Lemon Squeezy vs Paddle

Lemon Squeezy and Paddle are the two leading merchant of record platforms for software businesses, and choosing between them comes down to pricing model, checkout experience, and which platform's feature roadmap aligns with your business stage. Both handle global tax collection and remittance, both process payments in 130+ countries, and both shield you from the complexity of registering for VAT in 27+ EU jurisdictions. The differences are in pricing structure, checkout customization, and the maturity of enterprise features.

Paddle's fee structure is flat: 5% + $0.50 per transaction with no monthly minimums, matching Lemon Squeezy's base rate. Paddle Classic (legacy) offered custom pricing for higher-volume merchants, and Paddle Billing (the newer product) brings subscription management and usage billing into the same platform. Paddle has a longer track record, a more mature subscription management engine, and deeper integration with B2B SaaS workflows including dunning, churn recovery, and tax invoicing. Lemon Squeezy's strength is developer experience — its API is cleaner for modern JavaScript stacks, its checkout overlays convert well for B2C digital products, and its License Keys API makes it the default choice for developers selling standalone software.

Choose Paddle if you're running a subscription-heavy SaaS business that needs robust dunning management, a polished buyer portal, or enterprise billing features. Choose Lemon Squeezy if you prioritize a modern API and checkout experience, sell a mix of one-time software products and subscriptions, or are launching a new digital product and want the fastest path to global sales without compliance overhead.