Paddle vs Dodo Payments
Paddle vs Dodo Payments: 5% + 50¢ (Merchant of Record) and 4% + 40¢ (Merchant of Record). Compare seller eligibility, tax responsibilities, payouts and subscription portability.
The useful answer
Both sit in the merchant of record category, but that does not make their fees or eligibility identical. Investigate Paddle for software and saas businesses that want an mor; investigate Dodo Payments for approved saas, ai and digital-product businesses. Neither wins for every country or workflow.
| Decision factor | Paddle | Dodo Payments |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Merchant of Record | Merchant of Record |
| Public headline | 5% + 50¢ Standard checkout · USD | 4% + 40¢ US domestic cards · verify locale |
| Best investigated for | Software and SaaS businesses that want an MoR Teams that want billing and transaction-tax handling together | Approved SaaS, AI and digital-product businesses Teams evaluating cards and supported alternative methods |
| Stripe relationship | No personal Stripe account required. An exclusive upstream processing dependency was not established by this research. | BYOP and the MoR checkout are separate modes. The full current processor mix and exclusivity were not established here. |
| Seller eligibility | Paddle describes worldwide software-business support with explicit country and territory exclusions. All matches here remain conditional on business and product review. Buyer-country restrictions are separate. | Country matches are conditional research leads. New-merchant eligibility includes government-issued IDs for relevant directors/owners, legal entity and product approval. Grandfathered merchants can have different country rules. |
| Payout considerations | Monthly payouts. Once the minimum balance is reached, payout is generated on the 1st and sent by the 15th. The threshold is $100, £100 or €100 for the relevant balance. Some transfer routes carry a SWIFT charge. Sent does not mean received by your bank. | The October 2026 documentation describes twice-monthly periods with initiation around the 18th and 4th. Higher-volume and higher-risk schedules can differ. Default threshold is $100, configurable down to $50; bank arrival is later than initiation. |
| Refunds and disputes | Paddle handles disputes as MoR, but the disputed transaction and applicable fee can be deducted from your seller balance. Winning a dispute does not necessarily return the chargeback fee. | Reviewed localized pricing lists refund, dispute and some small-payout/SWIFT charges. Because locale and product comparisons require confirmation, these are not treated as a complete final quote in the calculator. |
| Portability | Before migrating, verify subscription transfer, customer records, payment-data movement and invoice history. An MoR relationship is not equivalent to a Stripe account you directly own. | A provider switch must cover entitlements, subscription state, invoices and payment-data movement. BYOP does not automatically make the full commerce layer portable. |
Before you decide
- Confirm seller, owner and payout-bank eligibility for the exact product.
- Identify who is the contractual seller and who handles taxes, refunds and disputes.
- Model your real checkout and payout volume, including fixed and add-on fees.
- Check subscription portability, data access and retained balances on exit.
Compare fees at your sales volume → · Compare tax responsibilities →
Primary sources
Sources: Paddle pricing · Paddle supported countries · Paddle payout schedule · Paddle chargebacks · Paddle: compatibility review source · Dodo localized pricing reviewed · Dodo merchant acceptance countries · Dodo merchant acceptance policy · Dodo payout structure · Dodo Payments: compatibility review source · Dodo Payments: supporting feature documentation · Dodo Payments: supporting feature documentation