Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy
Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy: 5% + 50¢ (Merchant of Record) and 5% + 50¢ (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 Lemon Squeezy for approved software and digital-product sellers. Neither wins for every country or workflow.
| Decision factor | Paddle | Lemon Squeezy |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Merchant of Record | Merchant of Record |
| Public headline | 5% + 50¢ Standard checkout · USD | 5% + 50¢ Base rate · add-ons apply |
| Best investigated for | Software and SaaS businesses that want an MoR Teams that want billing and transaction-tax handling together | Approved software and digital-product sellers Creators investigating licensing and recurring billing |
| Stripe relationship | No personal Stripe account required. An exclusive upstream processing dependency was not established by this research. | Owned by Stripe. Sellers do not bring a normal standalone Stripe account, but payout approval and infrastructure dependencies still matter. |
| 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. | Seller eligibility follows supported bank/PayPal payout routes and approval. This directory only maps the listed researched subset; missing countries are unknown rather than rejected. Buyer exclusions are a separate list. |
| 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 documentation describes twice-monthly payout creation, a 13-day holding period and a $50 threshold. Payout method, country, bank receipt and conversion affect timing and net proceeds. |
| 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. | Lemon Squeezy reserves the right to issue refunds within 60 days to prevent chargebacks. The documentation describes a $15 dispute fee. Confirm the complete refund deduction before modelling it as a simple zero-fee event. |
| 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. | Check whether any migration changes the contracting seller, subscription object, customer portal, invoices or payment-data handling. Ownership by Stripe alone does not establish seamless automatic portability. |
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 · Lemon Squeezy fees · Lemon Squeezy supported countries · Lemon Squeezy getting paid · Lemon Squeezy refunds and chargebacks · Lemon Squeezy 2026 update · Lemon Squeezy: compatibility review source · Lemon Squeezy: supporting feature documentation