Last Updated on August 17, 2026
The sticker price on most business software is not the price a UK business pays. Three things get added after it: the exchange rate, your bank foreign transaction fee, and VAT.
We checked the pricing pages of 24 tools UK small businesses commonly buy. Three publish a genuine list price in pounds. Sixteen are dollars only.
This page shows what that actually costs, and flags a VAT trap that can force a business to register for VAT because of software it bought rather than sales it made.
Method. Prices read from each vendor own pricing page on 27 July 2026. Conversions use the HMRC monthly exchange rate for July 2026 of 1.3404 US dollars to the pound. Card fees are the published foreign transaction fees of named UK banks. Nothing here is estimated.
How many software vendors publish a price in pounds?
Three out of 24.
| Currency position | Count | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Genuine GBP list price | 3 | Shopify, WordPress.com, Adobe |
| USD only, no GBP found | 16 | Semrush, Pipedrive, Cloudways, Notion, Airtable, Figma, Calendly, Slack, Zoom |
| Shows USD but bills in GBP | 4 | Slack, Calendly, Figma, Monday.com confirm GBP billing in help documentation only |
| Explicitly refuses GBP | 2 | Airtable and ClickUp |
Airtable states plainly that currency conversion is managed by your bank or payment provider, not by Airtable. That is an honest description of who carries the cost, and it is you.
What does the exchange rate add?
Less than most people think, and more than the vendor implies.
Visa publishes its own currency conversion markup against the benchmark rate. It runs between 0.16 and 0.47 percent. That is the scheme margin and it is small.
The issuer fee is the real cost. Total gap between the mid market rate and what lands on your statement runs around 3.2 to 3.4 percent once your bank fee is included.
What does your bank add?
| UK business account | Foreign transaction fee on card purchases |
|---|---|
| Barclays Business | 2.75% |
| HSBC Business | 2.75% |
| Lloyds Business | 2.75% |
| NatWest Business | 2.75% |
| Starling Business | 0% |
| Monzo Business | 0% |
| Tide (paid plans) | 0% |
Fees as published by each bank, checked 27 July 2026.
That is the single cheapest saving in this entire guide. Moving the card you pay for software with, from a high street business account to one that charges nothing on foreign transactions, removes 2.75 percent from every dollar subscription you hold. No negotiation, no downgrade, no lost features.
One extra trap. HSBC Business and Lloyds Business stack an additional cash fee on foreign ATM withdrawals, taking the total as high as 4.25 percent. That is not relevant to software, but it is worth knowing if you travel.
What UK VAT does to the bill
This is the part almost nobody explains, and it is the reason this page exists.
When a UK business buys services from a supplier outside the UK, the reverse charge applies. You account for the VAT yourself, charging it and reclaiming it on the same return. HMRC guidance is in VAT Notice 741A.
For a VAT registered business that can reclaim in full, that is usually cash neutral. HMRC wording is careful here, referring to input tax to which you are entitled, so it is only usually neutral, not always.
Now the part that catches people out. The value of reverse charge purchases counts towards the £90,000 VAT registration threshold.
So a sole trader turning over £70,000 who buys £25,000 of software and services from non-UK suppliers has £95,000 of value against that threshold, and can become liable to register on the strength of what they bought, not what they sold.
If you are not VAT registered and you buy a lot of overseas software, this is worth checking with your accountant before it becomes a backdated problem.
A worked example
| Tool | List price | At 1.3404 | Plus 2.75% card fee | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semrush | $139/mo | £103.70 | £106.55 | £1,278.60 |
| Pipedrive, 2 seats | $28/mo | £20.89 | £21.46 | £257.52 |
| Cloudways | $11/mo | £8.21 | £8.43 | £101.19 |
| MailerLite | $12/mo | £8.95 | £9.20 | £110.40 |
| Total | $190/mo | £141.75 | £145.65 | £1,747.76 |
Illustrative stack using verified list prices and the HMRC July 2026 rate. The card fee assumes a 2.75 percent high street business account.
On this stack the bank fee alone is £46.80 a year. Move to a zero fee account and that is gone. The exchange rate itself you cannot avoid. The bank fee you can.
How to cut what you pay
Five things that actually work
- Pay for dollar subscriptions from an account with no foreign transaction fee. Starling, Monzo and paid Tide plans all publish 0 percent.
- Check whether the vendor offers annual billing. Semrush annual works out at $117.33 a month against $139 monthly.
- Ask whether the vendor will bill you in pounds. Slack, Calendly, Figma and Monday all bill in GBP even though they display dollars.
- If you are near the £90,000 threshold and buying overseas services, count them. They add to the threshold whether or not you charge VAT.
- Check the VAT wording on the invoice, not the pricing page. Only two of the 24 vendors we checked state their VAT position where the price appears.
The bottom line
Dollar software costs a UK business roughly 3 percent more than the sticker price, and almost all of that is your own bank rather than the vendor.
Fix the card first. Then worry about the subscription.
Not sure where your money is going?
Run a free check on your business and get specific recommendations.
Common questions
How much extra does dollar-priced software cost a UK business?
Around 3.2 to 3.4 percent above the mid market exchange rate once the bank foreign transaction fee is included. Visa own published conversion markup is 0.16 to 0.47 percent, and the rest is the card issuer fee, most commonly 2.75 percent on Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest business accounts. Starling, Monzo and paid Tide plans charge 0 percent.
Do software companies charge UK customers in pounds?
Rarely. Of 24 tools checked on 27 July 2026, only Shopify, WordPress.com and Adobe published a genuine list price in pounds. Sixteen showed dollars only. Slack, Calendly, Figma and Monday.com display dollars but confirm in their help documentation that they bill in pounds. Airtable and ClickUp explicitly do not offer GBP.
Do I pay VAT on software bought from a US company?
Yes, through the reverse charge. A UK business accounts for the VAT itself, charging and reclaiming it on the same VAT return under the rules in VAT Notice 741A. For a fully reclaiming VAT registered business this is usually cash neutral, though HMRC wording refers to input tax to which you are entitled, so it is not automatic.
Can buying overseas software push me over the VAT registration threshold?
Yes. The value of reverse charge purchases from non-UK suppliers counts towards the £90,000 VAT registration threshold. A business turning over £70,000 that buys £25,000 of overseas software and services has £95,000 counting against the threshold and can become liable to register on the basis of what it bought rather than what it sold.
How do I stop paying foreign transaction fees on software?
Pay from a business account that publishes a 0 percent foreign transaction fee. Starling Business, Monzo Business and paid Tide plans all do. On a typical £1,750 a year dollar software stack, a 2.75 percent fee costs about £47 a year, which is removed entirely by changing which card the subscriptions are billed to.
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