Payments & Billing · decision tool

Lemon Squeezy vs Paddle — for your app, not in general

Lemon Squeezy or Paddle? Set your usage, budget and constraints; the verdict, monthly cost and risks update live from verified pricing.

Prices verified 2026-07-15 against official pricing pages · fit weights are our estimates (see methodology) · share the URL to share your configuration

As of Jul 2026, with $5,000 monthly revenue, 29 $ average transaction, a $50 budget for this slot, Paddle ranks first for these inputs at 33% fit and a StackSays-estimated $336.00/month (Lemon Squeezy: 33% fit, $336.00/month). Fit weights are our estimates; prices trace to official pages. Change any input below and the verdict recomputes.

Your situation

The verdict updates as you move these.

Monthly revenue ($)gross card volume through the providerAverage transaction ($)typical checkout amount — fixed fees bite harder on small ticketsBudget for this slot ($/mo)what you'd accept paying for the payment provider layerTeam size1 = solo; bundled platforms save glue time for small teams

Toss-up — your priorities decide, not the tools

Paddlefit 33% · est $336.00/mo

Merchant of record with flat all-in pricing — tax, compliance and chargebacks are Paddle's problem

vs Lemon Squeezy: fit 33% against 33%, est $336.00 against $336.00 per month — genuinely close; read both risk lists below

Paddlefit 33%

$336.00/mo

Lemon Squeezyfit 33%

$336.00/mo

Comparing 2 tools head-to-head. Open the full field (4 options) →

The decision, in plain words

For a solo builder at $5,000 monthly revenue and a $50.00/mo budget for the payment provider slot, Paddle leads at 33% fit and $336.00/mo. The two rules doing the work: batteries included (Bundles tax handled, usage-based billing — fewer services to glue at team size 1); ecosystem maturity (established — our estimate from ecosystem age, docs and hiring pool).

Lemon Squeezy is a genuine coin-flip here (33% fit, $336.00/mo) — read both risk lists and pick the failure mode you prefer.

Honest weak spot of the pick: ~$336/mo is 672% of your $50/mo budget — over it.

Generated from the calculation above — every number traces to the sourced data; nothing here is written by an AI making things up.

Why Paddle scores 33%

Budget fit (weight 30, our estimate) — ~$336/mo is 672% of your $50/mo budget — over it-30

Batteries included (weight 12, our estimate) — Bundles tax handled, usage-based billing — fewer services to glue at team size 1+8

Exit cost (weight 4, our estimate) — MoR owns the customer-of-record relationship — migrating subscriptions out is a project-1.2

Ecosystem maturity (weight 8, our estimate) — established — our estimate from ecosystem age, docs and hiring pool+8

Free-tier runway (weight 10, our estimate) — No free tier — paying from day one-6

Total (lines sum exactly)-21.2

Possible range −64…+64 (sum of active rule weights) · fit % = (total + max) / (2 × max)(-21.2 + 64) / 128 = 33%

How the $336.00/mo estimate is calculated

card revenue overage — 5000$ over 0$ included × $0.05/$$250.00

transactions overage — 172 over 0 included × $0.5/unit$86.00

Note — 5% + $0.50 per checkout, all-inclusive (tax remittance, compliance, chargebacks). Products under $10 need custom pricing$0

Monthly total (lines sum exactly)$336.00

What could change this verdict

No single input change within the tested range changes the winner.

Cost risk

Estimated now (StackSays estimate, not your final bill)$336.00/mo · Standard (MoR)

Free-tier statusNo free tier — paid from the first unit

Official prices verified 2026-07-15; calculation is deterministic code over those prices.

At a glance

Tool	Free tier	Paid entry	Verified
Paddle	No free tier	Pay-as-you-go — 5% + $0.50 per checkout, all-inclusive (tax remittance, compliance, chargebacks). Products under $10 need custom pricing	2026-07-15
Lemon Squeezy	No free tier	Pay-as-you-go — 5% + $0.50 base; surcharges stack: international +1.5%, PayPal +1.5%, subscriptions +0.5% — effective rate lands 5.5–8%+ depending on your mix	2026-07-15

Where did you land?anonymous, one click

Data sources

Tool	Source	Verified
Paddle	Paddle pricing page	2026-07-15
Lemon Squeezy	Lemon Squeezy fees docs	2026-07-15

A monitor re-checks these pages for changes; when a vendor moves a price, the date updates and every verdict recomputes.

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