Plastiq vs Melio vs CardUp: Which Card-to-ACH Service Wins for Payroll in 2026?

If you want to put business payroll on a credit card in 2026, your realistic choices come down to three services: Plastiq, Melio, and CardUp. Each targets the same basic job — converting a credit card charge into an ACH deposit — but they differ dramatically in fees, features, and strategic positioning. This article is the head-to-head comparison we wished existed when we started researching this niche.

Verdict up front so you don’t have to read the whole thing: CardUp for W-2 payroll if fees are your priority, Plastiq for breadth of payment types and US market maturity, Melio for vendor and contractor payments only (it doesn’t support W-2 wages). Details below.

Who this comparison is for

Business owners running between $10k and $500k in monthly payroll who want to understand the tradeoffs between the major card-to-ACH services. We’ll cover the math, the feature gaps, the risk profiles, and the scenarios where each service is the clear winner.

The quick comparison table

Feature	Plastiq	Melio	CardUp
Fee	2.99%	2.9%	2.5%–2.6%
W-2 payroll support	✅ Yes	❌ No — contractors only	✅ Yes
1099 contractor support	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Parent company	Priority Technology Holdings (NASDAQ: PRTH)	Xero (ASX: XRO)	Private, growing
Banking diversification	Multi-bank post-2023	Multi-bank (Xero-backed)	Multi-bank
Settlement speed	2–3 business days	2–3 business days	2–3 business days
Monthly fee	None	None	None
Credit card brands	Visa, MC, Amex (fee varies)	Visa, MC	Visa, MC, Amex
US market maturity	Most mature (2014+)	Mature (2018+)	Growing US presence
Typical use case	Broad B2B payments + payroll	Vendor/AP + contractor pay	Payroll-focused + bills

Fees: the math at $50k/month payroll

Fee differences look small on paper but compound dramatically at volume. Here’s what $50,000 in monthly payroll costs on each service:

Plastiq (2.99%):  $50,000 × 2.99% = $1,495/month = $17,940/year
Melio (2.9%):     $50,000 × 2.90% = $1,450/month = $17,400/year  (contractors only)
CardUp (2.5%):    $50,000 × 2.50% = $1,250/month = $15,000/year

The CardUp savings vs Plastiq: $245/month, or $2,940/year. On a $50k payroll, that’s meaningful. On a $100k payroll, it’s nearly $6,000 annually. Fees compound, and small percentages matter when the base is large.

But fees are only one side of the math. You also have to look at your effective net after rewards:

$50k payroll with Chase Ink Preferred earning 3x (~6% effective):

Plastiq:  (6.00% − 2.99%) × $50,000 = $1,505/month net
Melio:    N/A for W-2 payroll
CardUp:   (6.00% − 2.50%) × $50,000 = $1,750/month net

CardUp edge: $245/month = $2,940/year

If you can route your payroll through CardUp profitably, the lower fee is a straight win — but only if CardUp’s other features meet your needs.

W-2 payroll support: the hard feature filter

Here’s where the comparison gets simple. If you’re paying W-2 employees, your options narrow to Plastiq or CardUp.

Melio explicitly does not support W-2 payroll. Their platform handles vendor and contractor payments only. You can’t set up your payroll processor as a vendor inside Melio to route W-2 wages through — that violates their terms and creates accounting nightmares. We covered this in detail in Can You Pay Payroll With Melio?.

If 80% of your monthly payment volume is W-2 wages, Melio is effectively removed from the comparison. It’s a bill-pay tool, not a payroll-funding tool.

If 80% of your spend is on 1099 contractors, Melio becomes a legitimate contender because of its broader vendor-payment features.

Parent company stability and risk

This is where the three services differ most, and where Rachel would want me to slow down and be explicit about what you’re taking on when you commit payroll volume to each.

Plastiq — Priority Technology Holdings (PRTH)

Plastiq is owned by Priority Technology Holdings, a publicly traded B2B payments company (NASDAQ: PRTH). Priority acquired Plastiq out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023 for $37 million. Pros:

• Public company with disclosed financials
• Diversified banking relationships post-SVB collapse
• Multiple payment processing lines of business beyond Plastiq

Cons:

• Priority itself has a meaningful debt load
• Plastiq’s 2023 failure is still recent memory — trust is rebuilding
• Fee increases suggest Priority is running Plastiq for profit, not growth

We did a full post-bankruptcy review of Plastiq with specific defensive habits we recommend for anyone using it.

Melio — Xero (ASX: XRO)

Melio is owned by Xero, the Australian-listed accounting software company (ASX: XRO). Xero acquired Melio in a $2.5 billion deal that closed in 2026. Pros:

• Very deep-pocketed parent with substantial recurring revenue
• Strong brand alignment — accounting software + bill pay makes strategic sense
• No history of operational failure like Plastiq’s

Cons:

• Xero is still integrating the acquisition; roadmap is unclear
• International parent (Australia-based) may mean slower US feature development
• Doesn’t address the W-2 payroll limitation

CardUp — Private, expanding

CardUp is a privately held company with Asian origins expanding aggressively into the US. Pros:

• Lowest fees in the category (2.5%–2.6%)
• Purpose-built for payment services, not a bolt-on to another business
• No bankruptcy history, no parent-company drama

Cons:

• Private company with opaque financials — you can’t read a 10-K
• Less US market maturity than Plastiq
• Smaller customer support organization
• Unclear what happens if a funding round doesn’t close on time

The honest risk ranking, in our view: Melio (lowest risk, thanks to Xero’s deep pockets), then Plastiq (known-unknown, public parent, rebuilt operationally), then CardUp (lowest fees but also the least battle-tested for US payroll scenarios).

Settlement speed

All three services settle within 2–3 business days under normal conditions. None offers reliable same-day settlement at standard pricing. Around federal holidays, settlement can stretch to 4–5 business days on any of them.

Operational implication: Whichever service you choose, initiate payroll at least 3 business days before payday. This isn’t service-specific advice — it’s how the whole category works.

Card brand support

• Plastiq: Supports Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. Amex transactions carry an additional fee (historically +0.8% to +1.0% above the base rate).
• Melio: Visa and Mastercard only for most transactions. No Amex support for contractor payments.
• CardUp: Supports Visa, Mastercard, and American Express. Amex rates are competitive.

If you’re committed to an Amex rewards strategy — Blue Business Plus, Business Gold, Business Platinum — you need a service that actually processes Amex without a prohibitive markup. Plastiq and CardUp both support it; Melio’s coverage is partial.

The three scenarios where each service wins

Scenario 1: You want the lowest fees — use CardUp

If your primary concern is minimizing the processing fee on a stable monthly payroll, CardUp is the clear winner. The 0.49% difference versus Plastiq saves you meaningful money at $50k+ monthly volume. Accept the tradeoff of a less mature US market presence and the lack of a public parent company’s disclosures.

Scenario 2: You want maximum US market maturity and broad payment type support — use Plastiq

If you need to pay a complex mix of W-2 payroll, vendor bills, contractor payments, and possibly non-US payees, Plastiq has the widest feature set for US businesses. The higher fee buys you operational breadth. Apply the defensive habits from our Plastiq safety review.

Scenario 3: You only pay contractors and vendors (no W-2 payroll) — use Melio

If your entire payment volume is contractors, freelancers, vendors, software subscriptions, and rent — and you have zero W-2 employees — Melio is the best-integrated option. The Xero backing makes it the safest from a parent-company perspective, and the feature set fits vendor-heavy businesses well.

When to use two services

Several owners we’ve talked to split their payment volume across two services deliberately:

• Plastiq for payroll, Melio for vendor bills — gets the best of both: Plastiq for wages, Melio for AP
• CardUp for payroll, Plastiq for international or edge cases — gets the fee savings where they matter most, with Plastiq as a fallback

Running two services creates a bit of admin overhead but dramatically reduces concentration risk. If one has an outage, the other is already set up.

Counter-argument: when none of them make sense

If you’re running payroll under $20k/month, the admin overhead of any of these services may not be worth the rewards math. Running a test transaction, reconciling statements, managing a backup rail — it’s all real time that has an opportunity cost.

At small volume, just accept the loss of rewards and pay payroll via direct ACH from a business checking account. Start optimizing when your monthly volume justifies it.

Action checklist

Before picking a service:

1. Determine your payment mix. What % is W-2 payroll, what % is contractors, what % is vendor/AP?
2. Calculate fee impact at your volume. Use our calculator to see the dollar difference.
3. Research your card’s effective reward rate. Don’t forget to account for realistic point valuations.
4. Pick a primary service based on the scenario you match. Don’t try to optimize for every edge case.
5. Open a second account for backup. Whichever you don’t pick, set it up and verify it works. Concentration risk is the biggest operational threat to this strategy.

Bottom line

CardUp wins on fees. Plastiq wins on US market breadth. Melio wins only if you don’t pay W-2 wages. Most business owners we advise end up with either CardUp (for low-fee W-2 payroll) or Plastiq (for broader feature needs), and many run a backup account on the one they don’t choose.

There is no universal best service — there’s a best service for your specific payment mix. Use the three scenarios above to match yourself to the right one, and use our break-even calculator to confirm the math works before you commit.

Last updated April 11, 2026. Fees and feature sets can change — verify current terms on each service’s website before signing up.