Launch & Directories
Best Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy Alternatives in 2026: Merchant-of-Record Fees Compared
Paddle, Polar, Creem, Payhip, Dodo and Stripe compared with Gumroad and Lemon Squeezy: fees per sale, who handles VAT and sales tax, payouts and free plans.
If you sell a template, boilerplate, plugin or SaaS and want someone else to deal with VAT and sales tax, the cheapest merchant of record on list price right now is Creem at 3.9% + 40¢, followed by Dodo Payments at 4% + 40¢ for US cards. Paddle, Polar's free plan and Lemon Squeezy all start at 5% + 50¢. Gumroad's 10% + 50¢ is the highest of the group, and Payhip is the one to look at if you want a storefront with a flat monthly fee.
Every fee, payout rule and tax claim below was checked against each vendor's own pricing page or help docs on 11 November 2026. Where a vendor does not publish something, the entry says so.
What "merchant of record" means, and why it matters
A merchant of record (MoR) is the company that legally sells your product to the buyer. It charges the customer, collects the right VAT, GST or sales tax for the buyer's country, files and pays that tax, and handles chargebacks. You get paid out the remainder.
The alternative is selling as yourself through a payment processor such as plain Stripe. That is cheaper per sale, but you are the seller: registering for EU VAT, tracking US state thresholds and filing returns becomes your job, even if a tool calculates the tax.
For a solo developer selling worldwide, that paperwork is usually the reason to pay the extra percentage points. If most of your buyers are in your own country, it may not be.
Side by side
Base rate for a domestic US card sale. Most vendors add surcharges for international cards, PayPal or subscriptions; those are in each entry below.
| Platform | Fee per sale | MoR | Monthly fee | Payouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gumroad | 10% + 50¢ (30% via Discover) | Yes | None | Daily to quarterly, $100 minimum |
| Lemon Squeezy | 5% + 50¢ | Yes | None | Twice a month, bank or PayPal |
| Paddle | 5% + 50¢ | Yes | None | Monthly, $100 minimum |
| Polar | 5% + 50¢ (Starter) | Yes | Free; paid plans from $20 | Manual, via Stripe |
| Creem | 3.9% + 40¢ | Yes | None | 1st and 15th, bank or USDC |
| Dodo Payments | 4% + 40¢ | Yes | None | Not clearly published |
| Payhip | 5% (Free plan) | Tax handled, not called MoR | Free; $29 or $99 to cut the fee | Straight to your PayPal or Stripe |
| Stripe Managed Payments | Stripe fees + 3.5% | Yes | None | Stripe payouts |
| Stripe + Stripe Tax | 2.9% + 30¢, Tax 0.5% | No | None | Stripe payouts |
On a $20 sale with a US card, before tax, the base rates leave you roughly $17.50 on Gumroad, $18.50 on Lemon Squeezy, Paddle or Polar Starter, $18.80 on Dodo, $18.82 on Creem and $18.42 on Stripe Managed Payments. That is list-price arithmetic, not a quote: surcharges, currency conversion and payout fees change the result.
1. Gumroad — the simplest start, at the highest rate
Gumroad's pricing page lists 10% + 50¢ on sales through your own profile or links, and 30% on sales from new buyers who find you through its Discover marketplace. There is no monthly fee. Gumroad says it is the merchant of record and handles sales tax collection and remittance worldwide.
Payouts go to a local bank account or PayPal, on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly schedule, with a minimum balance of $100 and a 7-day hold on the weekly and longer schedules. PayPal payouts carry a 2% fee (Gumroad help: getting paid).
Pick it if you want a product page live in ten minutes and Discover traffic is worth the cut.
2. Lemon Squeezy — moving into Stripe
Lemon Squeezy is a merchant of record charging 5% + 50¢ with no monthly fee, and it pays out twice a month by bank or PayPal. Its fees doc adds 1.5% for transactions outside the US, 1.5% for PayPal, 0.5% for subscriptions and 5% on abandoned-cart recoveries. Payouts to non-US bank accounts cost 1%.
Lemon Squeezy's January 2026 update says the product is being built into Stripe Managed Payments, aims to give users an easy way to migrate, and admits support and updates have been slower. It does not set a shutdown date or say whether new signups will close.
Pick it if you already run on it and it works. For a new store, compare it with Stripe Managed Payments (below), which is where it is heading.
3. Paddle — MoR built for software
Paddle charges 5% + 50¢ per checkout transaction with no monthly fee, and handles tax, fraud, chargebacks and buyer support as merchant of record. Products under $10 can ask for custom pricing.
Payouts are monthly: a balance above your threshold on the 1st is sent by the 15th. The minimum threshold is $100 (or £100 / €100), and payouts go by wire or Payoneer (Paddle help). A $15 SWIFT fee can apply in some countries.
Pick it if you sell SaaS or software subscriptions and want an established MoR with a single published rate.
4. Polar — developer-first, with plans that lower the rate
Polar is a merchant of record aimed at developers. The free Starter plan is 5% + 50¢; Pro ($20/month) is 3.8% + 40¢, Growth ($100/month) 3.6% + 35¢ and Scale ($400/month) 3.4% + 30¢. Non-US cards add 1.5%, and each dispute costs $15. Organizations created before 27 May 2026 keep an Early Member rate of 4% + 40¢.
Payouts are started by you, not on a schedule, and go through Stripe: $2 per month with an active payout, plus 0.25% + 25¢ per payout. The minimum for USD is $10. New organizations have a 7-day settlement delay.
Pick it if you want an API-first MoR and expect enough volume for a paid plan to pay for itself. On fees alone, Pro beats Starter once you sell roughly $1,700 a month, or less if you sell many small items.
5. Creem — the lowest published MoR rate
Creem charges 3.9% + 40¢ per successful transaction, with no monthly or setup fee, and lists no international card fee. It is a merchant of record and says it handles VAT, GST and sales tax in more than 50 countries. Payouts run on the 1st and 15th of each month, to a bank account or a USDC wallet.
Pick it if you want the lowest list price among the MoRs here and the twice-monthly payout suits you. Creem's page does not list payout or currency-conversion fees, so check its calculator before you compare it on cost alone.
6. Dodo Payments — low base rate, many surcharges
Dodo Payments is a merchant of record charging 4% + 40¢ on US cards and wallets, with no monthly fee. International cards add 1.5%, subscriptions 0.5% and PayPal or buy-now-pay-later 3%. Its pricing page contradicts itself on payout fees (free in the table, $5 under $1,000 in the FAQ), so ask before you rely on either.
Pick it if you mostly sell one-time purchases to US buyers by card, where the base rate applies.
7. Payhip — a storefront with a flat-fee option
Payhip has three plans: Free with a 5% fee, Plus at $29/month with 2%, and Pro at $99/month with no Payhip fee. PayPal and Stripe charge their normal processing fees on top on every plan, and money lands in your own account right after each sale.
Payhip does not call itself a merchant of record, but it collects and remits EU and UK VAT on digital goods, and since 1 July 2026 it handles US sales tax as a marketplace facilitator (Payhip help: US sales tax).
Pick it if you sell ebooks, courses or templates and your sales are steady enough that a flat $29 or $99 beats a percentage.
8. Stripe — Managed Payments, or Stripe Tax and do it yourself
Stripe now has its own MoR: Managed Payments, priced at 3.5% on top of normal payment fees (Stripe pricing). For a US card that is 6.4% + 30¢. It works with Stripe Checkout and Payment Links, handles tax in more than 80 countries, and needs an eligibility review.
Read the eligibility rules first: your business must be in one of 37 supported countries (US, Canada, most of Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore), and only fully automated digital products qualify. Consulting, development services and anything with human delivery are out.
Plain Stripe is 2.9% + 30¢ per US card, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% when currency conversion is needed. It is not an MoR. Stripe Tax calculates and collects tax for 0.5% per transaction (no-code) where you are registered, but registering and filing remain yours.
Pick it if you already build on Stripe Checkout and qualify for Managed Payments, or if you sell mainly at home and can handle your own tax filings.
How to choose
- Lowest cost per sale as an MoR: Creem on list price; Polar Pro or higher once your monthly volume covers the plan fee.
- SaaS subscriptions with an established vendor: Paddle, or Stripe Managed Payments if you already use Stripe Checkout and your country qualifies.
- A product page plus marketplace traffic, no code: Gumroad, accepting the higher cut.
- Steady digital-product sales with a storefront: Payhip Plus or Pro, where a flat monthly fee replaces most of the percentage.
- Mostly domestic buyers and you can file your own tax: plain Stripe with Stripe Tax.
- Already on Lemon Squeezy: stay for now, but read the migration notice and keep your customer data exportable.
FAQ
What is the cheapest Gumroad alternative?
Among merchants of record, Creem has the lowest published base rate at 3.9% + 40¢, and Dodo Payments charges 4% + 40¢ on US cards. Payhip Pro has no Payhip fee at all, for $99 a month, but you still pay PayPal or Stripe processing.
Is Lemon Squeezy shutting down?
Lemon Squeezy has not announced a shutdown date. Its January 2026 update says it is being folded into Stripe Managed Payments and that it plans an easy migration path. It is still taking payments at 5% + 50¢.
Polar vs Paddle?
Both are merchants of record at 5% + 50¢ on their entry plan. Polar has paid plans that lower the rate to as little as 3.4% + 30¢ and lets you trigger payouts yourself; Paddle has no plans to manage and pays out monthly above a $100 threshold.
Do I need a merchant of record if I use Stripe?
Not if you are willing to be the seller. Plain Stripe leaves tax registration and filing to you, even with Stripe Tax calculating it. If you want Stripe to be the seller of record, use Managed Payments, which costs 3.5% more per transaction.
Which of these work for selling outside the US?
Every MoR here accepts buyers worldwide. The limit is usually on your side as a seller: Stripe Managed Payments supports businesses in 37 countries, and payout methods differ by country on Gumroad and Polar. Check your own country before you build a checkout.
Once your checkout works, the next step is getting buyers to it: see where to launch your side project and the startup credits for AI and cloud that can cover your hosting bill. For the rest of a launch stack, browse the toolbox.