Both spend from the same account, both carry the Visa Business badge, but they shine in different places. This is how to decide which to issue, and when.
Settled team · 6 min read
Ask a finance team what kind of card they need and the honest answer is usually "it depends what we are buying". A recurring software subscription, a one-off agency payment and a team lunch are three different spending moments, and the right card for each is not always the same. You do not have to pick a side. With Settled you can run virtual and physical Visa Business cards side by side, and use each where it does its best work.
Look at what separates them.
A virtual card is a full card number that lives entirely in the app. There is no plastic. You generate it in seconds, use it online or add it to a mobile wallet, and freeze or delete it the moment you are done. That makes it the natural fit for the things businesses spend on most: subscriptions, ad accounts, supplier portals and one-off online purchases.
The big wins are speed and containment. Need to pay for a new tool this morning? Spin up a virtual card with a tight limit, use it once and freeze it. No shared company card passed around, no surprise renewals. With Settled, virtual cards cost €3 to issue and €3 a month, and you can run several at once so each vendor or project has its own clean line of spend.
A physical card is what you reach for when the spending leaves the screen. Travel, client dinners, hardware bought in store, fuel, the occasional ATM withdrawal: these still need a card you can tap or swipe. Physical cards also tend to suit specific people: a managing director, an operations lead, a team that is frequently on the road.
With Settled, physical Visa Business cards cost €15 to issue and €10 a month, work anywhere Visa is accepted across the EU/EEA and beyond, and support contactless and mobile-wallet payments. ATM withdrawals are €3 (plus 3% outside the EEA), and card payments in another currency carry a 3% FX fee, worth knowing before a trip.
If you only remember one paragraph, make it this one:
In practice the strongest setup is not either/or. Give the people who travel and spend in person a physical card each, and use virtual cards for every subscription, ad platform and online supplier, one per purpose. That way your in-person spend is covered and your online spend is compartmentalised, so a single leaked number never threatens the rest of your finances.
Whichever you issue, the controls are what make a card safe to hand out:
The Settled plans bundle both types: Basic includes a free virtual card, Plus adds three virtual plus one physical, and Premium gives you five virtual and two physical, so you can match the mix to how your team spends.
Virtual cards are for the screen: instant, disposable and built for subscriptions and online suppliers. Physical cards are for the world: travel, in-person purchases and the people who do them. Run both, put a limit on each, and you get the flexibility of plastic without ever losing sight of where the money goes.
Open a Settled account, spin up virtual cards in seconds and order physical Visa Business cards for your team, all with per-card limits, instant freeze and live alerts.