Lemon Squeezy vs Paddle

At a Glance

Lemon Squeezy

Paddle

Lemon Squeezy

Paddle

Lemon Squeezy

Pros

Setup takes literally under an hour for a digital product or SaaS subscription — the simplest checkout experience I've found+163
Acts as merchant of record like Paddle, so all VAT and global tax compliance is handled without extra work+148
The built-in affiliate program lets customers refer others and earn commission without any external tool+127
License key generation for software products is built in and works great for desktop apps and plugins+109

Cons

Limited customization for the checkout flow — you can't deeply brand the experience the way Stripe Elements allows

Payments

Stripe vs Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy

Payments

Stripe vs Lemon Squeezy

Payments

Stripe vs Paddle

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Paddle

Pros

Paddle acts as the merchant of record, meaning they handle VAT, sales tax, and international compliance so you never have to think about it+182
European payment methods work out of the box without extra setup, which dramatically increases conversion for EU customers+158
Subscription management including upgrades, downgrades, and prorations all work correctly without custom logic+134
The affiliate and discount system is built in and doesn't require a separate tool to run simple promotions+112

Cons

The checkout experience is noticeably less polished than Stripe's and can hurt conversion rates for design-conscious brands+147
Customer support response times can be slow and getting a non-scripted answer to a billing edge case often takes multiple days+128
The API is less developer-friendly than Stripe — fewer SDKs, worse TypeScript types, and more things to do manually+109
Fees are higher than Stripe on average and the pricing structure is less transparent, making cost projections harder+91