Lemon Squeezy
Lemon Squeezy is a merchant of record for digital products: it sells your software, subscriptions, ebooks or design assets to the buyer, collects and pays the sales tax and VAT, and delivers the files and licence keys.
It suits founders selling downloads or software licences who want a store, a checkout and payouts to a bank or PayPal without writing code.
Part of Stripe since 2024, it charges 5% + 50¢ a transaction, plus 1.5% outside the US and 0.5% on subscription payments, as checked on 30 October 2026.
Reviewed by the IndieHacked team
- What it does
- Sell software, subscriptions and digital downloads with Lemon Squeezy as the merchant of record, with licence keys, file delivery and a storefront included.
- Our take
- Founders selling ebooks, templates, design assets or software licences who want the store, the checkout and the tax in one place. Lemon Squeezy issues licence keys, sends signed download links, runs an affiliate programme for your product and pays out by bank or PayPal.
- Pricing
- Paid5% + 50¢ a transaction, with no monthly fee. Lemon Squeezy adds 1.5% to international transactions (outside the US), 1.5% to PayPal payments and 0.5% to subscription payments, as checked on 30 October 2026. The fee covers card processing and currency conversion, and Lemon Squeezy collects and pays the tax. Payouts through Stripe are free to a US bank account and 1% to one outside the US; PayPal payouts are $0.50 in the US and 3%, capped at $30, elsewhere. Sales recovered by abandoned-cart emails cost 5% more, and affiliate referrals 3%. Email marketing is free up to 500 subscribers. Products under $10 and high-volume stores can ask for custom pricing. A $20 monthly subscription from a US buyer costs $1.60 a payment.
The IndieHacked breakdown
What it does
Lemon Squeezy is the merchant of record: the buyer purchases from it, and it collects and pays the sales tax and VAT, screens for fraud and handles refunds and chargebacks. It sells one-time products, subscriptions with free trials, usage-based billing, pay-what-you-want prices and free lead magnets, through a hosted checkout, a checkout overlay on your own site or a Lemon Squeezy storefront on your own domain.
After a sale it sends signed, throttled download links and can issue licence keys with a length and an activation limit, which your software checks through its License API. Your store can run its own affiliate programme, and customers manage their subscriptions in a customer portal. Lemon Squeezy has been part of Stripe since 2024; its terms name the contracting company as Sold through Link, LLC, formerly Lemon Squeezy LLC.
Who it suits
Founders who sell downloads or licences instead of, or beside, a SaaS. Lemon Squeezy approves most stores selling digital goods it can deliver, ebooks, PDFs, design assets, photos, audio and video among them, plus software that manages access with subscriptions or licence keys, and the keys and files go out with each order.
It also fits a founder outside the US who wants to be paid by PayPal: Lemon Squeezy pays merchants by PayPal in more than 200 countries and regions, and by bank in more than 100. A store goes live after a short questionnaire and an identity check, which Lemon Squeezy says typically takes 2 to 3 business days.
Not the right fit for
Founders choosing a payments platform for years ahead who want its product to keep moving. In January 2026 Lemon Squeezy's CEO, JR Farr, wrote that building Stripe Managed Payments had meant slower support responses and less frequent product updates, and that the team aims to give Lemon Squeezy users an easy way to move to it. Stripe, reviewed here, sells Managed Payments at 3.5% on top of its card fees; Paddle, reviewed here, is a merchant of record at 5% + 50¢.
Founders whose buyers are mostly outside the US and want to charge them in their own currency. Lemon Squeezy shows prices in 130 currencies but charges every order in US dollars, adds 1.5% to international transactions and pays out in dollars. Paddle, reviewed here, sells in local currencies for its one fee.
Also on the shortlist
- StripePaymentsYou stay the seller from 2.9% + 30¢ a US card, adding Billing and Tax as you go, or make Stripe the merchant of record for 3.5% more.2.9% + 30¢ a US card payment, no monthly fee, as checked on 30 October 2026
- PaddlePaymentsPaddle is the seller for software at one fee, 5% + 50¢, with tax filing, fraud and buyers' billing questions included.5% + 50¢ a transaction, no monthly fee, as checked on 30 October 2026
- GumroadE-commerceA storefront and a Discover marketplace for creators, with no monthly fee: 10% + $0.50 a direct sale, as merchant of record.No monthly fee, 10% + $0.50 a sale, as checked on 30 October 2026
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