Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Adyen vs Dwolla

Adyen logo

Adyen

Accounting

The payments platform built for growth

From
$0.13/per-transaction
Rated
-
Dwolla logo

Dwolla

APIs

Account to account payment API for ACH, RTP and FedNow with pay by bank and instant payment routing

From
On request
Rated
-

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; Dwolla nothing is published: there are no per-transaction rates, no platform fee and no minimum on the pricing page, so every buyer negotiates blind and small platforms have no way to sanity check what they are quoted.
  • They diverge on capability: Adyen covers Payment processing, Dwolla covers ACH transfers.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Adyen and Dwolla actually diverge.

Attributes where Adyen and Dwolla differ
AttributeAdyenDwolla
Starting price$0.13/per-transactionOn request
Pricing modelusage-basedquote
PlatformsWeb, Api, PosWeb
CategoryAccountingAPIs
Founded2006Unknown

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

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 Dwolla

  • ACH transfers
  • Instant payments
  • Rail orchestration
  • Bank account verification
  • Dwolla Balance
  • Webhooks and reconciliation
  • Pay by bank
  • White label flows

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 Dwolla
  • Accepting local payment methods across multiple countriesnot Dwolla
  • Settling in several currencies through linked bank accountsnot Dwolla
  • Unified online and in-person paymentsnot Dwolla

Dwolla

  • An insurance or lending platform disbursing funds to customer bank accounts where card payout fees would destroy the marginnot Adyen
  • A B2B marketplace collecting large invoice payments by bank transfer rather than paying interchange on cardsnot Adyen
  • A payroll or gig platform that needs to pay workers instantly and wants the rail chosen automatically by receiving bank capabilitynot Adyen
  • A property management system collecting rent by ACH with verified bank accounts and reliable return handlingnot 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

Dwolla

  • Nothing is published: there are no per-transaction rates, no platform fee and no minimum on the pricing page, so every buyer negotiates blind and small platforms have no way to sanity check what they are quoted.
  • It is payments only, with no deposit accounts, card issuing or general ledger, so companies embedding financial products need at least one further vendor and the reconciliation between them.
  • Instant payment reach depends on the receiving institution supporting RTP or FedNow, so a meaningful share of payouts still fall back to ACH timing regardless of what the API can do.
  • ACH returns and administrative returns remain your operational problem, and platforms new to bank rails routinely underestimate the customer support load that failed debits generate.
  • Access to instant rails runs through Dwolla banking partner, which reintroduces a bank dependency into a product that otherwise avoids sponsor bank programme risk.

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

Dwolla

On request
  • Dwolla Payment API$undefined/year
    • Custom pricing built around transaction volume, rails used and integration needs
    • No published per-transaction rates or platform fees
    • Volume based plans for platforms and enterprises

Which should you pick?

Choose Adyen if

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

Choose Dwolla if

  • You need ach transfers.
  • You also want instant payments.

Questions people ask

Is Adyen or Dwolla better?
Neither clearly leads. Adyen starts at $0.13/per-transaction and Dwolla at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Adyen or Dwolla?
Adyen starts at $0.13/per-transaction and Dwolla at On request.
Does Adyen or Dwolla run on more platforms?
Adyen runs on Web, Api, Pos. Dwolla 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 Dwolla is typically brought in for.
What can Adyen do that Dwolla cannot?
Adyen covers Payment processing, Risk management, Unified commerce, Issuing. Dwolla covers ACH transfers, Instant payments, Rail orchestration, Bank account verification.

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
Dwolla: What does Dwolla cost?

It does not publish anything. Pricing is custom and built around volume, rails and integration. Establish the monthly platform fee and any minimum before negotiating per-transaction rates.

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
Dwolla: Does it support instant payments?

Yes, through both the RTP network and the FedNow Service, with automatic selection based on the receiving bank. Where neither is supported, payments fall back to ACH.

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
Dwolla: Is Dwolla a bank?

No. It is a payments platform that works through banking partners. It does not offer deposit accounts or card issuing.

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
Dwolla: How does bank account verification work?

Either instantly through open banking connections or by micro-deposit verification, which takes a day or two but works where instant linking fails.

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