by PaddlePayments and billing
Merchant of record for software: payments, subscriptions, sales tax and VAT filing and buyer support for 5% + 50¢ per transaction.
Paddle becomes the seller of record: it files and remits sales tax and VAT and answers buyer billing questions, all inside 5% + 50¢.
With Paddle as merchant of record, your customer buys from Paddle, which collects the right tax, tracks filing deadlines and submits returns, handles chargebacks and fields payment, subscription and cancellation questions. All of that is in one 5% + 50¢ fee with no monthly charge; in our scenario that is $600 a month. You trade a higher fee and a monthly payout schedule for not registering or filing sales tax and VAT yourself.
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Payments and billing: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Paddle | Stripe | Braintree | FastSpring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Compliance includedPaddle becomes the seller of record: it files and remits sales tax and VAT and answers buyer billing questions, all inside 5% + 50¢. | Saves engineering timeCard payments, subscriptions and tax calculation as separate per-transaction lines, with the lowest total of the three in our scenario: $500 on $10,000. | Worth the priceCards, PayPal and Venmo through one gateway, with the lowest card fees in our scenario: $368 on $10,000 a month, subscriptions included. | Compliance includedFastSpring becomes the seller of record: it collects and remits sales tax and VAT, runs subscriptions and handles fraud and chargebacks for one quoted rate. |
| Overall score | 6.9 | 8.1Best | 7.5 | 5.3 |
| Free option | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured | Free trial |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Approval wait | Self-serve | Approval wait | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | 5% + 50¢/transaction | 2.9% + 30¢/US card charge | 2.89% + 29¢/card transaction | Quote/transaction |
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Usage-based | Usage-based | Custom quote |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Prices hidden |
| Model | Merchant of record | Payment processor; you are the seller | Payment processor; you are the seller | Merchant of record |
| Base fee | 5% + 50¢ per transaction | 2.9% + 30¢ per US card | 2.89% + 29¢ per US card | Quoted revenue share; no published rate |
| $10,000/mo scenario | $600 (6.0%), computed | $500 (5.0%), computed | $368 (3.7%), computed | Not computable; priced by sales |
| Sales tax and VAT filing | Paddle files and remits | Yours; Tax Complete from $90/mo, or Managed Payments +3.5% | Yours; no tax product offered | FastSpring collects and remits |
| Dispute fee | $20, not refunded if won | $15, plus $15 to counter (refunded if won) | $15, not refunded if won | $20 per chargeback or prevention alert |
| Payouts | Monthly, $100 minimum | Daily, weekly or monthly; standard schedule free | Every weekday (US accounts) | Twice a month by default; weekly or monthly; $100 minimum |
| Charge currencies | 33 | 135+ | 130+, one merchant account per currency | 36 |
| Team access | Five roles, 2FA | Granular roles, SAML SSO, audit log | Custom roles, SAML SSO, SCIM, 2FA required | Ten predefined roles, 2FA, Okta (OIDC) or Google SSO |
| Card export if you leave | Not documented; data portability stated | Documented, to a PCI DSS Level 1 processor | Documented, free, to a PCI-compliant gateway | Not documented; data returned in a standard form |
| Security reports | PCI DSS attestation, SOC 2 Type II | PCI Service Provider Level 1, SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II | PCI DSS Level 1 service provider; no SOC 2 stated | PCI DSS, SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3 |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Paddle is the most complete merchant of record here for a SaaS business: tax filing, buyer support and security reports in one 5% + 50¢ fee. Plan around monthly payouts and the $20 chargeback fee. | From its public pages, Stripe has the lowest fees in our scenario and the strongest controls and exit path here. Tax registration and filing stay with you unless you pay for Tax Complete or Managed Payments. | From its public pages, Braintree has the lowest fees in our scenario and strong access controls and exit terms. It leaves tax entirely to you and takes an application before you go live. | From its public pages, FastSpring is a full merchant of record with strong B2B tools and security reports, but its rate is quoted by sales, so its cost cannot be compared here before a call. |
Evidence: Paddle: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Stripe: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Braintree: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; FastSpring: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Review from public pages
Written from Paddle's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 15, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
We read Paddle's pricing page, trust center, help articles on payouts, chargebacks, team members and domain approval, and its supported-currencies and API docs on Oct 15, 2026; we did not sign up for this review. The pricing page has one self-serve price, 5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction, plus custom pricing for high volume. It says there are no monthly fees, migration fees or hidden extras, and that products under $10 can get bespoke pricing.
The help center adds two fees the pricing page does not show: a $20 (€20 or £20) chargeback fee that is not refunded even when Paddle wins the dispute, and a $15 SWIFT fee that may apply to payouts in certain countries. Payouts are made once a month when your balance is over a threshold you set, from $100.
Before a live checkout opens, Paddle reviews each domain you sell from for a product description, pricing, terms, refund and privacy policies. The help article says most domains are approved automatically and some go to manual review; the sandbox needs no approval.
Paddle is the merchant of record, so it collects, files and remits sales tax and VAT; you do not register in each jurisdiction.
vs Stripe: On Stripe, filing needs Tax Complete (from $90 a month) or Managed Payments (+3.5%).
Our scenario is priced with a single line, 5% + 50¢, with no international or subscription surcharge.
vs Lemon Squeezy: Lemon Squeezy adds 1.5% for non-US and 0.5% for subscription payments.
Paddle handles payment, subscription and cancellation questions from your customers.
A 2025 SOC 2 Type II report and a 2026 PCI DSS Attestation of Compliance are listed in the trust center.
vs Lemon Squeezy: Lemon Squeezy states PCI DSS compliance but no SOC 2 report.
Team members get Admin, Finance, Technical, Support or Subscription KPIs roles, each limited to its part of the dashboard.
vs Lemon Squeezy: Lemon Squeezy has owners and members.
Payouts are made once a month, by wire or Payoneer, when your balance is above the threshold you set (at least $100).
Each chargeback or pre-chargeback alert costs $20 (€20 or £20, 40 CAD or AUD), deducted from your balance and not refunded when Paddle wins.
The pricing FAQ says your data is yours and can be migrated to another provider, but the pages we read describe moving cards into Paddle, not out.
Workaround: Ask Paddle for the export terms before you sign.
We found no SAML SSO or audit log in the pages we read; Paddle documents two-factor authentication and role-based access.
Paddle charges 5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction with no monthly fee; custom pricing is offered for high volume and for products under $10. The fee covers payments, subscriptions, tax collection and filing, fraud protection and buyer support. Outside it: a $20 chargeback fee (not refunded if won), a $15 SWIFT fee on payouts to some countries, and the invoicing, advisory and implementation services listed under 'Book a demo'.
For our scenario (200 charges of $50): 200 × ($2.50 + $0.50) = $600 a month, 6.0% of volume. Customers can pay in 33 currencies; balances are held in USD, EUR, GBP, AUD or CAD.
The pricing FAQ says there is no lock-in period and that your data is yours and can be migrated to another provider. The API lists customers and subscriptions; the pages we read describe a card migration into Paddle, run by its Solutions Architects, but not one out.
From its public pages, Paddle is the most complete merchant of record here for a SaaS business: tax filing, buyer support and security reports in one 5% + 50¢ fee. Plan around monthly payouts and the $20 chargeback fee.
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Model | Merchant of record |
| Base fee | 5% + 50¢ per transaction |
| $10,000/mo scenario | $600 (6.0%), computed |
| Sales tax and VAT filing | Paddle files and remits |
| Dispute fee | $20, not refunded if won |
| Payouts | Monthly, $100 minimum |
| Charge currencies | 33 |
| Team access | Five roles, 2FA |
| Card export if you leave | Not documented; data portability stated |
| Security reports | PCI DSS attestation, SOC 2 Type II |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 15, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Paddle yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 15, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Paddle yet; access was not open to our agent.
Paddle lists 2 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Pay-as-you-go, costs 5% + 50¢/transaction.
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-15.
Source: paddle.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.
We read the pricing, security, help and docs pages of a payment processor and two merchants of record on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. What $10,000 a month costs, who files the tax, and who should pick which.
