no setup fees or monthly recurring charges. You pay only for each transaction processed. The transaction fee structure remains the same regardless of transaction volume or business size.

Source
Cledara: Does it find software we did not tell it about?

Only what passes through its cards or connected integrations. Subscriptions paid by invoice or another card stay hidden, which is the main limitation of the model.

Adyen: What's Adyen's Interchange++ pricing option?

Adyen offers an Interchange++ transparent pricing model that passes interchange and scheme fees directly to merchants instead of bundling them into a percentage rate. This allows visibility into exact costs for each payment method.

Source
Cledara: How does cancelling work?

You cancel the virtual card for that subscription, which stops the payment. It does not remove your contractual obligation, so check notice periods.

Adyen: Can I process payments in multiple currencies with Adyen?

Yes, Adyen supports 100+ payment methods across multiple currencies. You can link multiple bank accounts in different currencies to avoid currency conversion fees on international transactions.

Source
Cledara: Is the application limit by users or by tools?

By tools. Twenty on Basic, seventy-five on Premium. Count your actual subscriptions before assuming the entry price applies to you.

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