Stripe vs Paddle vs Lemon Squeezy: Fee Comparison (2026)

Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction but you handle sales tax yourself. Paddle charges 5% + 50¢ but collects and remits sales tax in 200+ jurisdictions as your Merchant of Record. Lemon Squeezy matches Paddle's pricing and MoR model. At $50K annual revenue, Stripe costs ~$1,480 in processing but potentially thousands more in tax compliance — Paddle costs ~$2,530 all-in. I've processed payments through Stripe across multiple entities in the US, Hong Kong, and Australia. The fee comparison looks straightforward on paper. It's not. The real question isn't which platform charges less. It's who bears the burden of being the seller — and the jurisdictional exposure that comes with it. Stripe is a payment processor: you are the merchant of record, you handle taxes. Paddle and Lemon Squeezy are Merchants of Record (MoR): they are the seller, and they handle sales tax and VAT for you. That one difference ripples into how your revenue gets classified, where tax obligations arise, and how au